Undervalued assets, in dollars or production, are the key to fielding a successful team.
Thus far, the offseason has been highlighted by contracts in excess of $150 million to Jacoby Ellsbury and $240 million to Robinson Cano, but it’s the smaller, less talked about moves that could pay major dividends in 2014.
With revenue rising around the sport, free-agent players are receiving eye-opening offers and signing them without hesitation. Due to the cost of those free agents, general managers are holding onto their prospects, hoping for cheap labor to impact the club within a few seasons.
As the sport takes center stage in Disney World, we await the next major signing or trade, but often, it’s the smaller pacts or less publicized trades that go without the coverage they deserve.
Here are the six biggest steals of the offseason thus far. From one-year contracts to trades, the six players changing addresses all can provide more value than their most recent transaction suggests.
*All statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference, unless otherwise noted.