The Non-Tender Market for the Royals

By tomorrow at 11 PM central time, players who are non-tender candidates must be offered a contract by there team or they become a free agent. For those who don't understand how this works, a player is a non-tender candidate when they become arbitration eligible and his club determines he is not worth the salary he might command in arbitration. A player who is non-tendered becomes a free agent and may sign with any of the 30 Major League clubs, including his former team, at any price.

With that said, we could see plenty of quality players become free agents before Saturday night. The Royals have already cut two players who were non-tender candidates: 1B/DH Mike Jacobs and lefty reliever John Bale. Jacobs was a bust this year, hitting .228 with a OBP of .297 with 19 homers and 61 RBI in 478 plate appearances. Bale posted some of the worst stats of his career, posting a 5.72 ERA in 28.1 innings. Hitters also hit .296 off Bale, the second highest average of his career, as well as a .390 OBP. Expect C John Buck to join them on Saturday, a player who has continually not become the power hitter the Royals thought he would. Maybe a change of scenery would do him good.

Both of these players are gone, and by Saturday night, their will be plenty of others added to the free agent pool. The question for the Royals is their anybody worthy of going after if they are non-tendered? Here's a few that could fit in KC.

1. Kevin Correia, SP, San Diego Padres - Correia was a nice surprise for the Padres, posting a 3.91 ERA in 33 starts, pitching 198 innings with 142 K's. It was a nice bounce-back year for Correia, coming over as a free agent last year from the Giants on a minor league deal.

The Padres have already tried giving him a contract for next season, but Correia isn't excepting, meaning that unless the team trades him before tomorrow, he is expected to be non-tendered on Saturday. The Royals need to add depth to their pitching staff, an their is upside to the Royals going after Correia. He's 28 years old and has a little over 5 years of major league experience. He made $1.1 million this year, and though he'll get paid more than $1.1 million, the Royals should take a shot at getting a starter with experience that is fairly inexpensive.

Correia has a low 90's fastball, a good change-up and slider. Though none of his pitches are fearful to hitters, Correia has the makings of a good mid-to-low end starter, and should be on the Royals radar when he gets non-tendered Saturday..

2. Dioner Navarro, C, Tampa Bay Rays - Now we know that the Royals are on the Jason Kendall pursuit, but let's slow down a second. Navarro is coming off an down year, posting an .218 AVG with 8 HR and 32 RBI. The year before, The Rays went to the World Series, and Navarro hit .295 with an .349 OBP, 27 double's, and 54 RB as the primary catcher. In the 2008 postseason, he posted an .293 AVG.

Not only did he hit well that year, but he also posted an 3.90 ERA when he was behind the plate in 08 and a 4.18 ERA in 09. He threw out 38% of base runners in 08 and 27% in 09.

The Royals are looking for an catcher obviously, and since they aren't keeping John Buck or going to re-sign Miguel Olivo, they are need of a catcher, preferably one with major league experience.

Navarro is only 26 years old and has 5 years of service time under his belt. Wherever he is next year, I look for him to bounce back and have a good year, I would prefer the Royals to go after Navarro over a veteran like Kendall or Barajas.

UPDATE - They Royals have signed Jason Kendall to a two year deal....so kiss this idea goodbye.

3. John Maine, SP, NYM - If Maine was able to stay healthy, I don't think theirs a chance he would get non-tendered, and I still think that there's a good chance he would be back. But the Mets have been waiting on Maine to be the quality pitcher he's shown at times he can be. He's had arm issues over the past couple of years and posted a 4.43 ERA in 81.1 innings, starting 15 games and going 7-6. His best seasons were when Maine compiled a 21-15 record with a 3.75 ERA, 251 K's and holding hitters to a .223 AVG during the 2006-07 seasons.

Main will be 29 next year and has upside. If healthy, he has shown that he can be a quality starting pitcher in the major league level, but we will have to see how he comes back from injury. The Royals could use a pitcher like Maine to solidify it's rotation, and they may be able to get a good pitcher at a cheap price in Maine. I don't expect Maine to get more than $3 million at the most on the market, considering he is coming off of injury and made $2..6 million last year. We'll see what happens.

This is a short list, but there is some good options for the Royals to look at in the non-tender market to look at, especially before grabbing a Jason Kendall or a Mark Mulder.

Thanks to MLBtraderumors.com, Baseball-Reference.com, and ESPN.com for info.