I was taking a look at a month old post from Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, who enlisted the services of one unbiased agent and one unbiased GM to put together their free agent predictions for this 2013-2014 offseason.
I was curious to see where they had LaTroy Hawkins, Marlon Byrd and Josh Johnson pegged and surprising all three signed for far less than what many expected.
Here is what they came up with:
Hawkins got literally half of what the consensus had projected, Johnson got 20% less than what they predicted, and Byrd they came closest to, but still less than what they expected on average.
I’m a little late on this, but we had a little Free Agent Prediction contest among our staff and wanted to share our predictions with you. We decided to go with what we believed were the top twelve available free agents and predict their ultimate destinations.
Johnson was included in our Top 12 and not one of us had him going to the Padres although many of us saw him going to the West Coast.
Here are the rest of our predictions including DrDooby who included projected deals as well…
DrDooby
1. Robinson Cano – Yankees, 8-years, $200 million
2. Jacoby Ellsbury – Mariners, 6-years, $120 million
3. Brian McCann – Rangers, 5-years, $90 million
4. Shin-Soo Choo – Mets, 5-years, $95 million 😉
5. Masahiro Tanaka – Yankees, $70 million posting fee and 5-year, $55 million contract
6. Carlos Beltran – Red Sox, 2-years, $35 million contract
7. Ervin Santana – Cubs, 4-years, $54 million
8. Matt Garza – Phillies, 5-years, $75 million
9. Hiroki Kuroda – Yankees, 1-year, $16 million
10. Mike Napoli – Red Sox, 2-years, $28 million
11. Josh Johnson – Rangers, 2-years, $21 million
12. Nelson Cruz – Phillies, 3-years, $36 million
Clayton
1. Robinson Cano – Yankees
2. Jacoby Ellsbury – Yankees
3. Brian McCann – Rangers
4. Shin-Soo Choo – Rangers
5. Masahiro Tanaka – Yankees
6. Carlos Beltran – Red Sox
7. Ervin Santana – Cubs
8. Matt Garza – Yankees
9. Hiroki Kuroda – Japan
10. Mike Napoli – Red Sox
11. Josh Johnson – Padres
12. Nelson Cruz – Mariners
Kirk
1. Robinson Cano – Yankees
2. Jacoby Ellsbury – Mariners
3. Brian McCann – Rangers
4. Shin-Soo Choo – Reds
5. Masahiro Tanaka – Yankees
6. Carlos Beltran – Cardinals
7. Ervin Santana – Royals
8. Matt Garza – Mets
9. Hiroki Kuroda – Yankees
10. Mike Napoli – Red Sox
11. Josh Johnson – Nationals
12. Nelson Cruz – Phillies
Rusty
1. Robinson Cano – Yankees
2. Jacoby Ellsbury – Red Sox
3. Brian McCann – Yankees
4. Shin-Soo Choo – Phillies
5. Masahiro Tanaka – Dodgers
6. Carlos Beltran – Cardinals
7. Ervin Santana – Pirates
8. Matt Garza – Orioles
9. Hiroki Kuroda – Yankees
10. Mike Napoli – Red Sox
11. Josh Johnson – Blue Jays
12. Nelson Cruz – Phillies
Satish
1. Robinson Cano – Yankees
2. Jacoby Ellsbury – Mariners
3. Brian McCann – Angels
4. Shin-Soo Choo – Pirates
5. Masahiro Tanaka – Yankees
6. Carlos Beltran – Royals
7. Ervin Santana – Twins
8. Matt Garza – Giants
9. Hiroki Kuroda – Yankees
10. Mike Napoli – Red Sox
11. Josh Johnson – Dodgers
12. Nelson Cruz – Rangers
William
1. Robinson Cano – Nationals
2. Jacoby Ellsbury – Red Sox
3. Brian McCann – Yankees
4. Shin-Soo Choo – Mets
5. Masahiro Tanaka – Yankees
6. Carlos Beltran – Yankees
7. Ervin Santana – Indians
8. Matt Garza – Angels
9. Hiroki Kuroda – Yankees
10. Mike Napoli – Red Sox
11. Josh Johnson – Phillies
12. Nelson Cruz – Phillies
Gerry
1. Robinson Cano – Yankees
2. Jacoby Ellsbury – Cubs
3. Brian McCann – Yankees
4. Shin-Soo Choo – Reds
5. Masahiro Tanaka – Dodgers
6. Carlos Beltran – Cardinals
7. Ervin Santana – Royals
8. Matt Garza – Yankees
9. Hiroki Kuroda – Yankees
10. Mike Napoli – Red Sox
11. Josh Johnson – Mets
12. Nelson Cruz – Philiels
Joe D.
1. Robinson Cano – Yankees
2. Jacoby Ellsbury – Cubs
3. Brian McCann – Rangers
4. Shin-Soo Choo – Tigers
5. Masahiro Tanaka – Yankees
6. Carlos Beltran – Orioles
7. Ervin Santana – Royals
8. Matt Garza – Giants
9. Hiroki Kuroda – Yankees
10. Mike Napoli – Red Sox
11. Josh Johnson – A’s
12. Nelson Cruz – Phillies
Tommy
1. Robinson Cano – Yankees
2. Jacoby Ellsbury – Red Sox
3. Brian McCann – Yankees
4. Shin-Soo Choo – Mariners
5. Masahiro Tanaka – Cubs
6. Carlos Beltran – Cardinals
7. Ervin Santana – White Sox
8. Matt Garza – Reds
9. Hiroki Kuroda – Yankees
10. Mike Napoli – Rangers
11. Josh Johnson – Jays
12. Nelson Cruz – Mets (why not)
Corey
1. Robinson Cano – Yankees
2. Jacoby Ellsbury – Rangers
3. Brian McCann – Rangers
4. Shin-Soo Choo – Yankees
5. Masahiro Tanaka – Dodgers
6. Carlos Beltran – Cardinals
7. Ervin Santana – Cubs
8. Matt Garza – Angels
9. Hiroki Kuroda – Yankees
10. Mike Napoli – Red Sox
11. Josh Johnson – A’s
12. Nelson Cruz – Phillies
Joe S.
1. Robinson Cano – Yankees
2. Jacoby Ellsbury – Red Sox
3. Brian McCann – Dodgers
4. Shin-Soo Choo – Cardinals
5. Masahiro Tanaka –
6. Carlos Beltran – Red Sox
7. Ervin Santana – Rockies
8. Matt Garza – Rockies
9. Hiroki Kuroda – Yankees
10. Mike Napoli – Red Sox
11. Josh Johnson – Mets
12. Nelson Cruz – Mets
Barry
1. Robinson Cano – Yankees
2. Jacoby Ellsbury – Red Sox
3. Brian McCann – Yankees
4. Shin-Soo Choo – Phillies
5. Masahiro Tanaka – Yankees
6. Carlos Beltran – Cardinals
7. Ervin Santana – Cubs
8. Matt Garza – Rangers
9. Hiroki Kuroda – Angels
10. Mike Napoli – Pirates
11. Josh Johnson – White Sox
12. Nelson Cruz – Indians
Peter K.
1. Robinson Cano – Yankees
2. Jacoby Ellsbury – Mariners
3. Brian McCann – Yankees
4. Shin-Soo Choo – Mets
5. Masahiro Tanaka – Angels
6. Carlos Beltran – Yankees
7. Ervin Santana – White Sox
8. Matt Garza – Rangers
9. Hiroki Kuroda – Dodgers
10. Mike Napoli – Red Sox
11. Josh Johnson – Mets
12. Nelson Cruz – Rangers
Jim
1. Robinson Cano – Yankees
2. Jacoby Ellsbury – Rangers
3. Brian McCann – Yankees
4. Shin-Soo Choo – Mariners
5. Masahiro Tanaka – Cubs
6. Carlos Beltran – Phillies
7. Ervin Santana – Pirates
8. Matt Garza – Giants
9. Hiroki Kuroda – Cubs
10. Mike Napoli – Red Sox
11. Josh Johnson – White Sox
12. Nelson Cruz – Orioles
Xtreem
1. Robinson Cano – Yankees
2. Jacoby Ellsbury – Mariners
3. Brian McCann – White Sox
4. Shin-Soo Choo – Rangers
5. Masahiro Tanaka – Yankees
6. Carlos Beltran – Cardinals
7. Ervin Santana – Orioles
8. Matt Garza – Pirates
9. Hiroki Kuroda – Yankees
10. Mike Napoli – Red Sox
11. Josh Johnson – Cubs
12. Nelson Cruz – Phillies
I am going to giveaway a free pair of Mets tickets to an April game to the writer who comes the closest. But I also want to engage our readers as well and treat them to a free pair of tickets to see the Mets next season as well.
So leave your predictions for the remaining 11 players below in the contest and the readers who correctly guesses the most destinations will win. In the event of a tie, here is the tie breaker. The one who comes closest to guessing the total guaranteed deal for free agent Robinson Cano. How much will he get? This is for guaranteed money only. Option years don’t count but buyouts do as they are guaranteed.
Met fans who finish in second and third place will get a free Metsmerized T-Shirt!
I need all ballots/responses by Midnight on Friday night.
Good luck to all of you!
