As you may have heard, it's free agent time in the not-minor league of baseball. It's an exciting time for all, as we're now seeing the beginning of the real off-season action. Unfortunately, there may not actually be that much in the way of free agent activity since the pickings are, as they say, slim. But regardless, there's always one thing I find entertaining to do in free agent time, and that's to construct a team made up entirely of free agents. I then like to imagine this team barnstorming the league and dominating all comers, but then I'm weird.

Anywho, let's get to the fun here. Standard 25-man roster constraints; team will, of course, use a DH, and I won't move players to positions they didn't play last year. Also, I'm choosing this team solely for next year, which makes old age less of a consideration and prohibitively young age (I'm looking at you, Aroldis) a big factor. Bench guys will be composed of people who I think will either get or deserve a reserve player's salary. Utter domination lies after the jump.

C: Miguel Olivo. Not the sexiest choice, but this isn't a position with many such choices. He'd find a way to swing at the ball even if you sent him up to the plate sans bat; he's got just 24 walks in the last 2 seasons combined. Which, when you think about it, is so mind-blowingly bad that I'd want to sign him just to see what such impatience looks like. He does have good power, though, and reviews of his defense are mostly positive.

1B: Nick Johnson. Sort of the polar opposite of olivo in that Johnson works a walk as well as anyone in the league. I wouldn't argue if you'd rather have Adam LaRoche here, or even Russell Branyan if you're not scared by a back injury and a .193/.274/.414 line in the second half. But Johnson has peerless plate patience, and I have hope for him to regain some power as his wrist injury heals. Of course, that's always the story with Johnson - waiting for an injury to heal. He's not the safest option of the group, but he does offer the most upside.

2B: Felipe Lopez. Dude put up a probably-unrepeatable .310/.383/.427 line last year, but even if he regresses some, I like him more than the other option, Orlando Hudson. Lopez is younger, probably better than Hudson in the field, and definitely superior with the bat. Good enough for my money.

3B: Chone Figgins. He is getting up there in years (32) (which surprises me), but he's nifty with the glove, still has the wheels and is good at getting on base for a slap hitter. Maybe the .398 OBP was a function of the walk year, but even with some regression, he chould be useful with the bat.

Yeah, like no one's ever made a ch/sh joke before. Way to go.

SS: Marco Scutaro. I'm not thrilled with this pick, as it's another old guy (33). But, like Figgins, Scutaro boasts an excellent glove and above-average batting eye. And it's not like shortstops like that grow on trees.

LF: Matt Holliday. Since we're using a DH on this squad, this is an easy choice. Not that Holliday isn't better than Bay anyway, but by removing even the question of having to play Bay's poor glove in left, it becomes a no-brainer. Holliday doesn't have the same pop in his bat as Bay, but makes better contact, and has comparable plate discipline.

CF: Mike Cameron. A severely undervalued player, though I suspect that this point has been made so often recently that he's starting to be overvalued. In any event, he's still got a good glove in center, plus outstanding power for an up-the-middle position. Having a bat like his in center is especially valuable when punting power at third base, a traditional big-bat spot. He's even got good patience to complete the package.

RF: Xavier Nady. This is probably the hardest choice to make. Nady doesn't have much patience, but he can hit well enough that his glove makes him a good choice. But the real story is that he's had two Tommy John surgeries and the experimental PRP procedure on his throwing elbow, so there's got to be serious question about whether or not he's able to make throws from right field. But then the same problem exists with Vladimir Guerrero, who's seen a once-formidable bat and throwing arm ravaged by injuries. It's a thin market for right fielders, but watching Vlad try to run in the playoffs was painful enough that I can't bear to watch it for a full year.

DH: Jason Bay. Probably the best pure hitter on the market, but also a guy who lacks ability in the field. Good thing there's a position for that! If, however, you want to argue that Bay will not be a DH when he signs, then I'll spot you Hideki Matsui for this spot.

BN: Mark DeRosa

BN: Marlon Byrd

BN: Juan Uribe

BN: Ivan Rodriguez

BN: Rocco Baldelli

SP: John Lackey. Easily the closest thing to a true ace on the market. He used to be durable, but he's had some arm troubles in the recent past, so hopefully he'll hold up. If he does, he'll probably be less than dominant, but good enough to head up most staffs.

SP: Joel Pineiro. This spot only holds if he proves he can maintain his extreme control-and-groundball approach. He walked an astoundingly few 27 batters in 214 IP, and had a superb 60.5% groundball rate. Now, that 60.5% is a decided outlier from his career 48.6% rate, so it remains to be seen if he can keep it up without the tutelage of Dave Duncan, but I have faith.

SP: Randy Wolf. The oft-injured southpaw has put together back-to-back 200 inning seasons, so he appears to have put those concerns behind him. He also demonstrated the best control of his career, with a career-best 1.10 WHIP, and his strikeout totals aren't bad for a lefty.

SP: Ben Sheets. This is probably wishful thinking on my part, but I think Sheets can be dominant and healthy for a full season again. He's got Schilling-esque control of power stuff, with a 7.60 career K rate and a mere 1.97 BB rate, good for a first-rate 3.85 K:BB ratio. In his best season, though, he punched out over 10 per 9 while walking barely 1, which is, in a word, dominance.

SP: Andy Pettitte. Pettitte has established himself as a solidly league-average pitcher that's not about to embarrass himself on the mound, but probably won't dominate. For that reason, I'd be loath to put him in a mid-rotation slot, but you could certainly do worse.

RP: Rafael Soriano. Soriano has an enormously powerful arm. He also has closing experience and what Atlanta Braves' beat writer Dave O'Brien calls “closer's eyes*,” if that's your thing. He's also proven himself healthy and composed in coming back from a scary Vladimir Guerrero-struck line drive off the head, for what that's worth. Look, he's good, is the point.

*I swear, he wrote that in a Spring Training article one year, but I can't for the life of me find it. I like O'Brien, and I think he does a good job as beat writers go, but that's one of the more egregious examples of Spring Training puff pieces that you'll see. If, you know, you could see it anymore.

RP: Rafael Betancourt. I swear, I don't have a pro-Rafael bias. With the exception of 2008, he's been a stellar reliever for his entire career. He's got strikeout stuff – 9 K/9 – and great control, boasting a 3.88 K:BB ratio.

RP: Mike Gonzalez. A powerful left arm and deceptive delivery make Gonzalez great. The fact that he's left-handed is icing on the cake of what is otherwise an overall solid reliever. Which is kind of the weirdest cake ever, but there's no accounting for taste.

RP: Billy Wagner. Well, we've already got one power left arm, why not add another? Wagner came back quickly from Tommy John surgery last year, and proved that he still has his strikeout stuff, putting away 14 per 9 by way of the punchout. And no, we're not concerned with clubhouse chemistry on this team, why do you ask?

RP: Jose Valverde. Another power arm – are you seeing a trend here? Valverde's got a bit of a fly-ball tendency, but we won't be relying on him for too many high-leverage innings, so that shouldn't be a huge problem for us.

RP: Pedro Martinez. He won't be a strict reliever; think of him as the long man with relief innings sprinkled in. He'll also be a crutch of sorts for Ben Sheets, and yes I'm aware that using one health risk as a crutch for another is not perhaps the wisest move. But I can't see guys like Erik Bedard or Rich Harden throwing significant relief innings next year, and we need someone who can eat up any innings missed from injuries to the rotation.

So what does this team look like when we put it all together?

3B Chone Figgins

2B Felipe Lopez

LF Matt Holliday

DH Jason Bay

1B Nick Johnson

CF Mike Cameron

RF Xavier Nady

C Miguel Olivo

SS Marco Scutaro

BN: Mark DeRosa

BN: Marlon Byrd

BN: Juan Uribe

BN: Ivan Rodriguez

BN: Rocco Baldelli

SP John Lackey

SP Joel Pineiro

SP Randy Wolf

SP Ben Sheets

SP Andy Pettitte

RP Rafael Soriano

RP Rafael Betancourt

RP Mike Gonzalez

RP Billy Wagner

RP Jose Valverde

SP/RP Pedro Martinez

Tell me that team doesn't win the NL Central.

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