2010 Non-Tender List Presents Interesting Options

Last night marked the deadline for teams to tender contracts to players who had still not yet accumulated six full years of Major League service.  This includes players who have accumulated three full years and are now arbitration eligible.  For such players, when a team tenders them a contract, that team runs the risk of going to salary arbitration and possibly paying a hefty price.  Many teams try to negotiate a contract with a player prior to the deadline or trade that player to another team, in which case the responsibility of tendering a contract falls on that team.  When the aforementioned transactions cannot be accomplished, many teams choose to non-tender such players for with whom they do not wish to risk going to arbitration with.  Bare in mind that a team can still resign a player who has been non-tendered, but that player is now free to negotiate with any team that he wishes.

Here the official non-tender list for 2010, courtesy of MLB.com:

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Baltimore: Matt Albers, RHP
Boston: Taylor Buchholz, RHP; Andrew Miller, LHP; Hideki Okajima, LHP
New York Yankees: Alfredo Aceves, RHP; Dustin Moseley, RHP
Tampa Bay: Willy Aybar, IF/DH; Lance Cormier, RHP; J.P. Howell, LHP; Dioner Navarro, C
Toronto: Jeremy Accardo, RHP; Fred Lewis, OF
White Sox: Bobby Jenks, RHP; Erick Threets, LHP
Cleveland: None.
Detroit: Zach Miner, RHP
Kansas City: Josh Fields, IF
Minnesota: None.
Angels: Kevin Frandsen, IF
Oakland: Travis Buck, OF; Jack Cust, DH/OF; Edwin Encarnacion, IF;
Seattle: Ryan Rowland-Smith, LHP
Texas: Dustin Nippert, RHP

NATIONAL LEAGUE
Atlanta: Matt Diaz, OF
Florida: Ronny Paulino, C; Jose Veras, RHP
Mets: Chris Carter, OF; Sean Green, RHP; John Maine, RHP
Washington: Wil Nieves, C; Joel Peralta, RHP; Chien-Ming Wang, RHP
Philadelphia: None.
Cubs: None.
Cincinnati: None.
Houston: Sammy Gervacio, RHP
Milwaukee: Todd Coffey, RHP; Joe Inglett, IF/OF
Pittsburgh: Brian Burres, LHP; Argenis Diaz, IF; Lastings Milledge, OF; Donnie Veal, LHP
St. Louis: None.
Arizona: Blaine Boyer, RHP; D.J. Carrasco, RHP; Ryan Church, OF; Augie Ojeda, IF
Colorado: Manny Delcarmen, RHP
Dodgers: Russell Martin, C; Trent Oeltjen, OF; George Sherrill, LHP
San Diego: Matt Antonelli, IF; Tony Gwynn Jr., OF; Scott Hairston, OF; Luis Perdomo, RHP
San Francisco: Chris Ray, RHP; Eugenio Velez, IF

As you can see from this list, there are quite a number of well known names to be had.  The Yankees let Dustin Moseley and Alfredo Aceves go, two pitchers who made positive contributions for them over the past two years.  Moseley should be able to get a major league contract with another team but I wouldn't be surprised if Aceves came back on a minor league contract due to his injury status.

A couple of names on this list really stick out as potential players who could help the Yankees, particularly Russell Martin, who the Yankees apparently already tried to trade for.  The Yankees are definitely in the market for a catcher and Martin could be a nice pickup to help them transition to Jesus Montero or provide insurance in the case that he doesn't perform well this spring.

There are also a few lefties available on this list coming off of mediocre years, including George Sherrill, Hideki Okashima, and JP Howell.  Willy Aybar also made this list and he could be a nice player
for the Yankees to have, as he can play the corner infield spots and
provide some pop off of the bench.

(Photo courtesy of yogadork.com)