Who's left, anyway?

Thursday, January 06 2011 @ 09:38 PM EST

Contributed by: Mick Doherty

Did you know there are still 91 free agents available on the MLB winter market? Sure, some of these guys are going to either retire by choice (Andy Pettitte?) or "retire" through lack of interest.

ABut amost 100? Really? Yes, it's true. And while it's also true that most of the big names and stars (not always the same thing!) have been snapped up, we could build two pretty decent 25-man rosters (divided by league, of course) with careful attention to that list. Let's take a look at one version of what's possible, then we'll have a few quick questions for you to consider and answer.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

AL Starting LineupC Bengie Molina
1B Nick Johnson
2B Julio Lugo
SS Cristian Guzman
3B Eric Chavez
LF Manny Ramirez
CF Johnny Damon
RF Vladimir Guerrero
DH Russell Branyan

AL BenchC Josh Bard
MID IF Chris Woodward
COR IF MIke Lowell
OF Mark Kotsay
OF Riocco Baldelli
UTIL Felipe Lopez

AL RotationSP Jeremy Bonderman
SP Andy Pettitte
SP Justin Duchscherer
SP Freddy Garcia
SP Carl Pavano

AL Bullpen

CL Rafael Soriano
SET Brian Fuentes
SETt Scot Shields
RP Grant Balfour
RP Jon Rauch

Among other AL options ....P: Mark Hendrickson, Bruce Chen; Kevin Millwood; Ben Sheets, Jamey Writght, Ron Mahay , Chad Qualls
C Chad Moeller
IF Felipe Lopez, Nick Punto
OF Marcus Thames
DH Jim Thome

NATIONAL LEAGUE

NL Starting LineupC Jason Larue
1B Mike Sweeney
2B Adam Kennedy
SS Orlando Cabrera
3B Pedro Feliz
LF Scott Podsednik
CF Jim Edmonds
RF Jose Guillen
DH Troy Glaus

NL BenchC Gregg Zaun
MID IF Edgar Renteria
COR IF Chad Tracy
OF Rick Ankiel
OF Jay Payton
UTIL Reed Johnson

NL RotationSP Jeff Francis
SP Mike Hampton
SP Jeff Weaver
SP Doug Davis
SP Kelvim Escobar

NL Bullpen

CL Trevor Hoffman
SET Kyle Farnsworth
SETt Mike MacDougal
RP David Bush
RP Kris Benson

Among other NL options ....P: Brad Penny, Chris Young, Jeff Suppan, Russ Springer, Chan Ho Park (many others)
C Chad Moeller
IF Fernando Tatis, Aaron Miles, David Eckstein, Jerry Hairston Jr.
OF Willie Bloomquist, Randy Winn, Kevin Mench
DH Jason Giambi

And your questions ...

Obvious first question ... which "team" is better?
More specifically, what record would each team compile in the 2011 AL East?
Is there anyone on this list that you'd like to see the Jays (or pick another team) sign right now?
I count about a dozen former Jays listed ... anyone you miss?
Anything else you want to say? To rant about? To wax eloquent? Write on, Macduff!

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