2014 MLB Free Agents Catchers Henry Blanco (42) John Buck (33) Ramon Hernandez (38) Brian McCann (30) Jose Molina (38) Dioner Navarro (30) Wil Nieves (36) Miguel Olivo (35) Brayan Pena (32) A.J. Pierzynski (37) Humberto Quintero (34) Carlos Ruiz (35) Jarrod Saltalamacchia (29) Kelly Shoppach (34) Geovany Soto (31) Kurt Suzuki (30) - $8.5MM club option with a $650K buyout Yorvit Torrealba (35) First basemen Jeff Baker (33) Corey Hart (32) Mike Napoli (32) Paul Konerko (38) Casey Kotchman (31) Adam Lind (30) - $7MM club option with a $2MM buyout James Loney (30) Kendrys Morales (30) Justin Morneau (33) Mike Morse (32) Lyle Overbay (37) Carlos Pena (36) Mark Reynolds (30) Kevin Youkilis (35) Second basemen Yuniesky Betancourt (32) Robinson Cano (31) Alexi Casilla (29) Jamey Carroll (40) - $2MM club option with a $250K buyout Mark Ellis (37) - $5.75MM club option with a $1MM buyout Omar Infante (32) Kelly Johnson (32) Nick Punto (36) Brian Roberts (36) Ramon Santiago (34) Skip Schumaker (34) Ben Zobrist (33) - $7MM club option with a $2.5MM buyout Shortstops Clint Barmes (35) Willie Bloomquist (36) Jamey Carroll (40) - $2MM club option with a $250K buyout Alexi Casilla (29) Stephen Drew (31) Yunel Escobar (31) - $5MM club option Rafael Furcal (36) Alex Gonzalez (36) Cesar Izturis (34) Derek Jeter (40) - $8MM+ player option with a $3MM buyout John McDonald (39) Jhonny Peralta (32) Brendan Ryan (32) Third basemen Yuniesky Betancourt (32) Wilson Betemit (32) - $3.2MM vesting option Jamey Carroll (40) - $2MM club option with a $250K buyout Eric Chavez (36) Mark DeRosa (39) - $750K club option with a $25K buyout Jerry Hairston Jr. (38) Brandon Inge (37) Placido Polanco (38) Mark Reynolds (30) Juan Uribe (34) Kevin Youkilis (35) Michael Young (37) Left fielders Jef Baker (33) Jason Bay (35) Mark DeRosa (39) - $750K club option with a $25K buyout Raul Ibanez (42) Reed Johnson (37) - $1.6MM club option with a $150K buyout Austin Kearns (34) Jason Kubel (32) - $7.5MM club option with a $1MM buyout Nate McLouth (32) Mike Morse (32) David Murphy (32) Laynce Nix (33) Juan Pierre (36) Grady Sizemore (31) Delmon Young (28) Center fielders Rick Ankiel (34) Coco Crisp (34) - $7.5MM club option with a $1MM buyout Rajai Davis (33) Jacoby Ellsbury (30) Curtis Granderson (33) Franklin Gutierrez (31) - $7.5MM club option with a $500K buyout Andres Torres (36) Chris Young (30) - $11MM club option with a $1.5MM buyout Right fielders Jeff Baker (33) Carlos Beltran (37) Marlon Byrd (36) Shin-Soo Choo (31) Nelson Cruz (33) David DeJesus (34) - $6.5MM club option with a $1.5MM buyout Mark DeRosa (39) - $750K club option with a $25K buyout Jeff Francoeur (30) Corey Hart (32) Hunter Pence (31) Grady Sizemore (31) Designated hitters Lance Berkman (37) - $12MM club option with a $1MM buyout Jason Giambi (43) Travis Hafner (37) Raul Ibanez (42) Kendrys Morales (30) Luke Scott (36) Delmon Young (28) Michael Young (37) Starting pitchers Bronson Arroyo (37) Scott Baker (32) Erik Bedard (35) A.J. Burnett (37) Chris Capuano (35) - $8MM mutual option with a $1MM buyout Chris Carpenter (39) Bruce Chen (37) Bartolo Colon (41) Jorge De La Rosa (33) - $11MM club option Scott Feldman (30) Gavin Floyd (31) Jeff Francis (33) Freddy Garcia (37) Jon Garland (34) Matt Garza (30) Chad Gaudin (31) Roy Halladay (37) Jason Hammel (31) Aaron Harang (36) - $7MM+ mutual option with a $2MM buyout Dan Haren (33) Roberto Hernandez (33) Tim Hudson (38) Phil Hughes (28) Ubaldo Jimenez (30) - may void $8MM option for 2014 Josh Johnson (30) Jeff Karstens (31) Scott Kazmir (30) Hiroki Kuroda (39) Jon Lester (30) - $13MM club option with a $250K buyout Colby Lewis (34) Ted Lilly (38) Tim Lincecum (30) Paul Maholm (32) Shaun Marcum (32) Jason Marquis (35) Daisuke Matsuzaka (33) Randy Messenger (32) Ricky Nolasco (31) Roy Oswalt (35) Mike Pelfrey (30) Wandy Rodriguez (35) - $13MM player option with a $2.5MM buyout Ervin Santana (31) Johan Santana (34) - $25MM club option with a $5.5MM buyout Joe Saunders (33) - mutual option James Shields (32) - $12MM club option with a $1MM buyout Jason Vargas (31) Ryan Vogelsong (36) - $6.5MM club option with a $300K buyout Edinson Volquez (30) Tsuyoshi Wada (33) - $5MM club option Jake Westbrook (36) -- $9.5MM mutual option with a $1MM buyout Chien-Ming Wang (34) Barry Zito (36) - $18MM club option with a $7MM buyout Closers Grant Balfour (36) Joaquin Benoit (36) Rafael Betancourt (39) - $4.25MM mutual option with a $250K buyout Kevin Gregg (36) Joel Hanrahan (32) Casey Janssen (32) - $4MM club option Ryan Madson (33) Edward Mujica (30) Joe Nathan (39) - $9MM club option with a $750K buyout, Nathan may void Fernando Rodney (37) Jose Veras (33) - $3.25MM club option with a $150K buyout Right-handed relievers David Aardsma (32) Matt Albers (31) Luis Ayala (36) Matt Belisle (34) - $4.25MM mutual option with a $250K buyout Shawn Camp (38) Joba Chamberlain (28) Jesse Crain (32) Octavio Dotel (40) Kyle Farnsworth (38) Frank Francisco (34) Jason Frasor (36) Matt Guerrier (35) LaTroy Hawkins (39) Matt Lindstrom (34) - $4MM club option Kameron Loe (32) Brandon Lyon (34) Carlos Marmol (31) Nick Masset (32) Peter Moylan (35) Brett Myers (33) - club option Juan Carlos Oviedo (30) - club option Chad Qualls (35) Francisco Rodriguez (31) Joe Smith (30) Tim Stauffer (32) Jose Valverde (36) Jamey Wright (39) Left-handed relievers Scott Downs (38) Mike Gonzalez (36) Rich Hill (34) J.P. Howell (31) Boone Logan (29) Javier Lopez (36) Eric O'Flaherty (29) Darren Oliver (43) Manny Parra (31) Oliver Perez (32) Matt Thornton (37) - $6MM club option with a $1MM buyout
Reid Ryan was on the radio this week saying Crane is willing to spend some this off season...while it's probably lip service and I'll see it when I believe it, he did make a good sales pitch...to me at least. Some bullpen arms would be nice, but not really necessary since we are not competing yet. Maybe a 15-20 HR hitting 1B or 3B.
Thirdbaseman? Am I disillusion for thinking Matty D is a mid term answer for 3B for this team? 21/76 isn't a bad line. If he gets that OBP up, I see no reason for him to be a good option. First base on the other hand... I wouldn't mind a one year signing, but that would show that Wally is done in my opinion.
Agree with both of you and I'd still advocate signing Lance on the cheap, if at least can start the season healthy.
After he stole money from Texas this year... if he's anywhere near healthy, he'll trump up his worth. But, I think I saw an article earlier this week saying he'd likely retire.
Lance is done. I wouldn't mind seeing some help in the bullpen, especially if they're young. The other alternative is for us to use those bullpen slots to get innings for our prospects. Maybe put Wojo out there if he doesn't crack the rotation. I'd be OK with signing a 1B who can put up some decent numbers. Singleton isn't ready, as evidenced by his terrible year at OKC.
Theyre at a point where they need to make a splash in free agency. Not a crazy splash like 10 years and $305m robinson cano. They need something thats steady and will only command a 3 to 4 year deal. They need to show the value of csn houston before it dies.
And what better way to do that than to bring in Masahiro Tanaka? I honestly didn't even think of the CSN Houston implications, but considering Houston's relatively large Asian population, this would give us a little more leverage in negotiations I'd imagine. This would further hedge the financial commitment it would take to win the posting fee and sign him. Haha I should stop though, I'm sure I'm annoying fellow posters about signing this guy, so I'll try and limit my enthusiasm about this guy, hahaha.
Houston's Japanese population in tiny. That's a non-factor, and actually a positive for the West Coast teams, not us. If Tanaka has any input, I cannot imagine him ever accepting a contract with Houston, given how bad we have been.
Luhnow said Thursday night with Matt Thomas he sees no openings for a free agent bat next year i.e. loves Dominguez and his outfield for some reason. IF they spend, and it won't be much, it will be on the bullpen.
it's too early to add an OF via free agency. Grossman, Hoes and Springer need room to run. That's fair.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Important baseball nerd alert: <a href="https://twitter.com/MattEddyBA">@MattEddyBA</a> has the full list of all 550 minor league free agents. Enjoy: <a href="http://t.co/CcOkVXuwlX">http://t.co/CcOkVXuwlX</a></p>— Ben Badler (@BenBadler) <a href="https://twitter.com/BenBadler/statuses/397838118432169984">November 5, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
And that's the rub - they'll have to overpay any remotely decent FA to come here, locking them into a bad contract and stalling the development of any player behind said FA. Stay the course - but start getting the prospects up here, sooner rather than later. They have to give the fans *something.*
CSN-H is likely be done and resolved by the end of 2013, one way or another. Nothing the Astros do this offseason is relevant to it, even if negotiations were impacted by a splash in free agency. But just look to the Rockets and signing Dwight Howard not moving the needle to see how irrelevant any signings would be anyway from that perspective. Bullpen is where the Astros probably would get the best ROI while also not stunting the growth of any of their young players.
