Free agency begins
And so it begins…the Hot Stove season.
At the very moment of Brian Wilson recording the final strikeout to give the Giants the World Series win over the Rangers, 142 players automatically became free agents late Monday night. Under new rules, they no longer have to file for it…it just happens.
The new rules also shorten the exclusive negotiating period for free agents from 15 days to five days. After the fifth day, free agents can negotiate and sign with any club.
As expected, these are the Reds free agents from the list provided by the MLBPA:
Bloomquist, Willie
Cairo, Miguel
Edmonds, Jim
Hernandez, Ramon
Lincoln, Michael
Rhodes, Arthur
Springer, Russ
From this list, expect the Reds to make attempts to bring back Hernandez, Cairo and Rhodes. Edmonds was contemplating retirement but I could envision his potential return if he wanted to keep playing and was healthy enough to give it a go.
Also — be sure to bookmark this blog link — http://mlb.mlblogs.com/ – it will be our MLB-wide blog of transactions, rumors and breaking hot stove news during the winter.
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Mark Sheldon
