I’m sorry that I didn’t get this up here sooner. Fantasy baseball got in the way. We’ve completed catchers and infielders in this series, so next up are the outfielders. I’m going to start with center fielders because they’re usually harder to find than corner outfielders. If a team has an extra quality center fielder, he can move to a corner with no problem. If a team has an extra quality corner outfielder, he’s most likely relegated to the bench because his defense isn’t good enough for center.

Impact Center Fielders to Be Traded

Over the past two offseasons, the San Francisco Giants have spent a ton of money on two players that most likely aren’t worth it: Barry Zito and Aaron Rowand. What makes it worse is that it might be four or five years before the Giants re-enter the NL playoff picture. All the talk has been about how happy the players are now that Barry Bonds is gone. I’ve got a feeling that finishing last will make those players change their minds about the situation. Rowand is due $52 million over the next five years – all that for a guy with two good seasons at the plate in his career (2004 and 2007). As for trading him, it won’t happen because he has a full no-trade clause this year, but he only has a limited no-trade clause in subsequent years. If he has a good year in 2008, it will be time to unload him.

One other guy that’s been rumored to be available through trade is Coco Crisp, but I don’t agree with that decision. With Coco Crisp, they’ve got somebody who can act as a sub for six positions without a ton of loss at each. Obviously, he can sub for the three outfield spots and the DH. With Kevin Youkilis on the roster, he can also sub for first and third with Manny Ramirez moving to DH, David Ortiz moving to first, and either Youkilis or Mike Lowell at third. Now, let’s list the starters at those positions (if we consider Crisp as the bench guy): J.D. Drew, Jacoby Ellsbury, Manny, Ortiz, Youkilis, and Lowell. There are a few guys in that list that have had injury problems. Plus, Crisp is only set to make $10.5M over the next two seasons. He could be worth twice that. For these reasons, the Red Sox should keep Coco Crisp as insurance.

Contenders Needing a Center Fielder

Atlanta Braves traded for Mark Kotsay in an attempt to fill the void left by Andruw Jones’s free agent departure, but it has been three years since Kotsay has been both healthy and productive. The other options – Gregor Blanco and Josh Anderson – don’t provide much certainty for Braves’ fans either. It will be at least half a year until Jordan Schafer is ready to take over. As currently constructed, the Braves are in the mix for the wild card, and improving their center fielder would go a long way toward getting back to the playoffs. Maybe they could convince the Red Sox to trade Crisp.

Next Year’s Free Agents

Next year’s center field market won’t be anything like this past offseason. Mike Cameron and Mark Kotsay are the best free agents-to-be, but the Brewers hold an option for 2009 on Cameron. Given the alternatives, the Brewers might determine that he’s worth the $10 million to keep around for one more year.

Pre-Free Agent Stars

B.J. Upton tops the list here. Moved away from his error-prone tendencies in the infield, Upton had a great year in 2007. His incredible bat was finally on display at the major league level, and he will continue to prove why scouts were so high on him in the past. Like several of his teammates, the Rays should be trying to lock up Upton’s arbitration and possibly one or two of his free agent years.

Several players could make their way onto this list with good 2008 seasons: Jay Bruce, Adam Jones, Melky Cabrera, Lastings Milledge, Chris Young, Jacoby Ellsbury, Felix Pie, Cameron Maybin, and Josh Hamilton.

Recap

The Giants signed Aaron Rowand for some unknown reason, and they should look to trade him when his full no-trade clause becomes limited following the season. The Red Sox should keep Coco Crisp to guard against injuries among their starters at six positions. Despite trading for Mark Kotsay, the Braves still need a center fielder. Next year’s free agent class is not very impressive, which could mean the Brewers will exercise their 2009 option on Mike Cameron’s contract. B.J. Upton is an elite player deserving of a contract extension, and a whole slew of players could prove themselves deserving with good 2008s.

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Easily the hardest team to figure out going into the offseason is the New York Yankees. There are all kinds of questions surrounding the club, and it’s not just your typical New York hype. Will they bring back Joe Torre? Will Alex Rodriguez opt out? Will Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, and Andy Pettitte return? Let’s get to it.

Strengths

In terms of both payroll flexibility and pure talent, the pre-arbitration starting pitchers are the biggest strength on the Yankees. With Chien-Ming Wang, Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, and Ian Kennedy, the Yankees have four starting pitchers with at least 4 years of service time left before they are eligible for free agency. While all four won’t start the year in the rotation (although you never know, Carl Pavano did start opening day), they will all most likely get a few major league starts in 2008.

Also among the pre-arbitration players on the Yankees are Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera. Cano has now put up back-to-back great seasons at second base. Although his batting average fell off from the spectacular .342 of last year to .306 this year, his on-base percentage (.365 to .353) and isolated power (.183 to .182) stayed relatively the same. Meanwhile, Cabrera took over the center field job this season and proved that he could be an effective major league center fielder, but his walk rate did plummet from last year’s 10.9% to 7.3% in 2007. If he can regain those walks, he’ll be an asset on the field as well as in the Yankees’ checkbook.

Flanking Cabrera in the outfield will be two of Hideki Matsui, Bobby Abreu, and Johnny Damon. Of course, this is assuming that Abreu’s $16M club option will be exercised. Given the low risk of one year deals and the value that Abreu provides on the field, exercising his option should be a foregone conclusion.

Moving on to ... wait, I’m forgetting someone … let’s see, I’ve covered the rotation, the outfield, Cano ... Oh yeah, the captain Derek Jeter will be back in pinstripes for 2008. Despite his defensive shortcomings, Jeter is still a spectacular player to build a team around.

Concerns

Where should we start? The mainstream media seems to have the Torre situation well-covered, so we’ll start with A-Rod. As everyone has heard over and over, Alex Rodriguez and the best agent in baseball Scott Boras are expected to opt out of his 10-year, $252M contract following the World Series. Brian Cashman has stated that the Yankees will not pursue Rodriguez if he chooses to opt out. If they’re unable to sign him to an extension beforehand, I find this hard to believe. If Rodriguez isn’t a Yankee next season, the only other guy on the free agent market is current Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell. Wilson Betemit is the in-house option (some teams wouldn’t consider this a bad thing).

Moving up the age spectrum, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, and Andy Pettitte have made it known that they will be influenced by the Torre decision. Posada is coming off the best year of his career at 35 and will be looking for a multi-year deal. If he does listen to other teams in the offseason, he will be the best catching option on the market. Other options are Michael Barrett, Jason Kendall, Paul Lo Duca, and Yorvit Torrealba.

Can anyone else see Mariano Rivera in a uniform other than the Yankees? Neither can I, but if Torre is let go, it wouldn’t surprise me for Rivera to leave as well. He didn’t like the way they treated Bernie Williams or his own contract situation back in March. If Rivera doesn’t come back, who will be left in the bullpen? There aren’t many options on the free agent market, and the only options for the closer’s role within the organization are Joba Chamberlain (please leave him in the rotation) and Kevin Whelan. Rivera survived off his cutter, and Whelan is a fastball specialist, throwing four different variations. That transition would seem fitting to me. Whelan just might not be ready to make that jump yet. The free agent reliever merry-go-round features Francisco Cordero with Octavio Dotel (if he opts out of his contract), the wild card Kerry Wood, and the recently ineffective Eric Gagne.

Despite the young starters, the rotation could still need some work. Andy Pettitte has a $16M player option for next season. As mentioned before, his decision might hinge on whether or not Joe Torre returns. At 35, he’s probably not done, but he could be done as a Yankee. I’ve already mentioned four other starters that the Yankees could use, but given their youthfulness, the Yankees probably shouldn’t rely on all three of the unproven youngsters. The biggest reason is to keep the innings total down for each of their arms. If Pettitte, Wang, and Mike Mussina are all in the rotation next season, Chamberlain, Hughes, and Kennedy could be rotated between the rotation and the bullpen to limit their innings and keep their arms healthy. Without Pettitte, that becomes hard and if they aren’t ready to go back down the Pavano trail, another option is to sign one of Tom Glavine, Kenny Rogers, or Curt Schilling. All three should be looking for relatively short (1-, 2-, or 3-year) deals and would slot right into Pettitte’s spot in the above example.

Right now, they have Jason Giambi, Matsui, Cabrera, Damon, and Abreu to fill the 1B, OF, and DH roles, but the Yankees have never trusted Giambi’s atrocious defense at first base. If they don’t want to play one of the outfielders there, Giambi has no spot and needs to be traded. With only one year and $26M (or two years and $43M) left on the deal, his contract isn’t quite the albatross it once was. If the Yankees chip in a little cash to move him, there will be a market for his services. To replace him, the Yankees could always bring back Doug Mientkiewicz. On the other hand, if they want to bring in a real first baseman (you know, one that can hit), they could always pursue someone like Scott Hatteberg or Adam Dunn (if the Reds buy out his option; anything’s possible – they already hired the assassin at manager).

Overall

Given the loyalty of Posada, Rivera, and Pettitte to Torre, it would be a mistake to get rid of him now. Losing Posada, Rivera, and Pettitte would be hard to overcome for any organization, even one with the financial ability of the Yankees. Supply is low on the free agent market, and these guys would be hard to replace. Add to it the A-Rod situation, and it could be meltdown time for the nuclear reactor known as the New York Yankees. Cashman won’t let this actually happen, but I can’t remember the Yankees ever putting themselves in a position this risky before.