The MLB HOT STOVE Thread

[DAVE]

Well, that agonizing season has ended, thankfully. Thank you to my crosstown neighbors in the Bronx for preventing the Phillies from repeating. The World Series has ended, the weather in New York has gotten cold, Christmas commercials have started airing, and this year's class of free agents have filed. It's time for the Hot Stove!

Players may file for free agency, and teams have an exclusive 15-day period to negotiate and sign them. On November 20th, free agents can negotiate and sign with any team. The GM Meetings are set to begin Monday in Chicago.

Here's a list of Free Agents:

Catchers
Eliezer Alfonzo (31)
Brad Ausmus (41)
Paul Bako (3
Rod Barajas (34) - Type B
Josh Bard (32)
Michael Barrett (33) - club option
Henry Blanco (3
Ramon Castro (34)
Chris Coste (37)
Sal Fasano (3
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)
Victor Martinez (31) - $7.7MM club option with a $250K buyout - Type A
Chad Moeller (35)
Bengie Molina (35) - Type A
Jose Molina (35)
Miguel Olivo (31) - $3.25MM mutual option - Type B
Mike Redmond (39)
Ivan Rodriguez (3 - Type B
Brian Schneider (33)
Yorvit Torrealba (31) - $4MM mutual option with a $500K buyout - Type B
Javier Valentin (34)
Jason Varitek (3 - $5MM club/$3MM player option plus incentives - Type B
Vance Wilson (37)
Gregg Zaun (39) - $2MM club option with a $500K buyout; Zaun can void option

First basemen
Rich Aurilia (3
Jeff Bailey (31)
Wilson Betemit (2
Hank Blalock (29)
Russell Branyan (34)
Miguel Cairo (36)
Frank Catalanotto (36)
Tony Clark (3
Carlos Delgado (3 - Type B
Nomar Garciaparra (36)
Ross Gload (34) - $2.6MM club option
Eric Hinske (32)
Nick Johnson (31) - Type B
Adam LaRoche (30) - Type B
Doug Mientkiewicz (36)
Kevin Millar (3
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
Jerry Hairston Jr. (34) - Type B
Orlando Hudson (32) - Type A
Adam Kennedy (34)
Felipe Lopez (30) - Type B
Mark Loretta (3
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 (3
Alex Cora (34)
Craig Counsell (39)
Bobby Crosby (30)
Adam Everett (33)
Chris Gomez (39)
Alex Gonzalez (32) - $6MM mutual option with a $500K buyout
Khalil Greene (30)
Jerry Hairston Jr. (34) - Type B
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 (3
Brian Barden (29)
Adrian Beltre (31) - Type B
Wilson Betemit (2
Aaron Boone (37)
Craig Counsell (39)
Joe Crede (32)
Bobby Crosby (30)
Mark DeRosa (35) - Type B
Pedro Feliz (35) - $5MM club option with a $500K buyout
Chone Figgins (32) - Type B
Nomar Garciaparra (36)
Troy Glaus (33) - Type B
Adam Kennedy (34)
Mike Lamb (34)
Mark Loretta (3
Melvin Mora (3 - Type B
Pablo Ozuna (35)
Robb Quinlan (33)
Miguel Tejada (36) - Type A
Juan Uribe (31)

Left fielders
Garret Anderson (3 - Type B
Marlon Anderson (36)
Jason Bay (31) - Type A
Emil Brown (35)
Marlon Byrd (32) - Type B
Carl Crawford (2 - $10MM club option with a $1.25MM buyout - Type B
Johnny Damon (36) - Type A
David Dellucci (36)
Cliff Floyd (37)
Matt Holliday (30) - Type A
Reed Johnson (33)
Greg Norton (37)
Wily Mo Pena (2
Manny Ramirez (3 - $20MM player option - Type A
Dave Roberts (3
Gary Sheffield (41)
Fernando Tatis (35) - Type B
Randy Winn (36) - Type B

Center fielders
Rick Ankiel (30)
Rocco Baldelli (2
Marlon Byrd (32) - Type B
Mike Cameron (37) - Type B
Endy Chavez (32)
Coco Crisp (30) - $8MM club option with a $500K buyout
Darin Erstad (36)
Jeff Fiorentino (27)
Ryan Freel (34)
Jerry Hairston Jr. (34) - Type B
Reed Johnson (33)
Andruw Jones (33)
Corey Patterson (30)
Scott Podsednik (34)
DeWayne Wise (32)

Right fielders
Jermaine Dye (36) - $12MM mutual option with a $1MM buyout - Type A
Brian Giles (39) - Type B
Vladimir Guerrero (35) - Type A
Eric Hinske (32)
Geoff Jenkins (35)
Austin Kearns (30) - $10MM club option with a $1MM buyout
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 A
Aubrey Huff (33) - Type B
Hideki Matsui (36) - Type B
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 (3
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 (2 - 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
Cliff Lee (31) - $8MM club option with a $1MM buyout - 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 (3
Eric Milton (34)
Brett Myers (29)
Vicente Padilla (32) - Type B
Carl Pavano (34) - Type B
Brad Penny (32)
Odalis Perez (33)
Andy Pettitte (3 - Type B
Joel Pineiro (31) - Type B
Sidney Ponson (33)
Mark Prior (2
Horacio Ramirez (30)
Jason Schmidt (37)
Ben Sheets (31)
John Smoltz (43)
Brad Thompson (2
Brett Tomko (37)
Tim Wakefield (43) - perpetual $4MM club option - Type B
Jarrod Washburn (35)
Brandon Webb (31) - $8.5MM club option with a $2MM buyout - Type B
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 (3 - $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 (2
Elmer Dessens (3
R.A. Dickey (35)
Brendan Donnelly (3
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) - $9.15MM club option with a $1MM buyout
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 (2
Luis Vizcaino (35)
David Weathers (40) - $3.7MM club option with a $400K buyout - Type B
Jeff Weaver (33)
Jamey Wright (35)
Yasuhiko Yabuta (37) - $4MM club option with a $500K buyout
Tyler Yates (32)

Left-handed relievers
Joe Beimel (32) - Type B
Bruce Chen (33)
Alan Embree (40) - $3MM club option with a $250K buyout
Scott Eyre (3 - 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) - $1.9MM club option with a $200K buyout - Type B
Ken Takahashi (41)
Jack Taschner (32)
Ron Villone (40)
Jamie Walker (3

[Ryudo]

Time to play "where will Pudge go this year?"!

[DAVE]

Time to play "where will Pudge go this year?"!

That's not a game that anyone plays.

[Doug]

I can see the Yankees going after Matt Holliday and Cliff Lee. Don't know if they will get either.

I also see them keeping either Damon or Matsui, but not both, and maybe neither. I think Damon is more valuable because he can still play the outfield and has two good knees.

[DAVE]

I can see the Yankees going after Matt Holliday and Cliff Lee. Don't know if they will get either.

I also see them keeping either Damon or Matsui, but not both, and maybe neither. I think Damon is more valuable because he can still play the outfield and has two good knees.

You think the Phillies are going to trade Cliff Lee in the offseason to the Yankees?

[Dan]

Whoever the worst, most injury prone, most expensive free agent is will be going to the Mets!

[Joe Kalicki]

Whoever the worst, most injury prone, most expensive free agent is will be going to the Mets!

So, Vlad Guerrero to the Mets then!

[ArttyG12]

Hermida to the Red Sox, Iwamura to the Pirates, Teahan to the White Sox!

That last one is baffling.

[DAVE]

Reds Negotiating With Ramon Hernandez
By Mark Polishuk [November 5 at 7:49pm CST]
The Reds seem certain to decline their $8.5MM club option on catcher Ramon Hernandez for 2010 and buy the 11-year veteran out for $1MM. The only question now is whether or not Cincinnati will part ways with Hernandez or whether they'll bring him back at a more club-friendly price.

Cincinnati GM Walt Jocketty told John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer that he had met with Hernandez's agent, and gave a very neutral view of the negotiations between the team and the player: "We’ve made some progress. I don’t know if we’re close. But we’ll try to work something out.” As MLB.com's Mark Sheldon noted, the Reds could also decline Hernandez's option but offer him arbitration, thus putting themselves in line for a first-round sandwich pick if another team signed Hernandez, a Type B free agent.

Hernandez hit .258/.336/.362 in 331 plate appearances last season, appearing in 55 games behind the plate and 30 games at first base. He played in just four games after July 16 due to arthroscopic knee surgery.

[DAVE]

Phillies Notes: Phillies undecided on extension for Lee

By Andy Martino and Jim Salisbury
Inquirer Staff Writers

NEW YORK - The Phillies have not yet decided whether to offer a contract extension to pitcher Cliff Lee this off-season, but they have discussed the possibility internally.

"Clearly, it's on our minds, but we haven't made a decision if we will yet," general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said yesterday. "Naturally, you have to think about it, but we're more focused on him pitching in this series."

The club holds a $9 million option on Lee for 2010, after which the 31-year-old lefthander will become a free agent - unless he and the Phillies agree on an extension between now and then.

Since the Phils acquired Lee and outfielder Ben Francisco from Cleveland in July for a package of minor-league players, the pitcher has become the team's ace. During the regular season, he was 7-4, with a 3.39 earned run average with the Phils. In the postseason, he is 4-0, with a 1.56 ERA.

Variables for the team to consider: Lee's age, the Phils' already high payroll, and the possibility that Lee could seek a contract comparable to the seven-year, $161 million deal the New York Yankees lavished on CC Sabathia last winter.