Clubs extended a record number of qualifying offers to this year’s deep free-agent class, tethering draft-pick compensation to half of this offseason’s Top 40 Free Agents. Still, with Major League Baseball flush with revenue and teams in both large and small markets eager to improve, this winter's bidding for top available talent will be vigorous.
Here’s the list of the most eligible domestic free agents — those with six or more years of major league service time, which doesn’t include other winter prizes like power-hitting first baseman Byung-Ho Park — as ranked by expected earnings:
1.