MLB teams
Scott Spratt, Special to ESPN.com 10y

Deeper look at big free agents

In a little more than a month, baseball will enter its most exciting offseason in recent memory. As teams and players have become more aggressive in signing extensions before those players reach free agency, the pool of available talent for teams each winter has dwindled. Add to that the 3-year-old qualifying offer system, which acts as a disincentive for teams to sign free agents -- especially midtier free agents -- because of the loss of valuable draft picks and their associated allocation dollars, and many winters now come and go with little fanfare.

This time will be different because Max Scherzer, Jon LesterĀ and James Shields will all hit the open market in their primes. Because of early extensions, we do not have a ton of recent comparisons. The best ones are likely Cole Hamels and Zack Greinke, who signed six-year contracts during and after the 2012 season for $147 million and $144 million, respectively. More recently, Felix Hernandez, Justin VerlanderĀ and Clayton Kershaw signed extensions that moved the needle even further. All three pitchers earned seven-year deals for between $175 and $215 million, and all three of their contracts were signed before they reached free agency, which means they likely left even more money on the table in exchange for the security of immediate contracts.

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