There wasn't much in the way of rumors or transactions this week, but that's understandable. Everyone is focused on the postseason, including players, team executives, and agents. Here's a look at the original content we provided over the last seven days…
- Now that the regular season is over, Eddie Bajek was able to finalize his reverse-engineered Elias rankings. Here's a list of all the Type-A and Type-B free agents, and also the 2011 draft order.
- Tim Dierkes looked at Mike Napoli's arbitration case, and he listed some free agent groundballers and innings eaters. Scott Boras is well-positioned for the offseason.
- Ben Nicholson-Smith dug up some third base options for the Indians, and we also looked at the free agent market for first basemen and the trade market for catchers.
- The Arbitration Eligibles series continued with the Reds, the Cubs, the Nationals, the Phillies, and the Mets.
- Ben looked back at what was being said when active GM's were hired, covering the AL East, AL Central, and AL West.
- We examined the stock of several pending free agents, including A.J. Pierzynski of the White Sox, Gerald Laird of the Tigers, Ramon Hernandez of the Reds, Cliff Lee of the Rangers, and Aaron Harang of the Reds. We also looked at Brian Bannister's case for being non-tendered, and discussed Ryan Ludwick's future.
- This week's polls featured questions about which player will improve his free agent stock the most during the postseason, which team will win the World Series, and also whether or not the Blue Jays will re-sign John Buck.
- I kicked off a series looking at the largest bonuses each team has given to amateur players, starting with the Diamondbacks. I also rounded up the best links in this week's edition of Baseball Blogs Weigh In.
- Howard Megdal's latest Jack Of All Trades pieces featured old-timer Bobby Bonds and the active Jose Guillen.
- Ben's chat transcript can be found here.
- Make sure you visit MLBTR's forums.
The one thing that I keep saying is that the Royals are definetly going to go after multiple players from the non-tender pool and Bob Dutton thinks so as well.
Jeff Francoeur is pretty much already a Royal. John Maine, Zach Duke, and Bobby Jenks definetly fit the bill in terms of pitchers. Willy Aybar, Edwin Encarnacion, James Loney, Matt Diaz, Cody Ross, Ryan Theriot, and Melky Cabrera are all potential fits and I really like the Melky Cabrera idea. It may be a quite off-season for the Royals who I love, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be a bad off-season.
Unfortunately, there’s a reason non-tender candidates are in that position. So being active in the market for those guys is like picking through the garbage in hopes of finding a small gem. You’ve got to hope you come up with something good, and that you’re not caught running away with a squishy piece of rotten fruit.
well they are obviously being signed at a low price and for a team like the Royals, if they preform you can either keep them if they are arb eligible for mulptiple seasons, and sometimes they end up like Kelly Johnson. So there is risk but high reward as well.
Out of the list you have up there, I hate to say it, but I only like Francoeur. Mets fans loved him then hated him, but if he could be a little more consistent and draw a few more walks, he’s a good player.
As for Melky, he’s my guy, and he was great for the Yanks. But the longer he plays, the more he seems a 4th outfielder who isn’t going to develop.
Lastly, there’s James Loney. I don’t see him being non-tendered. He seems just above the value that someone would take a chance on losing.