Golden age: Free agents 35 or older to watch

With Hot Stove season underway, the Braves wasted little time fortifying their rotation with a pair of 40-somethings in Bartolo Colon and R.A. Dickey.

While those two veterans will be the oldest starting pitchers in the Majors in 2017, they won’t be the only free agents who find homes despite their place on the wrong side of baseball’s aging curve. Take left-hander Rich Hill, who will turn 37 during Spring Training yet is positioned as the best starting pitcher in a thin market after posting a 2.12 ERA over 20 starts this past season.

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To be sure, such players are fighting an uphill battle. Of 127 position players who produced at least 2.0 wins above replacement (WAR) in 2016, according to Baseball-Reference.com, just six (4.7 percent) were in their age-35 season or later. Only eight pitchers that old started at least 20 games.

Those numbers speak to the risks of investing in those getting up there in years, but as Hill, Colon, Adrian Beltre and David Ortiz showed again this year, there can be rewards as well.

Here then are 10 current free agents, besides Hill, who are heading into their age-35 season or beyond but still should attract plenty of interest over the next few months. (Note: Ages listed are “seasonal ages,” meaning as of July 1, 2017).

Jose Bautista, RF, age 36Not done yet: Even in a down year, Bautista showed patience and power. The six-time All-Star finished with MLB’s third-highest walk rate and 26th-best on-base percentage (.366), plus a solid 122 weighted runs created-plus (wRC+).Warning signs: Bautista’s defense has declined, and he might fit best as a designated hitter moving forward. He also went on the disabled list twice while enduring his least productive season with the bat since 2009.

Carlos Beltran, RF, age 40Not done yet: He continues to hit from both sides of the plate, with a .295/.337/.513 line that gave him a 124 wRC+ in 2016, his fifth time in six years at 119 or higher.Warning signs: Beltran was much closer to league average at the plate after the Yankees traded him to the Rangers at the non-waiver Deadline, and his limited range in right field makes him a potential …

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