MLB Free Agency

With the final weekend of the regular season upon us and the postseason just around the corner, fans around the league are gearing up for what promises to be another exciting month of playoff baseball.

That being said, things tend to move quickly once the World Series wraps up and the offseason officially begins, so it's never too early to take a look ahead at the upcoming crop of free agents.

What follows will be our initial top 25 big board of the best available free agents around the league this coming winter.

The MLB postseason and World Series still have to unfold before a true gauge can be had of the 2016 free-agent market, but it's late enough in the 162-game marathon of a regular season to speculate.

Perhaps the No. 1 reminder at this time of year is how paramount starting pitching is. It's what tends to separate the contenders from the pretenders as the MLB's elite gears up for a pursuit of pro baseball's top prize.

Even though free agency in Major League Baseball is one of the most exciting times of the year for fans and players, it's also one of the most painful and arduous if you fall into the former category. 

There's so much hearsay and speculation about where an impact hitter or pitcher could end up that it only leads to heartbreak when the dreaded "mystery team" shows up to spoil everything. 

With the regular season coming to a close in the near future and the postseason almost ready to get underway, the focus for teams on the outside looking in is shifting toward next season.

There is still an exciting month of playoff baseball separating us from what promises to be another busy offseason around the league, but it's never too early to start looking ahead at how free agency might play out.

The crop of pitching talent is deep once again, headlined by a handful of aces in David Price, Johnny Cueto, Jordan Zimmermann and Zack Greinke, assuming he opts out of his contract as expected.

Behind them, second-tier guys such as Jeff Samardzija, Scott Kazmir, Ian Kennedy, Yovani Gallardo and Mike Leake should also be in line for sizable contracts.

There is still a lot of baseball to be played between now and the offseason, but it's never too early to look ahead at what promises to be an exciting winter around the league.

This year's free-agent class will be headlined by a trio of legitimate aces in David Price, Johnny Cueto and Jordan Zimmermann. On the offensive side of things, Justin Upton, Chris Davis, Jason Heyward and Yoenis Cespedes highlight the top position players on the market.

With that in mind, what follows is an early free-agency preview for all 30 teams.

It's never too early to think ahead. With the MLB season chugging along toward its conclusion, some downtrodden teams already have their eyes on the offseason.

Clubs not harboring any postseason aspirations will be fantasizing about free agents. Not everyone possesses the deep pockets to sign a superstar, meaning some top names will shift locations as small-market clubs get more creative.

After an absurdly busy trade deadline that saw David Price head to Canada and Johnny Cueto land with the reigning American League champs, the playoff picture is looking a whole lot different than it did just a couple of weeks ago.

The way that all 30 clubs will be approaching the upcoming offseason is also looking a whole lot different now that all those moves have been made. From swinging trades to signing free agents, each team will have its own set of goals that it's hoping to accomplish when the winter rolls around.

This past offseason saw plenty of pitchers cash in on the free-agent market, but the upcoming class of free-agent arms could be the best we've seen in a long time.

Last winter, Max Scherzer, Jon Lester and James Shields headlined a solid crop of starters that also included the likes of Francisco Liriano, Ervin Santana, Edinson Volquez, Jake Peavy, Brandon McCarthy and Jason Hammel.

The MLB free-agent market is running thin, which means you can count on teams to make a few desperation offers to fill out their rosters. While there are still valuable players to be had, there are also some guys who simply aren't worth the risk.

In this list of the 10 biggest land mines left in free agency, the rankings are based on risk versus reward—in other words, which decisions have the greatest potential to blow up in a team's face while also creating the largest explosion?