My Free Agent List

I was in the middle of this post yesterday and my MSN crashed so I lost all of my work. I have a little free time on campus so I will try it again.

I can't really name off the big time free agents that I would want to be a Cub this off-season because we will be lucky to get one out of the crop that is available. And besides those players have been speculated to death already. So I will name off some role players and lesser names to fill out the roster.

Orlando Palmerio - OF - I wanted him last year and I want him this year. He is a veteran which is a bonus for Baker. His obvious draw backs are his .356 career OBP and .277 batting average as a part time player. His other significant downside is that he is a contact hitter who doesn't strike out a lot.

Scott Williamson - RP - I am not too sure about his health at this time but he is only 28 and could become a bargain as a closer. He has a lot of movement on his pitches and can be unhitable at times. He does walk his share of batters however.

Todd Pratt - C - Paul Bako is a black hole offensively. Pratt is another wiley veteran who again suffers from the disease of getting on base. A career .352 OBP. He would be a much better option as the back up catcher than Bako.

Gambles

Jon Lieber - SP - If the Cubs are looking for a cheap SP to replace Matt Clement they could bring back Jon Lieber. Don't be fooled by his 14-8 record with the Yankees. Opponents were hitting .300 for the year off of Lieber. But then again Lieber never really held opponents to low batting averages anyways because he had a .274 OBAA for his career. This is offset by the fact Lieber doesn't walk anyone. If Kerry Wood was allowing hitters that kind of average his ERA would be above 6.00 for the year.

Craig Counsell - INF - The wheels could be falling off this guy. He is 34 and his batting stance is the wierdest thing I have ever seen, but some how makes it work. Well not in the last couple of years atleast. He plays pretty good defense at any position he plays, which means he is a jack of all trades but a better option than Macias or Harris. Since Dusty needs this type of player Counsell is the best available option on the market. Even if Counsell comes in and hits .230-.240 like his previous 2 seasons he will still have an OBP 30-40 points higher than the previous jokers who filled this role on the team. The one area I am concerned with was that last season Counsell's strike out rate went way up, he will still take the occasional walk however which puts him leaps and bounds above Macias.

Lieber and Williamson should be the most expensive options around the 2-3 million dollar range if that. All the other players should fit comfortably under the $1 million dollar price range. So worst case scenario would be the Cubs spending about $7-8 million on these 5 players.