Yesterday I recommended which National League free agents should be offered arbitration, paying specific attention to their ranking by the Elias Sports Bureau. As most of you already know, Elias does a yearly ranking of all the players in major league baseball. These ratings are then used to determine draft pick compensation to teams that lose free agents. Today I will be doing the same thing for the American League free agents. Please refer to yesterday's article for details on the compensation process. This can be done by using the link at the bottom of this page or through the archive.

Anaheim
Ismael Valdes(C) should be offered arbitration. I think the Angels are considering re-signing him, and even if they can't work out a deal, some other team will bite.

Gary DiSarcina, below C, did not play in 2001. There is no reason for the team to risk offering him arbitration considering his previously lacking skills.

Pat Rapp(C) was pitching with a torn labrum for much of last season. He has opted not to have surgery in hopes that an off-season of rehab will take care of the problem. The Angels should not offer him arbitration. He would be very likely to accept.

Baltimore
Jose Mercedes(B) is in a high enough bracket that the Orioles should risk offering him arbitration. He had an okay year below the surface numbers, but the outward appearance should allow them to beat him at arbitration should he accept.

Tim Raines is a below C level player, however the Orioles should go ahead and offer him arbitration. He won't cost much under any circumstances, and if he decides to try to stick around another year, they have the father/son marketing angle for a bit longer.

Alan Mills, below C, is considering retirement. There is no reason to offer him arbitration.

Boston
The Red Sox are still negotiating with David Cone(C), so they need to offer him arbitration. If he decides to stay with the team, they should be able to complete a deal without a hearing.

Mike Lansing(C)'s option was declined by the club. However, they could still re-sign him for less money. There is little risk in offering him arbitration as Boston could probably beat him if he were to accept.

Although Hideo Nomo(A) recently cut off negotiations with the Sox, there is no reason not to offer him arbitration. Some other team will sign him, and then Boston can collect the two picks.

Rod Beck(A) is undergoing off-season Tommy John surgery. There is no reason for the club to give him the opportunity to accept arbitration.

Dante Bichette(B) should not be given the opportunity to be overpaid by an arbiter.

The Red Sox should allow below C free agents Darren Lewis, Troy O'Leary, Joe Oliver, and Hipolito Pichardo to leave.

Bret Saberhagen, below C, is leaving baseball. The club could offer him arbitration, but there's really no point.

John Valentin, below C, had his option declined. Unless the club is still negotiating with him, there is no reason to offer him arbitration.

Chicago
Bill Simas, below C, was out all year with an elbow injury. The White Sox partially blamed the fading of the pen on Simas' absence as he often pitched the 7th inning for them in 2000, setting up the 8th for Bob Howry and the 9th for Keith Foulke. Whatever the merits of the argument, if Chicago believes it, they should go ahead and offer him arbitration.

David Wells(A) should be offered arbitration. He doesn't really want to return to Chicago, and there is already a lot of interest in him elsewhere. The compensation they receive when he leaves could be the best thing to come out of that trade.

Harold Baines, below C, will have to find another team if he wants to keep playing. The White Sox have no room and shouldn't offer him arbitration. He would accept.

Jose Canseco(B) played very well for the Sox. However, they don't really have room for him on the bench and he would like to play full time in some outfield next year. If he accepted arbitration he would probably win, so there is no way Chicago should give him the opportunity.

Cal Eldred(C) will probably hang it up after his last comeback attempt. Again there is no reason for the Chicago to offer him arbitration.

The Sox declined the option on Alan Embree(C). They have no interest in re-signing him, so they shouldn't offer him arbitration.

Cleveland
The Indians declined their option on Dave Burba(A), but should still offer him arbitration. There is enough interest elsewhere that there shouldn't be any concern about him accepting, and Cleveland needs the extra picks to replenish their weakened system.

Although I can't find mention of it anywhere now, Juan Gonzalez(A) has a special clause in his contract that prevents the team from offering arbitration after they declined his option back on October 24th.

Kenny Lofton(A)'s decline may make offering him arbitration a bit more risky, but Cleveland should still do it since he'll receive a multi-year contract elsewhere.

Rich Rodriguez, below C, played well for the Indians last season, but they should let him go and replace him with someone from the minors.

Detroit
Roger Cedeno(B) should absolutely be offered arbitration. There are numerous teams interested in the speedster, and there is no way that he would accept after the way the Tigers treated him last season.

Kansas City
Gregg Zaun(B) should be offered arbitration. He will likely leave for another team that will give him a chance to start, but even if he were to accept he has enough value that it wouldn't hurt the Royals. It's worth the gamble for the compensation.

If the Royals think they want Luis Alicea(B) back in 2002, they should offer him arbitration. He is in a fairly high bracket, so his compensation potential alone makes it almost worth the risk.

Minnesota
Todd Jones(A) should be offered arbitration. The team can use all the draft picks it can acquire, and there's an off chance that they could beat him at arbitration if he accepted.

New York
Sterling Hitchcock is below C level, but the Yankees should still offer him arbitration. He remains a quality starter and there's no reason for New York to close the door to possible future negotiations.

Tino Martinez(B) does present a risk if New York offers him arbitration, but they should do it anyway. After all, Jason Giambi, despite a trigger-happy ESPN, has not signed yet.

Randy Velarde(A) should be offered arbitration. The Yankees don't really want him back for long, but if he were to sign they could keep him around until Drew Henson's ready to take over. Otherwise, they collect a few more draft picks. They should be losing enough of their own. If the Justice-for-Ventura deal is completed before the arbitration deadline, the Yankees should withhold an offer to Velarde since they wouldn't have room for another infielder.

Chuck Knoblauch (C) has generated almost no interest from other teams. Unless they want him back in 2002 (and they don't), the Yankees should not offer him arbitration. He would be very likely to accept.

There is no reason to offer Allen Watson, below C, arbitration.

Mark Wohlers, below C, was nothing special last year. Given the Yankee's plans to sign a big reliever, there's no reason to bother offering arbitration to a guy like Wohlers.

Oakland
The A's should offer arbitration to Jason Giambi(A), Johnny Damon(A), and Jason Isringhausen(A). All three of these players will receive offers in excess of what Oakland can offer, so there is no risk of any of them accepting. They're also still negotiating to bring back at least one of this group and need to keep their options open.

Younger and less expensive players can easily replace Ron Gant(C) and Gil Heredia(B). There is no reason to offer them arbitration.

Seattle
David Bell(B) isn't looking to stay with the Mariners, but they should go ahead and offer him arbitration to collect compensation.

The Mariners would like to re-sign Bret Boone(A), so they need to offer him arbitration to continue negotiations. If things fall apart, they can use the picks to replace the prospects they'll need to trade for more offense. The strategy has worked well with bigger free agents than Boone.

Norm Charlton(B) pitched well for Seattle last year, so they should offer him arbitration in an effort to get him to re-sign despite his advanced age.

Aaron Sele(A) probably won't be back with the Mariners. There is enough interest elsewhere for Seattle to offer arbitration just to guarantee compensation.

Pat Borders is a below C level player. There is no reason for Seattle to offer the back-up catcher arbitration.

Jay Buhner(B) and Stan Javier(B) have both announced their intentions to retire. There is no reason to offer either of them arbitration.

Seattle has no need to offer arbitration to Al Martin(C) or Ed Sprague(C) since they can find younger, less expensive guys for their bench.

Tampa Bay
Chris Gomez is a below C level free agent, but the Devil Rays want to re-sign him, so they need to offer him arbitration to allow negotiations to continue.

Texas
Ruben Sierra(C) is the only player the Rangers need to offer arbitration. He's likely to sign elsewhere if he can get a multi-year deal with another team, but there's no reason to let a player with his skill history leave without making an effort.

Tim Crabtree, Chad Curtis, and Pat Mahomes are all below C level free agents. Crabtree had arm problems last year, Curtis is considering retirement, and Mahomes was nothing special. There is no reason to offer any of them arbitration.

Toronto
Tony Fernandez is retiring; there is no reason to offer him arbitration.

Jeff Frye(C) doesn't need to be offered arbitration. Toronto has multiple other players waiting to fill his shoes.

That wraps up this set of articles. Tomorrow, I'll try to cover some of the latest news since some interesting stories have finally broken over the last day or so.