Who will bailout free agency ?

Winter Meetings Preview
by John Perrotto


As has been well-documented, the free-agent market has been extremely slow to develop; to date only 11 of the 171 players who filed for free agency have signed contracts. There is no word yet if Donald Fehr has asked Congress for a bailout.

It's already been quite the offseason for trades however, and we haven't even reached the Winter Meetings yet. Among the notable names who have been dealt since the Phillies put the finishing touches on their World Series victory are Matt Holliday, Nick Swisher, Javier Vazquez, Coco Crisp, Huston Street, Khalil Greene, Mike Jacobs, Scott Olsen, Josh Willingham, Kevin Gregg, and Greg Smith.

With the Winter Meetings beginning on Monday in Las Vegas, there is likely to be more player movement this week, and most executives and agents expect to see some of the bigger-name free agents begin to come off of the shelves during the four-day affair, along with the possibility of more trades being consummated.

Here is a team-by-team look at how the 30 clubs shape up at this point of the offseason, and what might be on their wish lists as they descend upon Las Vegas:

Diamondbacks: A second baseman to replace Orlando Hudson tops their priority list, and they may settle on a platoon of free-agents Damion Easley and Ramon Vazquez; they feel free-agent Mark Loretta and the Cardinals' Adam Kennedy are too expensive. They'll make outfielder Eric Byrnes available, choosing to stay with Conor Jackson in left and Chad Tracy at first base, but with two years and $22 million left on Byrnes' contract and coming off of a bad season shortened by a torn hamstring, he could be tough to deal. Catcher Miguel Montero could also be traded now that Chris Snyder has entrenched himself as a regular behind the plate.