Aktins could definately get non-tendered. Would anybody really give up anything of consequence for one year of him at 8-9 mil? That's the only reason the Rockies would offer arb is if they thought they could get something for him. At that price though there's no point. The biggest improvement front offices could make in baseball is understanding value in comparison to replacement level play. There's a ridiculous amount of money given to veterans to give the same stats a player freely available in the minors can give you. Atkins last year was about as replaceable as someone can get yet he was paid 6.5 mil. With more and more GM positions being filled by more intelligent people (as well as a sluggish economy) I think you'll see more and more non-tenders for players that provide marginal value even if they were once good.

The one guy I think could be on the sox' radar that might make sense for both sides is Stephen Drew. He had a down year that looks a little babip influenced. Under normal conditions he's a good bet for a 780-820 OPS with average defense at ss. He's becoming arb eligable with a base salary of 1.5 he's likely looking at 3-4 mil this year in arb. If Byrnes takes a good long look at the D'Backs and realizes that this team doesn't have a good chance next year (which frankly they don't) he could be inclined to make some moves for the future. Obviously the Byrnes contract would be great to get rid of (1 yr at 11mil) and the sox would present a viable destination to bring him on as a 4th OF if it would reduce the cost of aquisition (I'm assuming the D'Backs would still have to help somewhat on that atrocious deal). But Byrnes should post around an 800 OPS against LH which is about what Baldelli gave us for around 2 mil but Byrnes provides better ability to fill in for injury than Baldelli did. Any deal for Drew would obviously include Lowrie but the extra piece would probably be difficult to agree on, I'm sure the D'Backs would want either Bowden or Tazawa to fill in the back end on the cheap, but that's a lot to give up for Drew considering Lowrie still has the upside to give approximately the same value as Drew does for less money and more years. The framework of this deal makes sense for both, its just the sticking point of what to add on top of Lowrie and taking on whatever portion of Byrnes' contract to get Drew to drastically upgrade the team at the SS position with more guaranteed production.

Looking at Hardy's batted ball data his 2008 seems to be an outlier. He had a 15.5 LD% with a 305 BABIP, not crazy, but still lucky. He seems to be more of an 760-800 OPS guy if everything is going right. He's definately a target and his defense is better than Drew's so that's good but with a year more service time and more question marks. It will be interesting to see what the Brewers will ask for. Even with his poor year the guy should still carry a bunch of value for them. I'd imagine that the Brewers would want a starter but I doubt either Bowden or Tazawa are enough. A likely counter offer from the Brewers would be MDC + either Bowden or Tazawa for Hardy, but that's clearly too much.

The middle ground between those two offers is where a good deal would be made, but the biggest thing for the Brewers is major league ready pitching whether its in the bullpen or rotation. Maybe a deal where we take on Riske's nearly worthless contract (out last year to TJ is still owed 4.75 mil) along with either Bowden, MDC or Tazawa. The money that saved Milwaukee should be enough to pick up another reliever of similar quality to MDC or starter (remember its not just Riske's deal that we'd be taking on but Hardy's likely 4mil).