With all of the dead money we have coming off of the roster after this season and the cheap, young players that have either broken through this season or are poised to do so at the start of 2009, we could be pretty darn good next year. Here is how I see things shaping up so far:

 

OF:

Ankiel, RF, est $3 million (2nd arb year)

Rasmus, CF, $500k

Ludwick, LF, $500K

Mather, 4th OF, $500K

Barton or Skip, 5th OF, $500K

 

IF:

The Mang, 1B, $16M

Glaus, 3B, $12.5M

Gaping Hole, 2B

Gaping Hole, SS

Ryan, UTIL, $500K

Barden?, UTIL, $500K

Kennedy DFA, $4 million dead money

C

Molina, $3.25M

Anderson, $500K

 

SP

Wagonmaker, $2.6M

Carpenter, $14M

Piniero, $7.5M

Wellemeyer, est $2.5 million (2nd arb year)

Garcia/Boggs/Todd/Walters, $500K

 

 

RP:

Franklin, $2M

Perez, $500K

McClellan, $500K

Worrell, $500K

Johnson, $500K

Random LOOGY to keep Tony happy, $2M

Some other McVeteran to keep Tony happy, $2M

 

Well, that adds up to only 77.35 million or so. That leaves us around $25 million to fill the gaping holes at 2B/SS, or upgrade a SP if you like. Granted there's not a whole lot on the middle infield free agent market, but surely we can at least do better than what we're running out there this year up the middle. Maybe we can take on a big salary in trade from some team that's trying to make room for a prospect that's ready in the offseason.