There are some solid bats at the top of the corner outfield list, but little upside and even less defense.
1. Josh Willingham (33)– Quietly, Willingham put up a solid season at the plate, hitting .246/.332/.477 with 29 home runs and 98 RBI. Any team looking for a solid bat capable of 25 or more homers is sure to take a long look. The catch is that he has well below average range defensively.
2. Michael Cuddyer (33) – Cuddyer has a great relationship with the Twins and reports have them trying to work out a deal. Two-years and $16M is said to be on the table, but should he hit the open market, there are sure to be many suitors looking to acquire his solid bat and versatility in the field, even if that versatility translates to below average defense in the outfield and third.
3. Cody Ross (31) – Ross got a lot of attention for what he did after joining the Giants for their 2010 World Series run, but he’s a career .261/.323/.456 hitter and is nothing more than adequate in the outfield. Injuries hurt his 2011 numbers, but there are sure to be team willing to look past that and focus on his 20-plus home run potential.
4. Jason Kubel (29)– Kubel gets marked down a bit since he’s not much of a defender, at all. He should be limited to signing with an American League team where he can DH, maybe playing a few games in the outfield here or there. Kubel’s a solid enough hitter, capable of a line around .275/.335/.450 with 20-25 homers when healthy.
5. Johnny Damon (37) – Damon might not be finished quite yet. He put up a respectable .261/.326/.418 line in 2011 with 16 home runs and 19 stolen bases. While he still has decent range in the field, his arm is so poor that he might be better off kicking the ball to the cut-off man. That factor will limit him to an American League team.
6. Juan Pierre (34)– Pierre hit .275 with a .341 OBP and 68 stolen bases in 2010. Then he fell off the cliff in 2011, seeing his OBP drop to .329 and his stolen base total drop to 27, having played in only two fewer games. When a player’s game revolves around speed and that speed disappears, it doesn’t bode well for that player’s future in the game. Pierre may catch on somewhere on a one-year deal, but he’ll have to prove that his speed is back and that he can still cover ground in left.
7. Ryan Ludwick (33)– It’s hard to believe that this man once hit 37 home runs and posted 5.6 wins above replacement. 2008 is long gone and so it seems is Ludwick’s ability at the plate. He put up a putrid .674 OPS while with the Padres and didn’t fare any better in his limited time in Pittsburgh. He did hit 17 home runs with a league average OBP in 2010, so there is sure to be someone out there willing to take a flier, even if it’s on a minor league deal, for 2012.
8. Raul Ibanez (40)– People criticized Ruben Amaro Jr. when he signed the then 37-year-old Raul Ibanez to a three-year $31.5 million dollar deal. Ibanez silenced those critics, for one year at least. Since then, he has regressed at the plate for two straight seasons. Along the way, Ibanez lost a ton of bat speed and, subsequently, began chasing many more pitches outside the strike-zone. With almost non-existent defensive skills, his plate discipline and power was about all he had left.
9. Reed Johnson (35) – Looking at the numbers, one might imagine that Reed Johnson had an outstanding season for the Cubs in 2011. In reality, those numbers (.309/.348/.467) were a product of a .394 BABIP in a small sample size of 266 plate appearances. In those 266 plate appearances, Johnson walked only five times and struck out 63 times.
10. Laynce Nix (31) – Nix is certainly not an everyday player. He has a career line of .244/.288/.430 and has a career .188 AVG against left-handed pitching. However, Nix is strong like bull and can certainly hit the long ball. He hit 16 home runs in 324 at-bats this past season, all of which came against right-handed pitching.
