Jan 6th 2009 9:00AM by Josh Alper (author feed)

This year’s free agent market has been only slightly less frozen than the world’s credit markets. There have been a paltry number of deals completed despite a contending team’s worth of free agents available to interested bidders. At long last, the first Monday of the New Year brought some activity.

Three free agents made headlines by agreeing to or closing in on new deals, and all three are cut from similar cloth. Pat Burrell agreed to a two-year, $16 million contract with the AL champions in Tampa, Milton Bradley is heading to Wrigley for three years and $30 million and Jason Giambi is reportedly very close to agreeing to a deal bringing him back to the A’s.

Giambi’s rumored to be signing for one year, perhaps with an option year, which makes it clear that the glut of players suited for corner positions or DH has made for a buyer’s market. So, operating under the assumption that all three teams made good deals, which player will have the biggest impact on their new club’s postseason hopes?Continue Reading