MLB Hot Stove: Most intriguing non-tendered players

As the MLB Hot Stove keeps chugging along, a new crop of players just entered free agency after being non-tendered by their 2018 teams.

The new list of available free agents in the MLB Hot Stove includes some names that very few people know, as well as All-Star players that have become household names. A few of the non-tendered players were surprising choices.

As the saying goes “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” and there are plenty of treasures that are now on the free agent market. Sticking with sayings, for many of the non-tendered players, just because one door closed doesn’t mean that another one won’t open.

In fact, many of the new free agents could be incredibly intriguing to several clubs. The best part about the non-tendered free agents is that clubs do not have to trade to get them. Because they were not given contracts, their value has dropped. Ironically, that could increase their value to the right team and could speed up their signings.

More than half of the teams in the MLB did not tender contracts to at least one player. And, at the same time as more than 30 players were non-tendered, the San Francisco Giants actually DFA’d two players. The odd timing of this DFA announcement puts two of their former players into the free-agent market, too.

Non-tendered players lose their positions on their teams for a variety of reasons. Most are performance-based reasons, but some are simply the team’s desire to free up salary or that the player just didn’t turn out to be the right fit. The intriguing players still have plenty of pop left in their bats, stuff in their arsenal, and speed in their legs.

Let’s take a look at the most intriguing new additions to the free-agent market.