MLB Fanhouse Exclusive

Free agency is upon us. It's been 15 days since the Yankees hoisted the World Series trophy, and with that, players on the market can officially begin discussing deals with teams other than the one they played for last season.

Yes, it's the unofficial opening of Hot Stove season, a time when dollar figures dance around the imagination and anything seems possible for all 30 teams (OK, maybe not for the Nationals, Royals or Pirates). It's a season that's almost as much fun as the regular one, so why not kick it off with a look at the top commodities available.

After the jump, FanHouse's in-house professional scout Frankie Piliere ranks the top 50 free agents on the market this year. Get the skinny on the best talents, bargains and potential busts.

The Yankees haven't told Joba Chamberlain whether he'll be a starter or reliever next year, but the right-hander says he'll be ready to do anything to help his team repeat as World Series champions when he reports to spring training in February.

"We haven't talked about [my role for next year]," Chamberlain told FanHouse this week, in an interview promoting his charity work with New York foster children."It's not going to affect my preparation [for the season] at all. ... I'm gonna go out and work hard and get in the best shape I can to help us win again."

Chamberlain, who burst onto the scene in 2007 as an electrifying setup man, has shuffled back and forth between the bullpen and rotation as the Yankees have tried to manage his innings and find the best role for him. All but one of his 32 regular season appearances in 2009 came as a starter, but once October rolled around, he was converted to relief, both because he struggled some down the stretch and because the schedule allowed the Yankees to use just three starters throughout the postseason.

Scott Kazmir's journey from Tampa Bay to Anaheim has been successful only because of stops in Alabama and New Jersey.

Kazmir, scheduled to start Tuesday against the Yankees in Game 4 of the ALCS, went from the Rays to the Angels in a late-August trade. And in six starts for the Angels, the lefty went 2-2 with a 1.73 ERA.

"When he became available," manager Mike Scioscia said, "he became really a good fit for what we thought that we needed. He really threw the ball well for us since we got him through the month of September. And hopefully he'll come up big in the playoffs, too."

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The mere mention of playoff baseball makes Shawon Dunston's face light up. Dunston played 1,814 regular-season games in the majors, but none compared to the 27 playoff games over four Octobers.

Playoff baseball, to hear Dunston tell it, is one of those rare experiences that can be at once magnificent and maddening. Dunston breaks into a broad smile as he talks about the thrill of a hard-earned playoff victory, the way a group of players who thought they were close over the previous seven months develop an even stronger bond in October.

Then suddenly the smile disappears as Dunston describes the 2002 National League championship ring that he refuses to wear. Can't even look at the thing. It reminds him of how close he came to getting The Ring. Just five outs away.

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Tuesday, FanHouse had the opportunity to discuss the MLB Playoffs with Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, who currently serves as a studio analyst for TBS. TBS will be broadcasting all four Division Series and also the NLCS again this season. Ernie Johnson is the studio host while Dennis Eckersley and David Wells join Ripken as studio analysts for these playoff games.

Of all the things Ripken discussed Tuesday, the most intriguing subject, not surprisingly, was one Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod is an oft-maligned regular season superstar, in that he's put up extremely gaudy regular season numbers throughout his career, yet has never played in a World Series and has pretty sub-par numbers in the playoffs overall -- especially of late.

Unlike a great defensive infielder or outfielder, whose impact is felt every time he makes a spectacular play, Yadier Molina's impact is often measured by what doesn't happen.

A runner doesn't even try to steal second. A runner can't score from second on a single. A pitcher doesn't have to use a slide step, instead bringing his best stuff to the plate.

These are the ways that Molina quietly alters a game, interrupted occasionally by one of his eye-opening throws that nets his pitcher an extra out.

It is the stuff that earns Gold Gloves. Molina won his first last year, the start of what figures to be a long streak. More important to the Cardinals, it is the stuff that wins games.

DENVER -- The way the Cardinals have bulldozed through the National League in the second half, it's easy to forget that they were locked in a see-saw battle with the Cubs, barely over .500, a few months ago.

Then Mark DeRosa arrived. And Julio Lugo. And Matt Holliday.

By the time John Smoltz showed up in mid August, the Cardinals were a changed team.

"You get four guys like that, who add postseason experience and most of all a lot of depth to our lineup and our bench," Cardinals outfielder Ryan Ludwick told FanHouse before Friday's potential division-clinching game in Colorado. "We just got better depth-wise. We've just been having a lot of fun. You start winning games and it becomes contagious and you get rolling."

At some point this October, Tony La Russa or Charlie Manuel is going to want to bring in one of his top right-handed relief pitchers, but he's going to look in the other dugout and see Jim Thome or Jason Giambi holding a bat, and he may think twice.

And then maybe he'll think of Matt Stairs. With one rib-jarring swing last October, a pinch-hit two-run homer that led the Phillies to a victory over the Dodgers in Game 4 of the NLCS, Stairs left an impression that proved to the Dodgers and Rockies how important one at-bat can be.

"Even if you are only winning one or two games, that can be a difference," said Mark Sweeney, a Dodgers coach and one of baseball's all-time most successful pinch-hitters. "Obviously, what Matt Stairs did to us was huge. Even if it doesn't happen, there is that threat, and that definitely plays into a manager's head."

SECAUCUS, N.J. -- Just before MLB Tonight goes off the air at midnight ET on Sept. 9, Al Leiter and Dave Valle demonstrate how not to bunt.

Earlier, the Giants had lost to the Padres in part because pinch hitter Kevin Frandsen failed to get down a sacrifice. So for a "Diamond Demo," Leiter and Valle move over to Studio 42 (named for Jackie Robinson) where a mock field is set up for analysts to demonstrate facets of the game.

About five hours before Leiter and Valle broke down Frandsen's mistakes, they took part in a production meeting. A producer asked Leiter, "Do you want to do a 'Diamond Demo?'"

Carl Crawford ranks 69th in the American League in home runs, 45th in slugging percentage and 57th in walks.

And he was an All-Star this year.

"It's just good to see that a guy like me has value in the league," Crawford told FanHouse.

Crawford, tied for the AL lead in stolen bases with 55, has value because people are starting to once again appreciate the steal.

Four years ago, the Athletics stole 31 bases. For the season.