2011/2012 Free Agent Predict-a-thon

Last year's Free Agent Predict-a-thon brought you such gems as …

• Carl Crawford on the Giants
• Aubrey Huff on the Rangers
• Jayson Werth on the Red Sox
• Juan Uribe on the Cardinals

And the teams that did get those players are reading this* and thinking, man, if only. If only those players went somewhere else. If only the world were as stupid as McCovey Chronicles' predictions, we'd have so much money to spend right now.

Let's take a moment to think about what it would be like if the Giants had six years left on a Carl Crawford deal right now. Ahhhhh. I'll bet that sort of contract would make Sabean and ownership have to sit this offseason out, pledging any extra money to the eventual contracts of Cain and Lincecum. It would be awful.

So my predictions of 22 free agents. I'll put a little thing to copy and paste in the comments section:

Albert Pujols - Cardinals
Prince Fielder - Rangers
Jose Reyes - Marlins
C.J. Wilson - Rangers
Yu Darvish - Yankees
Edwin Jackson - Royals
Jimmy Rollins - Phillies
Aramis Ramirez - White Sox
Carlos Beltran - Red Sox
Michael Cuddyer - Phillies
Mark Buehrle - Marlins
David Ortiz - Blue Jays
Ryan Madson - Red Sox
Carlos Pena - Dodgers
Roy Oswalt - Red Sox
Heath Bell - Marlins
Coco Crisp - Rangers
Grady Sizemore - A's
Bartolo Colon - Yankees
Rafael Furcal - Cardinals
Cody Ross - Marlins
Ryan Ludwick - Giants

Raul Ibanez and Juan Pierre are just too obvious. Thinking it has to be Ludwick. And Clint Barmes. Please put a deposit down now for 2013 season tickets.

I'm not buying Pujols anywhere else, and I'm not buying the Rangers' claims that they're staying away from the big names. I'm pretty sure that if Yu Darvish gets posted, the Yankees will ignore the Hideki Irabu/Kei Igawa fiascos and dive right in again.

The rest I'm lukewarm on, except for the last one. The Marlins are going to be looking for a center fielder, and they'll be committing all sorts of untold billions elsewhere. For a team on a budget, Ross is a pretty sweet pickup as a center fielder, and even though the Marlins aren't on the same budget that they used to be, there is a limit to their spending. So they'll need to be creative. A one-year deal to a fan favorite like Ross seems like the best fit of anyone up there. And, yes, it was gross typing that. So gross. But at least Phillies fans will get to be annoyed all season!

Make your predictions, and then never, ever revisit them. Because they're almost certainly going to be really, really wrong. Pretty comfortable in not picking the Giants for any of them except Ludwick, though. This offseason feels totally Ludwick.

*^{The teams most certainly are not reading this. You aren't even reading this. You're in the comments already, talking about some crappy band that you read about on Pitchfork, aren't you, you little scamp?}