Christmas shopping: Top 50 Free Agents of 2009-2010

by Toxicadam on Nov 9, 2009 12:33 AM EST

See MLB trade rumors. The teams associated with the players are his guess at where they might go.

I would like to see us take Kiko Calero. Although, I worry about how he would perform in the AL.

16. Nick Johnson - Giants. A jolt of OBP at first base would do the Giants good. They were involved in talks for Johnson around the trade deadline.

24. Carl Pavano - Nationals. Back to his original organization? Pavano surprisingly managed 33 starts in '09, and his 4.16 xFIP reveals his 5.10 ERA was misleading.

33. Ben Sheets - Rangers. The Brewers and Rangers seem to be the most likely landing spots for Sheets, who had flexor tendon surgery in February and missed the '09 season. That injury caused a two-year deal with the Rangers to fall apart.

41. Mark DeRosa - Phillies. I debated flipping the DeRosa-Beltre predictions, as both the Phillies and Twins have a need at third base. DeRosa, a former Penn quarterback, has been linked to the Phils for years.

46. Jim Thome - Athletics. The A's should have their pick of affordable free agent DHs. Thome's not done; he hit .249/.366/.481 this year.

49. Kiko Calero - Rays. Calero's a health risk, so he might be cheap despite a 1.95 ERA and 10.4 K/9 in 60 innings this year. He's the type of reliever the Rays figure to add.

50. Rafael Betancourt - Rockies. I think the Rockies will work out a two-year deal to retain Betancourt as their setup man. It could include incentives for closing, should Huston Street depart after '10 or struggle before then.

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With Beltre having Minnesota on his no-trade list, and Minnesota’s payroll flexibility (although I admit I can’t pinpoint exactly what this is), I assume Phillie is a much more likely location.

Steel Nick

by nickjs21 on Nov 9, 2009 5:02 AM EST reply actions

That should be Philly, shouldn’t it? Either way.

Steel Nick

by nickjs21 on Nov 9, 2009 5:02 AM EST up reply actions

I removed 43 of the 50 entries.

It is absolutely and not even remotely okay to swipe entire articles from other websites, or even substantial portions of articles. There apparently has been some recent confusion about this, which is confusing to me, because we have been uniformly strict about this for about four years now.

by Jay on Nov 9, 2009 8:14 AM EST reply actions 1 recs

So are you saying that MLBTR actually didn’t do anything wrong?

by Brad D on Nov 9, 2009 7:43 PM EST up reply actions

It is what it is.

by Jay on Nov 9, 2009 8:13 PM EST up reply actions

It’s Dierkes or Adam, man. Pick your side.

The once and future

by Manhattan Tribe Fan on Nov 9, 2009 9:32 PM EST up reply actions

Brothers against brothers
Fathers against sons

by JRontherim on Nov 9, 2009 9:51 PM EST up reply actions

It’s their original content, so no.

by Ryan on Nov 9, 2009 10:18 PM EST up reply actions

That was supposed to come off more jokingly than it evidently did.

by Brad D on Nov 10, 2009 12:11 AM EST up reply actions

Why would anyone offer Raffy Betancourt incentives to do something at which he has so often spectacularly failed? I can imagine the negotiating sessions:

Raffy, we know you’ve really, really sucked at this in the past, but we feel the problem is that nobody has offered you extra money to do it, thus increasing the stress level of every save opportunity.

Want out of Cleveland? Easy - mess with LeBron's entourage.

by woodsmeister on Nov 9, 2009 8:56 AM EST reply actions

Frankly, I don’t really want to sign anyone with too high a price tag this offseason. I’m willing to completely boot 2010 just to see what exists in our system and see where they need to spend money (if they have any.)

Wait 'til next millennium!

by emd2k3 on Nov 9, 2009 11:50 AM EST reply actions

if we can get Harden to sign a Pavano deal, sign me up. Maybe ~1.5MM more if he pitches the same # of innings Pav did.

Finally convinced my dad that Jeter is immensely hatable.

by westbrook on Nov 10, 2009 12:46 PM EST up reply actions

Last winter’s strategy of signing the best two starters and the best hitter available contributed to the Yankees’ World Series title.

Understatement of the year?

by ken from alexandria on Nov 9, 2009 12:09 PM EST reply actions

Saying it contributed to the title or calling it a strategy?

by jakesinger777 on Nov 9, 2009 12:52 PM EST up reply actions

Calling it a strategy is actually an overstatement.

by Jay on Nov 9, 2009 1:34 PM EST up reply actions

Yeah, it wasn’t a strategy; it’s just what the Yankees do. To say it was a strategy dignifies it.

And saying that having the deepest pockets by far “contributed to” the Yankees’ World Series title is like saying that killing 20 million people “contributed to” Stalin’s bad reputation.

by ken from alexandria on Nov 9, 2009 2:23 PM EST up reply actions