5. Ian Desmond
At the bottom of the list of five is former Washington National shortstop Ian Desmond.
Prior to the 2015 season it was expected that Desmond would get a large contract following the campaign. Clearly, things didn’t go Desmond’s way and he had one of the worst years of his entire career.
Desmond finished the season with a slash line of .233/.290 /.384, a wRC+ of 83, and a WAR of 1.7. Beyond his offense, Desmond’s defense also took a big step back and he was also less of a threat to steal bases.
Despite the bad season and the shortcomings apparent in his game, Desmond is still a hot commodity and should do well this offseason, although he won’t due as well financially as he would have last offseason. Desmond is still an above average shortstop option, given the dearth of options at the position, and thus holds decent value.
Desmond can likely still find a contract in the $70-80 million range over five years, even with his decline in value due to last season’s performance.
