Even as the World Series gets going, the Nation has shifted its focus to next season and free agency. While this is one of the more compelling matchups in recent history (one team never in it, and other has 80+ year drought) most of us will still have only a casual interest. It’s awfully difficult to compare to last year as well.
Here are the Free Agency basics:
Teams have 15 days after the World Series to re-sign their own free agents
Arbitration eligible players can re-sign until Jan 8th – and either accept or reject arbitration by that date
Players who are not arbitration eligible must re-sign by Dec 22, or wait until May 1st of 2006
Each free agent is ranked as a Type A, B, or C. This is determined by the stats that MLB uses. Those in the top third statistically would be Type A.
The teams losing a Type A, B, or C player get compensation in the form of draft picks. Typically a Type A player would yield a 1st round pick to the team that did not re-sign them, and so on. There are more in depth rules around this, but you get the point…
Players with options (in parenthesis): Team= team decision to pick up or deny option, player= player decision, mutual= both player & team decision
Here’s a list of the “recognizable” free agents by position (those supposedly retiring are left off):
Catcher:
Benito Santiago
Charles Johnson
Sandy Alomar Jr.
Brad Ausmus
Mike Piazza
Bengie Molina
Ivan Rodriguez (Poss. Team Void Option)
Einar Diaz
Gregg Zaun (Team Option)
Mike DiFelice
First:
Mo VaughnMatt LeCroy
Rafael Palmeiro
Frank Thomas (Player + Team option)
J.T. Snow
John Olerud
Tim Salmon
Doug Mientkiewicz (Vesting Option)
Kevin Millar
Paul Konerko
Scott Hatteberg (Team Option)
Robert Fick
Tino Martinez (Team Option)
Travis Lee
Erubiel Durazo
Second:
Bret Boone
D'Angelo Jimenez
Frank Menechino
Ray Durham (Player Option)
Tony Graffanino
Todd Walker (Team + Player options)
Eric Young (Team Option)
Ronnie Belliard (Team Option)
Mark Grudzielanek
Pokey Reese (Team Option)
Miguel Cairo
Denny Hocking
Dave Berg
Bill Mueller
Scott Spiezio
Joe Randa
Chris Stynes
Jeff Cirillo
Geoff Blum
Short:
Rey Ordonez
Royce Clayton
Ricky Gutierrez
Jose Vizcaino
Desi Relaford
Alex Gonzalez (Fla)
Nomar Garciaparra
Deivi Cruz
Jose Valentin
Alex Gonzalez (Tampa)
Rafael Furcal
Benji Gil
Lou Merloni
Rich Aurilia (Mutual Option)
Rey Sanchez
Neifi Perez
Left Field:
Raul Mondesi
Ray Lankford
Bubba Trammell
Terrence Long
Quinton McCracken
Adam Hyzdu
Reggie Sanders
John Mabry
B.J. Surhoff
Carlos Lee (Team Option)
Bobby Higginson
Hideki Matsui
Randy Winn (Mutual Option)
Jeff Conine
Center Field:
Marquis Grissom
Michael Coleman
Roger Cedeno
Gerald Williams
Jacque Jones
Carl Everett (Team Option)
Preston Wilson
Bernie Williams
Kenny Lofton
Ruben Rivera
Johnny Damon
Right Field:
Orlando Merced
Michael Tucker
Sammy Sosa (Team Option)
Juan Encarnacion
Gabe Kapler
Jose Cruz Jr.
Richard Hidalgo
Juan Gonzalez
Moises Alou (Player Option)
Jeromy Burnitz (Mutual Option)
Brian Jordan
Matt Lawton
Brian Giles
Starters:
Aaron Sele
Joe Mays
Pedro Astacio
Andy Ashby
Matt Morris
Scott Elarton
A.J. Burnett
Jeff Weaver
Jason Schmidt (Team Option)
Jeff Suppan (Team Option)
Hideo Nomo
John Thomson (Team Option)
Steve Trachsel (Team Option)
Brett Tomko
Kevin Brown
Jason Johnson
Paul Byrd
Jose Lima
Ismael Valdez
Kevin Millwood
Rick Helling
Esteban Loaiza (Mutual Option)
Roger Clemens
Scott Erickson
Tony Armas Jr.
Omar Daal
Denny Neagle
Tom Glavine (Mutual Option)
Al Leiter
Mark Redman (Mutual Option + Player Option)
Jamie Moyer
Kenny Rogers
Shawn Estes
Jarrod Washburn
Glendon Rusch (Player Option)
Mid relief:
Mark Guthrie
Jeremi Gonzalez
Mike Stanton
Donovan Osborne
Felix Heredia (Team Option)
Alan Embree
Ricardo Rincon
Scott Sauerbeck
Terry Mulholland
Mike Myers
Jason Christiansen (Team Option)
Mike Matthews
Buddy Groom
B.J. Ryan
C.J. Nitkowski
Steve Reed
Bret Prinz
Brandon Duckworth
Jose Jimenez
Bob Howry
Dan Miceli
Danny Graves (Team Option)
Byung-Hyun Kim
Grant Roberts
Mike DeJean
Ricky Bottalico
Tanyon Sturtze (Team Option)
Kyle Farnsworth
Steve Karsay
Julian Tavarez
Felix Rodriguez
Paul Quantrill
Tom Gordon
Mike Timlin
Scott Sullivan (Team or Player Option)
Doug Brocail
Shigetoshi Hasegawa (Vesting Option)
LaTroy Hawkins (Player Option)
Jason Grimsley
Todd Jones
Antonio Alfonseca (Vesting Option)
Scott Williamson (Team Option)
Jay Witasick
Jeff Nelson
Jim Mecir
Kerry Ligtenberg
Matt Mantei
Closer:
Billy Koch
Trevor Hoffman
Octavio Dotel
Braden Looper (Team Option)
Billy Wagner
Jose Mesa (Team Option)
Bob Wickman
Eddie Guardado (Mutual Option + Player Option)
Ugeuth Urbina
Coming SOON!
A look at the offseason needs for Sox & Yanks
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