Minnesota Twins general manager Bill Smith just got a reprieve.

After sitting idly by and watching a number of the club’s offseason targets sign elsewhere in the past two weeks, Smith now has a second chance at making some major moves this offseason.

Smith’s reprieve comes as the free agent pool just received an infusion of new talent.

This infusion came as a result of the non-tender deadline, which passed at 11:59 p.m. ET Saturday.

Teams had the option to not tender a contract to any player with less than six years of service time, rather than enduring the arbitration process.

In doing so, those players are then released by the club and become free agents.

In total, 39 players were non-tendered last night, including some very big names.

Of those non-tendered, many could be good fits for the Twins’ roster next season.

Making them all the more attractive is that most of these players should be willing to sign one-year, make-good contracts to re-establish their market value and/or build for a solid raise via arbitration next winter.

Obviously signing a non-tendered player wouldn’t inspire the inhabitants of Twins Territory in the same way signing Adrian Beltre, Felipe Lopez, or even Joe Crede would.

These players, despite the lack of fanfare, could still provide a major boost to the Twins’ championship hopes next season and at a fraction of the cost that their heavily-acclaimed counterparts will no doubt require.

With that in mind, here’s a look at five newly-minted free agents that should be of significant interest to general manager Bill Smith in the coming weeks.

Check out the slideshow at BleacherReport.com.

Jason Bay has ties to the Pacific Northwest, but is he a good fit for the Seattle Mariners?

Though the Mariners signing of free-agent third baseman Chone Figgins  shows that they are serious about competing for the division, baseball’s Winter Meetings have come and gone and the team still has plenty of holes left to fill if they want to have a realistic shot at winning the AL West. Texas has been busy all week, signing free-agent Rich Harden and acquiring Chris Ray and Mike Lowell (still pending) through trades, turning up the heat on Seattle to keep pace. The Oakland Athletics were one of the most improved teams in all of baseball during last season’s second half, and figure to be even better in 2010 with all the experience their young players gained down the stretch. Los Angeles lost Figgins and may be unable to resign their ace Jon Lackey, but the Angels are still dangerous after winning the division by 10 games last year despite battling injuries to key players the entire season. All four teams in the AL West have a legitimate shot at winning the division next year, with no clear front-runner at this point in the offseason; what will it take for the Mariners to come out on top in 2010?      

The addition of Figgins fills Seattle’s need for a third-baseman, but the Mariners still need help at first-base, catcher, left-field, designated hitter and in their rotation (more on this in a later post). Statistically one of the worst offensive teams in the American League last season, Seattle’s superb pitching staff carried the team all year, leading the AL with a 3.87 team ERA. While the pitching will likely regress a bit next year due to the losses of Erik Bedard and Jarrod Washburn, it’s clear that the Mariners main focus this offseason needs to be on adding offensive firepower; this may prove to be an expensive proposition with four positions yet to be filled.      

Will high-flying Mike Cameron return to Seattle next season?

After Endy Chavez’s season-ending injury the Mariners got virtually no production out of leftfield, with the trio of Bill Hall, Michael Saunders and Ryan Langerhans performing well below replacement level. Jason Bay is imminently available after being unable to come to terms with the Red Sox and has strong ties to the Pacific Northwest, but is seeking a contract in the range of 4-5 years and $60+ million dollars, a deal that would leave the Mariners out of cash and still needing a first baseman, catcher and right-handed DH. Additionally, there are concerns about whether a one-dimensional player like Bay, who hits for power but provides little else, would be worth a long-term investment in a park like Safeco Field that caters towards pitching. Free-agent outfielder Matt Holliday offers more versatility than Bay but would need a similarly hand-cuffing contract to come aboard (he is represented by Scott Boras after all). A more budget friendly option is former Seattle Mariner Mike Cameron, who despite turning 36 last season, is still a plus defender in the outfield who offers good power and patience at the plate. The Mariners could probably ink Cameron to a one-year deal, limiting the risk if he performs poorly, which would also give Saunders another year to develop in Triple-A Tacoma. Other players to consider in left-field include Randy Winn, Jonny Gomes or Josh Willingham.   

A breakout performer last year, Seattle would be happy to bring Branyan back at first base in 2010.

The Mariners got surprising production out of first base last season, with Russell Branyan taking advantage of his first chance to play full-time by slugging 31 HR’s and driving in 76 runs. The early indications seem to suggest that Seattle plans on bringing Branyan back for at least one more year, although he would probably be due a substantial raise over the $1.4 million dollars he earned in 2009. Branyan stated all season long that he owed it to the Mariners to resign with the club because they were the only team willing to give him a full-time role, but it remains to be seen whether that will hold true if another team offers him a lucrative deal. If Seattle loses Branyan to another team they could replace him internally with Mike Carp, who performed admirably in a short trial last season (.315 in 54 AB’s), or they could pursue free-agent Nick Johnson. Though injury prone, the 31-year-old Johnson has one of the best batting eyes in the game (.426 OBP in 2009) and is a solid defensive first baseman who could fit comfortably into the Mariner’s lineup as their number three hitter. There has also been some speculation that Seattle would consider shifting second baseman Jose Lopez (a defensive liability up the middle) to first base and moving Matt Tuiasosopo (a third baseman in the minors) to second, a possibility now that the hot corner has been filled by Figgins.   

Catcher was another gaping hole for the Mariners in 2009, with a disappointing season from Kenji Johjima and young catchers Rob Johnson and Adam Moore struggling to adjust to big league pitching. With Johjima back in Japan, the battle for starting catcher in 2010 will boil down to Johnson and Moore unless the Mariners try to acquire a catcher via free agency or trade. Johnson received praise from the pitching staff for his game-calling abilities but he hit only .213 with 2 HR’s and 27 RBI’s. Moore saw limited action with the Mariners, spending the majority of the season in the minor leagues, hitting a combined .287-13 HR’s-56 RBI’s between Double and Triple-A. Seattle has been mentioned as a possible destination for free-agent catcher Miguel Olivo, a defensively-challenged backstop who hit 23 HR’s in only 390 AB’s last season. While Olivo has never shown the ability to draw a walk, he has consistently produced good power numbers and is the best player available in a very thin catching market. If the M’s could sign him to an incetive-laden one-year deal, Olivo is probably a worthwhile gamble; if he wants a multi-year deal Seattle is better off allowing Johnson and Moore to develop in the majors.  

Could the former Mariner killer become a killer Mariner?

Designated hitter may have been the most popular position for Seattle in 2009, with clubhouse favorites Mike Sweeney and Ken Griffey Jr. manning the post, but it certainly wasn’t the most productive. Griffey’s back and figures to get the majority of at-bats against right-handed pitching; the Mariners hope he can rebound from a sub par return to the Emerald City last year (.214-19 HR’s-57 RBI’s). Seattle needs to find a player who hits left-handed pitching well to platoon with Griffey, but this year’s free agent crop is very thin in terms of quality hitters. The M’s might have to take a flier on someone coming off an injury or a bad season. Some possible candidates include Xavier Nady, Olivo, Carlos Delgado or even longtime thorn-in-the-side Vladimir Guerrero. While Guerrero’s power has dipped in recent years, he would still be a significant upgrade over Sweeney as a part-time DH, and could become a solid run producer with Ichiro and Figgins at the top of the lineup. 

As of today there are still 266 free agents available for the Mariners to sign, so despite the team’s need to fill multiple holes in their lineup, there’s no need to panic–yet. The Rangers’ lastest moves have upped the ante, but Jack Zduriencik has shown himself to be a very capable baseball man, and will work tirelessly to make Seattle a frontrunner for the 2010 AL West title. The Mariners certainly have issues to address, but the pieces to build a title contender are out there; now it’s just up to the Mariners and their front office to fit them all together.

As you can see from my previous posts, I love lists. So here is another one, my top 10 players who were non-tendered by their teams and now free agents. They are basically like the DVD bargain bin in Best Buy.

1. SP Chien-Ming Wang- Two years ago Wang was the ace of the Yankees’ staff, until that faithful injury he suffered rounding the bases in Houston. I never thought Wang was a real ace, mostly a 2 or 3. He never had an ERA under 3.63, but he did win 19 games in 2006 and 2007 and probably would have won 20 in ‘08 if he stayed healthy. In ‘09 Wang was never fully healthy and wasn’t the same pitcher he was pre-injury in 2008, ultimately having to end his season with a shoulder injury. If he wasn’t going to make too much money in arbitration I think the Yankees would have loved to keep him. If he can be healthy in 2010 and get his sinker like it used to be, I think Wang can have a great bounce back season, especially in the NL (if he never gets on base). I like him going to the Dodgers to be reunited with Torre who had a ton of faith in the Wanger.

2. RP Matt Capps- I think the Pirates should have kept Capps. He’s had great numbers closing since coming into the league, but had a terrible 2009 with a 5.80 ERA, despite recording 27 saves, his most ever. I like him to have a bounce back year in 2010, though not as a closer.

3. 3B Garrett Atkins- Atkins had an awful season in 2009 after having great offensive seasons 2006-2008. His numbers outside of Coors is a red flag, especially since he didn’t even hit at Coors in ‘09. Atkins can be very useful for a team looking for a bench/platoon player that maybe can reclaim some of that past offensive production, especially a team with a small ballpark.

4. RP D.J. Carrasco- I don’t see a real good reason he was non-tendered by the White Sox. Carrasco did a very solid job relieving with a 3.76 ERA.

5. RF Ryan Church- Concussions aside, Church is good Right Fielder and puts up decent offensive numbers. Good fourth outfielder pick up for any team.

6. RP Mike MacDougal- MacDougal was ousted as Nationals’ closer when the team traded for Brian Bruney. MacDougal had a great 2008 with the White Sox and was decent in ‘09 with his time with the Nats. He’s cheap veteran bullpen, who could turn out to be a good pick up for a team.

7. OF/DH Jack Cust- He’s a strike out animal, but he hits 20+ homers each year and knows how to draw a walk. Decent low-cost DH option for teams. Wouldn’t surprise me to see either New York team to sign him to fill a hole in their respective DH or 1B hole.

8. C John Buck- Buck is basically as good or better than most of the top 5 FA catchers out there this off-season.

9. OF/DH Jonny Gomes- Gomes can hit lefties well, wouldn’t be a bad pinch hitter or platoon DH pick up.

10. 2B Kelly Johnson- Johnson is only 27 and has been decent offensively 2005-2008. I think he can rebound to be an good Utility infielder.

Last night at 11:59 pm est was the deadline for major league teams to offer players with less than six years service time contracts. These players are often referred to as tendered or non-tendered players.

Here is the list of players last night who were non-tendered a contract:

Kelly Johnson, Atlanta Braves. In my free agent primer, I had Johnson has my biggest non-tender sleeper. I think he has a lot to offer a team.

In 07′ he had an .831 OPS and in 08′ he had .795 OPS. In 09′, he was put in Bobby Cox’s doghouse. I think he could have a bounce back 2010 if given the opportunity. He would make sense with the Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, or the Minnesota Twins.

Jack Cust, Oakland A’s. Cust is a classic “Moneyball” player–lots of walks, lots of strike outs, lots of home runs, and can’t play defense. Cust hit 22 out of his 25 HR’s last year against right-handed pitching.

Cust could sign with a team as a left-handed power hitter off the bench.

Garrett Atkins, Colorado Rockies. Atkins was non-tendered a contract on his birthday. That hurts.

Atkins’ OPS has dropped four years in a row and now can probably latch on to a team as a backup 1B/3B off the bench. He could be a fit with the Twins.

Wang was non-tendered last night

Chien-Ming Wang, New York Yankees. Wang really hasn’t been the same since he hurt his foot running the bases in Houston a year and a half ago.

At 29, Wang should have something left. I would say there is a 75 percent chance he ends up with the Dodgers and Joe Torre. The other 25 percent says he ends up with the Yankees on a minor league deal.

Jonny Gomes, Cincinnati Reds. All Gomes did with the Reds in 2009 was hit 20 HR’s and had an .879 OPS in just 98 games–now he is out of a job.

Gomes crushes left-handed pitching (.914 OPS in 2009) and it wouldn’t shock me if he returned to the Reds on a discounted deal in 2010.

Jose Arredondo, Matt Brown, and Dustin Moseley, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. I am very surprised the Angels would give up on this 25-year-old. It was reported yesterday that Arredondo would need Tommy John surgery and would miss the entire 2010 season.

A team will sign him and store him away until he is ready in 2011. He is too good of a talent not to be given a chance.

D.J. Carrasco, Chicago White Sox. Carrasco had a 3.76 ERA with the White Sox in 2009, but his peripherals weren’t great–9.9 hits/9, 1.41 WHIP.

There is a shortage of pitching in baseball, so he should get a chance somewhere.

Ryan Garko, San Francisco Giants. When Garko slugged 21 HR’s in 2007, he looked like he could be a very good first baseman for a long period of time.

Garko was traded to the Giants near the July 31st trading deadline last year and really provided no offense for the Giants. He hit .235 with just two HR’s in 40 games.

Ryan Langerhans, Seattle Mariners. Langerhans played in 38 games with the Mariners last year and hit just .218. He has always been a good OBP guy.

Brian Anderson, Boston Red Sox. Anderson was once a top prospect with the White Sox. Now he is a fringe major league player.

Brian Bass, Baltimore Orioles. Bass had a 4.90 ERA in 48 games out of the pen for the Orioles in 2009. He is probably looking at a minor league contract.

Neal Cotts, Chicago Cubs. Cotts had Tommy John surgery in July of this year. He will probably be ready to pitch again in the 2011 season.

Alfredo Amezaga, Florida Marlins. Amezaga played all three OF positions and SS for the Marlins in 2009. He is a career .251 hitter over eight seasons in the major leagues.

Raul Chavez, Toronto Blue Jays. Chavez hit .258 in 168 AB’s with the Blue Jays in 2009. I am sure he will get a two-year contract somewhere as that is the trend for mediocre catchers these days.

Clay Condrey, Philadelphia Phillies. Condrey–no relation to Dennis Condrey of the Midnight Express tag-team back in the 80’s–has posted an ERA below 3.26 the last two years.

Gabe Gross and Shawn Riggans, Tampa Bay Rays. Gross, the former University of Auburn QB, hit .227 in 115 games for the Rays in 2009. Gross should get a bench job somewhere.

Mike MacDougal and Scott Olsen, Washington Nationals. MacDougal found a second life with the Nationals in 2009 and ultimately became their closer.

MacDougal had 20 saves and a respectable 3.60 ERA, but his one-to-one walk to strike out ratio is not impressive at all. He should get a chance with a small market team.

Injuries and some off the field issues have really hurt Olsen’s career so far. Since everyone loves a lefty, he should get a minor league deal.

Tim Redding, Lance Broadway, Jeremy Reed, and Cory Sullivan, New York Mets. Redding has pitched eight years in the majors and has never been good. This might be the end of the road for him

Like Brian Anderson above, Reed was once a top center field prospect. He might get a job as a defensive replacement somewhere.

Mark DeFelice, Mike Rivera, and Seth McClung, Milwaukee Brewers. I like McClung–especially as a reliever. Once the Brewers were forced to put him in a starting role last year that’s when all hell broke loose.

McClung should get plenty of interest as a reliever.

Mark Worrell and Jackson Quezada, San Diego Padres. I can honestly say I have never heard of Jackson Quezada before. I am not even going to try to lie and write like I know something about him.

John Buck and Josh Anderson, Kansas City Royals. Buck looks like a better player than he is. In eight seasons with the Royals, Buck hit .235 with seven HR’s in over 2,000 AB’s.

Matt Capps and Phil Dumatrait, Pittsburgh Pirates. After having solid 2007 and 2008 seasons, Capps really fell off in 2009. Capps had a 5.80 ERA and registered the highest BB/9 rate of his career (2.8/9).

Capps should see interest

He also registered the highest K/9 of his career as well (7.6/9). Perhaps Capps just needs a change of scenery. Once he finds that change of scenery, expect Capps to be a set-up man not a closer.

Dumatrait was once a first-round pick of the Red Sox back in 2000. He has a 7.06 ERA in three major league seasons.

Adam Miller, Jose Veras, and Anthony Reyes, Cleveland Indians. What a sad story Adam Miller is. As late as 2008, Miller was the Indians’ top prospect. But a hand injury has pretty much stopped his once promising career.

Veras could end up back with the Yankees on a minor league deal. Veras pitched with the Yankees for four years compiling a 4.47 ERA and a 1.39 WHIP in 103.2 innings.

There are a lot of players on this list who can help a team in 2010. Now that the non-tenders are on the market, I think we will see activity really pick up.

I think a lot of teams were waiting to see who was non-tendered before they made a move.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

We learned just a couple hours ago that the Tampa Bay Rays are not goning to tender outfielder Gabe Gross a contract.  He was due for a raise from his 1.255M salary and the Rays deemed him expendable with Matt Joyce more than ready to take over rightfield duties and hit against right handers.

The Cincinnati Reds decision to non-tender outfielder Jonny Gomes was quite a surprise.  This means the Reds are happy with a platoon of Chris Dickerson and Wladimir Balentien in left field or they think top prospect Chris Heisey is ready.

This could be good news for a team that is in need of a right field or left field platoon on the cheap.

Gabe Gross has a career .251/.346/.414 slash line against righties, which is below-average for a corner outfielder.  Gross also has a career UZR/150 of +17.6 in RF, +2.5 in CF, and +21.8 in LF and a well above-average arm.

Jonny Gomes has a career .274/.369/.517 slash line against lefties, which is more than adequate for a corner bat.  Gomes’ UZR/150 is a far cry from normal with a -20.2 in RF and a -25.7 in LF and his best position may be DH if he is asked to be more than a platoon player.

Oh, and both players are incredible guys and assets to any clubhouse.

A team like the Kansas City Royals should be all over this platoon for them in RF or LF when/if they trade David DeJesus (one of their top two players at getting on base) but the Royals do not value players with anything higher than a .320 OBP and a platoon of Gross/Gomes would give them something in the range of .350-.360 and that will clog too many bases in Kansas City.

Odds are that no one team will sign both players to platoon and/or rotate in the corner outfield.  Both players landing in one spot is just a scenario that I believe could help give a team something in the 2-3 win range at a marginal price if they have a vacancy in a corner outfield spot. Separately, Oakland could be a great fit for Gomes, his hometown is about 15 minutes away and the A’s vlaue power bats patience.  Gross could fit anywhere that values great defense and patience.  Either way, both of these guys should find jobs soon but it would be cool to see them in a platoon somewhere.

Digging in the bargain bin of the winter as the Dodgers are, the non-tender list stands to be a prime hunting ground. There’s still a few hours left for decisions to be made, so the list could get longer, but for now, here’s a look at some of the names we’ve seen so far who might interest the Dodgers.

Chien-Ming Wang, RHP
We’ve been hearing his name attached to the Dodgers for a while, thanks to his history with Joe Torre. Wang was probably never as good his career 55-26 record (along with two 19-win seasons) makes him look, since we know how pointless wins are. Still, he was pretty effective in 2005 and ‘06, pitching over 400 innings in those years with ERA+ scores of 124 and 122. He started off 2008 in much the same fashion before breaking his foot in June, missing the rest of the season. He made it back in 2009 to be, well, absolutely horrible. Allowing 14.1 hits per 9 and a 9.64 ERA in 12 games isn’t going to get you anywhere except for the unemployment line or the operating table, and the latter is exactly where he went with a shoulder injury.

Wang’s unlikely to be ready to go before May or June, which will make it nearly two full years since he was last effective. Still, that means he’s not going to come close to the $5m he made in 2009, which is probably more important than any other statistic I can put out there.

Odds: Probably pretty good due to both the Yankee connection and the Dodgers’ Taiwanese crew, but his impact is probably low at best. Let’s say 5-1.

Kelly Johnson, 2B
I had a pretty decent back-and-forth with TrueBlueLA on Twitter this morning (I’ll be honest, I have no idea which TBLA member runs their Twitter), and it basically came down to two competing ideas. For my part, I looked at his declining offensive stats in each of the last three years (.831 to .795 to .692) and his subpar defense (-7.4 career UZR/150 at 2B) and kind of threw up in my mouth a little. TBLA replied, fairly, that Johnson’s .249 BABIP in 2009 was pretty poor luck and likely to rebound.

That’s a fair point, to be sure. If the Dodgers did go out and sign Johnson, my opinion would probably rest entirely on what his role is. You can’t just hand him the 2B job over Blake DeWitt after how horrible he was in 2009, and if that’s the case then you can count me as being strongly against it. Initially I felt that it would be okay if Johnson was brought in to compete with DeWitt or as part of a platoon, but that won’t really work here. Despite being a lefty batter, he’s actually been stronger against lefty pitching in his career (.808 OPS career, .968, though in just 90 plate appearances, in 2009). That may sound like a good reason to have him be one half of a keystone platoon, except that for whatever reason Blake DeWitt is a lefty with the exact same issue. DeWitt’s hit .842 against lefties, but just .682 against righties. So that wouldn’t really work.

Odds: Clearly the Dodgers have a need at 2B, but they already have a questionable fielder who hits lefties despite being lefty; no need to add another. If you’re going to add someone who can’t hit righties, he might as well be a slick fielder. 20-1.

Jonny Gomes, OF
Can we talk about the Reds for a second? What a mess over there, because you’ve got GM Walt Jocketty crying poor about payroll issues, yet he goes out and trades for broken-down Scott Rolen and his $11m salary, gives old & injured Ramon Hernandez $3m with a $3.25m option, and now non-tenders Johnny Gomes, who merely slugged .541 and hit 20 homers in just 98 games.

Gomes really only does that one thing – hit for power – but he sure does it well. Despite never getting 500 plate appearances in a season, he’s hit 17 homers four separate times. His OBP is merely okay (.330) and he’s a horrific outfielder (-22.3 UZR/150 career), but he sure can hit the hell out of the ball. If anyone actually let him play full-time, he’d be a 30-homer threat, easily. I’m not ignoring his flaws, but when Brad Ausmus was arguably your biggest power threat off the bench, it’s not hard to see that you need a lumber upgrade.

Odds: With that glove, he really needs to be in the DH league, and the Dodgers have no outfield room anyway. Besides, power like that will be in demand, so the Dodgers will be outbid. 100,000-1.

Garrett Atkins, 3B/1B
Speaking of needing power off the bench, you may remember that my solution to that in the 2010 plan was to sign Troy Glaus as a corner infielder and power bat. If Glaus is either not healthy or too expensive, Atkins could be a low-cost solution. Atkins, who went to high school in Irvine, seemed to be on the path to stardom after a 2006 season in which he hit 29 homers with a .965 OPS. But to say his career has gone downhill since then is a bit of an understatement. An OPS+ that was 136 in 2006 has slid to 113, 96, and then finally 66 in a horrendous 2009 in which he lost his job and was nearly demoted to the minors.

Now, if you think you can fix him, he’s worth a shot to see if you can get a jolt off the bench and some average-ish defense at 1B and 3B. The worry is that you can’t fix him, and the fact that he’s always been somewhat of a Coors Field monster (.892 at home, .735 on the road) isn’t helping either.

Odds: Just looking at the good seasons on his resume, you know some teams will sniff around. That might drive the price up, but you can never overestimate someone wanting to come back home. 25-1.

Bonus: Atkins was non-tendered today… on his 30th birthday. Happy birthday?

Scott Olsen, LHP
Like Gomes, there’s been no connection I’ve heard of between Olsen and the Dodgers, but he’s a young lefty (26 in February) with starting experience (112 starts), so you can be sure he’s on the Dodger radar. There’s some complications here, though…

He’s been hurt. Olsen missed time in 2009 with left shoulder tendonitis, returned for a few weeks, and then had surgery on his left labrum in July, though he’s expected to be ready for spring training.

He’s hardly been a stud. At 6′5″, you’d expect him to be a power lefty, but his fastball tops out around 90, with his slider being his out pitch. He’s played on some pretty bad teams in Florida and Washington, so I’ll give him a pass on his win/loss record, but his FIP is pretty close to his actual career ERA of 4.77. It’s hard to tell how he’ll come back from the labrum surgery, but again he’ll just be 26, so it’s not that long ago that he was a nicely-regarded prospect.

He’s kind of a dick. For a guy so young, he’s got quite the history. There was the time he was punched out by a teammate. Or the time he fought a different teammate. Or the time he got a DUI and tried to fight a cop. Or the time he gave Brewer fans the bird.

Odds: If he’s healthy and you can look past his personal issues, almost all of which came while with Florida, I think he’s worth a shot. He’d hardly be the first 23- or 24-year-old to do some stupid things, and getting to the other side of the country to a team with some talent might do wonders. Either way, he’s unlikely to score a big deal coming off of injury and with his history. 15-1.

Alfredo Amezaga, 2B/CF
I can’t stand the thought, and I’m only listing him because there’d been reported interest in him last week. Here’s what I said about him at the time:

Oh, good lord. What, going after any old 32-year-old who can’t hit isn’t enough, we need to find one who’s coming off major experimental knee surgery? To say that Amezaga isn’t an offensive threat is understating the situation; in parts of 8 seasons spanning nearly 1500 PA, his line is a sparkling .251/.311/.341. Do we really think Chin-Lung Hu couldn’t put up that line in the bigs? I’ll grant that Amezaga is a pretty good fielder, as FanGraphs has him with positive values at CF, SS, and 2B. That doesn’t change the fact that he’s 32 and coming off major experimental knee surgery.

At least now he’s a free agent and you don’t have to trade anything for him. I just don’t see the fit here. He’s not going to see much time in CF (especially if Juan Pierre remains), and like I said, his nice infield glove and lousy bat doesn’t do much for me over just going with Hu.

Odds: Well, they already asked about trading for him, so now that he’s free? Probably higher than I care to admit. 10-1.

Saturday night was a special night for our Cincinnati Reds — they managed to clinch their ninth consecutive non-winning (a small-market-team’s way of saying “losing”) season.

Can the Reds top last year’s record of 74-88?  Boy, that would be swell!  They have 12 more games to do it.

Given the fact that the Reds are, once again, not in the playoff hunt it’s probably not very comforting to hear that — as far as next season is concerned — Walt Jocketty is likely to stick with the current roster. 

In other words:

Don’t expect the Reds to be very active in the off-season. Again.

Tell me, does this roster give you any hope that the Reds can compete in 2010? 

C: Ramon Hernandez/Ryan Hannigan
1B: Joey Votto
2B: Brandon Phillips
SS: Paul Jannish
3B: Scott Rolen
LF: Willy Patterson/Wladimir Balentien/Chris Dickerson/Laynce Nix
CF: Drew Stubbs
RF: Jay Bruce/Jonny Gomes/Darnell McDonald/Winner of Fox Sports Ohio’s ”Play Outfield for the Cincinnati Reds in 2010″ contest

P1: Aaron Harang
P2: Bronson Arroyo
P3: Homer Bailey
P4: Johnny Cueto
P5: Kip Wells? Seriously? Matt Maloney?

This roster is designed to instill fear into the hearts of man.  What the Reds failed to realize is that it’s supposed to instill fear in the hearts of the National League, not Cincinnati Reds fans.

If this roster somehow does give you hope, tell me why. 

If your hope is based off what this roster has done in September, against piss-poor teams playing for nothing but pride, post your thoughts somewhere else. 

And if your hope is caused by a 12-pack of Miller High Life, please wait until tomorrow to post your thoughts.

Finally, it appears that Milton Bradley and Marty Brennaman have more in common than just their initials.

Cincinnati Assistant GM Bob Miller checked in with readers on MLB.com to chat about all things Reds.  Among the topics he touched on included several former and current Louisville Bats.  I’ve included those questions and answers below. (Read more)

flgator69: Is Winter Ball or an extended Spring Training available for some of our hitters’ improvement?

• Miller: Instructional League starts next week and Winter Ball and the Arizona Fall League in October. Most of our better young players will be in one or more of those leagues getting more at-bats or innings under their belts.

redstockings54: My question is with the number of good outfielders we currently have, are there any plans to trade any of them. And if so, what is the plan?

• Miller: All of these guys are young and most of them still have options to the Minors left, so we like our depth. If something comes along that will better our team or fill another need, we will always consider it.

ChangeUp: Jonny Gomes seems to really enjoy being a Red and is really showing he can come through in clutch situations. Would you say there is a good chance he will be a Red next season?

• Miller: I hope so. He’s had a good year. Hopefully we can come to an agreement that makes both sides happy.

batsfan09: Enerio Del Rosario has had a great season as a relief pitcher in the Minor Leagues. Do you think he could be a part of next year’s bullpen? Could he possibly be a starter next year with Louisville, as he has been in previous years?

• Miller: I think Del Rosario and Logan Ondrusek will both be knocking on the door to pitch in the Majors next year. Both of them had outstanding seasons.

punksroo: Which Minor League prospects are we likely to see this Spring?

• Miller: Travis Wood, Del Rosario, Ondrusek, Yonder Alonso, Todd Frazier, Zack Cozart, Chris Valaika, Chris Heisey, etc.

lbentz11: I know it’s a bit premature, without writing off Matt Maloney, what are your thoughts on getting at least one left-handed starter for next season?

• Miller: I think both Wood and Maloney will be good Major League pitchers. Give them some time.

More major-league notes in today’s links plus a look back at one minor league team’s season, a college tournament and more about the state’s top draft prospect.

• The Hot Rods have posted their own season recap.
• The schedule for the Big East/Big Ten baseball challenge has been set with Louisville opening against Michigan.
• Loyal readers saw us report this earlier, but UK Athletics has a news release about James Paxton being named the seventh best college prospect by Baseball America.
• UK alum Joe Blanton picked up his 10th win of the season for the Phillies.
• Former Bats Jonny Gomes and Drew Stubbs homered and Jared Burton picked up the win in Cincinnati’s 6-5 victory over Houston.

Joey Votto’s milkshake brings all the boys to the yard.
(AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Midway through last night’s game Miss Sabo’s Goggles saw the score on the computer and said:

“Hey, the Reds’ number is bigger than the Brewers’ number!”

She finished her thought by saying:

“Well, it’s still early.”

All I could think was:

“No, it’s too late.”

What am I supposed to say about these last few weeks of games? They don’t matter in any way, shape, or form. Sure, next week the roster expands and we’ll get to see even more Minor League guys up here (if that’s even possible), but this 2010 team has so many holes to fill I don’t even know where to look.

Drew Stubbs went 1-6 last night, lowering his average to .154. I’m not down on the guy (yet), but at least it took Jay Bruce a few months to suck this bad.

If our beloved manager is to be believed, Paul Janish is the future at shortstop (not Brandon Phillips).  Janish is hitting .216.

Scott Rolen is back and went 4-7 last night.  His veteran leadership was evident when he recommend a “great sushi place” in downtown Milwaukee to a few of his teammates last night.   That’s what 34-years of life-experience brings to a team.

Lance Nix, Jonny Gomes — I like these guys.  Their numbers aren’t going to overwhelm anyone, but I like the way they play.  Shame on John Fay for suggesting the Reds trade Gomes (for what?!).

And Corky Miller is still part of the Reds’ organization.  Who knew?

I can’t believe there is only about a month and a half left in the baseball season. Just as important, most most leagues there is only about 2 weeks left in the regular season.

As always, here are the fantasy studs, the many players who have me concerned, and the potential pickups for the fantasy week of August 10 – 16.

Fantasy Studs

Ryan Howard – .391/4/11/.500. Howard is starting to heat up, but with only 30 homeruns he will be hard pressed to hit 45+ homeruns for the the forth straight year.

Troy Tulowitzki – .407/3/10. At the beginning of the year, I wrote a piece “Can Tulo bounce back?” Yes, he can.

Hunter Pence – .290/4/10. Pence hit a HUGE HR against the Milwaukee Brewers yesterday. The fact that he refuses to walk is concerning (zero walks last week), but as long as he keeps hitting like this, nobody will have a problem.

Jonny Gomes – .400/4/9. Gomes was the latest player to hit three HR’s in a game when he hit three HR’s against the Washington Nationals last week.

Gonzalez raked last week

Gomes could be this year’s version of Nelson Cruz. Cruz helped a lot of fantasy teams down the stretch last year.

Adrian Gonzalez – .633/3/8. I still haven’t figured out why teams (especially ones in contention) pitch to him. Makes no sense to me.

Randy Wolf – 2-0 with a 2.30 ERA and 13 K’s in 15.2 IP. Wolf came up aces yesterday for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Wolf has a .600 lifetime winning percentage in September and October, so expect Wolf to continue his success down the stretch.

Cliff Lee – 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA and 12 K’s in 15 IP. Third straight week Lee has been a fantasy stud. I think Lee really, really, really likes the National League.

Jorge De La Rosa – 2-0 with a 0.68 ERA and 20 K’s in 13.1 IP. You could like to see De La Rosa get his innings up, but he has been one of the main reasons the Colorado Rockies are leading the NL Wild Card race.

Reasons for Concern

Erik Bedard – Bedard is this year’s Ben Sheets. He is a free agent after the season and was in-line for a nice payday in the offseason, but season ending surgery derailed any chance of that happening.

Bedard had surgery on Friday to fix a torn labrum and an inflamed bursa. He might might not be ready for Opening Day in 2010.

Joba Chamberlain – 0-1 with a 6.55 ERA. The New York Yankees are sometimes like the trust fund baby who, if they just played it straight everything would work out. But every now and then, the trust fund baby does some drugs and screws it all up.

This is what the Yankees have done with Chamberlain. Chamberlain came out of the All-Star break firing on all cylinders, he was pitching better than he ever was before, and then the Yankees started screwing around with his rest because of some silly pitch count limit.

Chamberlain now has a 6.75 ERA in August. Keep tabs on this situation. If the Yankees continue to mess with Chamberlain, he might not have as much fantasy value down the stretch.

Penny was terrible on Saturday night

Brad Penny – 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA and 14 hits allowed in 11.2 IP. The Brad Penny experiment is starting to get old in Boston in a hurry.

Penny’s performance on Saturday night was embarrassing. Penny was mentally not into the game and allowed the Texas Rangers to run all over him (six SB’s while Penny was on the mound).

If Tim Wakefield and Daisuke Matsuzaka came back in September, I would imagine Penny would be out of the rotation.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia – Placed on the 15-Day DL with a sore right arm. I was watching the game Friday night between the Boston Red Sox and Texas Rangers and I was wondering what the heck was wrong with Saltalamacchia?

He was having such a hard time throwing the ball back to the pitcher. I guess I now know why. Saltalamacchia was only batting .239 before this injury, so he might not be missed to much on your fantasy team.

David Wright – Placed on the 15-Day DL with post-concussion symptoms. I saw David Wright get hit in the head with a Matt Cain 94 mph fastball as it happened, and didn’t think Wright would make it back to his feet.

The ball hit him flush in the helmet. Though Wright was placed on the only the 15-Day DL, don’t expect Wright back in 2009. There is no reason for him to play with the New York Mets so far our of the playoff race.

Potential Pickups

Any pitcher vs. the New York Mets – With now David Wright out of the lineup, the Mets might have the worst lineup in baseball. Their best hitter might be Jeff Franouer and he has a .296 OBP for the season.

Here are the pitchers who will face the Mets this week:

Joe Martinez, Derek Lowe, Jair Jurrjens, Kenshin Kawakami, Cole Hamels, JA Happ, Pedro Martinez

Bronson Arroyo showed what all those supplements, energy drinks and Flintstone’s vitamins can do for a guy — 9 innings of two-hit baseball.

Dusty Baker had this to say about Arroyo’s performance:

“It was like he didn’t break a sweat.”

Actually, I think that’s one of the side-effects of drinking six Red Bulls on a game day, but whatever.

Jonny Gomes decided to one-up Arroyo by hitting three home runs in his first three at bats.   That’s pretty cool.

Yes, it was against the Nationals, but do you think I’m the type of person to find fault in  a win?  Well, I am, but I won’t do it tonight.

Nice job, Jonny and Bronson.

A conversation I had yesterday concerning the Reds went something like this:

Friend: At this point, I consider myself a moderate Reds fan. I just enjoy watching good baseball.

Me: Yeah, same here. If you want to see good baseball, watching the Reds is not what you want to do. They set the game back 75 years every time they take the field. 

That’s the type of Reds-related conversations I have every day and they always begin with “Man, the Reds suck.”

But how could they not suck, honestly? Their lineup consists of a few couple solid guys (Votto, Phillips) and a plethora of AAAA players, yesterday’s news, and old vets who have given up PED’s in favor of Geritol. Welcome to the club Mr. Rolen! (I’m not suggesting that Scott Rolen has taken PED’s, but I wouldn’t be surprised at the latter.) The men “setting the table” for Joey Votto couldn’t get a hit if they were playing underhand softball – and they’ve got the numbers to prove it.

The starting rotation, which was once regarded as one of the club’s few strengths, is in shambles. Of course you know by now that Edinson Volquez had Tommy John surgery yesterday. He’ll be out for at least a year. Is it fair to blame the WBC yet or not? Johnny Cueto seems to have lost his groove. Bronson Arroyo is more miss than hit nowadays and even if Aaron Harang pitches well enough to win, he continues to get no run support. Micah Owings is out but I’m not sure which this hurts more, the pitching staff or our pinch hitting options. 

So now that this season is a wash, what are the Reds brass looking at now? Perhaps the better question is what should they be looking at now? The problems that Walt Jocketty must deal with this off season are numerous, but here are some issues that any Reds fan with a brain should be able to point out.

Problems that must be dealt with in no specific order:

1. Shortstop: AGon is done. Surely Walt Jocketty is not stupid enough to pick up this guy’s 2010 option. The question is, who will replace him? Chris Valaika or a free agent signing?

In case you were wondering, here are the available shortstops on the free agent market as of this Fall:

1. Bobby Crosby
2. Orlando Cabrera
3. Adam Everett
4. Khalil Greene
5. Marco Scutaro
6. John McDonald
7. Miguel Tejada
8. Jack Wilson

My vote is for Valaika.

2. Center Field: Can anyone remind me why we signed Willy Taveras in the first place? Who, exactly, were we in competition with to sign him? There had to have been some competition in order for us to offer the ludicrous two years/$6.5 million ($4 million of which he earns in 2010). 

Here we are stuck with Corey Patterson, Jr. for another season while guys like Drew Stubbs and Chris Heisey are lighting up the International League. I love being a Reds fan! 

3. Left Field: In my opinion, Nix and Gomes have served nicely in the corner outfield spots this season; Gomes especially. (This reminds me of what a brilliant move it was to place Darnell McDonald on the Opening Day roster and keep him there for two months or however long it was. But that is neither here nor there.) However, is Jonny Gomes or a platoon of him and Laynce Nix the answer for the Reds in Left Field? I’m not one to believe that. This club still needs some pop from the right side of the plate. Some would argue that comes from our newly acquired third baseman, but I would argue against that. I’m sure the Reds’ answer will be in the form of either a pricey free agent or a washed up spring training invitee.

4. Catcher: While I wouldn’t consider Ramon Hernandez the Reds’ biggest problem or even say the trade for him was a bad one, I would advocate that Ryan Hanigan should see more playing time. Hernandez’s numbers have gotten progressively worse since 2005 while Hanigan remains the Reds’ only .300+ hitter aside from Joey Votto. Additionally, Hanigan is better defensively and none would argue as to how he calls a game and handles pitchers.

Speaking of catchers, did anyone else find the Jerry Hairston trade for minor league catcher Chase Weems interesting? I didn’t think so, but what I found interesting was how might this affect Devin Mesoraco. Are the Reds’ feelings towards Mesoraco souring a bit?

5. Bronson Arroyo and Aaron Harang: Similar to the situations at shortstop and center field, the Reds have hamstrung themselves by offering these two players large contracts making them difficult to trade. There is no doubt in my mind that clubs who are in the mix would take a flier on one of these two had it not been for their unappealing salaries. Right now, they are commanding nearly 30% of the Reds’ payroll and I’m pretty sure that $20 million could be spent on better performing pitchers. I must say that if I had to trade one and keep the other, I’d move Arroyo and keep Harang. 

6. Manager/Coaching Staff: The odds of Dusty Baker getting fired this off season are about as good as the Reds finishing above .500. While Baker shouldn’t be blamed for everything, he is in part responsible for what we see on the field and the strategic portions of the game. Take last night against the Cubs for example; Baker visits Harang on the mound in the eighth, leaves him in to face Derek Lee, Harang gives up an RBI double. Again, the Reds down three runs with two men on, Baker sends out Janish to pinch hit instead of the Reds’ savior, Scott Rolen. I know Rolen took a shot to the head the night before, but surely he can take an AB. Yet again, in the bottom of the ninth with two on, two out, down two runs, couldn’t Dusty have found someone else to bat for .237 Willy Taveras? Is there not anyone who could play center field in the event that the pinch hitter actually ties the game? Maybe not, but it’s things like this that make you think Dusty’s already mailed it in. Forgive me for turning my Dusty Baker rant into a mini-recap of last night’s debacle. Besides, Dusty didn’t lose the game on his own, he had some help.

Regardless of whether Baker stays or goes, I feel this coaching staff needs to be shaken up. The problem with someone like myself making the point about the coaching staff is that it’s difficult to quantify the effect that a coaching staff has on the players and on the outcome of each game. It’s not Chris Speier’s fault that Alex Gonzalez has lost a step in his range; a coach can only do so much. Outside of Dusty Baker, the coach who obviously has the most affect on the outcome of a game is Dick Pole. At times, his tactics have been questionable at best (i.e. allowing Justin Lehr to walk the bases loaded and fall behind 3-0 to the next batter before even visiting the mound).

You don’t have to have Dave Duncan and Rudy Jaramillo on staff in order to win, but you do need coaches with at least some semblance of knowing what they’re doing.

Positives – the Few and Far Between

There are some things to be positive about. Joey Votto continues to be a stud. He has MVP potential. Brandon Phillips, while not a cleanup hitter and sometimes frustrating, is brilliant in the field and would be fantastic at the plate were he in the six or seven hole. For the most part, the bullpen has been a stopping force. No one is complaining about the Arthur Rhodes signing. Cordero is an All-Star even though the Reds are paying him way too much. Homer seems to have finally found it, whatever it is. Gomes has been a pleasant surprise and Jay Bruce’s .207 average surely can go nowhere but up.

So there are a few things to be pleased with that offer some sort of hope for next season and beyond. But I, like you, am content with being negative about what I see on the field right now and hate myself for wasting hours of my life watching it. All we can hope for now is the right moves to be made once this awful season is behind us.

In closing, I would like to leave you with a quote by Mark Twain given to me a couple weeks ago. It might make you feel better when you see GABP packed with Cubs fans again tonight.

Satan to newcomer, with discontent:

The trouble with you Chicago people is that you think you are the best in Hell – whereas you are merely the most numerous.