The Greatest Canadian MLB Free Agent Class...Ever

This winter's MLB free agent class has been labeled as 'weak', 'ordinary', 'lacking in star power' and 'more boring than an episode of Ugly Betty'. Okay, I made that last one up but for the most part, the labels are deserved. After all, it's hard to get fired up when Chone Figgins, Johnny Damon and Miguel Tejada are amongst the biggest names available.

However, when you observe with a Canadian perspective, this is without doubt our country's greatest collection of un-signed baseball talent ever available in the same off-season. It isn't a long list, with only three names on it (sorry Eric Gagne), but what it lacks in length it certainly makes up for with pure talent.

The class is headed by Trail, B.C. native Jason Bay. The right-handed, power hitting right fielder burst onto the scene by winning the NL rookie of the year in 2004 with Pittsburgh, but really made a name for himself when he was traded to Boston in the Manny Ramirez deal in 2008. It was in Boston where Bay, fueled by the constant national and local media attention as well as his first taste of a pennant race, finally had his considerable talent noticed.

In 200 games with the Red Sox, Bay hit 45 homers, drove in 157 runs, had a .380 OBP and carried Boston to within one game of the 2008 World Series. Bay reportedly turned down a four year $60 million offer from the Sox and will likely end up signing for somewhere in the neighborhood of $85 million. Unfortunately for Blue Jay fans, that neighborhood will not be in Toronto.

Bay has consistently been mentioned as one of, if not the premier free agent of the 2009 class (along with Matt Holliday and John Lackey), but seemingly forgotten are two other highly talented Canadian pitchers who have been marred by injury.

The first is Erik Bedard, who reportedly spent the last two seasons fighting with teammates and the coaching staff in Seattle. Bedard has a career record of 51-41 with a 3.71 ERA but has only managed to make 15 starts in each of the last two years. The lefty from Ottawa was so highly sought after two years ago that Seattle traded Adam Jones and George Sherill for him prior to the 2008 season (both became All-Stars in Baltimore). Not surprisingly, Bill Bavasi, the Seattle GM who made that trade, is no longer the Seattle GM.

The second is Victoria's Rich Harden, who followed up an impressive 2008 (25 starts, 10-2, 2.07 ERA, 181 K's) with a mediocre 2009 (26 starts, 9-9, 4.09 ERA, 171 K's) but has a 50-29 career record and averages better than a strikeout an inning. Harden broke into the big leagues as a 21 year-old with the Oakland Athletics and appeared to be destined for stardom but injuries have been a constant issue. He has topped 150 innings only once in his seven seasons but continues to tantalize scouts with his repertoire.

Harden turned 28 on Monday of this week and Bedard is only 30, so perhaps both will follow in the footsteps of former Blue Jay Chris Carpenter, who stuggled with injuries in his mid-twenties before blossoming into a Cy Young winner and World Series champion with the St.Louis Cardinals.

Both players, because of their injury histories, will be forced into accepting short-term deals at what will likely be deep paycuts (Bedard made $7.75M and Harden $7M in 2009). However, if both can stay healthy they certainly have the ability and talent to provide excellent value to whichever clubs end up signing them.

2008: The Best Canadian Performances

10. Chantal Petitclerc – The recent recipient of the Lou Marsh award as Canadian Athlete of the year was nothing short of dominant at the Paralympic Games last summer where she won five gold medals, three in world record times.

9. The Men's Eight Rowing team – After an extremely disappointing first week of Olympic competition for Canada, the heavily favoured Men’s Eight Rowing team captured gold and ignited the entire Canadian team.

8. Steve Nash - Although Nash failed to lead the NBA in assists for the first time in four seasons, the All-Star point guard continued his excellent play that once again made his Phoenix Suns one of the most entertaining squads in the league. (Until they screwed up and traded for Shaq.)

7. Adam van Koeverden - Entering the Beijing Games under heavy pressure as the Canadian Flag bearer van Koeverden struggled to an 8th place finish in the 1000m but rebounded to win a silver medal in the K-1 500.

6. Jason Bay - After essentially being traded for Manny Ramirez, Bay arrived in Boston at the trade deadline with very big shoes to fill…and proceeded to do just that. Knocking in 37 runs in 49 regular season games was only a warm-up, as Bay then went out and hit two decisive homers to carry the Red Sox past Anaheim in the first round of the playoffs.

5. Alexandre Despatie - Somehow managed to contend with the nearly perfect Chinese divers and ended up claiming a silver medal in the 3M springboard.

4. Jarome Iginla - The Captain of the Calgary Flames cracked the 50 goal mark for the second time in his career and led the Flames to their fourth straight playoff appearance.

3. Georges St.Pierre - Started off the year by re-claiming his UFC Welterweight title in front of his home fans in Montreal and then successfully defended the title in a unanimous decision over Jon Fitch in August.

2. The Canadian WJHC team – Won it’s fourth straight Gold Medal at the under-20 world hockey championship with a roster that once again featured several players who would shortly graduate to the NHL.

1. Simon Whitfield - The Kingston native provided the most electrifying finish to a triathlon ever when he roared from fourth all the way to the lead in the last minutes of the race, but wasn’t quite able to hang on and had to settle for Silver.