Smart shopping: Hunting for FA value buys

On this Black Friday, we note that teams searching for bargains in this winter’s free-agent crop share more than a passing resemblance with shoppers doing the same at stores across the country. It’s overly crowded, somewhat insane, occasionally dangerous, and difficult to actually find anything you’d ever want to use at a price you’d actually want to pay.

After all, free agency is just about the least-efficient way to find value, if stories like Edwin Encarnacion turning down a reported $80 million — probably correctly — tell you anything. And, as FanGraphs’ Dave Cameron pointed out last summer, a large number of last year’s big-ticket free agents didn’t provide solid returns on that investment, while many smaller deals paid off handsomely.

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So, let’s dig deep into the discount bin and find some reasonably priced players who won’t be stars, and may not even be starters, who can still offer some value if deployed properly. (We’ve already pointed you to Matt Holliday, Sean Rodriguez, Juan Nicasio, Koji Uehara, Steve Pearce and Luis Valbuena in pieces here and here. 2017 projections via Steamer.)

Rajai Davis, OF2017 projection: .250/.302/.382, 83 wRC+

You may remember Davis from such moments as “hitting a game-tying home run off Aroldis Chapman in Game 7 of the World Series” and “leading the American League in stolen bases.” (As well as finishing second only to Billy Hamilton in a more advanced running stat, Base Running Runs.) It’s important to note that the fact that so much of his value is tied up in his legs causes some risk, since Davis did turn 36 years old in October.

Still, Davis made just $5.25 million last year, hit a career-high 12 homers, and can play all three outfield positions, though his below-average arm is somewhat stretched in right. He’s not likely to get more money or receive more than one guaranteed year, but he’ll give you a decent platoon bat (.288/.343/.437, 112 wRC+ career against lefties) who is a plus on the bases and adds outfield insurance. That’s a fit for 20 different teams.

Stephen Drew, 2B/SS/3B 2017 projection: .236/.305/.401, 87 wRC+

Need a shortstop in this market? Good luck with that. Now nearly 34, Drew is more of a second baseman than a shortstop these days, but the only real options at the position are Alexei Ramirez and Erick Aybar — who were two of the four weakest semi-regular hitters in baseball last year. Working around a slow start and vertigo-like symptoms, Drew put up a very impressive .266/.339/.524 (124 wRC+) line, albeit …

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