Anyone following baseball this season?

[dfreely]

Well, now that it's all over, let's talk offseason.

Some teams are already making moves.. Angels just signed Abreu to a 2-year, $19 million deal. A lot of money for an aging outfielder.

[coolmoors]

The braves need a 1B and a closer. Anyone know who's in the market?

[dfreely]

Why don't they just resign LaRoche and Soriano/Gonzalez.. they seem to be among the best options for their positions in terms of free agents. I think the Rays are also putting Carlos Pena on the market.

I'd be happy if the Mets get either of those 1B.. how desperate for 25 home runs we are.

[coolmoors]

Here is a list of this years free agents:

Catchers
Eliezer Alfonzo (31)
Brad Ausmus (41)
Paul Bako (38)
Rod Barajas (34) - Type B
Josh Bard (32)
Michael Barrett (33)
Henry Blanco (38)
Ramon Castro (34)
Chris Coste (37)
Sal Fasano (38)
Toby Hall (34)
Michel Hernandez (31)
Ramon Hernandez (34) - $8.5MM club option with a $1MM buyout - Type B
Jason Kendall (36) - Type B
Jason LaRue (36)
Chad Moeller (35)
Bengie Molina (35) - Type A
Jose Molina (35)
Miguel Olivo (31) - Type B
Mike Redmond (39)
Ivan Rodriguez (38) - Type B
Brian Schneider (33)
Yorvit Torrealba (31) - Type B
Matt Treanor (34)
Javier Valentin (34)
Jason Varitek (38) - $3MM player option plus incentives - Type B
Vance Wilson (37)
Gregg Zaun (39) - Type B

First basemen
Rich Aurilia (38)
Jeff Bailey (31)
Wilson Betemit (28)
Hank Blalock (29)
Russell Branyan (34)
Miguel Cairo (36)
Frank Catalanotto (36)
Tony Clark (38)
Carlos Delgado (38) - Type B
Nomar Garciaparra (36)
Ross Gload (34)
Eric Hinske (32)
Nick Johnson (31) - Type B
Adam LaRoche (30) - Type B
Doug Mientkiewicz (36)
Kevin Millar (38)
Fernando Tatis (35) - Type B
Chad Tracy (30)
Daryle Ward (35)
Dmitri Young (36)

Second basemen
Ronnie Belliard (35) - Type B
Jamey Carroll (36)
Alex Cora (34)
Craig Counsell (39)
Mark DeRosa (35) - Type B
Nick Green (31)
Jerry Hairston Jr. (34)
Orlando Hudson (32) - Type A
Adam Kennedy (34)
Felipe Lopez (30) - Type B
Mark Loretta (38)
Pablo Ozuna (35)
Placido Polanco (34) - Type A
Luis Rodriguez (30)
Juan Uribe (31)

Shortstops
Orlando Cabrera (35) - Type A, can't be offered arbitration
Juan Castro (38)
Alex Cora (34)
Craig Counsell (39)
Bobby Crosby (30)
Adam Everett (33)
Chris Gomez (39)
Alex Gonzalez (32)
Nick Green (31)
Khalil Greene (30)
Jerry Hairston Jr. (34)
John McDonald (35)
Luis Rodriguez (30)
Marco Scutaro (34) - Type A
Miguel Tejada (36) - Type A
Omar Vizquel (43)
Jack Wilson (32) - $8.4MM club option with a $600K buyout

Third basemen
Rich Aurilia (38)
Brian Barden (29)
Adrian Beltre (31) - Type B
Wilson Betemit (28)
Aaron Boone (37)
Craig Counsell (39)
Joe Crede (32)
Bobby Crosby (30)
Mark DeRosa (35) - Type B
Pedro Feliz (35)
Chone Figgins (32) - Type A
Nomar Garciaparra (36)
Troy Glaus (33) - Type B
Nick Green (31)
Adam Kennedy (34)
Mike Lamb (34)
Mark Loretta (38)
Melvin Mora (38) - Type B
Pablo Ozuna (35)
Robb Quinlan (33)
Miguel Tejada (36) - Type A
Juan Uribe (31)

Left fielders
Garret Anderson (38) - Type B
Marlon Anderson (36)
Jason Bay (31) - Type A
Emil Brown (35)
Marlon Byrd (32) - Type B
Johnny Damon (36) - Type A
David Dellucci (36)
Cliff Floyd (37)
Joey Gathright (28)
Matt Holliday (30) - Type A
Reed Johnson (33)
Greg Norton (37)
Wily Mo Pena (28)
Manny Ramirez (38) - $20MM player option - Type A
Dave Roberts (38)
Gary Sheffield (41)
Fernando Tatis (35) - Type B
Marcus Thames (33)
Randy Winn (36) - Type B

Center fielders
Rick Ankiel (30)
Rocco Baldelli (28)
Marlon Byrd (32) - Type B
Mike Cameron (37) - Type B
Endy Chavez (32)
Coco Crisp (30)
Darin Erstad (36)
Jeff Fiorentino (27)
Ryan Freel (34)
Joey Gathright (28)
Jerry Hairston Jr. (34)
Reed Johnson (33)
Andruw Jones (33)
Corey Patterson (30)
Scott Podsednik (34)
DeWayne Wise (32)

Right fielders
Jermaine Dye (36) - Type A
Brian Giles (39) - Type B
Vladimir Guerrero (35) - Type B
Joey Gathright (28)
Eric Hinske (32)
Geoff Jenkins (35)
Austin Kearns (30)
Jason Michaels (34)
Xavier Nady (31) - Type B
Randy Winn (36) - Type B

Designated hitters
Hank Blalock (29)
Jason Giambi (39)
Ken Griffey Jr. (40)
Vladimir Guerrero (35) - Type B
Aubrey Huff (33)
Hideki Matsui (36)
Gary Sheffield (41)
Matt Stairs (42)
Mike Sweeney (36)
Jim Thome (39)

Starting pitchers
Brandon Backe (32)
Cha Seung Baek (30)
Miguel Batista (39)
Erik Bedard (31) - Type B
Kris Benson (34)
Paul Byrd (39)
Daniel Cabrera (29)
Chris Capuano (31)
Aroldis Chapman (22)
Bartolo Colon (37)
Jose Contreras (38)
Doug Davis (34) - Type B
Justin Duchscherer (32) - Type B
Adam Eaton (32)
Shawn Estes (37)
Josh Fogg (33)
Jon Garland (30) - Type B
Tom Glavine (44)
Mike Hampton (37)
Rich Harden (28) - Type B
Mark Hendrickson (36)
Livan Hernandez (35)
Rich Hill (30)
Shawn Hill (29)
Tim Hudson (34) - $12MM mutual option with a $1MM buyout
Jason Jennings (31)
Jason Johnson (36)
Randy Johnson (46) - Type B
John Lackey (31) - Type A
Braden Looper (35) - $6.5MM mutual option with possible buyout - Type B
Rodrigo Lopez (34)
Noah Lowry (29)
Jason Marquis (31) - Type B
Pedro Martinez (38)
Eric Milton (34)
Brett Myers (29)
Vicente Padilla (32) - Type B
Carl Pavano (34) - Type B
Brad Penny (32)
Odalis Perez (33)
Andy Pettitte (38) - Type B
Joel Pineiro (31) - Type B
Sidney Ponson (33)
Mark Prior (28)
Horacio Ramirez (30)
Jason Schmidt (37)
Ben Sheets (31)
John Smoltz (43)
Brad Thompson (28)
Brett Tomko (37)
Jarrod Washburn (35)
Todd Wellemeyer (31)
Kip Wells (33)
Randy Wolf (33) - Type A

Closers
Mike Gonzalez (32) - Type A
Kevin Gregg (32) - Type A
Fernando Rodney (33) - Type B
Rafael Soriano (30) - Type A
Jose Valverde (32) - Type A
Billy Wagner (38) - $8MM club option with a $1MM buyout (Red Sox agreed not to exercise) - Type A

Right-handed relievers
Luis Ayala (32)
Danys Baez (32)
Joaquin Benoit (32)
Rafael Betancourt (35) - $5.4MM club option - Type A
Chad Bradford (35)
Doug Brocail (43) - Type B
Kiko Calero (35) - Type B
Buddy Carlyle (32)
Chad Cordero (28)
Elmer Dessens (38)
R.A. Dickey (35)
Brendan Donnelly (38)
Octavio Dotel (36) - Type A
Kelvim Escobar (33)
Eric Gagne (34)
Geoff Geary (33)
Dan Giese (33)
Edgar Gonzalez (27)
Tom Gordon (42)
Jason Grilli (33)
LaTroy Hawkins (37) - Type A
Matt Herges (40)
Bob Howry (36) - Type B
Jason Isringhausen (37)
Jorge Julio (31)
Masahide Kobayashi (36)
Shane Loux (30)
Brandon Lyon (30) - Type B
Gary Majewski (30)
Guillermo Mota (36) - Type B
Joe Nelson (35)
Chan Ho Park (37) - Type B
Tomo Ohka (34)
Tony Pena Jr. (29)
Joel Peralta (34)
Troy Percival (40)
J.J. Putz (33)
Juan Rincon (31)
Takashi Saito (40)
Duaner Sanchez (30)
Rudy Seanez (41)
Justin Speier (36)
Russ Springer (41) - Type B
Julian Tavarez (37)
Brad Thompson (28)
Luis Vizcaino (35)
David Weathers (40) - Type B
Jeff Weaver (33)
Jamey Wright (35)
Yasuhiko Yabuta (37)
Tyler Yates (32)

Left-handed relievers
Joe Beimel (32) - Type B
Bruce Chen (33)
Alan Embree (40)
Scott Eyre (38) - Type B
Casey Fossum (32)
John Grabow (31) - Type A
Eddie Guardado (39)
Mark Hendrickson (36)
Ron Mahay (39)
Will Ohman (31) - Type B
Darren Oliver (39) - Type A
Horacio Ramirez (30)
Glendon Rusch (35)
Scott Schoeneweis (36)
Brian Shouse (41) - Type B
Ken Takahashi (41)
Jack Taschner (32)
Ron Villone (40)
Jamie Walker (38)

Hopefully the Braves can get Delgado or Blalock for 1B and Putz and/or Saito for the closers...

[dfreely]

Delgado will probably return to the AL, he really belongs at DH at this point of his career. I can't imagine Blalock being anything more than a DH on a weak team, or a bench player for a good team.

I don't see the Mets going after any free agent 1B unless LaRoche does leave Atlanta, and I can't see them having the pieces to trade for Pena.. scary to think Murphy and his 12 home runs could be the starting 1B again.

[dfreely]

Coghlan just won NL Rookie of the Year.. kinda surprising, I really thought it would be either Hanson or Happ.

[coolmoors]

The Cy Young winners are:
Zack Greinke for the AL
Tim Lincecum for the NL

I'm not really surprised with Greinke and Lincecum winning.

[dfreely]

Greinke was the frontrunner all season long. Definitely no surprise there. Lincecum had competition though. You could make an argument for St Louis' two-headed dragon, Carpenter (who had more wins, and a better ERA and WHIP than Lincecum) and Wainwright (led NL in wins and had the most first-place votes).

Mauer won MVP today.. I'm not too surprised with Mauer winning MVP, but rather the season he had. He always hit for average, but he's never been a power hitter and somehow managed 28 home runs.

[coolmoors]

Braves sign Billy Wagner and Takashi Saito...now just need to solve the 1st baseman problem.

[dfreely]

Postseason's been moving rather quickly.. I thought Saito would end up closing again, but good combo there, Saito-Wagner.