This is a great year to be a free agent..

Insider: Lot of crazy ingredients cooking on this stove

Nov. 11, 2006

By Scott Miller

CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer

Skip that trip to the hardware store for the shiny new snow blower. Judging from the parallel paths taken by J.D. Drew and Aramis Ramirez, the stuff falling from the sky this winter won't be snowflakes, it will be hundred-dollar bills.

The reaction around baseball when the Drew story hit the Instant Message Express late Thursday night was simple and succinct:

J.D. Drew has seemed more interested in life after baseball at times than his career.

Oh ... my ... Gawd.

If a chronic underachiever like Drew opting out of his remaining three years and $33 million doesn't foretell a players' market this winter, then Kevin Costner is in line to become the next commissioner of baseball.

"The market's just going to go through the roof," one major-league executive predicts, still digesting the Drew/Dodgers divorce.

Timing is still everything, and, ah, to be a free agent right now at a time when baseball again is flush not only with cash, but with a new collective bargaining agreement. The ink is barely dry on the new five-year deal between the players and owners, commissioner Bud Selig said last month that baseball's revenues for '06 were more than $5 billion and revenue-sharing is flowing to places like Kansas City and Pittsburgh.

If you're a player in this market and can't find a lucrative deal, then it's time to find another line of work. Like caddy, or fry cook.

There aren't many Clint Eastwood (Sudden Impact) free agents available. Second baseman/left fielder Alfonso Soriano. Outfielder Carlos Lee. Ramirez, perhaps. Pitchers Barry Zito and Daisuke Matsuzaka of Japan.

Then there are a whole flock of players who will be in line for a soft landing when the clubs who finish as runners-up in the marquee-player sweepstakes panic and begin writing checks to reel in something. The beneficiaries here will be players such as Luis Gonzalez, Moises Alou, Nomar Garciaparra, Mark Loretta and Ray Durham, and pitchers such as Jason Schmidt, Jeff Suppan and Adam Eaton.

"Certainly, that's been the talk," says Oakland general manager Billy Beane of the players' market theory. "But the simple answer is, that's yet to be determined. We'll have to wait and see, but it seems like a lot is being written that that's where the momentum is taking this.

"This is the one true sort of capitalistic market we have. You have supply and demand, and you wait to see."

The obvious read in the Drew and Ramirez camps is that demand will far outstrip supply. In Ramirez's case, he threw the Cubs for a Chicago loop last month when he exercised his right to void the final two years and $22.5 million remaining on his deal to search for grass greener than Wrigley Field's.

Ramirez, the man who finally gave the Cubs stability at third base following approximately 1,005 post-Ron Santo experiments, batted .291 with 38 homers and 119 RBI in 2006, and has slammed 105 homers during his three full seasons as a Cub.

Drew, a chronic underachiever, hit .283 with 20 home runs and a career-high 100 RBI for the Dodgers in '06. He also played in a career-high 146 games -- which is notable, because Drew long ago established a rep as a guy who doesn't like to play much, doesn't like to overextend himself and likely never will get the most of his five-tool skills.

To that end, Los Angeles general manager Ned Colletti, once he washes down the meatloaf (or whatever he was having for dinner) that nearly choked him when he was notified of Drew's decision, caught a huge break. Sure, the Dodgers now need to shop for two big bats instead of one this winter, and as of now their outfield consists of Andre Ethier and large patches of unoccupied turf.

Still, given Drew's, uh, eccentricities -- soft, fragile, viewed with disdain in many parts of the clubhouse after an odd post-wild card-clinching interview on the Dodgers' radio network when he talked more about how happy he was with his own statistics than anything to do with the team clinching a playoff spot -- the only better news for the Dodgers than shedding the rest of this deal would be if a vintage Sandy Koufax showed up in Vero Beach this spring.

"It must point to a players' market because I thought his contract was long to begin with," the executive said. "And a lot of money. It never seems like he enjoys playing. He didn't enjoy being out there. I've heard he talks about (what he's going to do) when he retires.

"His agent is very successful and has a finger on the market, or maybe creates the market. But if I were the Dodgers, I would be relieved. They have (Matt) Kemp, they have (James) Loney, they do have guys like that. Maybe spend some money on somebody who wants to be there."

His successful agent, of course, is Scott Boras, who misreads the market in cases like Drew's about as often as Paris Hilton misses a photo op.

The Cubs' exclusive window to attempt to re-sign Ramirez, 28, ends Saturday -- the free-agent market opens for business for good on Sunday -- and they've been taking plenty of heat for including the out clause in the third baseman's deal before the 2005 season.

The figuring is this: The Cubs either will have erred badly by including the clause because it will result in them losing Ramirez prematurely ... or they will have erred because if they do re-sign him, it's going to cost them a lot more money.

But however much Ramirez costs, at least he's a gamer who has played in 140 or more in five of the past six seasons. Drew, who will be 31 next opening day, has never played in more than 146 games in a season and has left an eight-year trail of exasperated managers and broken expectations.

In his best-seller Three Nights in August, author Buzz Bissinger writes about St. Louis manager Tony La Russa seeing Drew's "frustrating wasted talent." When the outfielder was with Atlanta, word was that manager Bobby Cox would rest him a day here and there so that Drew wouldn't come up with an injury and sit out a week. And in Los Angeles, manager Grady Little sat him periodically during the final weeks of the season.

"Damned thing about it is that J.D. Drew is one of the better baseball players in the world," the executive said. "Now whether he wants to be, or cares to be, that's another issue."

Regardless, wherever he lands, he will almost certainly be paid like one given the early indications in this year's free-agent market.

Welcome to another winter of following the money. Let the Hot Stove League officially begin.

Spinning wheel got to go round

The latest on the managerial merry-go-round, and other items:

Oakland now apparently is finished interviewing managerial candidates after New York Mets third-base coach Manny Acta, who was to have been interviewed by Oakland on Sunday, removed his name from consideration late Friday. Though Beane says it remains wide open, the front-runners appear to be Bob Geren, who spent last season as the A's bench coach, and Trey Hillman, who has become the hot name in the circuit this winter after leading the heavy underdog Nippon Ham Fighters to the Japan Series title. The A's also have interviewed Orel Hershiser, Jamie Quirk, Bud Black (whom the Padres named to succeed Bruce Bochy) and Ron Washington (Buck Showalter's successor in Texas). Oakland is expected to name a manager next week.

Washington continues its search for Frank Robinson's successor under a shroud of secrecy, with Acta and Tony Pena, New York Yankees' first-base coach, apparently two of the finalists. Industry buzz this week has Acta winding up with the job -- he knows the Nationals well from his coaching days with Montreal from 2002-2004, and he managed the Dominican Republic team in the World Baseball Classic last spring -- and that buzz increased late Friday when he removed his name from Oakland's search list. However, it also is worth noting that when Nats president Stan Kasten was in charge in Atlanta, he shocked everybody by bringing a young GM named John Schuerholz to the Braves from Kansas City -- a name that didn't figure much in job gossip at the time.

Beane on Washington, who spent the past 11 seasons as an Oakland coach: "He's never pushed himself to be a manager, but he's always politely indicated his interest. He's from New Orleans so Texas is a good fit, and it's well-deserved. Ronnie is a high-energy guy, and he will have a great relationship with the players -- which, no doubt, is as important as anything these days."

Beane on Black, who spent the past seven seasons as pitching coach for the Angels, Oakland's AL West rival: "Different style than Ronnie. For both guys, it's their first major-league opportunity. Bud is a great communicator as well, in a different sort of way. He's very creative, and very thoughtful. I have no doubt that Bud will be an outstanding manager."

Last add Beane: When Washington took the job as Texas' manager, one of the more entertaining things to be dredged up regarding his escape from Oakland was author Michael Lewis' passage from Moneyball, quoting Washington talking about the running game with then-A's second baseman Durham one day around the batting cage: "Different situation here," Washington said. "Somebody on this team runs and get his ass thrown out and you got all kinds of gurus who tell you that you just took yourself out of the inning." According to the book, Durham replied, "I never seen anything like it." Asked if he was a guru, Beane chuckled. "I don't know, I haven't read the book line-by-line," he said. "I've known Ron Washington for 20 years, we go back a long way. If someone wants to call me or my assistants gurus, well, OK."

One NL scout who watched the Dodgers often in 2006 said Friday that Drew bolting from Los Angeles isn't a serious hit because the name of the game is pitching and how strong a team is up the middle. "And the Dodgers have a catcher who should be an All-Star (Russell Martin) and they've got their shortstop (Rafael Furcal)," the scout said.

When San Diego acquired third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff from Cleveland for second baseman Josh Barfield, two scouts who watched Kouzmanoff in the Arizona Fall League this fall questioned his ability to play third. One noted that he had been playing first base and serving as a designated hitter in Arizona. There is no questioning, however, the fact that he did collect 22 homers and 75 RBI combined at Double-A and Triple-A last season, and the Padres are doing everything they can to bring a middle-of-the-lineup bat to town -- including investigating a Gary Sheffield trade before Detroit acquired him Friday.

And hey, if the Kouzmanoff deal falls through for the Padres, you can be sure that GM Kevin Towers will spin another deal into fruition. "The best thing about K.T. is if he makes a bad deal, he doesn't get cold feet," one major-league executive said. "He's not afraid to step up and make another deal."

Barfield fills the big hole at second sprung when Cleveland traded Ronnie Belliard to St. Louis at last summer's July 31 trade deadline. Indians GM Mark Shapiro, perhaps still a bruised after failing to land free agents such as closer Trevor Hoffman and Garciaparra last winter and suffering through a disappointing 2006, is determined to be even more aggressive in filling holes this offseason. Next up: Shapiro is on the prowl for relievers.

Yes, everyone is waiting to see whether Texas, Boston or someone else will land the rights to Matsuzaka, who might well be the prize starting-pitcher catch in this winter's free-agent market. But it's also worth remembering that, for a posting price between $35 and $45 million and a salary that would range toward $30 million, there are a whole lot of questions. "He's just 6-feet tall, and (manager) Bobby Valentine said he's pitched more innings that any other 27-year-old in the world," a major-league executive says." Happy shopping.

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