Some future Hall of Famers signed this week, but Bobby Abreu is still out of work, and so are Manny Ramirez, Pedro Martinez and Orlando Hudson. With a little more than a month to go until spring training begins, you could start a 31st team with the available free agents and might have a shot at a respectable record:
Lineup
SS Orlando Cabrera
2B Orlando Hudson
RF Bobby Abreu
DH Manny Ramirez
LF Adam Dunn
3B Joe Crede
CF Jim Edmonds
1B Sean Casey
C Jason Varitek
Rotation: Ben Sheets, Derek Lowe, Oliver Perez, Jon Garland, Paul Byrd, Randy Wolf, Mark Mulder
Bullpen: Brandon Lyon, Juan Cruz, Dennys Reyes, Will Ohman
Bench: Garret Anderson, OF; Brad Ausmus, C; Eric Hinske, 1B/3B; Kevin Millar, 1B
Extra Hall of Famers, just in case: Ken Griffey Jr., Frank Thomas, Tom Glavine, Pedro Martinez
| Olney's news and notes |
• S.F. has no Giant offer for Manny
• Diamondbacks searching for a starter
• Red Sox collecting lottery tickets
• NL East team shows interest in Nomar
• No big deals in works for White Sox
Around the majors with Buster Olney 
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So there are lots of bargains to be had, as we've seen with the signings of
Jason Giambi,
Pat Burrell and
Brad Penny; players are beginning to grab the best available job, rather than remaining obsessed with what their market value
should be.
But if you notice your favorite team, whichever it might be, is strangely quiet in the face of baseball's blue-light special, don't assume it will jump in and start plucking from the dollar bin.
"I've got no money," an American League general manager said this week. "In fact, I would shed some dollars, if I could."
Said an NL GM: "I'm tapped out. I've got almost nothing. I mean, I might have a $500,000 deal for the right veteran, but I'd have to get some approval."
After the 1994-95 labor strife came to an end, a bunch of players -- the least coveted of the free agents -- gathered in Homestead, Fla., to work out. "We might see Homestead all over again this spring," another GM said. "Because when spring training starts, you're going to see a lot of those unsigned guys still looking for work."
I wrote earlier this week about the weird box in which some of the unsigned Type A free agents -- like Cabrera and Varitek -- are trapped. Some teams like those players, but are turned off by the idea of giving up a top draft pick to sign one of them, which kills the players' market values.
Theoretically, the Yankees could provide some relief. Because they already have signed three Type A free agents -- Mark Teixeira, CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett -- they are set to surrender their picks in the first, second and third rounds. It really wouldn't hurt them to sign another Type A free agent, because all they would give up would be their fourth-round pick. Signing Cabrera, for example, would cost them significantly less than it would cost the Marlins.
In theory, let's say the Marlins needed a shortstop (we know they don't) and wanted to sign Cabrera to a two-year, $16 million deal -- but they didn't want to give up their top draft pick to do it. They could, in theory, pick up the phone and ask the Yankees to sign Cabrera to what the Marlins wanted to pay; the Yankees would give up only a fourth-round pick, and the Marlins could trade a prospect to the Yankees to offset the value of the fourth-round pick. Cabrera would have to waive his right to block the trade because any free agent signing a multiyear deal cannot be traded until June.
In short, Cabrera could get the contract he wanted, the Marlins could get the player they wanted and the Yankees could get a little extra value for their fourth-round pick. Everybody would win except the White Sox (who presumably would be apoplectic, because they are in line to get a first-round pick). Makes some sense, eh?
Well, in talking with executives and lawyers in baseball this week, they said the powers that be probably would greatly frown upon this type of system manipulation. And as one executive said, the teams involved, even by discussing the matter, might be guilty of collusion, in a winter in which there are rumblings on the union side about collusion. We'll see whether it comes up.
Around the majors with Buster Olney
Buster Olney
