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While the preeminent free agents of the MLB offseason remain unsigned, the deals we’ve seen so far—almost all for complementary-type players—should still likely affect the market at their respective positions. Here’s a look at how those markets are shaping up.

Starting pitchers

The rumor mill hasn’t churned out much of note about the top tier of free-agent starting pitchers, but a few secondary types have signed on already and a few more remain on the market.

To me, the completed deals look slightly team-friendly, which bodes well for teams that are wading in those waters or even the next tier down.

– Giants sign Tim Hudson for two years, $24M
– Dodgers sign Dan Haren for one year, $10M
– Padres sign Josh Johnson for one year, $8M

If we assume that one win above replacement is worth about $6M, then none of these pitchers will have to do too much to earn their respective keeps.

The Giants are paying Hudson to be a two-WAR pitcher this year and next, a hurdle he cleared in 2012 and was on pace to clear again in 2013 before suffering a season-ending ankle injury. Haren was worth 1.8 WAR in 2012 and 1.5 in 2013, so the Dodgers are wisely paying him on par with that production, but if you buy his second-half resurgence, he could end up outproducing his paycheck by a win or more. Johnson, ironically, got the least lucrative of these deals but has the highest upside; he just needs to stay healthy.

Bartolo Colon could sign for something in Haren’s neighborhood, and Scott Feldman, Phil Hughes and Scott Baker are guys who will draw interest and probably sign for even cheaper deals than Johnson’s.

Outfielders

Interestingly, teams appear more willing to overspend in years for outfielders than pitchers so far this offseason, at least for the second-tier types.

Marlon Byrd, David DeJesus, David Murphy and Ryan Sweeney have all signed two-year pacts. We can also throw utility man Skip Schumaker in there, although he plays the infield as well. What three of them—DeJesus, Murphy and Sweeney—have in common is that they’re left-handed-hitting platoon candidates.

On the one hand, it just feels like an overpay when you’re committing two years to a guy like DeJesus or Murphy; their production isn’t that scarce, and there seem to be a couple of them available every offseason. On the other, if you’re mostly playing them in a way that only accentuates their strengths, you don’t feel like you’re asking too much of them.

With the exception of Byrd, each is paid like a one-win player—or less. In that light, these deals seem pretty reasonable, especially since some of these guys have had two- and three-win seasons in their careers.

The other outfielder of note to sign this offseason is Chris Young, whom the Mets got for one year and $7.25M. Young is coming off two disappointing/injury-plagued seasons, so it stands to reason he had to settle for one year. But considering he’s only entering his age-30 season and was a 4.5-fWAR player as recently as 2011, he also has the highest upside.

If you were looking for a cheap-ish but useful outfielder this offseason, that ship has pretty much sailed. All that remains in that class is Nate McLouth, who might be able get a deal comparable to Murphy’s as the left-handed-hitting half of a platoon. Franklin Gutierrez and Mike Morse are also still out there and should draw interest, probably on modest one-year deals, perhaps even minor-league deals.

Meanwhile, the pricier guys like Carlos Beltran and Curtis Granderson are still available. Beltran wants three years, according to Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News, and despite his age, he’s wise to push for it considering the market has yielded two years for platoon guys and glove-first types. Likewise, Granderson will probably seek four years.

Second basemen

The premier free agent of this year’s class, of course, is Robinson Cano. We still don’t know exactly how much he’ll sign for, but he’ll likely become just the fifth free agent in MLB history to break the $200M barrier. That should price him out of most teams’ budgets, but it shouldn’t influence the market very much for other second basemen. In other words, Cano’s market is its own beast.

However, there are still a couple decent keystoners available who shouldn’t command franchise-altering contracts or anything close to it. They seem to be drawing only modest interest so far, which could serve to keep their price tags palatable for most teams.

Omar Infante isn’t the most exciting player on the market, but he’s actually well above average, at least judging by wins above replacement. Fangraphs pegs him for 10.3 WAR over the past four years, which is good for ninth-best among MLB second basemen in that span.

Most of Infante‘s value is derived from his defense. He’s very good with the glove and can play multiple positions; I wonder if some team will even consider moving him back to shortstop, which he played earlier in his career. Offensively, he’s a career .279/.319/.402 hitter, which is a little bit better than last year’s league average for second basemen: .257/.316/.376.

Perhaps it’s because Infante is a glove-first player with modest power that he seems a bit overlooked, but I think he could end up being a really good value at something like three years and $24M. Entering his age-32 season, the clock is ticking on his career, but he could earn back the value of a deal like this by the middle or end of the second year.

As with Infante, Mark Ellis is an aging, defense-first second baseman who continues to be well liked by advanced metrics. Ellis, 36, churned out 1.8 WAR in 480 plate appearances with the Dodgers last season, hitting an underwhelming .270/.323/.351 but fielding his position well.

Ellis probably shouldn’t be an everyday second baseman at this point in his career—maybe on a bad team—but he was a 2.7-fWAR player as recently as 2012 and, again, was more than passable last season. Considering he’ll probably only sign for one year and a couple million bucks, he could earn his salary and then some as a backup if he plays good defense and gets on base at a respectable rate if pressed into regular playing time.

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There have been a few notable free-agent signings so far this offseason, but most of the big names are still available out there on the market.

This week has featured the new contracts of players like catcher Brian McCann (New York Yankees), shortstop Jhonny Peralta (St. Louis Cardinals) and pitcher Jason Vargas (Kansas City Royals), but the deals are sure to get bigger as more high-profile players make their respective decisions during free agency. If there’s anything we’ve learned so far, it’s that the contract values are solid from a player’s point of view with baseball revenues at an all-time high.

Let’s take a look at the top players available at each position as we head into the Thanksgiving weekend.

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MLB teams are not messing around this offseason.

Before the rest of us can cut Thanksgiving short to save some dough for a flat-screen TV, many baseball squads have already purchased expensive gifts for their fans. General managers have not yet gathered for the annual winter meetings, but they’re already busy hammering home deals before the holidays.

In another slew of signings that will inspire parents to push their children to play baseball, Carlos Ruiz, Tim Hudson, Dan Haren, Chris Young, Jhonny Peralta and Brian McCann, among others, are already off the market.

That’s not even including the blockbuster trade that saw the Detroit Tigers send Prince Fielder to the Texas Rangers for Ian Kinsler.

There’s already plenty of change to note, yet the offseason has only just begun. When baseball executives assemble in Orlando, Fla., on Dec. 9, they’ll chalk up even more agreements—but not until first riding Space Mountain, of course.

Considering the league’s impatience so far, it’s safe to assume teams won’t pause their business until December. More moves will come, but which ones?

Let’s employ our critical-thinking skills to decipher which deals will go down next. Just keep in mind that these are educated guesses based on recent rumor-mill rumblings. Don’t rush to pre-order a new jersey.

Note: All advanced stats are courtesy of FanGraphs.com. Payroll information obtained from Cot’s Baseball Contracts.

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Barring something unforeseen, the Philadelphia Phillies have settled on their everyday eight in the field for 2014.

Third baseman Cody Asche will join the veteran trio of Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins in the infield. Carlos Ruiz and his three-year contract extension will be behind the plate.

Free-agent signing Marlon Byrd will set up shop in the Phillies outfield along with Ben Revere and Domonic Brown.

If you are holding out hope that the Phillies have a blockbuster trade in them, don’t. “We may look to try to improve our lineup somehow or tweak our lineup somehow,” said Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. in the wake of the Ruiz signing.

That does not sound like a man sitting on a bombshell. What you see on the roster is pretty much what you will get, as far as hitters and fielders are concerned.

So the likely adds to the Phillies roster, if any are forthcoming, will be made to the pitching staff.

MLB.com beat writer Todd Zolecki’s recent conversation with Amaro Jr. suggested as much, with Amaro Jr. saying this: 

If we can still improve the rotation and our bullpen, we will try to do that. We had a lot of six-year free agents pitching in the rotation, so we’re going to try and create some depth on the pitching side.

Which pitchers make sense for the Phillies?

Ryan Lawrence’s recent Philadelphia Daily News article named all of the usual suspects. They fall into two categories.

Veteran pitchers who would command short-term, short-money contracts (and come with lower expectations, naturally) include Bronson Arroyo, A.J. Burnett and Ryan Vogelsong.

Phillies fans would probably far prefer a younger, more expensive option who could realistically win 15 games in 2014 if everything breaks right. Names who fit that description are Ubaldo Jimenez, Matt Garza and Ervin Santana.

In a lot of ways, Jimenez, Garza and Santana are very similar. All three are power arms who have had extended periods of dominance pockmarked by significant stretches where they were injured and/or could not get anyone out.

Given Amaro Jr.’s commitment to winning in 2014—misguided as it may be—cheaping out on pitching help now would be penny wise and pound foolish.

David Schoenfeld of ESPN.com posted recently to his SweetSpot blog why the Washington Nationals should sign Jimenez over Garza or Santana:

Jimenez is the one who can provide the most upside and probably comes in a little less expensive. Plus he has a rubber arm, having made more than 30 starts six seasons in a row, one of just 13 starters to have done that. Garza has battled some injuries, and Santana has been inconsistent and homer-prone despite playing in pitcher-friendly parks.

Accepting that logic on its face, it is as applicable to the Phillies as it is to the Nationals. Perhaps more so.

The Phillies resisted long-term contracts for pitchers for years due to fear of injury, making Garza an unattractive gamble. And Citizens Bank Park is a bandbox, which suggests that Santana might struggle there.

So Jimenez may well be the right choice. Whether the Phillies can afford him is up to Amaro Jr.

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So far this offseason, Jason Vargas’ reported four-year, $32 million accord with the Kansas City Royals stands as the biggest contract earned by a free-agent pitcher.

But that is bound to change with a few other established veteran starting pitchers on the market seeking big deals and a closer who could bring in a significant payday. Let’s take a look at the latest MLB free-agency rumors surrounding three of the big-name pitchers still available on the market.

Ervin Santana, RHP

Ervin Santana might be waiting a while if his negotiating team sticks to its guns on a desired five-year, $112 million deal.

The right-hander looked great in 2013, going 9-10 with a 3.24 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and 6.9 strikeout rate, but has been largely inconsistent throughout his career.

Royals pitching coach Dave Eiland recently made an appearance on SiriusXM MLB Network Radio and said he thinks Kansas City still has a serious interest in bringing Santana back, despite adding Vargas:

From what (general manager) Dayton (Moore) has told me, he’s still going to be in contact with Erv and his people and we’ll see where it goes. I don’t think we’re totally out of the running, but we’ll just have to see where that heads. Like I said, that’s not my department. But from my personal standpoint, I hope we’re still in the running for him.

Eiland admitted that he’s not connected with the daily free-agent process, but his words reveal some insight behind the team’s thinking. Still, after such a sizable commitment to Vargas and a trio of young arms ready to help contribute, don’t expect Kansas City to put more money in the rotation.

Santana has also been linked to the Toronto Blue Jays, per Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, but until his asking price goes down, don’t expect to hear of any new contract for the 30-year-old righty.

Matt Garza, RHP

Matt Garza and Santana are widely viewed as the top two pitchers on the free-agent market this season. Like Santana, Garza has also been discussed as a possible signing for the Blue Jays, per Jim Bowden of ESPN:

If the contracts of Tim Hudson (two years, $23 million) and Josh Johnson (one year, $8 million) have told us anything, it’s that the market value for pitching is going up. Meanwhile, Vargas’ deal also may have affected the negotiations of other pitchers like Garza, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today:

Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports speculated the New York Yankees could try to make three big signings this offseason with filling a rotation spot being a top priority alongside re-signing Robinson Cano. As Heyman reported, the Yankees have targeted Garza but haven’t pursued Santana, so perhaps we could see him in pinstripes next year.

Garza turned 31 on Tuesday and has been much more consistent than Santana in recent years, posting a sub-4.00 ERA in each of the past seven seasons. In 2013, Garza went a combined 10-6 with a 3.82 ERA and 1.24 WHIP with a 7.9 strikeout rate, so he’ll surely command a healthy payday this offseason.

Joe Nathan, RHP

Joe Nathan is widely viewed as the top option at closer on the free-agent market this year after opting out of a one-year, $9 million contract with the Texas Rangers earlier this offseason. Even though Nathan just turned 39, he’s in line for a nice multi-year deal after converting 43 of 46 save opportunities with a 1.39 ERA, 0.90 WHIP and 10.2 strikeout rate in 2013.

As of last week, Nathan told Bowden that he was getting recruited to the Detroit Tigers by Torii Hunter:

But with word emerging from Detroit that the Tigers will try to sign Brian Wilson to be their new closer, per The Detroit News‘ Lynn Henning, Nathan could be looking elsewhere for work.

Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News reported that the Yankees had “peripheral interest” in Nathan to succeed Mariano Rivera as the team’s closer, but he’s probably on the back burner now with the five-year, $85 million signing of catcher Brian McCann and David Robertson waiting for the ninth-inning call.

Paul Hoynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group recently relayed comments from Cleveland Indians general manager Chris Antonetti, who said the team is looking internally and externally for a new closer.

But with Los Angeles Angels general manager Jerry Dipoto claiming that his team will go with Ernesto Frieri as the closer in 2014, the number of suitors for Nathan is appearing to drop.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman was the first to report that the St. Louis Cardinals had signed free agent Jhonny Peralta to a contract pending a team physical.

Fox Sports’ Jon Morosi was the first to report that it was a four-year deal that was just north of $52 million. Heyman later tweeted that the deal was going to be for $53 million. 

Peralta receiving $53 million from any team in MLB is a bad sign, especially when it comes from one of the marquee franchises in baseball. It pays to use PEDs in baseball. Even if you get caught, teams will still be willing to pay millions if the numbers are good. 

MLB and commissioner Bud Selig spent a lot of time investigating the Biogenesis anti-aging clinic in Florida. The investigation led to the suspension of 13 players listed in this report by Yahoo Sports’ Tim Brown, including Peralta, who acknowledged taking PEDs. All 13 players received 50-game suspensions that they started serving immediately in order to complete them by the end of last season. 

Alex Rodriguez was also charged in this investigation and was given a 211-game suspension, something that he is still in the process of fighting with baseball. 

The 31-year-old Peralta is an average player who has had two above-average seasons recently in 2011 and 2013. It begs the question of when Peralta started using and if his improved numbers are solely driven by using PEDs.

In baseball’s quest to wrap up the Biogenesis investigation in a neat bow, it allowed players who served their 50-game suspensions last season to come back in time for the playoffs. Peralta came back for the Detroit Tigers and was one of their best hitters, hitting a combined .333 in the playoffs. 

Imagine if Peralta had managed to propel the Tigers to a World Series victory after serving a 50-game suspension. It would have only managed to further embarrass baseball when the focus should be on the greatness of the sport.

Peralta’s signing sends a bad signal to the rest of baseball. Cheat, be momentarily embarrassed but hit it rich when you come back. The Cardinals should want no part of adding Peralta to their young locker room. Instead, they are welcoming him with open arms. 

Until baseball understands that they need to start hitting the players where it really hurts, in the wallet, nothing is going to change. Players need to face stiffer suspensions, face postseason bans and teams should be allowed to opt-out of contracts with players who are suspended. 

Players who are suspended should also have limits on the length of contract and amount of money that a player can make after receiving a suspension from baseball. Those may sound too harsh, but until the suspensions become real deterrents, players are still going to find ways to cheat, because the benefits still outweigh the negatives. 

Cheating still pays. It’s the only message that you can see from Peralta’s contract. One that other players and fans can easily see. 

Information used from Jon Heyman/CBS Sports, Jon Morosi/Fox Sports, Jon Heyman/CBS Sports, Baseball Reference, Tim Brown/Yahoo Sports

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Last winter, the Boston Red Sox molded a 93-loss disaster into a 97-win juggernaut through an offseason of wise, shrewd and visionary free-agent signings. According to Alex Speier of WEEI.com, team president Larry Lucchino is hoping for a sequel when the Red Sox go about filling out their roster in the aftermath of a World Series championship:

Unfortunately for the Red Sox, lightning doesn’t strike twice. By capitalizing on undervalued assets, creating a template for short-term, low-risk deals with midtier free agents and attacking free agency in the last year before baseball’s new, lucrative media deal put $20-25 million in the pocket of each owner, Boston cornered a market that was wide open.

This winter, the copycats will be in abundance, but supply and demand won’t let any team, including the Red Sox, repeat the same strategy en route to a franchise-changing offseason.

In New York, the Mets have posted five consecutive losing seasons, are battling budget concerns and come across unwilling to hand out $100 million deals. Of all the teams looking to spend and improve this winter, the Mets seemed most likely to go about the Red Sox model.

Thus far, they’ve found the climate, per the New York Daily News, of free-agent prices to be above and beyond what they are prepared to spend. It’s likely that every other team attempting the 2013 Red Sox model will soon be confronted with the same realization.  

Last year was a perfect storm for Boston. The free-agent class, dollars spent and undervalued assets fell right in line with the needs on the Red Sox roster. According to Yahoo! Sports’ free-agent rankings, Boston reeled in seven of the top 50 free agents on the market last winter for less than $100 million.

That number didn’t just represent the price paid out to Mike Napoli, Ryan Dempster, Stephen Drew, Shane Victorino, Koji Uehara and Jonny Gomes in 2013; it was the total amount spent to secure their services for 11 combined seasons. In other words, Boston brought in the sextet for less than $10 million per season.  

To put that into perspective, Jhonny Peralta, the 18th-ranked player on Yahoo! Sports’ current free-agent rankings, just received a four-year, $52 million contract from the St. Louis Cardinals. Last winter, Dempster was rated 17th by Yahoo! when garnering half that total amount from Boston.

Not only are teams trying to copy the Red Sox model, but money in the game is also on the rise. In September, Joel Sherman of the New York Post wrote a prescient column on this subject, imagining baseball’s middle class earning much more money this winter and beyond. Per Sherman’s reporting:

There are a lot of teams with available cash — more now with the new national TV contract putting an additional $20-million to-$25 million annually in each team’s coffers beginning in 2014 — and many of those clubs are indicating they are going to shun Shin-Soo Choo and Jacoby Ellsbury at the top of the market and, well, diversify the portfolio. Which means the middle class is about to become the upper-middle class as the good-to-very good free agents are going to get bid up by multiple teams.

The following chart shows the free-agent stars with corresponding rankings this winter to the players signed by Boston last winter. As you can see and imagine, the idea of those seven players, or similar stars, signing for a grand sum of less than 11 years or $99 million is absurd. 

In fact, with Byrd already inked to a $16 million deal in Philadelphia, Beltran, Cruz and Nolasco would have to combine for less than $83 million in total contract value to give credence to a team pulling off a 2013 Red Sox free-agent heist. 

Boston is wise to attempt an offseason model similar to last year. Short-term deals are generally much, much more palatable for both general manager and ownership. If a decision is wrong, it won’t cripple the franchise for years. 

While it’s smart to try, the same results are nearly impossible to garner this time around. Beyond the fact that the middle class of players is poised to cash in, more teams are looking to duplicate the successful approach. This time, the 2014 Shane Victorino might cost $55 million, not $39 million. 

Furthermore, even if the Red Sox find a few players who perfectly fit the model established last year, luck likely won’t be on their side again. When general manager Ben Cherington inked Koji Uehara, the 38th-ranked free-agent on the market, few could have imagined one of the greatest relief pitching seasons in baseball history emerging from the move.

This time around, Lance Berkman is the No. 38 player on Yahoo! Sports’ free-agent list. If he lands in Boston on a short-term deal, posts one of the greatest hitting seasons in history and leads the Red Sox to another World Series, it will be time to admit that Boston truly has its strategy perfected.

Until then, call it what it was: The perfect offseason plan for the perfect offseason.  

Comment below, follow me on Twitter or “like” my Facebook page to talk all things baseball.

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The latest news on baseball’s international free-agent front is that a pair of high-profile Cuban players have defected and already established residency in another country.

Right-handed pitcher Raciel Iglesias has established residency in Mexico and is now waiting for clearance to sign with a major league team. Similarly, slick-fielding shortstop Erisbel Barbaro Arruebarruena also defected in the past month and has already established residency in Haiti.

Meanwhile, the inevitable bidding war for negotiation rights with Japanese right-hander Masahiro Tanaka has been delayed, with Nippon Professional Baseball and MLB struggling to see eye to eye on a new positing system.

Here’s a look at the other notable international free-agent rumors from around the league.

Raciel Iglesias, RHP

Raciel Iglesias has established residency in Mexico, according to MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez (via Twitter). The 23-year-old pitcher still has to be cleared by the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and Major League Baseball before he can sign with a team.

Iglesias successfully defected from Cuba in October after he was detained on his first attempt after running out of food and water while hiding in the mountains of Isla de la Juventud for the better part of a week.

A 5’11”, 165-pound right-hander, Iglesias works in the 92-95 mph range with his fastball, and he’s likely to add velocity as he develops physically. Iglesias also shows an advanced feel for adding and subtracting to his sweeping breaking ball, throwing the pitch at 76-81 mph.

As of now, Iglesias‘s two-pitch mix has him pegged as a future reliever in the big leagues, just as he’s been in Cuba over the last few years. However, expect the organization that ultimately signs Iglesias to initially give him consideration as a starter. 

Erisbel Arruebarruena, SS

Shortstop Erisbel Barbaro Arruebarruena has left Cuba and hopes to sign with a major league team, according to Ben Badler of Baseball America. 

Because he’s 23 years old and has played in Cuba’s Serie Nacional for six seasons, Arruebarruena will not be subject to the international bonus pools. MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez also notes that Arruebarruena has already established residency in Haiti but has not yet been cleared to sign by OFAC and MLB. 

Regarded as the premier defensive shortstop in the Serie Nacional, Arruebarruena also handled the position for the Cuban national team and played in the 2013 World Baseball Classic.

Badler has only great things to say about Arruebarruena‘s defensive prowess:

At 6 feet, 195 pounds, Arruebarruena has clean hands, quick actions and good body control. He’s a below-average runner, but his quick first step and instincts give him good range. He has a quick transfer and a plus-plus arm with accuracy, which allows him to make throws from deep in the hole and turn 4-6-3 double plays with ease. His awareness in the field is advanced and he’s shown the ability to make the barehanded play look routine and make strong throws from different angles. Scouts have called Arruebarruena a magician in the field, and if he can hit enough to be an everyday major league shortstop, he has the potential to win a Gold Glove.

While there’s no doubt that Arruebarruena‘s defense will translate in the major leagues, the same can’t be said about the 23-year-old’s bat, regardless of what his career numbers in Cuba suggest.

Arruebarruena enjoyed a breakout season at the plate in 2011-2012, batting .320/.367/.520 with eight home runs and a 39-19 strikeout-to-walk rate in 306 plate appearances. 

A right-handed hitter, Arruebarruena‘s lack of physical strength is noticeable in the length of his swing and inefficient bat path to the ball. The pitch recognition is also concerning; he struggles to pick up spin out of the pitcher’s hand and frequently overcommits his weight to the front side. As a result, Arruebarruena chases too many offerings outside the strike zone and tries to yank the ball to the pull side when he does get something in the zone.

That being said, don’t expect Arruebarruena to suddenly find his home run stroke in the major leagues. With his swing, we could be talking no more than a handful of dingers in a given season.

I’ve heard the Jose Iglesias comparison tossed around lately and can’t say I disagree. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if Arruebarruena turns out to be a lighter-hitting version of Iglesias and posts empty batting averages.

Either way, whoever signs him will do so for the glove.

Yenier Bello, C

Yenier Bello left Cuba for Ecuador earlier this year and has since established residency in Mexico. While he’s already been declared a free agent by MLB, the 28-year-old catcher is yet to be cleared to sign by OFAC and the league.

A 5’11”, 225-pound right-handed hitter, Bello batted .274 with 13 home runs in La Serie Nacional in 2011, and he amassed 75 long balls over his last five seasons in Cuba.

Rogelio Armenteros, RHP

At 18 years of age, Rogelio Armenteros is younger than most Cuban defectors in recent memory.

In 2009, the right-hander pitched Cuba to a third-place finish in the World Youth Baseball Championship. He spent the 2011-2012 season playing for Equipo Industriales in Cuba’s Serie Nacional. 

According to Armenteros‘ official website:

Since his departure from Cuba in Mid 2012,  Rogelio has been training in Barcelona, Spain and currently in Miami, FL. Rogelio has developed an impressive array of pitches, which include, four-seam and two-seam fastball, slider, curveball, and change up. His fastball averages between 90-94 Mph’s and he is demonstrating masterful command and control of all his pitches.

If that portrayal is legit, expect the right-hander to draw significant interest from a wide range of teams, especially those that are rebuilding.

Yozzen Cuesta, 1B

Yozzen Costa officially defected late in August with the Cuban baseball team playing at the World Baseball Challenge in Prince Georgia, Canada. Basically, he disappeared one day without telling his teammates, leading to the presumption that he was heading to the United States. Costa’s choice to defect came roughly two weeks after prolific slugger Jose Abreu. The 22-year-old has a promising bat and should draw interest from numerous American League teams.  

Masahiro Tanaka, RHP, Japan (NPB)

No good news to relay regarding Japanese right-hander Masahiro Tanaka, who is viewed as the top free-agent pitcher on the open market. Roughly one week ago, negotiations over a new posting system between Nippon Professional Baseball and MLB hit a wall when the two parties disagreed on the posting fee and how it’s arrived at. If they fail to reach an agreement, Tanaka will have to spend two additional seasons playing Japan.

Thankfully, the two sides are preparing to resume talks in the near future, according to the Japan Times.

P Javier Gonzalez, P Jorge Hernandez and OF Dayron Varona

According to Cuban reporter Ibrahim Rojas (via MLB Trade Rumors), 19-year-old pitcher Javier Gonzalez, 22-year-old pitcher Jorge Hernandez and 25-year-old outfielder Dayron Varona have all left Cuba.

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While a pair of trades dominated this week’s news in Major League Baseball’s offseason, there have been some intriguing, under-the-radar signings to this point too. Clearly, though, the open market has yet to really get rolling. Before that happens, it’s worth checking in to see what kind of bang teams are getting for their buck. 

In terms of size and scope, the biggest free-agent contract is the four-year, $32 million deal the Kansas City Royals handed out to lefty Jason Vargas, formerly of the Los Angeles Angels. That’s not a small chunk of change, but admittedly, that transaction lacks the excitement and impact of the swap that sent Prince Fielder (and $30 million) to the Texas Rangers and Ian Kinsler to the Detroit Tigers. Or even the one involving David Freese going to the Angels and Peter Bourjos heading to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Since you probably haven’t been riveted by all the lower- and mid-tier free-agent signings, here’s a rundown, courtesy of MLB Trade Rumors’ easy-peasy transaction tracker tool, of the biggest contracts based on average annual value (AAV) through the first three weeks of November:

(Note: For the purposes of this piece, we’re not going to consider Hunter Pence, who scored $90 million over five years, and Tim Lincecum, who landed $35 million for two, as free agents, simply because they re-upped with the San Francisco Giants prior to becoming available to the 29 other teams. Same goes for Derek Jeter, who re-signed with the New York Yankees for $12 million.)

So what do these early pacts reveal?

Let’s start with this: In general, the market price for a win is considered to be about $5-6 million in free agency, although that number surely is trending higher.

There are two big reasons why the going rate is spiking: One, MLB’s latest television deals with ESPN, Fox and TBS mean that each of the 30 teams has an extra $25 million, give or take, to play with per year than in previous seasons. Also, savvy execs have taken to locking up their most talented players, so the top names simply aren’t reaching the open market as frequently or as early in their careers as they used to.

When there’s a greater supply of money as well as a higher demand for players, basic economics says that those available names are bound to get more than they otherwise would (or should).

And yet this offseason’s market hasn’t gone bananas. 

Sure, it might be a stretch to say that $34 million for four years of soft-tossing, homer-prone Jason Vargas or $26 million for three years of soon-to-be 35-year-old Carlos Ruiz is a good buy. Sometimes, though, the early inkings do turn out to be the best bargains. They are, after all, setting the market’s going rate to an extent.

That in mind, here’s a repurposing of the above table, only this time, to put the new salaries into context, there are two extra columns: The first calculates, using the $5 million-per-win standard noted above, how much value each player would have to produce in order to roughly be worth the money; the second shows each player’s average production over the past three seasons based on FanGraphs wins above replacement (fWAR):

While there is some rounding involved, what you should notice immediately is that none of these signings appears to be out of line given each player’s recent past production (from 2011-2013).

You might not agree with the valuation of one or more of these pacts for any number of reasons (i.e., the risk of giving three years to Javier Lopez, a lefty specialist reliever). Overall, though, this is a sign that the ratio of bang to buck is reasonable—at least in MLB terms—as long as the players can continue to perform close to the way they have.

That’s partly because, at this stage, teams have hopped on players with a clear flaw (or two), be it advancing age, injury concerns or limited potential. This makes them riskier picks than the big names, but not necessarily bad decisions.

After all, it’s much easier to get a net-positive return on a smaller deal, and it’s also less likely that such a contract will blow up a club’s finances or roster construction going forward. Almost assuredly, none of the players who have signed will be needle-movers over the next year or two, but that doesn’t mean that they won’t prove worth it in the end.

If the past few offseasons have taught teams anything, it’s this: The bigger the name, the bigger the contract—and the bigger the risk. Hello, Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder, Mark Teixeira, Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Josh Hamilton…the list goes on.

That holds true, even in this toned-down world of lower-tier signings, as Keith Law of ESPN pointed out in analyzing—and questioning—the Royals’ decision to go to four years for Vargas:

Deals of four years or more for non-elite starters don’t have a happy history — the names Carl Pavano, Edwin Jackson, Russ Ortiz and Gil Meche come to mind — and it seems like there were similar or better options who wouldn’t have required a commitment of this length. It makes the Royals a little better for now, but Vargas operates with such a slim margin for error that he could end up cannon fodder by the middle of the deal, especially if he loses another half-grade of velocity.

That brings up another point. For many of these early deals, rather than asking, “Will this player be worth it?” the more appropriate question might be: “Was this player the best option within the price range?”

In other words, the initial contracts don’t seem to be way out of whack—nothing yet looks like an egregiously poor buy—but every choice essentially wipes out other possibilities a team might consider within that price range or at that position, options that might have been safer or better or more likely to pay off in a bigger way. Rosters are, after all, limited to 25 players at any one time.

Here’s Jonathan Bernhardt of Sports On Earth, again discussing the Vargas contract:

…while the Vargas contract is not in and of itself an albatross, $8 million a season is a significant (if small) piece of the Royals’ budgetary pie, and there have already been rumblings that the Vargas signing prices Kansas City wholly out of the Ervin Santana market. It’s too early to tell if that’s legitimate or just posturing on the Royals’ part, but Santana is a clearly better pitcher than Vargas if still only league average over the course of his career (100 career ERA+ to Vargas’s 91).

Of course, Vargas’s $8 million a year is less than half the annual value of the contract Santana’s camp has indicated they’re looking for, which is something in the five- to six-year range worth around $100 million. If salary creep has been pushing up the wages of below-average starters like Vargas, it’s been absolutely ballooning the salaries of consistently league-average pitchers.

The second part of Bernhardt’s analysis is the reason why this initial batch of deals, while not the most provocative or most likely to produce huge returns, doesn’t look all that bad: Eventually, some team is going to go in big after one of the top-tier free agents, offering $15 million or $20 million (or more) per season over a handful of years.

That’s just the sort of decision that can backfire enough to prevent a franchise from making future free-agent signings, or worse, from locking up the talent already on the roster to long-term extensions.

Three weeks into this offseason, it seems, teams are getting bang for their buck that’s just about in line with the players’ recent production, give or take a few million here or one or two of the deals there. There are a number of variables that will determine whether Ruiz, Marlon Byrd or David Murphy are worth it in the end, but teams haven’t necessarily been lavishing unwarranted and unrecoverable riches on the free agents who’ve signed so far.

Where things are going to change—and almost certainly for the worse—is with the players at the higher end of the market, where the amount of money and the number of years make it more about the bucks and less about the bang.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Of the free-agent signings thus far, there are certainly a couple that could turn out to be bargains. If Josh Johnson (San Diego Padres) and Chris Young (New York Mets) return to form, they’ll be well worth the one-year deals at the cost of $8 million and $7.25 million, respectively.

Same for David Murphy, who signed a two-year, $12 million deal with the Cleveland Indians, and LaTroy Hawkins, who will cost the Colorado Rockies no more than $2.5 million to at least start the season as their closer.

Here are five more potential bargains still available on the free-agent market. 

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