[h2]Possible 2010 Type A/Type B Free Agents[/h2]
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Brendan Scolari on
Jun 20, 2009 2:50 PM PDT in
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Orlando Hudson will likely be handsomely rewarded this offseason, but if he keeps playing well the Dodgers will be as well.
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Just a couple of days ago Tim Dierkes released lists of
possible Type A and
Type B free agents. Players receive these labels to help compensate a team that loses them through free agency (and to help drive down player salaries, but that's another story). The rankings are calculated using
this formula, which groups players by position and then compares their statistics over the last two seasons with those of their peers. The top 20% of players at each position in the rankings receives type A status, and the players in the top 20-40% receive type B status. Teams do not get compensated for players who cannot reach Type B status.
If a Type A or Type B free agent gets offered him arbitration when he reaches free agency and he declines, then his old team will get
compensation in the form of extra draft picks when he signs elsewhere. A team signing a Type A free agent must give up their first round pick to the players old team, plus the old team gets a supplemental first round pick. The exception is if the signing team has one of the top 15 picks in the draft, then that pick is protected and they surrender their second round pick instead. This is done to keep teams from having to give up extremely valuable picks for free agents. Also, if a team signs two Type A free agents, then the lower ranked free agent only nets his team a second round pick. This goes as far as needed, so if a team signs four Type A free agents the lowest ranked free agent would only net his old team a fourth round pick.
If a team signs a Type B free agent, they do not have to give up any draft picks. Instead the player's old team mjust receives a supplemental first rounder. Because teams don't have to give up any draft picksto sign them, Type B free agents are generally a much safer investment than Type A's. This was the reason
Orlando Hudson's signing caused much debate among Dodger fans. People questioned whether it was worth surrending a first round pick (Hudson was a Type A free agent) to a division rival for just one year of Hudson's services.
Last year's group of Type A and Type B free agents included three
Dodgers,
Manny Ramirez,
Derek Lowe, and
Casey Blake. Manny and Lowe were Type A free agents and Blake was a Type B free agent. While Manny and Blake re-signed, Lowe signed with the
Braves. Therefore the Dodgers received a supplemental first round pick and the Braves' second round pick (the Braves first round pick was protected). Those extra picks were used to select Aaron Miller and Blake Smith in the recent draft.
After this year the Dodgers will have another sizeable group of free agents, although players like
Mark Loretta and
Brad Ausmus aren't good enough to be Type A or Type B free agents so they aren't relevant to the discussion. The important players are Orlando Hudson,
Randy Wolf,
Will Ohman, and Manny Ramirez. Here's the outlooks for each player right now:
Orlando Hudson: Hudson is currently ranked 2th in the NL in the 2nd base/Shortstop/3rd base category, behind only
Miguel Tejada. This gives him Type A status for the time being. His status is determined by his ranking against other NL free agents at his position so players on his tail are
Pedro Feliz,
Freddy Sanchez, and
Felipe Lopez, who are all Type B players. I think he'll stay ranked above them as long as he plays so his health should be the only thing keeping him from Type A status at the end of the year. This could be key for the Dodgers in a couple of ways. First, if they want to re-sign him then being a Type A player will help out because teams will be less likely to pursue him in free agency considering they have to surrender a first round pick. This same factor helped the Dodgers sign him to such a cheap contract this year, with less then $4 million in guaranteed money. Secondly, if they let him leave they would presumably get two draft picks in return, which would more then offset the pick they lost in this year's draft.
Randy Wolf: Wolf has Type B status right now, although he could reach Type A status if he plays well for the rest of the season. When I asked Tim Dierkes he said Wolf currently is at 66.927, and the lowest Type A is at 70.052, which isn't too much of a difference. The lowest Type A is
Rich Harden, who hasn't been doing too well this year, so it's very possible that he could pass him. Wolf is also ranked behind
Randy Johnson and ahead of
Todd Wellemeyer,
Doug Davis, and
Braden Looper in the Type B grouping, so he'll be mostly competing with these players for Type A status. I think it's less likely Wolf will be re-signed than Hudson but the same benefits to reaching type-A status still apply. Wolf was a Type B free agent last offseason but the
Astros didn't offer him arbitration.
Will Ohman: Ohman currently has Type B status after being not reaching it last offseason. However, Ohman hasn't been very effective this year and is currently on the DL so whether he can keep Type B status is questionable. The bottom Type A guys are
Ryan Franklin,
Doug Brocail, and
Rafael Soriano, but given Ohman's condition I don't think we need to worry about them. The four Type B's ranked below Ohman are
Scott Eyre,
J.J. Putz,
Joe Beimel, and
Trever Miller. Some of the relievers just on the border of Type B status and no compensation are
Ron Villone, Chan Ho Park, and Bobby Howry. Given the vast number of players clumped together fighting for the last Type B spots, who ends up Type B status will probably be a crapshoot even if Ohman pitches well. Eddie Bajek (the guy who reverse-engineered the Elias rankings) said that,
"reliever rankings are ridiculously sensitive to wins" so hopefully we can get Ohman some vulture wins to get him Type B status. Of course, this could all be made moot if Ohman pitches poorly enough that we can't offer him arbitration or well enough that we pick up his option for 2010.
Manny Ramirez: Manny was a Type A free agent last offseason and would have netted the Dodgers two draft picks had he signed with someone else. Unfortunately, this won't be the case the next time Manny reaches free agency. There is a clause in Manny's contract that says the Dodgers cannot offer him arbitration when he reaches free agency, so know matter where Manny is ranked the Dodgers will not receive any compensation in return. This is really too bad, although now that Manny has had his reputation around the league further tarnished with his suspension he might not opt out of his contract when the season is over. The best case scenario is probably that Manny stays with the team through 2010 and then goes to an American League team where he can DH for the remainder of his career.
06/19/2009 4:47 PM ET
Dodgers sign 23 selections from 2009 First-Year Player Draft
The Los Angeles Dodgers have signed 23 of their 51 selections from the 2009 First-Year Player Draft, including four of their Top-10 picks. Loyola Marymount University outfielder Mario Songco, the club's fourth-round selection, has signed, and will report to Rookie-advanced Ogden today to prepare for the start of Pioneer League play on Tuesday. Assistant General Manager, Scouting Logan White made the announcement.
Songco, who was born in Van Nuys and is a 2006 graduate of Bishop Alemany High School in Mission Hills, was the only player from the West Coast Conference named to the semi-finalist list for the 2009 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award, given annually to the best amateur player in the country. He hit 34 career homers in three years at LMU to rank seventh on the school's all-time list. The 20-year-old led the team in 2009 with a .360 average, 15 home runs, 63 RBI, a .678 slugging percentage, and a .481 on-base percentage.
While Ogden starts play next Tuesday, the rookie-level Arizona Summer League Dodgers begin their season on Monday.
The list of players who signed:
| Rd./Pick | Name | Pos. | DOB | B-T | Ht./Wt. | School | Scout |
| 4/127 | Mario Songco | OF | 9/9/88 | L-R | 6-0/190 | Loyola Marymount University | Bobby Darwin |
| 6/187 | Jan Vazquez | C | 4/29/91 | S-R | 5-10/170 | Puerto Rico Baseball Academy | Manny Estrada |
| 8/247 | Jonathan Garcia | OF | 11/11/91 | R-R | 5-11/175 | Luis Munoz Marin High School | Manny Estrada |
| 10/307 | Andy Suiter | LHP | 6/10/87 | L-L | 6-3/210 | UC - Davis | Fred Costello |
| 12/367 | Brian Cavazos-Galvez | OF | 5/17/87 | R-R | 6-0/215 | University of New Mexico | Calvin Jones |
| 13/397 | Joe Paxson | RHP | 7/28/86 | R-R | 6-4/250 | Western Kentucky University | Marty Lamb |
| 14/427 | Casio Grider | SS | 8/17/87 | R-R | 6-1/165 | Newberry College (SC) | Lon Joyce |
| 16/487 | Mike Pericht | C | 5/23/88 | R-R | 6-5/235 | St. Joseph's College (IN) | Chet Sergo |
| 17/517 | Steven Ames | RHP | 3/15/88 | R-R | 6-2/205 | Gonzaga University (WA) | Hank Jones |
| 18/547 | Greg Wilborn | LHP | 6/3/87 | L-L | 6-1/170 | Univ. of Louisiana - Lafayette | Matt Paul |
| 19/577 | Nick Akins | OF | 12/25/87 | R-R | 6-1/190 | Vanguard University (CA) | Brian Stephenson |
| 21/637 | Chris Henderson | 3B | 6/23/88 | L-R | 5-11/190 | George Mason University (VA) | Clair Rierson |
| 22/667 | Stetson Banks | OF | 1/14/88 | R-R | 6-1/185 | BYU | Brian Stephenson |
| 23/697 | Jimmy Marshall | RHP | 4/13/87 | R-R | 6-1/210 | Florida State University | Scott Hennessey |
| 28/847 | John Hernandez | RHP | 6/21/87 | R-R | 6-1/200 | Barry University (FL) | Manny Estrada |
| 30/907 | Nick Gaudi | RHP | 8/2/86 | R-R | 6-5/215 | Pepperdine University (CA) | Chuck Crim |
| 31/937 | Austin King | OF | 12/1/88 | R-R | 6-2/205 | Jackson State CC (TN) | Marty Lamb |
| 32/967 | Graham Miller | LHP | 10/18/86 | L-L | 6-2/205 | The Masters College (CA) | Chuck Crim |
| 33/997 | Steve Cilladi | C | 3/15/87 | R-R | 5-9/182 | Kansas Wesleyan University | Scott Little |
| 34/1027 | Justin Dignelli | RHP | 2/26/87 | R-R | 6-4/220 | George Washington Univ. (DC) | Clair Rierson |
| 35/1057 | David Iden | 2B | 3/4/87 | R-R | 5-9/170 | California Lutheran University | Chuck Crim |
| 36/1087 | Kevin Childs | RHP | 4/21/87 | R-R | 6-3/195 | Culver-Stockton College (CA) | Scott Little |
| 41/1237 | Chris Handke | RHP | 3/19/88 | R-R | 6-10/235 | Cornell College (NY) | Scott Little |
Josh Lindblom scouting report per Rotowire.com
100_1427_tiny by Phil Gurnee on Jun 18, 2009 4:55 PM PDT Comment 6 comments
Very lengthy scouting report by Bernie Pleskoff of RotoWire. Bernie Pleskoff is a former pro scout for the Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners. He is a "graduate" of the Major League Scouting Bureau's Scout School in Phoenix Arizona
I'm going to display some key notes of the report.
Lindblom works off a fastball that sits at 92-95 with tremendous late movement. It is not unusual for him to hit 97 on occasion. In all reality, it's not the velocity that impresses. Rather, it's the movement and the command of his pitches that keeps hitters at bay and his bosses very interested...
Lindblom isn't just a fastball pitcher that takes a deep breath, leans back and throws the ball as hard as he can. To the contrary, Lindblom works off the fastball, but he mixes in a very lethal split-finger and a slider. He is likely working on a change-up that would really be a kiss of death for hitters. If he continues to throw his secondary pitches with the same command as his bread and butter fastball, there is no telling how good he can become.
The area of concern with Lindblom has to be his propensity to be a fly ball pitcher. The fact that his arm slot is high when he releases pitches leaves him vulnerable to stopping short in his delivery and not really following-through. That lack of finish on the fastball especially, could result in the ball being up in the zone...
Greg Wilborn LHP
