MLB Free Agency

Less than two weeks from the scheduled start date for spring training, Jackie Bradley Jr. reportedly is seeking a significant contract in free agency.

Per Mike Puma of the New York Post, Bradley is believed to be seeking a deal "perhaps beyond four years."

Bradley hit free agency coming off arguably his best offensive season in 2020. The 30-year-old hit .283/.364/.450 with seven homers and 22 RBI in 55 games for the Boston Red Sox. 

ESPN's Buster Olney reported last week that the Red Sox are "unlikely" to re-sign Bradley because they are pushing up against the luxury-tax threshold. 

There are still several veteran outfielders available on the market, including Marcell Ozuna and Brett Gardner. Bradley is the safest bet in that group because of his defensive value in center field. He won a Gold Glove award in 2018 and ranks fifth among all center fielders with 33 defensive runs saved since 2015. 

Bradley has spent his entire career in the Red Sox organization after being selected in the first round of the 2011 MLB draft. He made his big-league debut in 2013, was named to the AL All-Star team in 2016 and won a World Series with the team in 2018.

The New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies are interested in free-agent utility man Marwin Gonzalez, who played his last two seasons with the Minnesota Twins. 

Jon Heyman of MLB Network and WFAN Sports Radio reported the Phillies' interest while also noting that Philadelphia has looked into outfielder Shin Soo-Choo and infielder Brad Miller.

Anthony DiComo of MLB.com broke the news of the Mets' interest.

Gonzalez, who turns 32 in March, had a down year in 2020 with five home runs, 22 RBI and a career-low .211 batting average and .606 OPS in 53 games.

That season was an anomaly given his recent production: He averaged 16 home runs and 62 RBI while hitting .255 (.734 OPS) over the 2018 and 2019 seasons. Gonzalez amassed the homer and RBI figures despite missing 65 games.

Gonzalez joined the big leagues in 2012 with the Houston Astros. He played in Houston for seven seasons, with his best year occurring for the 2017 World Series champions when he had 23 homers, 90 RBI, a .303 batting average and .907 OPS. 

Left-handed starting pitcher Francisco Liriano and the Toronto Blue Jays have reportedly agreed to a minor league contract, per Rob Longley of the Toronto Sun.

Liriano will be a non-roster invitee to training camp, per Longley. MLB.com defines one as follows:

"A non-roster invite (NRI) is an invitation for a player who is not on a club's 40-man roster to attend Major League camp in Spring Training and compete for a roster spot. Clubs can extend NRIs to their upper-level Minor Leaguers and also include NRIs in Minor League contracts given to free agents in the offseason."

Per Shi Davidi of Sportnet, Liriano will receive $1.5 million plus performance bonuses if he makes the Jays.

Liriano has taken the field for 14 seasons (2005-2006, 2008-2019) on six teams. He started his career with the Minnesota Twins in 2005 and took the league by storm in 2006, going 12-3 with a 2.16 ERA and 144 strikeouts in 121 innings. He finished third in the American League Rookie of the Year voting and made the All-Star team.

Unfortunately, Liriano missed the entire 2007 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He has gone 99-109 with a 4.28 ERA and 1.39 WHIP ever since.

Liriano has enjoyed some very good seasons in his career, which includes time with the Twins, Chicago White Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates (two stints), Blue Jays, Houston Astros and Detroit Tigers.

He finished 11th in the AL Cy Young voting in 2010 for Minnesota and ninth in the National League Cy Young voting in 2013 for Pittsburgh. The latter year was arguably his finest since 2006, as he went 16-8 with a 3.02 ERA and 163 strikeouts in 161 frames.

Liriano's last MLB action occurred as a Pirates reliever in 2019, when he went 5-3 with a 3.47 ERA, 1.36 WHIP and 63 punchouts in 70 frames. He opted out of the 2020 MLB season amid the COVID-19 pandemic despite having "multiple guaranteed offers" on the table, per Robert Murray of FanSided.

Now the door is open for a potential return to Toronto, where Liriano played during the 2016 and 2017 seasons.

The Kansas City Royals reportedly aren't interested in signing free-agent outfielder Yasiel Puig, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network.

Heyman added that the Miami Marlins and New York Yankees, who were "rumored to be in on Puig," aren't interested either.

The 30-year-old outfielder's last MLB action occurred during the 2019 season, when he played for the Cincinnati Reds before being traded to Cleveland. He had 24 home runs, a career-high 84 RBI, a .267 batting average and .785 OPS. He also added a career-high 19 stolen bases.

Puig missed the entire 2020 season. He agreed to a one-year deal with the Atlanta Braves on July 14, but he announced a positive COVID-19 test result three days later, nixing the contract.

Puig played the first six years of his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers, breaking into MLB with 19 home runs and a .925 OPS during his rookie year in 2013. He finished second in the National League Rookie of the Year voting behind Miami Marlins ace Jose Fernandez.

However, injuries (namely strained hamstrings in 2015 and 2016) hampered his production for much of the remainder of his Dodgers career. He did hit a career-high 28 home runs in 2017 (alongside a .833 OPS) and added 23 more in 2018 (with a .820 OPS).

The Dodgers traded Puig to the Reds in December 2018 in a seven-player deal. Puig enjoyed a power surge in Cincinnati with 22 home runs in just 100 games.

With the team out of the playoff picture, the Reds traded him to a contender in Cleveland, where Puig hit two homers, knocked in 27 runners and hit .297.

Puig has also played 58 playoff games, hitting .280 with five home runs (two in the 2017 World Series versus the Houston Astros) and 23 RBI.

Chris Archer is going back to his first Major League Baseball team.

On Tuesday, ESPN's Jeff Passan reported the right-hander and Tampa Bay Rays agreed to a one-year, $6.5 million contract pending a physical. Archer pitched for the Rays from 2012 until 2018, when they traded him to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Archer, who missed the 2020 campaign after undergoing surgery for neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome, was at his best when he was in Tampa Bay.

He was an All-Star in 2015 with a 3.23 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and 252 strikeouts in 212 innings and made his second career All-Star Game in 2017 when he finished with a 4.07 ERA, 1.26 WHIP and 249 strikeouts in 201 innings.

He also finished with an ERA below 3.40 three straight years from 2013 through 2015 and was one of the best pitchers in a daunting American League East.

The Rays could use production like that again as they look to defend their American League pennant. They traded Blake Snell to the San Diego Padres this offseason, leaving a glaring need for a top-notch starting pitcher in 2021.

It may be too much to ask of Archer for him to perform like he did in his prime considering he missed last season and posted a 5.19 ERA in 2019 for the Pirates, but he is familiar with the organization and is still just 32 years old.

He also won't have the pressure of being the staff ace with Tyler Glasnow on the team. Ironically, Tampa Bay originally acquired Glasnow in the trade that sent Archer to the Pirates.

Veteran free agent Edwin Encarnacion isn't ready to retire, and he has a lofty goal he intends on reaching by the end of his MLB career.

According to MLB Network's Jon Morosi, the 38-year-old "intends" to continue playing for two more seasons and wants to hit 500 career home runs.

The MLB journeyman has 424 home runs, good for third among active players.

The 38-year-old trails Albert Pujols (662) and Miguel Cabrera (487) on the all-time home run list among active players.

Encarnacion was a three-time All-Star when he played for the Toronto Blue Jays from 2009 to 2016, a span that followed his five-season run with the Cincinnati Reds. After leaving Toronto, he spent two years in Cleveland, split the 2019 season between the Seattle Mariners and the New York Yankees and then settled in for the pandemic-shortened season with the Chicago White Sox, who declined his $12 million option.

Last season, he appeared in 44 games, posting a career-low .157 batting average with 19 RBI and 10 home runs. His batting average ranked third-worst in MLB among players with more than 150 plate appearances last season, per Willie Keeler of FanSided.

Before he can look to reach his home run goal, the free agent will have to find a team that will take him on for 2021.