Free Agent Rankings: Closers, Mid-Tier Targets and Avoids & Potential Bargains
Rates & Barrels: A show about Baseball
The Athletic
4.7 • 874 Ratings
🗓️ 14 November 2025
⏱️ 69 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Eno and DVR discuss the closers, mid-tier hitters and starting pitchers, and potential bargains from this winter's free-agent class. Will Edwin Díaz find another five-year, nine-figure deal? For teams with limited budgets, which mid-tier players make the most sense?
Rundown
1:31 How Would You Approach This Year's Group of Relievers?
16:04 'Would You Rather?' (FA Target Preferences): Michael King, Brandon Woodruff and Shota Imanaga
28:00 The Case for Josh Naylor
32:17 Gleyber Torres' Unusual Power Drop Before Age-30
39:14 Kazuma Okamoto Expectations
43:16 Mid-Tier Targets & Avoids
59:00 The Search for Bargain Bin Free Agents
Follow Eno on Bluesky: @enosarris.bsky.social
Follow DVR on Bluesky: @DVR.bsky.social
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Hosts: Derek VanRiper & Eno Sarris
Producer: Brian Smith
Executive Producer: Derek VanRiper
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to rates and barrels. |
| 0:12.4 | It's Friday, November 14th. |
| 0:14.6 | Derek Van Riper, Inoceros, here with you with part two of our free agent rankings. |
| 0:19.0 | We're going to get those out ahead of the weekend because we have the non-tender deadline coming up in the near future. And I think we're going to see a little bit of movement prior to the winter meetings next month. So just good to get it all out there at once. Eno, how's your Friday going? Tender. Tender. What did you do? I don't know. I don't know know there's like a stomach bug going around the |
| 0:41.0 | house and i'm i'm just uh i'm wondering if i've got it i mean that stage of like hmm what is this nausea |
| 0:47.5 | yeah okay well we should keep things moving then for the sake of that's the key word the worst |
| 0:53.4 | possible outcomes we don't want that to be a part of the worst possible outcomes. |
| 0:54.5 | We don't want that to be a part of the show. |
| 0:57.3 | Well, I'm really sad that I asked you how you were doing in this instance. |
| 1:01.1 | But it is somewhat informative, I guess, for me to know that we may have to hit the pause button at some point. |
| 1:07.5 | If you want to hear what we think about the top of this free agent class and you want to know just how much Eno loves Tetsuya Imi, that is two episodes in the feed prior to this one, right? |
| 1:18.6 | It's part one of our free agent rankings. |
| 1:20.5 | Basically the top 10 and Emi where we pick it up is really with the top relievers in this market. |
| 1:27.3 | You look at this bunch. Edwin Diaz opted out of his really with the top relievers in this market. You look at this bunch. |
| 1:29.3 | Edwin Diaz opted out of his deal with the Mets. He's reportedly seeking another five-year |
| 1:34.2 | $100 million deal, but he's 32 years old. And you look at this group of relievers. It's actually |
| 1:40.9 | pretty solid all around. I mean, there's quality, there's experience, |
| 1:46.3 | there's high-end strikeout rates. You've got Diaz, Devin Williams hits free agency, Robert |
| 1:52.4 | Suarez opted out of the rest of his deal with the Padres, Ryan Helsley coming off of a, especially |
| 1:58.2 | a bad second half after the trade of the Mets, |
| 2:01.5 | Reisel Iglesias, kind of a bargain bin type maybe within this group. |
| 2:06.3 | And if you're in the market for a top tier reliever, you're probably a team that runs a massive |
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