Who are the 10 most hyped free agents ever?
Mike Lupica
@MikeLupicaThe whole world, and not just the baseball world this time, waits to see where Shohei Ohtani, a slugger and a star pitcher the way Babe Ruth was more than 100 years ago, is going to sign now that he¡¯s a free agent. And even though no one is quite sure when he will pitch again because of elbow surgery, he is expected to sign the largest free-agent contract in baseball history.
For now, though, Ohtani is The One. But baseball stars have been hitting the market for a half-century of free agency, and dominating the coverage of ¨C and interest in ¨C baseball¡¯s after-season, every single year.
Here is our completely arbitrary and totally fun list of the biggest free agents baseball has ever had. And by the way? This isn¡¯t about the money they made at the time, because the money, obviously, keeps getting bigger. And this isn¡¯t about what happened to them after they signed, both on and off the field.
This is about the hype and excitement they generated when they all were The One:
1. Alex Rodriguez, SS, 2000-01 offseason
Previous team: Mariners
Signed with: Rangers
He was 25 when he hit the market in the baseball winter of 2000. Again: This isn¡¯t about what we discovered about him later. This is about what we saw then. And what we saw was a shortstop who¡¯d hit 125 homers his last three seasons with the Mariners, and knocked in 367 runs. Then he went to the Rangers and hit 52 homers, then 57 and 47 in his first three seasons there, and knocked in 135 and 142 and 118.
2. Barry Bonds, OF, 1992-93 offseason
Previous team: Pirates
Signed with: Giants
He was 28 years old when he left the Pirates for the Giants in 1992, and was the best all-around player in the game, and already one of the best ever. He had won an MVP in his last year with the Pirates, then went to San Francisco and won another the very next year with the Giants, and he was a mortal lock to make it to Cooperstown. He never did.
3. Shohei Ohtani, DH/RHP, 2023-24 offseason
Previous team: Angels
Signed with: TBD
If his arm were healthy, and he were going to pitch next season, wherever he ends up playing, this 29-year-old would be at the top of this list. But he is recovering from elbow surgery, which means that for the time being, he is just a star slugger. It¡¯s why he¡¯s hitting No. 3 in this particular order. For now.
4. Aaron Judge, OF, 2022-23 offseason
Previous team: Yankees
Signed with: Yankees
No. 99 ended up staying with the Yankees after hitting 62. But he had the right to leave, and there was a time last winter when the Giants went hard after him, the way they had thirty years earlier after Barry Bonds. Judge was a little older hitting the market, at 30, than most of the others on our list. Still: He had just hit more home runs than Ruth, or Roger Maris, or any other American League slugger in the history of the game.
5. Catfish Hunter, RHP, 1974-75 offseason
Previous team: A's
Signed with: Yankees
When he was still with the Oakland A¡¯s, he was declared a free agent in December of 1974 because of a breach-of-contract dispute with A¡¯s owner Charles O. Finley settled in Hunter¡¯s favor. Two weeks later, he signed with the Yankees, and became the highest-paid player in history at that point. All he had done in his last five seasons with the A¡¯s was win 18, 21, 21, 21 and 25 games, and help pitch them to three straight World Series titles in that span. At his best, and Cat was still at his best then, he was one of the true aces of all time.
6. Reggie Jackson, OF, 1976-77 offseason
Previous team: Orioles
Signed with: Yankees
A couple of years later, Catfish¡¯s teammate with the A¡¯s, Reggie -- after spending a year in Baltimore following a trade -- signed with the Yankees and, well, the rest is history. As great as Catfish had been in Oakland, Reggie was a rock star. In his first season with the Yankees, they won their first World Series since 1962, and he capped off all of it by hitting three home runs in Game 6 of the ¡¯77 World Series against the Dodgers.
7. Greg Maddux, RHP, 1992-93 offseason
Previous team: Cubs
Signed with: Braves
He left the Cubs at the age of 26 and signed with the Braves, where he and Tom Glavine and John Smoltz became like some sort of pitching Mount Rushmore in Atlanta, all of them in the Hall of Fame now. Maddux pitched 11 seasons for the Braves, winning 194 games on his way to 355 for his career.
8. Randy Johnson, LHP, 1998-99 offseason
Previous team: Astros
Signed with: D-backs
He was already 35 years old when he got to Arizona. But he would help pitch the D-backs to the one World Series title in their history, starting and winning Game 6 against the Yankees, then coming out of the bullpen the next night to pitch the last inning and a third of Game 7. The Big Unit originally signed a four-year deal with Arizona and won the Cy Young Award in all four seasons. Hard to imagine a free-agent contract working out any better than that.
9. Bryce Harper, OF/1B, 2018-19 offseason
Previous team: Nationals
Signed with: Phillies
He had been a baseball star from the time he was a teenager with the Nationals. He was still just 25 when he signed his long-term free-agent contract with the Phillies, won his second MVP award in his third season in Philly, hit them into the World Series in 2022 and nearly did it again this past season. He has been exactly what they thought he would be.
10. Carlos Beltrán, OF, 2004-05 offseason
Previous team: Astros
Signed with: Mets
It¡¯s hard to overstate the kind of hype he had when he hit the market almost two decades ago. He was coming off a crazy October for the Astros in 2004, eventually signing with the Mets. Beltr¨¢n played 12 postseason games that year, belting eight home runs and knocking in 14 runs while hitting .455 in the NLDS against the Braves, then .417 in the NLCS against the Cardinals.
That¡¯s our Top 10. Yours is probably different because that¡¯s how it goes in baseball, where the best conversations are on subjects like these. Our honorable mention list is endless, too: Manny Ramirez and Vlad Guerrero Sr., Corey Seager and Josh Hamilton, Manny Machado and CC Sabathia and Gerrit Cole, Albert Pujols and Albert Belle and Dave Winfield. There¡¯s another 10 names right there, and more lining up behind them.
Now Shohei is about to join the list. He¡¯s The One. Just remember: There have been others.