Meet the Unsigned Free Agents: Yorvit Torrealba, Placido Polanco, Ramon Santiago & Juan Pierre

Yorvit Torrealba:

Another one of those veteran back up catchers that catches on with a team and gets some at bats (last year with Colorado....he even had 6 plate appearances for the Brewers in 2012). Tough to see what he brings to the table at this point. His offense is sub replacement level and his defense is starting to catch up with the offense in a bad way. While his career hitting stats have historically been under-whelming, he does have a couple of good hitting post-seasons to his credit (2007 & 2009 & 2011) but even those days seem behind us. The most similar player to him through age 34 is 1992 World Series MVP Pat Borders. While he never got more than 175 plate appearances in a season after turning 34 he managed to stick around for 8 more years and logging time with four different teams (while getting plenty of playing time in the minor leagues). Torrealba could be one of those catchers who's in and out of the majors for the next several years.

Placido Polanco:

Polanco had a few years as a decent hitter and a player who surprisingly has played in a couple of all-star games but he's definitely over the hill and would struggle to get another 400+ plate appearances unless he ended up on a team who's offense was historically bad like last year's Marlins squad. If/where he catches on its likely to be on the strength of his glove. Even though his numbers have decreased over the years, he's still above replacement level with the glove. His most similar player through age 37 was Al Dark who had one more season of below average but not horrible hitting. The end of Polanco's career is likely soon but he could help a team coming off the bench.

Ramon Santiago:

Up until doing research for this posting, I didn't know that there was a Ramon Santiago fan club. For the last several years, he's been a solid glove off the bench but not much contribution with the bat. Despite a 60 OPS+ and playing 80 games, he still almost came in with a WAR above 1 (0.9). At this point, he'd more likely to be signed to be a good clubhouse influence over on-field contributions. His most similar player through age 33 is Rocky Bridges who retired after he turned 33.

Juan Pierre:

A player who could demand a higher contract.....if they changed the rules of the game and allowed people to steal first base. Pierre has almost zero power but continues to steal 20+ bases a year even as he moves into his mid-30's. The speed is bound to betray him sooner rather than later and his hitting numbers from 2013 indicate that the same is going on to his already modest hitting abilities. His most similar hitter through age 35 was Clyde Milan who finished after an age 35 season where is hitting production quickly dropped off.