Buster Olney of ESPN Insider expects most teams to spend more than usual this offseason because of all the cash that’s coming in from the new an lucrative national and local TV deals that were recently signed. Mid to large market teams will be seeing a cash infusion between $25-$30 million more than the previous deals and free agents expect to cash in on all that dough this winter.

Among the outfielders that Olney says will cash in with big paydays he lists Angel Pagan and Ryan Ludwick.

Some say that the free agent market for outfielders is weak, but I disagree. Depending on how much you are looking to spend there’s quite a variety of options that can help you whether you’re looking for speed, power, average, defense or a combination of all those things.

The Mets of course can use anything at this point as their outfield situation is in complete shambles.But the big problem for them might be that most of those millions coming in from these national deals will be going towards operations and paying down the debt.

Sandy Alderson already warned that nothing significant will happen via free agency, and yet most of the questions I get from fans is which free agents we’ll be targeting. My answer is nobody that will actually change things.

But just in case you were wondering, here is a list of outfielders expected to hit the market in a couple of weeks. Those with asterisks have team options, but many of them are not expected to be exercised. To facilitate things for you, I even divided them all into convenient little groups:

These amounts are total dollars of a deal, not annual!

1. The Price Is Right – $2MM or less

2. I Wouldn’t Bet On It – $2MM to $15MM

3. Snowball’s Chance In Hell – $15MM or more

The Price Is Right

  • Bobby Abreu, LAD
  • Alfredo Amezaga, CHC
  • Rick Ankiel, WAS
  • Johnny Damon, CLE
  • Matt Diaz, ATL
  • Kosuke Fukudome, NYY
  • Reed Johnson, ATL
  • Andruw Jones, NYY
  • Hideki Matsui, TB
  • Xavier Nady, SF
  • Juan Rivera, LAD *
  • Luke Scott, TB *
  • Ryan Spilborghs, TEX
  • Reggie Willits, LAA

I Wouldn’t Bet On It

  • Marlon Byrd, BOS
  • Melky Cabrera, SF
  • Jonny Gomes, OAK
  • Scott Hairston, NYM
  • Raul Ibanez, NYY
  • Ryan Ludwick, CIN *
  • Juan Pierre, PHI
  • Grady Sizemore, CLE
  • Ichiro Suzuki, NYY
  • Shane Victorino, LAD

Snowball’s Chance In Hell

  • Michael Bourn, ATL
  • Curtis Granderson, NYY *
  • Josh Hamilton, TEX
  • Torii Hunter, LAA
  • Angel Pagan, SF
  • Cody Ross, BOS
  • Nick Swisher, NYY
  • B.J. Upton, TB
  • Delmon Young, DET

Those are your options…

Any other outfield additions would have to come via trade. What we could get hinges on if the trade chip is someone like Josh Thole or Dillon Gee, or moving something with actual value like a Jon Niese or David Wright.

If you think there’s help on the farm, forget about it. Kirk is as close as it gets and you can count on 150 Ks from him to go with whatever else he can give you.

Things are very bleak. Remember the good old days when all we needed was a number two starter, a setup man and a second baseman?