Now that the World Series and, with it, the 2015 Major League Baseball season have been put to bed, it's time for dozens upon dozens of players to pack their bags and get ready to move.
Where these players will be moving is a job for a crystal ball. But if all you want is to know which of them are this offseason's most desirable free-agent and trade targets, we can help with that.
Starting with the top 25 starting pitchers, we're here to rank the top 100 players available this winter based on their desirability. As for how we went about doing the ranking, we subjected players to the following scoring system:
- Talent Outlook: Out of 70. The idea here is to look at how guys have performed recently, how they've gone about doing it and the outlook of their skills going forward. Think of a score of 35 out of 70 as a league-average pitcher, with 70 out of 70 essentially being Clayton Kershaw.
- Durability Outlook: Out of 20. This is a projection of how durable guys are going to be based on their past workloads and injury histories. Think of 20 out of 20 as no concern whatsoever, whereas 10 out of 20 says a healthy future is a toss-up. Also, we'll keep things fair by only allowing pitchers who will require short-term commitments a maximum of 15 points.
- Value Outlook: Out of 10. The idea here is to ponder what kind of contracts or trade packages guys are going to command and determine whether they could justify it. Think of five out of 10 as a fair deal, with zero out of 10 being a mega-bust and 10 out of 10 being a mega-steal.
Conveniently, the number of possible points add up to 100. In the event of ties, the nod goes to the player we'd rather sign or trade for.
Along the way, you'll find plenty of links to relevant data at Baseball-Reference, FanGraphs, Brooks Baseball, Baseball Prospectus and Baseball Savant.
Step into the box whenever you're ready.
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