Why wait? Yankee free agent predictions!

Well, this isn't going to be a large post covering all of the free agents throughout baseball that the Yankees will or wont be interested in; it won't be about who they should sign, or what player they're talking to that they should simply walk away from, lets simply talk about the 7 Yankees who just got a WS ring and a key to the city, and discuss whether they should be on the team when the Yankees go for #28. As for the rest of the league, we will get to that later on in the off season.

First off, who are the Yankee free agents you ask. Well, luckily we here have the answer: Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, Andy Pettitte, Xavier Nady, Jerry Hairston Jr., Jose Molina and Erik Hinske

Ok, lets take 'em one by one their 2009 salary will be in ( )

Johnny Damon ($13 mil) Damon has a solid year as a Yankee hitting .282 with 24 hrs 82 RBI and a .365 OB%. With that said, it wasn't all good. He had only 12 SB, his lowest as a Yankee and his defense was not good to say the least. Only 7 of his home runs came on the road, which shows how much the new Yankee Stadium helped him, he hit .247 in Sept/ the first 3 days of October, and although he had a good postseason, that does include a .083 BA in the Division Series. He will be a Type A free agent, so offering him arbitration could be a decent idea considering he has said he wants a multi-year deal, but I think playing in NY is more important to him than a long-term deal so I wouldn't take the risk of having to possibly pay him $15 mil or more. Having Austin Jackson at AAA is a bit of insurance in this situation as well.

Official Offer- 1 year $8 mil with a $8 mil team option for 2011. No arbitration offer.

Hideki Matsui ($13 mil) We all know how well Matsui played in the playoffs, specifically the WS, but his 2009 season was very good as well. Yes, he only hit .274, but with 28 homers 90 RBI and a .367 OB%. People such as Mike Francesa will tell you there is no room for him considering they want to share the DH spot with guys like Jeter, A-Rod, Posada and Damon if he is resigned. Although the "goal" is to give the 15 DH spots each, even though I don't think that will happen, even if it does, that still leaves 102 games without a DH. Who DH's then? When it comes down to it, Matsui proved he can still stay healthy for an entire year and more importantly, proved he can still hit. Give this man a contract! If any of you saw Letterman last night, Jeter wants him back to and what the Captain wants, the Captain gets. A Type B free agent, Matsui, like Damon isn't worth the risk of potentially having to pay $15 mil

Official Offer- 2 years $14 mil. No arbitration offer.

Andy Pettitte ($5.5 mil base salary, potential of $12 mil with incentives, Pettitte earned $10 mil overall) Pettitte, who was upset with his contract last year, went 14-8 this year, won all three clinching games in the postseason and did what we all have come to expect since he first pitched in 1995. Pettitte has shown before he would be willing to walk if he doesn't get what he thinks he deserves, he may actually be worth offering arbitration to. He is a Type B free agent, but when the final rankings come out, he may be a Type A, so he could potentially get paid about $12 mil since arbitration is based off of money earned, not base salary. While again, I wouldn't off arbitration, I don't know if my potential idea of 1 year $ 8 mil with incentives would be enough for him. With that said, I seem to be the only one, but part of me thinks Pettitte is going to retire.

Official Offer- 1 year $9 mil with incentives to potentially reach $12 mil. No arbitration offer.

Xavier Nady ($6.55 mil) Nady has an upsetting year considering he only played in 7 games. With that said, he is a Type B free agent and represented by Scott Boras. I think arbitration is the right way to go with Nady. Right now, we don't know who our left fielder will be, our RF is very good, but could use rest every now and again and our CF combo is okay at best. We could use another potential OF with some pop, especially against lefties who can play any outfield position. With that said, since Scott Boras is his agent and he will be looking for a multi year deal in a weak free agent market, odds are he will decline arbitration and the Yankees will receive a draft pick. If not, its not the worst case scenario considering he would only make about $7 mil. Its a win-win situation.

Official Offer- Offer arbitration. No contract offer

Jerry Hairston Jr. ($2 mil) While Hairston came over and played decently, he is not necessary to the team considering we have Ramiro Pena. He currently projects as a Type B free agent, but when the final rankings come out, he may drop out of the rankings entirely. That is what is going to determine it all. If he is a Type B, an arbitration offer is an okay idea because he wont get too much of a raise, but if he isn't, Pena will get the job done.

Official Offer- Arbitration if Type B free agent. No offer if not ranked

Erik Hinske ($1.5 mil) Hinske is a good bench player, but there are many like him. He could help, but if he walks it won't be hard to find a replacement, especially if we offer Nady arbitration and he accepts.

Official Offer- 1 year $1 mil

Jose Molina ($2 mil) Nice knowing you! Don't let the door hit you on the way out!

Official Offer- NOTHING

Well, that's it for now. Obviously, these signing may affect each other. They Yankees may not want to bring back both Matsui and Damon, or Hinske and Nady, so it will be interesting to see how things work out. There are many other decisions to be made regarding the team such as should they pick up Sergio Mitre's option (i cant find anywhere how much it is worth, but either way, it doesn't matter, don't pick it up), should they non-tender Chien-Ming Wang (yes!) and resign him to a minor league deal (yes again!), and obviously lots of trade talks as well will take place. It's going to be an interesting off season as always, but we first gotta start off by taking care of what is right in front of us. What do you guys think about our free agents? Am I being too cheap? Are they getting too much? Let me know what you think?

Update: 11/9/09
The official rankings are out. Somehow, Hideki Matsui isn't even ranked, yet Xavier Nady is. That one seems to be confusing everyone. But more importantly, Jerry Hairston Jr. went from being a Type B, to not being ranked so I believe it is time to cut ties with him.