At 12:01am today, those Major League Baseball players who are eligible technically became free agents. Â The Boston Red Sox have seven players on the free agent market this year, pitchers Erik Bedard, Jonathan Papelbon, and Tim Wakefield, utility player Conor Jackson, catcher Jason Varitek, right fielder J.D. Drew and designated hitter David Ortiz. Â Teams have five days including today to make offers to their free agents before the players get to test the waters by considering other offers.
New General Manager Ben Cherington has already gone on record as saying “if the price is right” he’d like to retain both Jonathan Papelbon and David Ortiz. Â The popular consensus is that Papelbon would very much like to see what other teams have to offer while Ortiz would prefer to stay with the Red Sox but wouldn’t balk at going to a team that made him a better offer than the Red Sox.
Working against the Red Sox is the fact that Papelbon is one of a handful of elite closers on the free agent market this year, including San Diego Padre Heath Bell, and Philadelphia Phillies former setup man and now closer Ryan Madson, and there will be very few teams who aren’tlooking for a closer, so Papelbon’s price is certain to be high.
Along with free agents, the Red Sox have 11 players eligible for arbitration this off-season (including Jacoby Ellsbury and Alfredo Aceves, two players whose 2011 seasons certainly give them good ammunition for arbitration). As general manager, Theo Epstein never went into an arbitration hearing with any eligible player and it will be interesting to see if Ben Cherington can keep that streak alive.
With the end of Major League Baseball being played until February when Spring Training begins, fans of MLB still have a lot to look forward to with the Hot Stove season upon us.
(Originally published on Examiner.com)