This year's free-agent class is one of the strongest in years, certainly since I started ranking free agents for ESPN.com back in November 2006, with incredible depth in starting pitching and a handful of young position players who still hold out some promise of upside. With MLB revenues showing no signs of abating, look for some eye-popping deals this winter, with several players crossing the $20 million per year mark. It's the new norm, and it's what the players earn based on the revenues they produce.
With these rankings, I try to provide a rough idea of the offer I'd be comfortable making to each player if I was the general manager of a contending team (or would-be contending team) and operating at or above the median payroll level.