The Arizona Diamondbacks have 7 players elgible for free agency and they will let at least five of them walk. Doug Davis, Tom Gordon, Scott Schoeneweis, Chad Tracy and Tony Clark will likely be looking for new teams in 2010. Brandon Webb has a $8.5 million dollar option for the 2010 season and it will be interesting to see if the D-Backs pick it up or not. Daniel Cabrera is also a free agent. The D-Backs might bring him back with the idea of making him a reliever. The D-Backs have some work to do over the winter but don’t look for them to break the bank for anyone. The D-Backs will likely sift through the free agents at 1B looking for someone to fall through the cracks. Hank Blalock, Carlos Delgado, Aubrey Huff and Nick Johnson will likely be the top targets. The D-Backs will also likely look for a bargain at 2B with old friends Orlando Hudson and Felipe Lopez at the top of the list. Akinori Iwamura, Ronnie Belliard, Adam Kennedy and Juan Uribe will also all likely get consideration from the front office. The D-Backs need some starting pitching badly but they won’t be in for the top guys like John Lackey. They will be after guys like Miguel Batista, Jose Contreras, Justin Duchscherer, Livan Hernandez, Brett Myers, Vicente Padilla and Brad Penny. A longshot would be Randy Johnson if he agreed to a incentive laden deal. The D-Backs also need a lot of help in middle relief from the right side. Luis Ayala, Joaquin Benoit, Kiko Calero, Brendan Donnelly, Kelvim Escobar, Matt Herges, Guillermo Mota, Russ Springer, Chan Ho Park, David Weathers and Jamey Wright will likely be the kind of names the D-Backs are looking at. If the D-Backs get lucky over the winter with trades and free agent signings they could improve quick in this division.

30-year old righty starting pitcher Brandon Webb only started 1 game for the D-Backs last season and he was 0-0 with a 13.50 ERA and a 2.00 WHIP. But he appears to be healing well and the D-Backs can’t afford to let him go as he makes a killer 1-2 punch with Dan Haren at the top of the starting rotation. His option is for $8.5 million bucks in 2010 but if the D-Backs let him walk he still has a $2 million dollar buyout. So doesn’t it just make sense to keep him with upside he has? Webb has been a D-Back for 7 years now and he has pitched in 199 games (198 starts) in which he is 87-62 with a 3.27 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP.

UPDATE: The Diamondbacks have picked up Brandon Webb’s option as he refused to renegotiate the deal. This was a good move by the D-Backs as Webb is one of the best pitchers in baseball when he is healthy.

The D-Backs have an option on 29-year old lefty swinging 1B Chad Tracy’s contract worth $7 million bucks and they no doubt will decline it. Don’t feel to bad as the deal has a $1 million dollar buyout. Tracy played in 98 games for the D-Backs last season and he was 61 for 257 (.237 avg, .695 OPS) with 29 runs scored, 8 homers and 39 RBIs. He played in 704 games in his career with the Diamondbacks and he was 654 for 2,338 (.280 avg, .792 OPS) with 293 runs scored, 78 homers and 318 RBIs. If Tracy can stay healthy he could help an American League team as a 1B/DH.

UPDATE: Chad Tracy is now a free agent as the D-Backs declined his option for 2010.

The Diamondbacks have designated 30-year old righty reliever Bobby Korecky for assignment to make room on the roster for infielder Tony Abreu. Korecky pitched in 5 games (0 starts) for the D-Backs this season and he was 0-0 with a 13.50 ERA and a 2.50 WHIP. He has now pitched in 21 games (0 starts) in his major league career and he is 2-0 with a 6.85 ERA and a 1.77 WHIP. This is no loss for the Diamondbacks.