[GAC]

Originally Posted by mth123

The Free Agent Starter Market is even worse than we all think.

First you take away Brad Radke and Mark Mulder (Injured)
Next you can't really call Andy Pettite, Roger Clemens, Greg Maddux, David Wells or Mike Mussina on the market. They are only available to a couple teams that meet some personal criteria.

That leaves a market of Jason Schmidt, Barry Zito, Ted Lilly, Vicente Padilla, Randy Wolf, Adam Eaton, Jeff Suppan, Jeff Weaver, Tomo Ohka, Gil Meche, Kip Wells, Bruce Chen, Mark Redman, Tony Armas Jr, Miguel Batista, Brian Moehler, Orlando Hernandez, Steve Trachsel, Jason Marquis, Woody Williams, Jamey Wright, Ramon Ortiz and John Thomson.

Of that group the guys with a WHIP Below 1.40: Schmidt, Padilla, Williams, Ohka and Hernandez during his NY time. Only Schmidt, Williams and Orlando Hernandez in NY are below Eric Milton's 1.34.

Guys with a K Rate/9 above 6.50: Orlando Hernandez, Zito, Lilly, Meche, Schmidt, Padilla, Wolf. Brandon Claussen and Kyle Lohse both qualify.

Guys with a HR Rate/9 below 1.00 (Lohse rate in Cincy) :Schmidt, Padilla, Suppan, Kip Wells, Batista, Jamey Wright.

Guys with an OPS against less than .773 (Lohse in Cincy): Schmidt, Williams, Ohka, Padilla, Zito, Lilly, Meche and Orlando Hernandez during his NY stint.

To get a real upgrade there are only 5 to 10 guys. (Schmidt, Zito, Lilly, Padilla probably; maybe Ohka, Armas or Suppan. Wolf on an incentive deal.) They are all risky in one way or another. They'll all cost major money. The rest are similar to the current group of Reds suspects IMO and some of those will cost major money as well.

Good post, and a perfect example that better exemplifies what I am trying to express by starting this thread.

Thanks for the research/list.

Now (everyone).... who on that list would you eliminate and then really zero in on and throw some serious cash at? Because it is gonna take some cash.

Could we afford to throw a 5 yr/75 Mil contract at Zito, even knowing that a Milton contract is gone after '07? And would Zito even consider playing in Cincy. That is a factor also that has to be considered when going after a player.