The biggest Major League Baseball free agent names are generally off the board. Of course, players who can and will have some use are waiting for an offer they deem acceptable. That includes Pat Neshek, Ben Zobrist, Russell Martin and Jason Vargas. At this point in their careers, none are likely to be the difference maker between a playoff run and being an also-ran, but all can help a team in some capacity. With spring training having just begun, there will be injuries and sudden needs to be filled. A versatile player like Zobrist could find work relatively easily despite his apparent ambivalence about playing in 2020.

There is, however, one player who could be categorized as a “star” waiting out the market: Yasiel Puig.

The negatives with Puig are well-known. He’s mercurial; he doesn’t always hustle; he has a terrible temper; being on time for him is whenever he decides to show up to the park; and he rarely listens to his manager and coaches regarding offensive and defensive game plans. The nickname “Wild Horse” fits in every conceivable context.

Still, when he feels like it, he is one of the single most game-wrecking forces in all of MLB. His reputation for trying the patience of his managers and teammates is well-known. That is not why he is still waiting for a job. Puig could have gotten a short-term deal by now had he been willing to sign one, but given his age (29) and his five-tool talent, it’s understandable for him to want a contract that is commensurate with his abilities.

Understandably, teams are reluctant to give him such a deal worth what “X player not named Yasiel Puig” would get with an identical playing history: around $100 million. While many teams would sign Puig to a contract favorable to them, Puig is clearly waiting out a fair contract. As the season draws closer, that will change. Let’s look at the six teams where there may be a match.

Cleveland Indians

Puig was traded to the Indians at the 2019 trade deadline. He played well in Cleveland with an .800 OPS in 207 plate appearances. There were no reported issues in the clubhouse and his on-field demeanor was good. Terry Francona is one of the easiest managers in the world to play for.

The Indians are limited in what they can do financially, but a one-year deal for Puig with a mutual option is presumably doable, especially when factoring in the production he brings. The window is closing for the Indians in their current configuration. With Francisco Lindor just about guaranteed to be traded at some point and Corey Kluber already gone, the Indians are heading for a retool, if not an outright rebuild. The club was middle of the pack in runs scored and their offense can use the Puig’s power.

Oakland Athletics

The A’s have been a go-to place for players in need of a one-year, mutually beneficial deal to rehabilitate their reputation and enhance their value for another try at free agency the next off-season. General manager Billy Beane and manager Bob Melvin are known to handle difficult players.

There is space for Puig in their lineup. Stephen Piscotty is listed as their primary right fielder. He’s a productive player, but not a star talent on the level of Puig. With the Houston Astros reeling and vulnerable and the rest of the American League West not having improved to a major degree, the A’s could see the opening to go for the division title and sign Puig to enhance their chances.

Texas Rangers

The Rangers are in that unique “what are they?” place where it’s difficult to pigeonhole them. They’ve had three consecutive bad seasons, but have enough talent on the roster to justify categorizing them as a darkhorse contender in 2020. They’ve added Kluber, Kyle Gibson, Robinson Chirinos and Todd Frazier. These are not earth-shattering moves, but for a team that has a decent foundation, they’re good additions.

Joey Gallo is listed as their right fielder, but he’s so flexible defensively that if they chose to, they could find a spot for Puig. They’re no longer in the offensive launching pad at Rangers Ballpark at Arlington and are set to begin play in the new Globe Life Field this season. Will the landscape be different for their hitters? If so, they could account for that and sign Puig, whose power cannot be constrained by any park. They did well in 2019 with their low-cost signing of Hunter Pence. Puig could be a bigger addition.

Much like the Athletics, they too can be aggressive in trying to take down the Astros.

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Joe Maddon has a history of corralling players with dicey reputations. The Angels hired Maddon with great fanfare and were expected to dive deeply into free agency. They did…to a point. Anthony Rendon signed a $245 million contract. They signed Jason Castro. Apart from that, they acquired Dylan Bundy and signed Julio Teheran. These moves were not sufficient to bridge the gap between them and the Athletics, let alone the Astros.

Their starting pitching is weak. Their bullpen is mediocre. They can hit and they can catch the ball. There are two ways to go about addressing team issues: improve weaknesses or bolster strengths. The Angels are limited to the latter with Puig.

Currently, their depth chart lists Brian Goodwin in right field. Goodwin is a solid bench player. Their best prospect, Jo Adell, is a right fielder, but he’s turning 21 in early April and only has 248 games of professional experience. Puig would be a good stopgap as they wait for Adell. On days Shohei Ohtani pitches, they could use the extra offensive pop with Puig.

Miami Marlins

The mutual loathing between Puig and Marlins manager Don Mattingly is well-known from their days with the Los Angeles Dodgers. There was speculation that the Marlins might be a good spot for him earlier in the winter, but it petered out.

This is the ultimate win-win situation for both parties. Time is running out for Lewis Brinson to show he can be an everyday player. They could be shifting players around the field with a fair number of at-bats for Puig in right field. Although the Mattingly-Puig relationship could be problematic, there is something to be said for familiarity. At least each knows what to expect from the other and it’s possible that Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada could have a decent influence on Puig so he would at least try and behave a little more professionally.

Since the Marlins are not contenders in 2020, he would also be trade bait for a contender at midseason and the Marlins could accrue a few prospects in exchange.

St. Louis Cardinals

The Cardinals had offensive woes in 2019, finishing 10th in the National League in runs scored. This winter, they lost Marcell Ozuna who had 29 home runs and an .800 OPS. They also traded away Jose Martinez. They are relying heavily on a rebound season from Matt Carpenter, a major improvement from Harrison Bader and youngsters Tommy Edman and Tyler O’Neill. O’Neill has an extensive injury history.

They won the National League Central based on the Chicago Cubs having a down year and the Milwaukee Brewers playing inconsistently until a scorching hot September. The division is parity-laden, so they can win it again. Adding Puig’s offense is an insurance policy, difficult to handle though he may be.

For someone who is generally considered one of the genuinely nicest people in sports, Tim Tebow is a polarizing figure. Not because his affability and kindness are perceived as artificial, but because he is not considered to be a prospect in either of the sports he’s played as a professional: football and baseball. Now that the Vince McMahon-led XFL is operating again, their need for star power and the opportunity for players who are seeking a last chance at the NFL seemed perfect for someone like Tebow.

Tebow, however, said that he had conversations with the XFL, but ultimately decided to stick with baseball. This could be construed in multiple ways. Without condemning him or accusing him of being intentionally misleading, it’s important to consider his future in the context of both football and baseball and understand that he has hit his ceiling in both.

For baseball, he must know the truth about his big-league dream. He’s 32 and despite having surprisingly solid numbers at Double-A Binghamton in 2018 (a .734 OPS in 298 plate appearances), an injury-plagued and poor season at Triple-A Syracuse with a .495 OPS made clear that he is not sufficiently talented to play in the majors as anything other than a gimmick. He does have some ability, admittedly the natural, athletic kind and not specific baseball skills. Had he played baseball professionally right out of high school, he might have had a chance.

If the Mets or anyone else ever did promote him to the majors, he would likely run into a few fastballs from pitchers who refused to give in by throwing breaking balls to a player they do not deem to be on their level and hit a home run or two. That would make him a big leaguer, but only technically. This is something that occurs more often than people realize.

As a concession to Tom Glavine when he left the Atlanta Braves and signed with them after the 2002 season, the Mets also signed his brother Mike Glavine. The younger Glavine played with the Braves before he played with the Mets and had never made the majors. The Mets recalled him late in the 2003 season at age 30, clearly as a favor to Tom.

Pete Rose’s namesake son was a career minor-leaguer who played in 11 games for the Cincinnati Reds in 1997 at age 27. Adam Greenberg was a Chicago Cubs prospect in 2005 when, in his first major-league at-bat, he got hit in the head by the Florida Marlins Valerio De Los Santos. He never returned to the majors until seven years later when those same Marlins signed him and gave him an at-bat on the next-to-last day of the season. Bill Veeck’s midget for the St. Louis Browns, Eddie Gaedel, is still on Baseball-Reference as having played in the majors.

Presumably, Tebow understands that he is not going to make it in baseball. It’s doubtful his minor-league foray will go on for much longer, making the XFL an appealing option.

Tebow is a football player who wanted to be a quarterback. This is somewhat admirable given that he could easily have played a role comparable to the New Orleans Saints’ Taysom Hill, had a job in the NFL and possibly evolved into an indispensable X-factor as Hill has – someone who can perform multiple tasks with the arm to throw, the strength to take punishment and the willingness to do whatever is needed to help the team.

Previously, he had rejected an offer from Steve Spurrier to play in the Alliance of American Football.

The XFL is an ideal place for him to show his wares and to lay to rest the most common complaint about him as a quarterback: his lack of accuracy as a thrower. It’s also the last place he can do this if he has any inkling about playing football again.

Is Tebow calculating enough that he’s unsure if the XFL will exist long enough to make it worth his while to jump to the league and have the Mets wash their hands of him? It may be in the back of his mind. Judging by how many leagues have tried to supplement the NFL with more football and ended up on the scrapheap, he’s not wrong to hesitate.

As positive a thinker as Tebow is on the surface, he must also realize that his age and lack of sufficient tools to be an effective NFL quarterback are issues too vast to overcome. It’s even too late for him to accept that reality and do what many NFL executives wanted him to do to begin with: move to a different position like safety.

It would be a surprise to see him on a football field again as anything but a goodwill ambassador. For the Mets, critics have relentlessly attacked the organization for using Tebow to boost its attendance in the minors, sell some memorabilia and garner attention in a gauche, carnival freak way.

Still, when the Mets signed him, other teams were looking at him and considering it. He has proven to have sufficient athletic ability to hold his own on the field up to Double-A where the truly legitimate prospects show themselves and the others are prey in the survival of the fittest. If nothing else, he has been a tremendous role model for his teammates and a positive influence on the organization with his sunny attitude, charm and likability.

If his career as an athlete ends having never made a notable mark in either baseball or football, his post-career life will likely be a success due to the personal attributes he has shown when he played. That his dual-sport career was one of a journeyman at best is secondary.

Fans of the New York Yankees will not appreciate this shot to the solar plexus, but with the suddenly questionable status of projected number two starter Luis Severino, their off-season has been New York Mets-like. Obviously, it was not identical to a Mets off-season because the Mets, under the Wilpons, would not spend the $324 million the Yankees did to sign Gerrit Cole.

Apart from that, the Yankees did nothing noteworthy to improve their roster. In fairness, they won 103 games in 2019 and, apart from a true ace at the top of the starting rotation, had few glaring holes to fill. Still, they did not acquire any other established major leaguers. In addition to Cole, they retained Brett Gardner and Aroldis Chapman, but that was it.

The players they lost might not have been critical to their operation, but Didi Gregorius is a potent bat, solid defender and good natured leader in the clubhouse; Dellin Betances had an injury-filled 2019, but was a key bullpen component for five years; Edwin Encarnacion was a power threat; and Austin Romine a serviceable backup catcher.

Had they adequately replaced these players, it would have been fine. They didn’t. What they instead chose to do is identical to what the Mets have done on an annual basis and, ironically, did not do this past winter: rely on unheralded players whose previously journeyman careers had a wondrous rise and expect veterans who suffered injuries to return completely healthy.

Fans whose eyes glazed over at the highly expensive signing of Cole have their shiny new toy, expected to be the final piece of the puzzle to break their championship drought now in its second decade. This has distracted from the team’s reliance on Severino and other players who do not warrant being categorized as automatic.  The list of players about whom the question “are they really expecting?” should be asked is troublingly long.

Are they really expecting Giancarlo Stanton (who played 18 games in 2019) to be healthy and reliable as a force and not the streaky stat-compiler he was in 2018?

Are they really expecting Aaron Judge (limited to 102 games in 2019 and already dealing with a shoulder issue) to be healthy all season?

Are they really expecting Gio Urshela and Michael Tauchman to repeat their borderline miraculous career turnarounds that happened at the late ages of 27 and 28 respectively after doing next-to-nothing in the majors before donning pinstripes?

Are they really expecting D.J. LeMahieu to repeat his .349 batting average on balls in play (BAbip)?

Finally, are they really expecting Severino to be a consistent cog in their starting rotation after missing almost the entire 2019 season and showing up injured in 2020?

The Yankees pulled a George Steinbrenner-esque maneuver when, after their injury-plagued 2019, they fired their strength and conditioning coach Matt Krause. Yet they are again confronted with a litany of injuries a week into spring training, one of which could largely cancel out the signing of Cole.

The injuries to Severino and James Paxton put the Yankees in a position where they must rely on J.A. Happ, who they were initially trying to trade to shed his salary after they signed Cole; and Jordan Montgomery, returning from Tommy John surgery.

Currently, the only truly reliable, high-end starting pitchers they have are Cole and Masahiro Tanaka.

Severino missed nearly the entire 2019 season with shoulder inflammation. Now, with a forearm issue and an undetermined status, the Yankees are facing another potential absence for an extended time-period. The team is putting on a brave public front regarding Severino’s injury, downplaying its severity while at the same time saying that he might need to begin the season on the injured list. This too has become commonplace in the Bronx despite their players’ injuries often resulting in the worst-case scenario.

Hype aside, there are legitimate questions that should be asked as to whether the Yankees should have stopped at Cole. The Boston Red Sox might not be a major threat to them in 2020, but the upstart Tampa Bay Rays are. The Houston Astros, despite being under siege, are still a very good team. The Cleveland Indians and Minnesota Twins are solid. There are always at least two surprise teams.

Perhaps they will get lucky in way the crosstown Mets never seem to when using that “if only” strategy. However, the Yankees base their success or failure on whether they win a championship or not, so the foundation is different from the Mets’. Using the same blueprint is likely a mistake that could cost them in a similar way. The main difference is that their fans will not be waiting for it like an annual shoe dropping on the heads of Mets fans, knocking them out until the next spring training when it can start all over again.