Horsehide Chronicles

There are no proven No. 1 starting pitchers on MLB's free-agent market this year. Too many are signing extensions these days. Others, presumably, have simply migrated to warmer climates.

What the market does boast is a solid collection of No. 2 and No. 3 starters who can be had at fair prices. And if there's one guy who's likely to be had at a fairer price than anyone, it's Ricky Nolasco.

Martin Perez is just the latest.

On Thursday, the Texas Rangers gave the 22-year-old left-hander—who has all of 26 starts in the majors—a contract extension worth $12.5 million over the next four years, according to Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

You may be ready for the offseason, but there will be several moves that will catch you and every other baseball fan by surprise between now and the next few months.

Clayton Kershaw is the best pitcher in Major League Baseball, and one way or another, he's going to be paid as such soon. Just ask his team's owner.

When it comes to the top MLB free agents on the market, the high asking prices will limit the number of teams with a realistic chance of signing them. But it doesn't mean that they won't have a good number of options to choose from.

The ultimate choice will often come down to the team offering the most money, although it's not out of the question for a player to leave a few million dollars on the table to sign with a team that they feel more comfortable with for other reasons.

It was a two-strike splitter from Koji Uehara to Matt Carpenter that did the trick on Wednesday night. Carpenter swung and missed for the final out of Game 6 of the 2013 World Series, giving the Boston Red Sox their third title since 2004.

For the past year-and-a-half, money has been more or less no object for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

We can make all the predictions we want about the upcoming offseason. But the reality of the prediction business is that each time a move is made that comes out of left field, a lot of the thinking that went into the remaining predictions can go right out the window.

Right about now, the Boston Red Sox probably aren't too focused on their future. After capturing their third World Series title in the last decade on Wednesday, the present is just too good.

Heck, they haven't even done the parade yet. The duck boats await on Saturday.

Of the free agents who will be able to negotiate and sign with new teams beginning on Tuesday, November 5, several of them had an extended opportunity to increase (or decrease) their value in the postseason. 

While only a handful of innings pitched or a small sample size of at-bats normally wouldn't move the needle very much on a veteran player's perceived value, a player's ability to produce in the playoffs certainly can. 

Here are 10 players whose asking price has likely risen or fallen since the end of the regular season.