Brad Penny had the sort of season that instills recurring nightmares in prospective free agents. He got hurt and got out of whack, and after he finished 6-9 with a 6.27 ERA, the Dodgers turned down his one-year option for 2009.
Now Penny is 30 years old. The economy is a mess, and club executives are fearful of budget problems to come. Penny is going to have trouble finding a job, right?
Uh, no.
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Around the majors with Buster Olney 
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He probably is drawing more interest now than
CC Sabathia,
A.J. Burnett and
Derek Lowe combined.
Randy Johnson figures to be in the same situation, with lots of suitors, and if
John Smoltz ever cared to consider teams outside of Atlanta, his phone would ring repeatedly. The representative for
Carl Pavano might receive a higher volume of calls than the agents for Sabathia, and so long as
Andy Pettitte doesn't begin to look like he's going to sign with the Yankees, he'll get a lot of play.
All of the baseball world is looking for a bargain, so Penny, Johnson and Pettitte could have a wide range of choices. The perception among executives is that because Penny is coming off a down year, he will not command the kind of big-money deal that it will take to sign a Sabathia, Burnett or Lowe. And all you have to do is look at the back of Penny's baseball card to know that he's fully capable of throwing out a 15-18 win season in 2009, if he stays healthy and focused. So the Red Sox and many other teams are taking a serious look at Penny -- with their interest shaped, of course, by the presumption that it will take only a one- or two-year deal to sign him.
Johnson went 5-3 with a 2.41 ERA in the second half of 2008, making it crystal clear that even at age 45, he is capable of throwing well; Johnson whiffed 173 batters and walked only 44 in 184 innings. The presumption, again, is that he, like Penny, will be in line for only a short-term commitment, given his age, so the suitors for him will be high in volume. The Cubs make complete sense for him, given his past relationship with
Lou Piniella. Paul Sullivan has
more concrete info on that here.
Whether it's merited or not, there is a lot of concern about the physical well-being of
Ben Sheets, and this is inevitably going to drive interest down on him for a long-term deal. If, at any point, Sheets decides to gamble and re-prove himself in 2009 before testing the market again and is willing to take a one-year deal, he would undoubtedly have his choice of any of number of contenders vying for his services -- the Yankees, the Mets, the Red Sox, the Dodgers and the Angels, for starters.
It's that kind of market this year --
a buyer's market for free agents, writes Richard Griffin.
Around the majors with Buster Olney
Buster Olney
