Lackluster list of players hit open market today
The MLB free agent signing period began today with 165 players hitting the open market. The list of players available for teams in need of help is pretty poor and comes no where close to matching last years list of players that included Sabathia, Teixeira, Manny, and K-Rod. This years’ class of free agents is headlined by P John Lackey and OF and postseason goat, Matt Holliday. While Holliday is not sought after because of his defensive play, he did bat .313 with 109 RBI’s last season with two teams in two leagues. Holliday will likely be finding a new home again this off-season considering his agent, Scott Boras, is going to get him the biggest deal possible. Cardinals’ owner Bill Dewitt Jr., assuming Boras’ greed, told FOX radio Tuesday that the Cards likely would not be making a strong push for Holliday. Lackey is also looking for a big deal, and the Nationals of all teams have already expressed interest.
Boras, once again, holds the grand prize
Lackey leads a list of starting pitchers whose most talented arms have major questions. Rich Harden, Erik Bedard, and Ben Sheets were all great pitchers once who have dealt with arm trouble over the past few seasons. Mark Prior is also part of this free agent group of hurt arms but his career has been done for a while now and isn’t worth mentioning. Pitchers such as Justin Duchscherer, Randy Wolf, Joel Piniero and Jason Marquis all look to get bigger contracts than the injury-prone former stars. Andy Pettitte is once again a free agent but is expected to re-sign with the Yankees.
Relief Pitching is the strength of this free agent group. The deep number of arms is headed by Jose’ Valverde and a couple of Braves Rafael Soriano and Mike Gonzalez. While these three are at the top of the heap there are plenty of good arms that could be available at a bargain. The other names in the crew of relievers include Octavio Dotel, Rafael Betancourt, Billy Wagner, and LaTroy Hawkins.
The outfielders and DH’s lack star power with few big names on the market. Jason Bay is the best available but there is no way the Red Sox will not re-sign him considering both David Ortiz and Mike Lowell become free agents in 2010. The other names, besides Holliday and Bay, include a bunch of old guys. The veteran outfielders that headline the market are Jermaine Dye and Johnny Damon. Damon and Dye, both 36, are looking for some sort of a multi-year deal so they will have a place to spend the rest of their career while scoring on another big contract. Other big name outfielders out of their prime on the market are Garret Anderson, Vladimir Guerrero, and Mike Cameron. Randy Winn and Marlon Byrd also look to get big contracts this off-season and will be as highly coveted as anyone but Damon and Dye. There are only 3 DH’S on the market worth noting and Hideki Matsui is the only one that looks to score on any sort of a big contract. The other two, Jason Giambi and Jim Thome, both 39, are just looking to continue their careers.
The infield crop of players is a little better than the outfield but not much more exciting. 3B Chone Figgins, 2B Orlando Hudson and Placido Polanco, and shortstops Orlando Cabrera, Miguel Tejada, and Marco Scutaro are the best available infielders. The best catcher available is Benji (name that) Molina with Rod Barajas, Jason Kendall, and Ivan Rodriguez also on the market. 1B has no studs but they do have three solid players. Nick Johnson, Carlos Delgado, and Adam LaRoche can all help any team with their bat. Also, Hank Blalock, who is just 29, is available and can play 1B, 3B, or DH. Other notable free agent infielders include 3B Adrian Beltre and Troy Glaus and 2B Felipe Lopez and Ronnie Belliard.
The biggest name in free agency in 09-10 isn’t even a free agent. Roy Halladay is on the trade market and will almost certainly be dealt before the season begins considering he is a free agent after the 2010 season. Look for this deal and many other free agent signings to begin to get done at baseball’s annual winter meetings that begin December 10 and last until almost Christmas. At this time, players such as Jason Bay and Andy Pettitte should be re-signed while players such as Matt Holliday and John Lackey will listen to every offer available to them until they make a decision. Being that Holliday is the biggest name on the market and Boras is his agent, look for this signing to take place in February or even March.
-scf