Manny Machado

Machado just turned 26 this month, can play shortstop or third base and is currently enjoying a career-best season that includes a .315 average and 24 home runs. He was traded to the Dodgers last week as a late-season rental, and expectations around the industry are that he will be in line for a contract exceeding $300 million, which would make him the first MLB free agent to cross that barrier.

Bryce Harper

The former National League MVP had been previously seen as the top player in this year’s class. Speculation a year ago centered on whether Harper would land — and was worth — a 10-year, $400 million deal, an unprecedented sum for any MLB player. But his plummeting batting average (a career-low .214) and soaring number of strikeouts (102) will likely prevent Harper, 25, from reaching that stratosphere.

Clayton Kershaw

Kershaw, a three-time NL Cy Young Award winner, can opt out of his contract after this season or finish a seven-year, $215 million deal with the Dodgers by making $32 million next year and $33 million in 2020. Injuries have been a recurring concern for Kershaw, who turned 30 in March, and it’s not clear that opting out will necessarily yield him a better deal.

Craig Kimbrel

Kimbrel is a seven-time All-Star having a stellar year (1.77 ERA, 30 saves) for the team with the best record in baseball. He’s in the last year of a five-year, $54 million contract and will likely use the five-year, $86 million deal that Aroldis Chapman got from the Yankees after the 2016 season — a record contract for a reliever — as a template for what he could get.

Andrew McCutchen

Another former National League MVP, a one-time Pittsburgh icon and a fixture of MLB marketing efforts, McCutchen has not entirely blossomed in his new surroundings this year by the Bay. But a move to a more hitter-friendly ballpark, perhaps in the American League, could reinvigorate his standing on and off the field.