My latest for The Athletic looks at free agents who signed after the offseason was technically over, listing both the richest contracts handed out after pitchers and catchers had reported to camp and the top performances by players who signed that late. I pitched the piece in anticipation of this spring yielding both the richest contract handed out after pitchers and catchers reported and the most contracts with a guarantee of at least eight-figures agreed to at such a late date. Both records were set while I was researching and writing it, and there will be more where those came from given the quality of free agents still remaining on the market now a week past pitchers and catchers. My goal here, as it so often is, was to put all of that in context.
Tag Archives: Mark Grace
All-Time DROP Leaders
For my latest post in SI.com’s The Strike Zone blog I created a new statistic designed to identify the best late-round picks in the history of Major League Baseball’s annual amateur player draft. That statistic, DROP (Draft Round Opportunity Points) simply multiplies a player’s career wins above repacement (Baseball-Reference version) by the round in which they were drafted. It’s a blunt tool, but an effective one. You can read more about it and the all-time top 10 in DROP in my Strike Zone post. Meanwhile, here is a more extensive leader list that didn’t fit over there:
Player | Team | Pos | Year | Rd | Pick# | bWAR | DROP |
Mike Piazza | LAD | 1B | 1988 | 62 | 1,380 | 59.4 | 3,683 |
Keith Hernandez | STL | 1B | 1971 | 42 | 785 | 60.0 | 2,520 |
Mark Buehrle | CWS | P | 1998 | 38 | 1,139 | 56.8 | 2,158 |
Kenny Rogers | TEX | P | 1982 | 39 | 816 | 51.4 | 2,005 |
John Smoltz | DET | P | 1985 | 22 | 574 | 69.5 | 1,529 |
Ryne Sandberg | PHI | 2B | 1978 | 20 | 511 | 67.5 | 1,350 |
Andy Pettitte | NYY | P | 1990 | 22 | 594 | 60.8 | 1,338 |
Orlando Hudson | TOR | SS | 1997 | 43 | 1,280 | 30.9 | 1,329 |
Albert Pujols | STL | 3B | 1999 | 13 | 402 | 94.5 | 1,229 |
Kenny Lofton | HOU | OF | 1988 | 17 | 428 | 68.2 | 1,159 |
Roy Oswalt | HOU | P | 1996 | 23 | 684 | 50.2 | 1,155 |
Al Cowens | KCR | SS | 1969 | 75 | 1,028 | 15.2 | 1,140 |
Brett Butler | ATL | OF | 1979 | 23 | 573 | 49.4 | 1,136 |
Jeff Conine | KCR | 3B | 1987 | 58 | 1,226 | 19.4 | 1,125 |
Bret Saberhagen | KCR | P | 1982 | 19 | 580 | 59.2 | 1,125 |
Mark Grace | CHC | 1B | 1985 | 24 | 622 | 46.1 | 1,106 |
Jeff Kent | TOR | SS | 1989 | 20 | 523 | 55.2 | 1,104 |
Buddy Bell | CLE | 2B | 1969 | 16 | 375 | 66.1 | 1,058 |
Jorge Posada | NYY | SS | 1990 | 24 | 646 | 42.7 | 1,025 |
Ken Griffey Sr. | CIN | OF | 1969 | 29 | 682 | 34.4 | 998 |
Nolan Ryan | CIN | P | 1965 | 12 | 295 | 81.8 | 982 |