The Off-Season Preview

Posted By Dan in Texas

Those of you who haven’t all but abandon Ranger baseball in its current form, here is a list of the free agents for 2007 from the American League West.

## Denotes a club option


Texas
Barajas, Rod
De Rosa, Mark
Eaton, Adam
Hairston Jr, Jerry
Lee, Carlos
Matthews Jr., Gary
Padilla, Vicente
Wells, Kip
Young, Eric


Oakland
Payton, Jason L.
Sauerbeck, Scott W.
Thomas, Frank
Zito, Barry


Seattle
Meche, Gil
Perez, Eduardo A. ##


Los Angeles Angels
Erstad, Darin
Kennedy, Adam
Romero, J.C.
Salmon, Tim


If you really want to depress yourself Adam Rubin has a list for the entire league here.


After you take a look at either the West or the entire league and see all the players the Rangers don’t plan on getting off their rears to pursue- let alone sign lets pretend a real owner runs the club and the Rangers will actually be a player in the 2006 off season.


Kiss ‘em goodbye


Mark Eaton- Mark isn’t staying. He didn’t want to come to Arlington to begin with and I wouldn’t doubt he benefited from his injury as it clouds his true value. Pitching will be in demand this off-season (it’s kind of like predicting the post office will be busy on April 15th) so the Rangers would end up overpaying him to stay in Texas.


Carlos Lee- Gone with the wind. If Lee hasn’t packed his bags yet he may just Cowboy football. Lee hired Scott Boras to represent him during his contract season. We all know Boras doesn’t give hometown discounts, let alone discounts for teams that picked up free agents to be. The Mets may be interested depending on Floyd’s health and Lastings Milledge’s maturation. The Angel’s are hurting for offense and would love to put Lee on the same lineup card with Vlad. If Peter Angelos doesn’t sell he may try to mend some fences in Baltimore. The Cubs are as stupid with money as the Orioles. And who knows what Georgie S. in the Bronx. It should be obvious to Cashman that the Yankees problems are with the pitching staff but never count on Steinbrenner to let logic get in the way of running his ball club.


Pony up some dough and we’ll talk


Gary Mathews Jr.- 2006 was a career year for GMJ. He had an top defensive play in all of the Majors along with an All-Star appearance and finished strong with a .313 average .371 OBP and slugged .495. GMJ will cost more than he ever has at his career and likely more than he is worth. Mathew’s had as good if not better a year than last year’s batting champion Michael Young. If GMJ likes the confidence his manager placed in him by starting him in Center he may stay. Oh wait- sorry nevermind. The Rangers should have had an idea what Mathews would fetch on the free agent market and dealt GMJ at the deadline in return for some prospects.


Mark DeRosa- DeRosa like Mathews had a break out year after spending his major league career riding the pine in Atlanta. DeRosa (.357/.456/.296 OBP/SLG/AVG) is valuable to any team with his versatility in the field. DeRosa is used to playing in the first round of the playoffs at least and may be eager to move to a team with playoff aspirations. Like Mathews, DeRosa will cost more than ever and likely more than he is worth his off-season.


Vincente Padilla- Padilla was at times the best arm in the starting rotation. Pitching as always is valuable on the free agent market. Padilla is something of a wildcard in regard to his mental state. Who knows what this guy brings.

Likely free agent Acquisitions


I can’t go on, it’s too depressing. Who am I kidding? No one in their right mind is coming.


Barajas, Hairston and Young will likely stick around with deals slightly above the minimum. With what will likely be a vanilla manager selection (looks like the front runner will be Buck’s Bench coach), Texas wont be at the top of any one’s destination of choice list even if Tom Hicks wasn’t a cheap skate owner.


Get your season tickets and mini plans while they are hot, the line forms to the left.