Jose Valverde
Rumors

Though John Lackey, Jason Bay and Matt Holliday will dominate the headlines and the dollars this off season, Buster Olney of espn.com breaks down the next tier of free agents who are sure to get plenty of calls when free agency begins on Friday.

Brandon Lyon: Though there are a lot of closers available via free agency, Lyon may be willing to take a set up role and is only a Type B free agent. The Phillies, Angles, Mets and Yankees are all likely to be interested

Mark DeRosa: As a player who can play multiple positions his flexibility is a good fit for the Phillies. His bat is a good fit for any team.

Jermaine Dye: His age, 35, precludes him from being able to command a long term deal, but an AL team might be able to snag a good DH for a short and small contract.

Miguel Tejada: Though he might not be able to play shortstop anymore and would require a move to third base, his 313/340/455 splits are still attractive. Philly and Oakland could be good fits.

Miguel Tejada hopes to get plenty of offers this off season

Nick Johnson: Defense and power are very suspect for Johnson, but his OBP (an absurd .477 in 35 games last year for the Marlins) is still attractive. Offense starved teams like Oakland or San Francisco could be interested.

Coco Crisp: He's unlikely to be an everyday outfield, but his defense and speed are still tremendous and he could be a good platoon outfielder.

JJ Putz: A big market team like the Red Sox (think Billy Wagner), Yankees or Angels might be willing to give Putz a one-year deal despite coming off of injury.

Placido Polanco: His 45 extra base hits along with solid defense at second base will certainly attract suitors.

Rafael Betancourt: If the Rockies offer him arbitration, he becomes a Type A free agent and interest will be minimal. If they don't, look out.

Olney notes at the end of his piece that the rational behind Betancourt also applies to relievers Wagner, Jose Valverde, Mike Gonzalez and Rafael Soriano.

Below is a list of closers that are eligible for free agency for the 2010 season, their age, current team, current contract and whether the player falls into a Type A or Type B free agent compensation status.

Free agent catchers
Free agent first basemen
Free agent second basemen
Free agent third basemen
Free agent shortstops
Free agent left fielders
Free agent center fielders
Free agent right fielders
Free agent starting pitchers
Free agent middle relievers

Mike Gonzalez, 32, Braves - 09:$3.45M (Type A)
Kevin Gregg, 32, Cubs - 09:$4.2M (Type A)
Fernando Rodney, 33, Tigers - 09:$2.7M (Type B)
Rafael Soriano, 30, Braves - 08:$2.4M, 09:$6.1M (Type A)
Jose Valverde, 32, Astros - 09:$8M (Type A)
Billy Wagner, 38, Red Sox - 06:$10.5M, 07:$10.5M, 08:$10.5M, 09:$10.5M (Type A)

Astros Closer Jose Valverde

Gordon Edes of Yahoo! Sports put together a posting yesterday with a number of different trade scenarios.

• The Nationals have been shopping Nick Johnson to both the Mets and Red Sox recently. Word last week was that the Red Sox rejected overtures of a Johnson for Manny Delcarmen deal and Edes reports that the Sox were unwilling to part with Michael Bowden as well.
• While nothing much has been discussed between the two teams, the Nationals are reportedly interested in Jon Niese, Mike Antonini, Eddie Kunz and Bobby Parnell.
• The Red Sox are also reportedly interested in Jeff Francoeur.
• Edes suggests both Jose Valverde from the Astros and Mark DeRosa from the Indians for the Rays. DeRosa would replace the recently injured Akinori Iwamura. The Astros figure to ask for Wade Davis in return for Valverde from the Rays.
• Buster Olney from espn.com mentioned earlier today that the Phillies are interested in Brad Penny. Edes says that we can add the Brewers, Royals and Twins to the list.
• Similarly, Olney suggested that Jack Wilson could be a fit for the Red Sox and Edes suggestes Jhonny Peralta as well.

While the baseball winter meetings have already begun, Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports put together a nice preview of what each team will look to do in Las Vegas this week.  Let's start with the NL:

• New Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro is involved in negotiations with Jaime Moyer and is also interested in Derek Lowe and AJ Burnett.
• The Nationals have been rumored to involved in the Mark Teixeira bidding, but Adam Dunn seems like a more realistic target.
• The Jake Peavy trade rumors have dominated the headlines for the Cubs, but the team could also look at signing Raul Ibanez or Rafael Furcal or even trading for Brian Roberts.
• The Astros are willing to consider trading Jose Valverde to improve their starting pitching.
• After trading for Khalil Greene, the Cardinals are still looking for starting pitching.  The Cardinals could also look to acquire Huston Street if they feel Chris Perez is not the answer as their closer.
• The Reds have been rumored to be interested in Jermaine Dye, but they may also be considering Willy Taveras from the Rockies.
• The Pirates are sellers at the winter meetings, looking to trade Jack Wilson, Adam LaRoche and Nate McLouth.
• Manny Ramirez and CC Sabathia remain on the back burner for the Dodgers and they try to resign Furcal at a bargain.
• The Rockies don't expect much interest in Garrett Atkins because the asking price is very high.

Buster Olney's latest post is packed with information. Here's some of the highlights:

• The market for Manny Ramirez appears very cool right now and Olney wonders if it is possible that Ramirez and Scott Boras will make the unlikely move of accepting the Dodgers arbitration offer.
• The Cubs appear interested in Adam Dunn but have concerns about whether he can play right field everyday.
• One possibility for Pat Burrell is an attractive one year deal from the Rays.
• The major parts of a Cubs-Padres Jake Peavy deal appear to be hammered out and Josh Vitters is the centerpiece of the Cubs offer. The teams just need to solve the smaller parts to hopefully complete the deal.
• Jose Valverde is a serious trade candidate for the Astros.
• It appears as if the Rockies got the most they could out of trading Matt Holliday back in November. The market appears far more flooded now than a month ago and the offers for Holliday might have been far less now.
• The Rockies are still optimistic that Brian Fuentes could return. That would mean Huston Street would likely be traded.
• In an effort to out flank the Yankees, the Braves may ask for an answer from AJ Burnett soon just incase the Yankees lose out on CC Sabathia and throw the leftover money at Burnett. The Braves would have no chance to outspend New York if Sabathia doesn't sign with the Yankees.
• Olney agrees that Rafael Furcal is likely to end up in Oakland.

Before getting into a bidding war for Francisco Rodriguez or Brian Fuentes to fill their closer role, the Mets will trade to trade for a suitable closer first the New York Times is reporting.  The Mets have already contacted teams about trading for Jose Valverde, JJ Putz, Huston Street and Bobby Jenks.  Additionally, the Mets could consider Kerry Wood or Trevor Hoffman as less expensive options to K-Rod and Fuentes.

However, the article notes that the Mets have more holes to plug in their bullpen beyond just closer so it's possible that the team may look for more than one of the aforementioned players with one as the closer and another as a set-up man.

After the demand for espn.com's Jayson Stark's most recent article, let's not delay and get to his next one:

• The list of available closers is long and can be broken down into tiers. Tier 1: Francisco Rodriguez, Brian Fuentes, Trevor Hoffman, Kerry Wood. Teir II: Jason Isringhausen, Brandon Lyon, Eric Gagne, Juan Cruz and Chad Cordero. Tier III (not really a tier, but those available via trade): JJ Putz, Bobby Jenks, George Sherrill, Huston Street, Jose Valverde and Matt Capps.
• The list of teams interested in closers, however, is short: Mets, Indians, Brewers, Rangers, Tigers and possibly the Cardinals.
• Many teams have filled their closer rolls already: Rockies: Manny Corpas, Marlins, Matt Lindstrom, Cubs: Carlos Marmol, Padres: Heath Bell.
• Jose Arredondo could wind up the closer to replace K-Rod in Los Angeles.
• Rumors are that the Mets will sign K-Rod to a four year deal around $50-$55M, but Stark doesn't think the years make sense for the Mets.
• However, if the Mariners would part with Putz, the Mets may consider trading for him rather than signing any free agent.
• JP Riccardi continued to quell rumors that the Blue Jays are interested in Manny Ramirez.
• While the Angeles remain an unlikely suitor for Jake Peavy, if the team signs Mark Teixeira, they won't have a lot of money left to sign a free agent pitcher and may wind up pursuing the trade route.
• Because of concerns about Russell Martin's health, the Dodgers inquired about how much it would take to sign Jason Varitek.
• There are at least a dozen teams interested in Raul Ibanez: Mets, Phillies, Cubs, Cardinals, Nationals, Braves, Rays, Blue Jays, Rangers (pending Milton Bradley), Angels (pending Garrett Anderson), and Mariners.

Let's take a spin around the league tonight:

• The Astros are looking to trade Jose Valverde and Ty Wigginton.
• Jerry Crasnick of espn.com provides us with a number of players who could retire.
• The Orioles are reported to have interest in AJ Burnett.
• The Mets, Phillies and Dodgers have reportedly expressed interest in Raul Ibanez. The Marlins are also rumored as a long shot for Ibanez.
• Tony Masserotti of the Boston Globe believes the Red Sox will make the highest offer in team history to Mark Teixeira.
• Brian Giles doesn't expect to be traded this off season.
• Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle takes a look at the Giants off season plans.
• Reds general manager Walt Jockety contends that they almost landed Coco Crisp.
• The are rumors of mutual interest between the Nationals and Teixeira.

Just a few opinions to start today with and they're all about New York:

• The smart money before the 2008 season was on Andy Pettitte to return to New York in 2009 says Kat O'Brien of the Daily News, but after his stunning performance in 2008, it seems more likely that the Yankees would bring back the 39-year old Mussina, if he wants to come back.
• George King of the New York Post feels that Brian Cashman has to field offers from other teams this off season.
• The Astros late season surge may not make up for their early season poor performance, but Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle discusses the bullpen which has been excellent. The bullpen numbers have improved the year after general manager Ed Wade traded away their closer, Jose Valverde. The seemingly non-noteworthy moves were: Wesley Wright (rule V draft pick), Chris Sampson (converted starter), Doug Brocail ($2.5M, FA), Geoff Geary (Brad Lidge trade), and Tim Byrdak (minor league contract).
• This Giants blog is against trading Jonathan Sanchez for Adrian Beltre. It was rumored yesterday that the Giants are scouting Beltre extensively.
• Nick Piecoro from The Arizona Republic gives his take on how the Diamondbacks will handle Orlando Hudson's impending free agency.  The are rumors that he may accept the team's offer of arbitration, but that also seems iffy because he is wildly considered the best free agent second baseman on the market in 2009. 

Ken Rosenthal of foxsports.com suggested that the Houston Astros will be looking to add a big name free agent pitcher this off season, someone like the Brewers Ben Sheets. Sheets will make $11M in 2008 and figures to be in teh $13M-$14M per year for his next contract. The Astros have at least $22M coming off the books for 2009, but that includes pitcher Randy Wolf who Rosenthal expects the Astros will resign and closer Jose Valverde who the team would need to replace.

Wolf says that geography will not play a role in where he decides to sign in 2009 as it did when he signed with the Dodgers after teh 2006 season.  Wolf struggled in Los Angeles, but after being traded to Houston, has fared much better in 2008.