List of Players in Contract Year

[TheDooner64]

Is there some kind of '08 list of the baseball players that are in a contract year? Last year I drafted Jorge Posada during a contract year and he exploded for his best year ever. I want to focus on players with this extra motivation this year.

[CadensDad]

Player Club
First Basemen
Rich Aurilia SF
Ben Broussard TEX
Carlos Delgado * NYM
Nomar Garciaparra LAD
Jason Giambi * NYY
Wes Helms PHI
Kevin Millar BAL
Richie Sexson SEA
Mark Teixeira ATL
Frank Thomas * TOR
Jim Thome CWS
Daryle Ward CHC

Second Basemen
Jamey Carroll * CLE
Ray Durham SF
Mark Ellis OAK
Marcus Giles COL
Mark Grudzielanek KC
Orlando Hudson ARZ
Jeff Kent LAD
Felipe Lopez WAS
D’Angelo Jimenez STL
Pablo Ozuna * CWS
Nick Punto MIN
Jose Valentin NYM
Jose Vidro * SEA

Shortstops
Orlando Cabrera CWS
Alex Cintron CWS
Alex Cora BOS
Craig Counsell * MIL
Adam Everett MIN
Rafael Furcal LAD
Cristian Guzman WAS
Cesar Izturis STL
Ramon Martinez LAD
Edgar Renteria * DET
Juan Uribe CWS

Third Basemen
Hank Blalock * TEX
Joe Crede CWS
Morgan Ensberg NYY
Chipper Jones * ATL
Corey Koskie MIL
Greg Norton TB
Scott Spiezio * STL

Catchers
Rod Barajas TOR
Henry Blanco * CHC
Johnny Estrada MIL
Toby Hall * CWS
Kenji Johjima SEA
Adam Melhuse TEX
Mike Redmond * MIN
Ivan Rodriguez DET
David Ross * CIN
Javier Valentin CIN
Jason Varitek BOS
Vance Wilson DET
Gregg Zaun * TOR

Outfielders
Bobby Abreu NYY
Moises Alou NYM
Garret Anderson * LAA
Rocco Baldelli * TB
Willie Bloomquist SEA
Emil Brown OAK
Pat Burrell PHI
Endy Chavez NYM
Carl Crawford * TB
Adam Dunn CIN
Jim Edmonds SD
Juan Encarnacion STL
Cliff Floyd TB
Brian Giles * SD
Shawn Green NYM
Ken Griffey Jr. * CIN
Vladimir Guerrero * LAA
Raul Ibanez SEA
Jacque Jones DET
Mark Kotsay OAK
Rob Mackowiak WAS
Kevin Mench MIL
Jason Michaels * CLE
Craig Monroe MIN
Jay Payton BAL
Scott Podsednik CWS
Manny Ramirez * BOS
Juan Rivera LAA
Rondell White MIN

Starting Pitchers
Kris Bensen BAL
A.J. Burnett TOR (may opt out)
Paul Byrd CLE
Jon Garland LAA
Tom Glavine ATL
Mike Hampton * ATL
Rich Harden * OAK
Orlando Hernandez NYM
Jason Jennings TEX
Randy Johnson ARZ
John Lackey * LAA
Esteban Loaiza OAK
Braden Looper STL
Derek Lowe LAD
Pedro Martinez NYM
Matt Morris * PIT
Mike Mussina NYY
Jamie Moyer PHI
Mark Mulder * STL
Carl Pavano NYY
Brad Penny * LAD
Odalis Perez KC
Oliver Perez NYM
Andy Pettitte NYY
Mark Prior SD
Horatio Ramirez SEA
C.C. Sabathia CLE
Ben Sheets MIL
John Smoltz * ATL
Julian Tavarez BOS
Steve Trachsel BAL
Brett Tomko KC
Claudio Vargas MIL
Woody Williams HOU
Randy Wolf SD

Relief Pitchers
Tony Armas Jr. PIT
Luis Ayala WAS
Joe Beimel LAD
Joe Borowski CLE
Juan Cruz ARZ
Ryan Dempster CHC
Brendan Donnelly BOS
Scott Downs TOR
Alan Embree * OAK
Scott Eyre CHC
Kyle Farnsworth NYY
Casey Fossum TB
Brian Fuentes COL
Aaron Fultz CLE
Tom Gordon * PHI
LaTroy Hawkins NYY
Mark Hendrickson LAD
Trevor Hoffman SD
Bobby Howry CHC
Jason Isringhausen STL
Steve Kline SF
Brad Lidge PHI
Brandon Lyon ARZ
Damaso Marte * PIT
Tom Martin COL
Julio Mateo PHI
Guillermo Mota MIL
Joe Nathan MIN
Will Ohman CHC
Hideki Okajima * BOS
Darren Oliver LAA
John Parrish SEA
Chris Reitsma SEA
Dennys Reyes MIN
Juan Rincon MIN
Francisco Rodriguez LAA
Brian Shouse MIL
Rafael Soriano ATL
Jorge Sosa NYM
Mike Stanton * CIN
Salomon Torres * MIL
Derrick Turnbow MIL
Oscar Villarreal ATL
David Weathers CIN
Dan Wheeler TB
Dave Williams NYM
Matt Wise NYM
Jay Witasick TB

[TheDooner64]

Sick, thanks....what do the * mean??

[livinginarizona]

NICE post! Do you have a link for this stuff?

[Chicago 2]

Sick, thanks....what do the * mean??

Means that those players have an option for 2009 season.

[ninremix]

great list

[zevon]

I guess we can expect big things from Pavano this year.

Great list, Thanks!

[TheDooner64]

Which players do you guys think stand out the most on this list? I think Carl Crawford will have an awesome year, and maybe Manny too. Any others?

[jellyroll]

Should Ryan Howard be considered? Doing the one year arbitration for a couple more years, unless he signs a long term contract.

If memory serves there's been a lot of research on "contract year" players. Scour the posts, think the concensus was there is no advantage in contract year players. I'd concentrate on players that will mature, be on improved teams or situations.That said there are players that definitely play better when playing for the cash, and those that play worse once they get it, the problem is you don't always know who they are in advance.

[CadensDad]

I wouldn't bank on anyone putting up big numbers just because it's a contract year, look at andruw jones last year,