Sheehan did a great job identifying some of the better potential bargains in the free agent market. lboros had mentioned lieber about a month or so ago, so does Sheehan now.

http://tinyurl.com/ys47d4 (subscription)

Jon Lieber: His season was ended by a foot injury, not an arm one. He was having your basic Jon Lieber season up to that point, throwing just shy of six innings a start, and striking out 2.5 times the guys he was walking. He'd be a great pickup for a team that plays where fly balls go to die, but remember that Lieber was a decent innings muncher even playing in Citizens Bank Park, which appears to be 270 down the lines and 320 in the gaps. There's not that much difference between Lieber and Greg Maddux at this point, and you can get Lieber for half Maddux's price.

In his article, he also mentions USSM endorsed free agent starter Bartolo Colon, as well as Jason Jennings and Tony Armas Jr. Yes, I know. Armas is bad. Maybe he'd be a decent reliever, not that we need a lot of help there... After reading about the Cardinals interest in the more overpriced FA crop like Lohse and Silva, I'd really prefer if the Cards went the less expensive, less commitment route. Silva and Lohse will probably land near double what they are actually worth.

http://www.tangotiger.net/salary2008.html

If Jenning's elbow is OK, he seems to me to be the cream of the crop, even after an ugly 07. It's just his gb% was uncharacteristically went south, and the flies + Juicebox is what ruined his ERA. Going into 07, PECOTA had his projected WARP 3.4 for 2008, and 2.8 for 2009. With the concerns about his health, I could see him signing for a 1 y deal with incentives, maybe an option. could be a bargain.

[editor's note, by erik]While I'm talking Hot Stove, here's a bargain option for you on replacing Eck---D'Angelo Jimenez

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/J/DAngelo-Jimenez.shtml

.351 career MLB OBA, .368 career minor league OBA.In 04 he homered 12 times and took 82 walks for the Reds, and has been banished to AAA seems like since. He's more of a 2B, but has played some SS. let jimenez, ryan and barden "duke it out" for SS, and jimenez probably wins and it costs the team like 1.5-2 M for all three on the roster, if that. and you can bring in lieber and maybe even jennings around $15 total. you dump Rolen for whoever will take his whiny butt if at all possible, and replace him with Mike Lamb, for like $4m. problem solved...if it were that easy. eh, maybe that's not good enough. but i'm of the school of play for 09