Major League Baseball’s free agents have been picked almost cleanly this season.
But not completely!
A few shucked baseball players still stand in the cornfields, and athletes with big resumes are hoping for a major league job. Most will eventually find work, but how can you stay sane until that happens?
If they want to, and have fun for a week or two in the Cactus and Grapefruit leagues, the remaining free agents could come together to form a pretty decent barnstorming club in spring training. Didn’t super agent Scott Boras offer this up periodically to help break free agent logjams during this particularly strange offseason? Take a look again at our offers once the upcoming lockdown is over. I assume so.
For now, let’s focus on hope, not fate. For example, imagine a split-squad event hosted by the Arizona Diamondbacks at Salt River Field. Instead of watching the D-backs take on the lower half of the Los Angeles Angels, fans watched our free agent Barnstormers.
Free agent outfielder available
The outfield consists of 37-year-old Starling Marte, 30-year-old Alex Verdugo, and a platoon of 32-year-old Jesse Winker and 38-year-old Tommy Pham.
Marte can still play for the New York Mets in 2025, hitting .270/.335/.410 with 9 home runs in 98 games. That’s about 12% better than league average and worth 1.0 WAR on Baseball-Reference (less on Fangraphs). Our star Barnstormer may not be attending the entire tour, as Marte is rumored to be in negotiations with the Kansas City Royals. But he’s probably better than a third of the league’s leading hitters. But as March approaches, he is still a free agent.
The same goes for some infielders you’ve probably heard of. They include 41-year-old Justin Turner, 31-year-old Rowdy Tellez, 36-year-old Jose Iglesias, 29-year-old Luis Urias and 36-year-old John Berti. Power, defense, positional versatility. Fan friendly.
The biggest lineup attraction may be DH Andrew McCutchen. He’s easy to root for, and he’s one of the best players of his generation not to make the Hall of Fame. Cutch hit .239/.333/.367 with 13 home runs in 135 games for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2025… and it looks like he’s not nearly done. A farewell tour in the spring sunshine would be a great way for him to find one final team to finish his career.
The Barnstormers’ best unit might be their pitching. This makes sense, as most free-agent teams are waiting for more under contract players to go down with injuries. From that perspective, it may be difficult to convince pitchers to actually pitch in games for the Barnstormers.
But if possible, the rotation would be:
30-year-old right-hander Jack Littell
30-year-old right-handed pitcher Lucas Giolito
35-year-old right-handed pitcher Marcus Stroman
34-year-old right-hander John Gray
39-year-old left-handed pitcher Wade Miley
Is that rotation better than the White Sox or Rockies? Not really, but not far off either. Littell posted a 3.81 ERA with 130 strikeouts in 32 starts for the Rays and Reds in 2025. Giolito had a 3.41 ERA in 26 starts for the Red Sox. Heck, if he and Littell were built, the Barnstormers might even take the first two games of this tour.
First of all, if Giolito and Pham were in the same clubhouse at the same time, the social/philosophical/political conversation would have been epic. MLB Network should follow the Barnstormers for this dynamic.
Hey, they also need a bullpen. That could actually be a problem as the FA relief corps has become thinner. However, left-handers Danny Coulombe and Jalen Beeks are both expected to help some major league teams in 2026. And given the fickle nature of relief pitching in general, who wouldn’t want right-handers José Leclerc, Michael Kopech, Kendall Graveman, and Tommy Kahnle to come together to form a major league team’s middle-of-the-road bullpen? Unless they strain something.
Who will manage this motley crew? Dave Martinez is available, but he’ll find it difficult to keep the Barnstormers interested after saying failure is “a no-no in coaching.” (Don’t say it out loud, Dave.) Bud Black and Rocco Baldelli are not in management and currently have good consultant jobs, so they probably won’t be available.
This means we can entrust Pham with the managerial duties as player-manager. Let him tell Winker what to do and it would be the best reality TV show ever.
Spring training is now just a few weeks away. MLB, let’s make this happen.
