MLB free agency forecasts

By Rick Morris

The FDH New York Bureau Steve Cirvello came up with a great idea for last week's 82nd edition of THE FDH LOUNGE program (Wednesdays, 7-10 PM EDT on SportsTalkNetwork.com): previewing MLB Hot Stove action in the context of a game where the Dignitaries of the Lounge attempt to rack up the most successful predictions about where players will land. We chose arguably the 15 most consequential free agents of this offseason; we will award one point per successful prediction with the tiebreaker being whoever gets the highest-salaried contract correct.

Predictions were made by me, Ryan Isley, Mike LaGuardia and FDH Baseball Analyst Tim Foust.

MATT HOLLIDAY
Rick: Cardinals/re-sign
Ryan: Mets
Mike: Cardinals/re-sign
Tim: Cardinals/re-sign

JASON BAY
Rick: Red Sox/re-sign
Ryan: Red Sox/re-sign
Mike: Red Sox/re-sign
Tim: Rockies (!)

JOHN LACKEY
Rick: Mets
Ryan: Yankees (!)
Mike: Mets
Tim: Cubs

RICH HARDEN
Rick: Rangers
Ryan: Red Sox
Mike: Nationals
Tim: Mets

JOHNNY DAMON
Rick: Yankees/re-sign
Ryan: Rangers
Mike: Yankees/re-sign
Tim: Yankees/re-sign

ADRIAN BELTRE
Rick: Astros
Ryan: Orioles
Mike: Twins
Tim: Phillies

JOEL PINEIRO
Rick: Twins
Ryan: Cardinals/re-sign
Mike: Cardinals/re-sign
Tim: Red Sox

ADAM LAROCHE
Rick: As
Ryan: Braves/re-sign
Mike: Braves/re-sign
Tim: As

HIDEKI MATSUI
Rick: Yankees
Ryan: White Sox
Mike: White Sox
Tim: back to Japan (!)

VLADIMIR GUERRERO
Rick: Blue Jays (!)
Ryan: Angels/re-sign
Mike: Tigers
Tim: Red Sox

JERMAINE DYE
Rick: Giants
Ryan: Braves
Mike: Royals
Tim: Giants

RANDY WOLF
Rick: Nationals
Ryan: Cubs
Mike: Mets
Tim: Royals

JOSE VALVERDE
Rick: Phillies
Ryan: Orioles
Mike: Phillies
Tim: Rays

FERNANDO RODNEY
Rick: Tigers/re-sign
Ryan: Rays
Mike: Tigers/re-sign
Tim: Tigers/re-sign

JASON MARQUIS
Rick: Rockies/re-sign
Ryan: Rockies/re-sign
Mike: Mets
Tim: Angels

We also threw out two more options on the spur of the moment during the show. These will not count in our competition, since Tim was not on live with us (he had submitted a list ahead of time), but we just wanted to see if we would get these right. By the way, it should be obvious that our forecasts about Mark DeRosa came before the Phils signed Placido Polanco. Better that they had listened to us!

MARK DEROSA
Rick: Phillies
Ryan: Phillies
Mike: Phillies

JIM THOME
Rick: White Sox
Ryan: Rays
Mike: Indians (!)