369 Miles... does the Free Agents - Part III

So here we are, part three and we finally get to some picks for the Yankees and the Red Sox, the main point of this blog! Did you know that the word blog isn’t in the Microsoft Word dictionary? If you didn’t then I’ve taught you something. Here we go, five players of very differing abilities:

NYN says:

Another name I'm not convinced deserves to be in this list, Matt Morris is yours for debate

RSN says:

Well I think that the Cardinals might pass on Matt - his numbers aren't that convincing, I guess it boils down to whether he is willing to take a home town discount to find out if Busch II is a hitter's park. Out side St. Louis, I can see the Rangers making a run at him... they will buy into the veteran pitcher tag, and hope that he can help to transform that staff... which he won't...and in a nice coincidence, you get Molina, you get Piazza! retire, retire, retire... discuss?

NYN says:

No. Go to the AL and be a F/T DH and I'll tell you something, he can actually be good for a year or two. He can still hit if given an hour to sit down between each plate appearance. I think LAA is a good fit, I think also the Indians could use him if they were to play Hafner at 1st full-time. Sadly you get NYY bound BJ Ryan so I can't bask in the glow...

RSN says:

Well ok... I really am ok if this guy ends up with the Yanks. At some point, all baseball teams will realize that giving multi-year, multi-dollar contracts to relief pitchers is a big mistake... I give you Karsay... Quantrill... etc, etc... I guess though he gives you that left hand power pitcher to throw at Ortiz... (hint, hint... look at the individual match-ups in 2005). Having said that, if he ends up with the Sox... If you want a left handed power pitcher surely you go for the FA market daddy, Billy Wagner?

NYN says:

Wagner is the best closer on the market, probably the best arm on the market full stop. How can you not like this guy? He'll get the big money, he'll get to close in a big market, he may even be brought in to replace Foulke, which would bum me out or he'll go to the Mets, I think in all honestly that it is a two-horse race between those two big hitters in the money stakes. Last name isn't Flash Gordon or Godzilla who somehow escape the top 15 list, but it is the over rated bum Preston Wilson, go for it RSN, say the Mariners again!

RSN says:

Erm.... the Mariners are an interesting bet... nah, not this time! How did he end up in the top 15? Which team needs an over-rated, over-priced CF who had one great, park effect assisted year, one who is injury prone, it has to of course be the Yankees! You know when names like this appear in the top 15 list, you have to realize how thin this market is, - how much guys like Wilson get, will be a sign of the sanity / insanity that is beginning to bubble in markets - how long until A-Rod's contract is a bargain again?

NYN says:

I think the market will correct itself, I do not think we'll see another $20m player unless Clemens comes back this year and goes to arbitration, if he doesn't then it'll be many a year until the big money is splashed again. I know the market is definitely a players market this year but the biggest contracts will be in the $11m/yr range (Wagner and Matsui)

FA	Neil M	Neil H
Morris	Padres	Rangers
Piazza	Angels	retirement
Ryan	Yankees	Phillies
Wagner	Mets	Orioles
Wilson	scrapheap or Giants	Royals

So there you have it loyal (and not so loyal) readers of 3,079 Miles... (We don’t mind if you are a casual reader, we have a very laid back policy on how you decide to spend your time reading our thoughts, we just hope you enjoy it) there are our thoughts for the big FA moves over the off season. We’ll dip into these from time to time over the next few weeks to see how we did.

Coming up soon I know I’ll have a look at what the Yanks will do over the next few weeks and I am sure Neil H will do the same for you Boston fans at some point in the near future.