MLB Free Agency

The New York Yankees are about to embark on their most important offseason in years.

They just sat back and watched their biggest rivals, the Boston Red Sox, complete a worst-to-first turnaround and win the 2013 World Series.

With several major contracts coming off the books and more than $80 million to spend on free agents, the Yankees have the opportunity to right the ship quickly.

The most discerning MLB general managers understand the art of buying low.

These talent evaluators don't just throw money at any player on the scrap heap. They know exactly when to spring for a free-agent ace rebounding from major surgery. They choose just the moment to pull the trigger on a deal for a floundering star who is ready to explode.

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.

Every year there are players on the MLB free agency market that qualify as comeback players, and many of them are starting pitchers.

This year is no different, as the offseason brings with it 10 pitchers who need big bounce-back seasons.

Whether their comeback is needed because of injuries, poor performance or a leave from the game, these guys need a good 2014 season to get their careers back on track.

Let's take a look at the 10 biggest comeback players among starting pitchers this offseason.

Free agency is the best chance a team has of building its roster for the upcoming season, but it is by no means an exact science, and there is a good deal of risk/reward that goes into each signing.

Every offseason, there are a handful of players who exceed expectations and wind up being absolute steals. And on the other end of spectrum, there are a few guys who wind up being vastly overpaid.

MLB free agency is usually frustrating to follow for fans of low-spending teams.

Thankfully, the class of 2014 is unique. This offseason, many of the top available players could wind up committing to under-the-radar organizations.

You'll see the New York Yankees attempt to use a ladder of cash to climb back to the playoffs, and the Detroit Tigers and Los Angeles Dodgers plan to overpay to fill their roster holes (again). The rich keep getting richer.

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.

From an outside perspective, Major League Baseball's offseason can be difficult to understand. Unlike the NBA, NFL and NHL, a salary cap isn't present to handcuff the ability of an organization to retain stars with expiring pacts.

Yet, despite the lack of a unified budget for each team, owners and front office executives have limits for each player during the hot-stove season.

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.

There are no more than two games left in the 2013 MLB season, as the Red Sox took a 3-2 series lead over the Cardinals in the World Series with a 3-1 victory Monday night.

It's been a great series to this point, and will no doubt finish with a bang, but it's still never too early to turn our attention to the upcoming crop of free-agent talent.

Last offseason, it was Zack Greinke and Josh Hamilton who highlighted the crop of available talent, and this winter should have its fair share of impact talents changing teams.