Free Agents: Class of 2012 - Jimmy Rollins

Did I mention that I love this time of year? This is the time of year when every armchair GM comes out of the woodwork to make his or her predictions... guilty as charged.  I love to analyze and project value and I take pride in my due diligence. I'm going to take some time over the next few weeks to analyze some of the biggest names out there in the upcoming free agent class of 2012. I'll give you an idea of what these players might be worth on the open market and which teams might be interested in pursuing their services.

Today, I'll take a look at Jimmy Rollins and his upcoming free agency.

2011 free agent contracts used to gauge his value:

 - J.J. Hardy and Derek Jeter.

In the past off season, JJ Hardy signed a three-year $22 million and Jeter signed his deal worth, on average, $16 million per year for the first three years with an $8 million option in the final year (with incentives that could bring that final year up to $17 million).

How do they compare on the field:
Hardy and Rollins have very similar offensive and defensive numbers... Hardy has a little more pop but 0 stolen bases. Hardy is also a few years younger and still in his peak years while Rollins' numbers have been on the decline, with the exception of this contract year and he has spent considerable time on the DL over the past couple of seasons.  Jeter, on the other hand, is Derek Jeter... he's a few years older and overpaid but he's rightfully overpaid because of his name and what that name is worth to the Yankees franchise.  I would say that their numbers are very similar; Jeter has a career OPS of .832 versus Rollins' .761.  While OPS strongly favors Jeter, Rollins has averaged only 8 fewer RBI and 11 fewer runs over the course of his career while stealing 14 more bases and playing better defense (that comment might draw ire from some but I feel confident in saying that).

MLB Trade Deadline Approaches: What To Expect

Besides the postseason, this is probably my favorite segment of the baseball season. A lot is learned about contenders and pretenders between the all-star break and the July 31st trade deadline. Teams that are serious about making a run will almost always find a piece or two to compliment their current roster and top prospects start getting pegged to be late season roster additions for the stretch run.

This year's trade deadline has emerged as one of the most interesting in recent memory; what makes it so exciting is that there are so many teams still in contention. Teams like the Pirates and Indians have played their way into the spotlight (I guess they didn't get the memo that their residence was supposed to be in the basement), leaving the NL Central and AL Central divisions largely up for grabs. The NL West is always a dogfight and realistically there are three teams with a legitimate shot at taking that division. With all of the teams in the hunt, the trade market is ripe with buyers and somewhat light on sellers. That being said, there are some clear cut sellers with pieces to move which makes predicting landing spots for potential trade bait very difficult... but we like a challenge.

In this market, there are motivated buyers/sellers and there are some window shoppers and unmotivated sellers. Your motivated buyers have real needs and the willingness/ability to move the pieces and spend the money necessary to meet those needs. Motivated sellers have pieces to move and ecomonic forces necessitating a move. Unmotivated sellers have pieces but aren't likely to move unless a deal is right.  Here's our take on this market and what teams might do to fill their needs.

MOTIVATED BUYERS AND THEIR NEEDS: