Part I: AL East Amnesty

Jorge Says No! introduced amnesty earlier today and we are happy to present to you our AL East picks. Which contract would your team want to waive at the end of this season? Lets take a look:

Yankees: Even though the Yankees have a $200 million dollar payroll, they actually do not have many candidates for amnesty. The huge contracts of Abreu, Giambi, Mussina, Pavano, Pudge and Pettitte come off the books after this season, which greatly diminishes our options for amnesty. Furthermore, both Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui come off the books next year, which diminishes our options even further. To me, the only guy who the Yankees could consider for amnesty is Jorge Posada. Not only is Posada, 37, coming off major shoulder surgery, but he is still owed $39 million dollars over the next 3 years. I know Posada is a Yankee great and that catcher is probably the most difficult position to fill, but it is tough to justify paying an old catcher $13 million dollars after a major shoulder surgery.

Red Sox: Before this season, every Red Sox fan would have been chomping at the bit to get rid of the $70 million owed to JD Drew. But after the horrid season of Julio Lugo, there is no question who the Sox would want to waive. For some reason, the Sox gave Lugo a 4 year/ $36 million dollar contract after the 2006 season and Lugo has been both terrible and injured. Lugo is even more expendable because of the emergence of Jed Lowrie as the Sox short stop of the future.

Blue Jays: While it would be tempting to drop Scott Rolen and the $17 million they owe him over the next two seasons, I think the Jays would probably benefit most by getting rid of Vernon Wells. Sure Wells had a good season, but he is owed $108 million dollars over the next 6 seasons. Wells, 30, has been a good player over the course of his career, but is he worth paying $18 million dollars a season for? I don't think so. Toronto can spend that money in a better way, which is why I'm going to stick to my controversial pick: Vernon Wells.

Orioles: The Orioles have given out tons of bad contracts throughout the course of their history, but they surprisingly don't have many candidates for amnesty. The contracts of Aubrey Huff, Melvin Mora, Brian Roberts, Ramon Hernandez, and Danys Baez all come off the books after next season so they do not have any long term financial commitments. I would have to go with Danys Baez as my amnesty choice simply because he is coming off major arm surgery and because he is not a quality relief pitcher anymore. The Orioles would save $5.5 million dollars.

Rays: None. Seriously, the Rays do not have any bad contracts for us to throw away and they only have a $43 million dollar payroll. Kudos to you, Andrew Friedman.