Unsigned Free Agents Added To FAAB Pool Now

[Greg Ambrosius]

When we don't have things exactly right we admit our mistake and correct it. That's what we're doing now with the list of unsigned free agents in Major League Baseball.

As you know, all players were available to be picked up in free agency in Week 1 because MLB final 25-man rosters weren't readily available as we were finalizing the first week of FAAB. The only way to do that with the Thursday start this year would have been to pull out all players not on the 25-man roster on Friday and Saturday. That would have really messed up the first week of FAAB, so we waited until Week 2 to finalize all 25-man rosters in FAAB. All players were available to be picked up if they weren't drafted in your league in Week 1 FAAB.

Week 2's free agent list was thinned by players who didn't make the 25-man roster and we finalized that over the weekend. Only players on MLB rosters or players who were originally drafted and cut in Week 1 were available to be picked up in FAAB last Sunday.

But our rules are clear about unsigned free agents and they weren't added to the Week 2 pool. The rule reads:

Participants should also note that MLB unsigned veteran free agents at the time of Draft Day are eligible to be picked up or bid on in all NFBC leagues.

We did not have that right last week as I screwed up adding them for the programmers. We could not just add them all on Sunday, so we are correcting our mistake this week. None of these unsigned free agents were signed over the last week and their playing status is the same today as it was last week. But let's get them into the free agent pool in every league where they weren't drafted and comply fully with the rules as they are written.

This is an unprecedented off-season for unsigned free agents, so this list is longer than expected. But these players still aren't retired or signed to a minor-league contract, so they are available now. If they do sign with a team and go to the minors, they will not be available to be picked up after their signing until they reach the majors. Here's the list and let us know if we've missed anyone:

Jose Bautista, OF
Melky Cabrera, OF
Mike Aviles, SS
Joe Blanton, P
Josh Collmenter, P
Yunel Escobar, 3B
Andre Ethier, OF
Scott Feldman, P
Matt Garza, P
Conor Gillaspie, 3B
Jason Grilli, P
Franklin Gutierrez, OF
JJ Hardy, SS
Aaron Hll, 2B/3B
Ubaldo Jimenez, P
John Lackey, P
Jeff Locke, P
Tyler Moore, P
Bryan Morris, P
Brandon Moss, 1B
Jake Peavy, P
Jhonny Peralta, 3B
Brandon Phillips, 2B/3B
Chad Qualls, P
Mark Reynolds, 1B
Trevor Rosenthal, P
Justin Ruggiano, OF
Carlos Ruiz, C
Seth Smith, OF
Drew Storen, P
Huston Street, P
Rickie Weeks, 1B

Thanks for your patience and good luck if you're interested in any of these free agents going forward.