Free Agents now free to sign

The free-agent market is now officially open for teams to negotiate contracts with the 171 players who filed for free agency. Teams have had almost a month and a half to evaluate there teams and needs, and now it’s time to go shopping via trade or signing. Although more players may become eligible if not offered arbitration in December, the top players at their position available now are all waiting for the chance to earn a pay-raise and at the same time, try and help their new team win a championship. This is the time of year us baseball lovers look forward to, since all teams, yes even the Pirates, still feel that making the team better now translates into fans coming to the park for the 2010 season. Although the rumours are fun to evaluate, waiting for the official announcements to analyze the deals is the best part. Here is a look at the top players at their positions in this average class of free-agency of 2009


CATCHERS

Bengie Molina – still a great hitter with 20 HR, 80 RBI last season

Rod Barajas – Toronto would love to re-sign the veteran

Miguel Olivo – surprised the Royals with 23 HR, made $2.7M last season

Chris Coste – minor-league contract a possibility

Jason Kendall – still productive at age 35, career .290 hitter

Yorvit Torrealba – hit.291 in 2009

Ivan Rodriguez – can still play after a great World Baseball Classic last season

Gregg Zaun – trade to Tampa not enough for Rays, will find a team, always does!

FIRST BASE

Carlos Delgado – coming off hip injury, Mets watching him work out in December

Russell Branyan – finally put together great season with 31 HR, made $1.4M last year

Hank Blalock – still strikeouts a lot & struggles against left-handers (.221 AVG, 6 HR)

Nomar Garciaparra – still wants to play, only played in 65 games in 2009

Adam LaRoche – played extremely well for Braves after being traded a few times



SECOND BASE

Orlando Hudson – lost job in playoffs to Belliard, won gold glove in 2009 though

Ronnie Belliard – played well for Dodgers after trade, 24 games hit .351

Felipe Lopez – looking for a long term deal, hit .310 last year, always changing teams?

Placido Polanco – Tigers hope to re-sign the .303 career hitter, Phillies like him too

SHORTSTOP

Miguel Tejada – 86 RBI in 2009, won’t get the $14.8M he earned last season though

Orlando Cabrera – hopes to re-sign with Twins

Marco Scutaro – after career season, looking for a 3-year deal



THIRD BASE

Chone Figgins – hearing that a home-town discount may be on the table to stay with Angels

Adrian Beltre – hit 48 HR in 2004 for LA, hit 8 for Seattle last year!  made $13.4M

Mark DeRosa – 12 teams interested in the .275 career hitter

Pedro Feliz - option not picked up by Phillies, Seattle a fit if they don’t land DeRosa

Troy Glaus – would like to stay with Cardinals after season of injuries

Melvin Mora – looking for 1 more contract at age 37



OUTFIELD

Matt Holliday – will he get the biggest deal this off-season, most likely

Jason Bay – rejected Red Sox latest offer for $60M, could get interesting

Jermaine Dye – option not picked up by White Sox, Giants looking for outfield help

Johnny Damon – Yankees looking to offer 2-year deal, tied career high in HR (24)

Garret Anderson – hit 13 HR for Braves in 2009

Reed Johnson – can still play all 3 outfield positions, great teammate as well

Marcus Thames – seems to always hit HR, but always injured too

Rick Ankiel – struggled last year with 11 HR compared to 25 in 2008

Mike Cameron – played good defense and solid offense after returning from suspension

Andruw Jones – Rangers took a chance & showed he can still play

Scott Podsednik – White Sox re-acquired the speedy lefty & played well, stole 30 bases

Eric Hinske – which team will he follow to the World Series in 2010?

Marlon Byrd – Rangers hoping he will stay, .283 AVG, 20 HR, 89 RBI



DH

Jason Giambi – played well for the Rockies down the stretch, will get minor-league deal

Vladimir Guerrero – hopes to return to Angels, made $15M for only 15 HR

Hideki Matsui – World Series MVP should cash in nicely

Matt Stairs – wants to play 1 more season, then could be manager one day

Jim Thome – trade to Dodgers not a good fit, return to White Sox a possibility

STARTING PITCHERS

John Lackey – looking for $20M per season, best starter on market

Erik Bedard – injuries over career a concern. teams will take gamble though

Andy Pettitte – always seems to ponder future, Yankees will come calling though

Rich Harden – another Canadian pitcher that always seems to be injured, Jays a fit?

Doug Davis – had a good season with D’Backs with 9 wins, but keeps team in game

Jason Marquis – has had 6 straight seasons of 10 wins or more….how?

Pedro Martinez – looked good for Phillies, just not in Game 6 vs Yankees.

Vicente Padilla – surprised Dodgers with 4 wins in 7 starts, made $12M last year

Jon Garland – option not picked up by LA, good pitcher, has 4 really bad starts each year

Justin Duchscherer – A’s look to re-sign him after injury kept him out for 2009

Joel Pineiro – help the Cardinals stay in almost every game, 15 wins, 3.49 ERA

Ben Sheets – almost like a Mark Prior situation now, teams should take a gamble though

John Smoltz – Red Sox experiment didn’t work out, but Cardinals did, should stay in NL

Jarrod Washburn – had a 7.33 ERA in 8 starts for Tigers after the trade from Mariners

RELIEVERS

Mike Gonzalez – many teams including the Red Sox are calling

Kevin Gregg – lost closers role in Chicago to Marmol (7 blown saves) still wants to close

Fernando Rodney – saved 37 games for the Tigers with only 1 blown saves, impressive

Rafael Soriano – should probably stay in Atlanta now that Gonzalez will be gone

Jose Valverde – 25 saves good, maybe not for $8M though

Billy Wagner – still feels like he can close out games, yet to be seen after surgery

Kelvim Escobar – a wild-card to return to form, arm problems may limit his games

Brandon Lyon – made $4.25M to close for Tigers, might just be middle reliever now