This offseason has already seen its share of blockbuster moves, headlined by Juan Soto¡¯s record-setting 15-year, $765 million deal with the Mets.

Blake Snell (Dodgers), Willy Adames (Giants) and Max Fried (Yankees) are among the other big names to change teams in free agency, while Garrett Crochet (Red Sox), Kyle Tucker (Cubs) and Cody Bellinger (Yankees) all found new homes via the trade market.

Now, the baseball world waits with anticipation to see where Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki will end up, along with fellow marquee free agents Corbin Burnes, Alex Bregman and Pete Alonso.

With all of that going on, it¡¯s no wonder that a number of other talented free agents have taken a backseat in the Hot Stove conversation. Here are five free agents in particular who have receded into the background this offseason but could end up being huge additions.

Jack Flaherty, SP
While Burnes is widely regarded as the last elite option remaining among MLB starters on the free-agent market after Snell and Fried came off the board, Flaherty might be closer to that tier than you think.

SIERA and K%-BB% are two of the best advanced metrics we have at our disposal for evaluating a pitcher¡¯s performance and projecting future success. Flaherty ranked fourth among qualifying pitchers in both areas last season, trailing only the two Cy Young Award winners -- the Braves¡¯ Chris Sale and the Tigers¡¯ Tarik Skubal -- and the Cardinals¡¯ Sonny Gray in each. Flaherty also ranked fourth among starters (minimum 750 swings) with a 32.1% whiff rate.

Despite those outstanding marks, Flaherty is often grouped with the large pool of mid-tier starters available, in part due to concerns stemming from his injury history and his subpar performance across 2020-23. But given his ceiling and age (29), it¡¯s surprising there hasn¡¯t been more reported interest in the right-hander.

Jeff Hoffman, RP
With so many similarly solid options available in the reliever market this offseason, it¡¯s been hard for any one bullpen arm to stand out from the group. Hoffman¡¯s name did pop up in a report from MLB Network insider Joel Sherman in early December, with Sherman mentioning him as someone a select group of unnamed teams were considering for a starting role. But that¡¯s been the extent of the buzz surrounding the right-hander. We should be paying more attention to Hoffman, though, as he is arguably the best reliever available, even surpassing the consensus No. 1 option, Tanner Scott. Here are some of Hoffman¡¯s notable stats (with MLB ranks) over the past two seasons:

• 34.9% whiff rate, 14th best out of 340 pitchers with at least 750 swings
• 34.3% chase rate, 8th best out of 371 pitchers with at least 750 out-of-zone pitches thrown
• 33.5% strikeout rate, T-6th best out of 344 pitchers with at least 400 batters faced
• 26.0 K%-BB%, 7th best out of 319 pitchers with at least 100 innings

Hoffman had a leg up on Scott in all four areas, with an especially sizable advantage -- 27.5% to 16.3% -- in the latter metric last season due to his drastically superior control.

Joc Pederson, DH
In addition to being a platoon hitter, Pederson is also basically a full-time designated hitter at this point in his career. After recording -20 Outs Above Average across 2021-23, he didn¡¯t make a single defensive appearance for Arizona last season. Given those limitations, no one should have been expecting an epic bidding war to unfold for Pederson this offseason. That said, it seems like Pederson¡¯s offensive value is being overlooked a bit.

Combining an excellent barrel rate (12.8%) with a lofty walk rate (12.2%), Pederson slashed .275/.393/.515 with 23 homers over 449 plate appearances in 2024. His 151 wRC+ tied for 10th among hitters with at least 400 PAs. Among hitters in the 2024 free-agent class, only Soto ranked higher.

Highest wRC+ in 2024, among hitters in 2024-25 FA class:
Minimum 400 PAs

1. Juan Soto: 180
2. Joc Pederson: 151
3. Jurickson Profar: 139
4. Teoscar Hern¨¢ndez: 134
5. Tyler O¡¯Neill: 131

Pederson also had a 144 wRC+ over 433 plate appearances for the Giants in 2022, making him one of 13 players to have multiple seasons over the past three years with 400 or more PA and a wRC+ of 140 or higher. With better batted-ball luck, the 32-year-old could have done it in all three years. While he finished 2023 with a 109 wRC+, his expected wOBA (a Statcast metric based on quality of contact, strikeouts and walks) in that season was .366 -- 35 points higher than his actual wOBA (.331) and more in line with the marks he posted in 2022 (.367) and 2024 (.378). Pederson¡¯s cumulative xwOBA of .370 since 2022 ranks 15th in MLB (minimum 1,000 PAs). Even considering that the vast majority of Pederson's plate appearances during that span (88.3%) came with the platoon advantage, that's still impressive.

Jurickson Profar, OF
You might have noticed that Profar¡¯s name was also on the aforementioned wRC+ leaderboard, right behind Pederson. Among all qualifying hitters, Profar¡¯s 139 wRC+ ranked 15th in the Majors, ahead of perennial All-Stars such as Francisco Lindor, Freddie Freeman and Rafael Devers. It¡¯s easy to write off Profar as a one-year wonder, considering what he did over his first 10 seasons, posting an overall 92 wRC+ with a single-season high of 110 (excluding his 113 wRC+ during the shortened 2020 campaign). But we shouldn¡¯t be so quick to dismiss the 31-year-old¡¯s career year.

Profar not only refined his approach at the plate, recording the lowest chase (21.9%) and whiff (17.0%) rates of his big league tenure, but also did more damage on contact than ever before. Six of the eight hardest batted balls of Profar¡¯s career came in 2024, while his average exit velocity (91.1 mph), hard-hit rate (44.4%) and barrel rate (7.2%) also surged to personal-best levels. Those figures suggest Profar¡¯s breakout wasn¡¯t just a fluke -- it was the product of tangible adjustments that hint at a sustainable evolution in his game.

Max Scherzer, SP
Each of the previous two times Scherzer was a free agent, he made history. After the 2014 season, Scherzer signed a seven-year, $210 million contract with the Nationals, setting a then-record for the largest deal ever signed by a free-agent pitcher. When that contract ended, Scherzer secured another landmark deal: $130 million over three years with the Mets, which at the time set an MLB record for the highest average annual value ($43.333 million).

Scherzer¡¯s third run at free agency has a decidedly different feel, with the veteran pitcher now 40 years old and coming off a season in which injuries limited him to just nine starts. But the three-time Cy Young Award winner might still have some value left in that esteemed right arm of his. While Scherzer can¡¯t be counted on to make 30-plus starts anymore, there¡¯s a good chance he¡¯ll have a healthier season in 2025 after having a normal offseason to prepare -- a luxury he didn¡¯t have last year after undergoing surgery to repair a herniated disc in his back in December.

When he was able to take the mound in 2024, Scherzer showed he could still generate swings outside the zone and miss bats at a high level. In fact, Scherzer¡¯s 36.4% chase rate tied for first among starting pitchers (minimum 300 out-of-zone pitches thrown), while his 29.2% whiff rate ranked T-23rd out of the 193 starters with at least 300 swings against.

Given those encouraging figures and Scherzer¡¯s renowned competitive drive, we certainly aren¡¯t counting him out. If his body cooperates at all, he could be a valuable addition to someone's rotation.