Free agents face tough market
November 21, 2009
NEW YORK (AP)—It’s the time of year in baseball for courting and bluffing—sometimes simultaneously.
Free agent signing season began Friday with teams competing for a dearth ofstars and a large number of players nearing the end of their careers.
With only pitcher John Lackey(notes) and outfielders Matt Holliday(notes) and Jason Bay(notes)considered elite players by most, it could be a slow signing season as teamsseek to fill needs with solutions that are less than ideal.
“Those players who are franchise players that are available are even morevalued because of the rarity of them,” said agent Scott Boras, who representsHolliday.
The second tier includes starters Erik Bedard(notes), Joel Pineiro(notes) and Randy Wolf(notes);relievers Fernando Rodney(notes) and Billy Wagner(notes); first baseman Carlos Delgado(notes); secondbaseman Placido Polanco(notes); shortstop Miguel Tejada(notes); third baseman/outfielder ChoneFiggins(notes); third basemen Mark DeRosa(notes) and Pedro Feliz(notes); outfielders Mike Cameron(notes) andJohnny Damon(notes); and designated hitters Vladimir Guerrero(notes) and Hideki Matsui(notes).
“It’s not a deep marketplace, but in the end you’ve got some good playersout there,” New York Mets general manager Omar Minaya said.
Last offseason, the New York Yankees alone gave $423.5 million to pitchersCC Sabathia(notes) ($161 million) and A.J. Burnett(notes) ($82.5 million) and first basemanMark Teixeira(notes) ($180 million).
Among others who got big deals were pitchers Derek Lowe(notes) ($60 million fromthe Los Angeles Dodgers), Ryan Dempster(notes) ($52 million from Chicago Cubs) andFrancisco Rodriguez(notes) ($37 million from New York Mets); and outfielders MannyRamirez(notes) ($45 million from Dodgers), Raul Ibanez(notes) ($31.5 million fromPhiladelphia) and Milton Bradley(notes) ($30 million from Cubs).
It’s hard to see many of this year’s free agents rising to similar amounts.In addition to lesser quality players, some teams have expressed concern aboutthe weak economy.
“Conversationally, a lot of middle- and small-market teams I think areracheting their payrolls back for next year,” Milwaukee Brewers owner MarkAttanasio said.
Boras, of course, thinks there’s no reason for spending to slow.
“We’ve had two years of record success in the game, where the owners aremaking $6.5 billion,” he said, a reference to the annual revenue of the majorleagues. “Because of that, there’s every reason for teams to continue to investin franchises, to grow their franchises.”
He says he doesn’t believe it when some teams say they’re not interested insigning big-money free agents.
“That pattern seems to be something that is a preferred path now,” hesaid, “where you publicly announce you’re out of a negotiation but internallyyou’re keeping your irons in the fire to examine.”
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