KC's Cueto, Cards' Heyward among free agents to hit open market

NEW YORK -- Pitchers David Price, Johnny Cueto, Jordan Zimmermann, Jeff Samardzija and Scott Kazmir were among 139 players who became free agents Monday.

About three dozen more players might go on the market, including Zack Greinke, depending on decisions this week about 2016 options and opt-out clauses.

Price, Cueto and Kazmir may be especially attractive because teams that sign them won't lose amateur draft picks. Each was traded during the season, which means the clubs they landed with can't make $15.8 million qualifying offers, which attach the draft-pick penalty.

Among the position players on the market are outfielders Yoenis Cespedes, Jason Heyward and Justin Upton; catcher Matt Wieters; first basemen Chris Davis and Mike Napoli; second basemen Daniel Murphy, Ben Zobrist and Howie Kendrick; and shortstop Ian Desmond.

Cardinals exercise option on Jaime Garcia

ST. LOUIS -- The Cardinals officially exercised their $11.5 million option on left-hander Jaime Garcia and declined their $9 million mutual option on right-handed reliever Jonathan Broxton, who gets a $2 million buyout.

St. Louis also said Monday that infielder Pete Kozma and catchers Ed Easley and Travis Tartamella were removed from the 40-man roster and have been assigned outright to Class A Memphis.

The 29-year-old Garcia was 10-6 with a 2.43 ERA in 20 starts following thoracic outlet surgery, including 7-2 from Aug. 8 on before losing to the Chicago Cubs in the NL Division Series. He is 52-32 with a 3.31 ERA in 126 regular-season games.

Broxton, 31, was 3-3 with a 2.66 ERA in 26 games after he was acquired from Milwaukee at the trade deadline.

The 27-year-old Kozma, a former first-round draft pick, played in 76 games last season. Easley, 29 and Tartamella, 27, both made their major league debuts.

Game 5 ratings the highest in six years

NEW YORK -- The World Series' Game 5 had its highest television rating since 2009.

The Royals' 7-2 win over the Mets in 12 innings Sunday night to win their first championship since 1985 averaged a 10.0 rating and 17 share and 17.2 million viewers on Fox. The network said Monday it was the highest-rated Game 5 since the Yankees-Phillies World Series six years ago.

The World Series averaged 14.7 million viewers, up 6 percent from last year's Giants-Royals matchup that went the full seven games.

-- From wire reports