We’re now a week into the regular season and most of the attention amongst clubs and fans is on the games themselves. It’s a quiet time of year from a hot stove perspective. The offseason is finished and it’s far too early for teams to kick the tires on meaningful trades. Some extension talks might trickle into the season but otherwise, transactions this time of year typically take the form of waiver claims and internal prospect promotions.

Even at a relatively quiet portion of the season, there remain a handful of notable players on the free agent market. Gary Sánchez just came off the board on a minor league deal last week, for instance. Which other players — many of whom are late-career former stars — could still find interest as depth options, particularly if they’re amenable to a minor league contract?

Miguel Sanó

Sanó had a disastrous 2022 season. Right knee troubles kept him to 20 games and 71 plate appearances, in which he hit .083/.211/.133 with only one home run. That ended his time with the Twins, who made the obvious call to buy him out of a club option, but he’s only a year removed from hitting 30 homers. Sanó has topped 25 longballs on four occasions in his career. He won’t turn 30 until next month, making him one of the younger players who didn’t sign over the offseason. Sanó reportedly held a showcase for scouts in early February but there was no publicly reported interest from any teams thereafter.

Chris Archer

Like Sanó, Archer spent the 2022 season in Minnesota but was bought out at year’s end. He tossed 102 2/3 innings across 25 outings, posting a 4.56 ERA with a modest 19.2% strikeout rate and an elevated 11% walk percentage. It was the most hittable Archer has been in his career, but he still averaged 93 MPH on his four-seam and 88.7 MPH on his slider. He’s clearly not the upper mid-rotation arm he was when he made two All-Star games during his time with the Rays, but he’s probably the top unsigned starting pitcher. Archer hasn’t been substantively linked to any team since being cut loose by Minnesota in November. Last month, Joel Sherman of the New York Post wrote that Archer had conducted a showcase for teams, though it isn’t clear when that workout occurred.