A little on Marlon Byrd

If Matt Holliday and Jason Bay elude the Mets and Mike Cameron wants to remain in center field then the next free agent outfielder would be Marlon Byrd.

First let me start by saying, I'm not sure Bryd would even be an up-grade over Pagan. I'm not that familiar with Byrd and have no idea what Pagan will really end up being. But the Mets view Pagan as a 4th outfielder and Byrd has played at least 100 games in the Texas heat for three straight seasons.

The 32 y/o right hander came up with the Phillies (2002) and in his rookie year hit .303 in 495 AB in center field but after hitting .228 in 2004, the Phillies traded him to the Nats for Endy Chavez in 2005. After two seasons with the Nats he signed with the Rangers in 2007 and has had three very good years, where his BA has been around .300 with a .360 OBP. Originally a center fielder Byrd is an up grade for left field but has no pop at all, he hit 20 last year but before that 10 was his high point.

Here's what the Rangers thought of him at the end of his three year contract with them and what they think his next contract will look like...

For the Rangers, that gives them two weeks of exclusive negotiations with Byrd, who hit .283 with 20 home runs and a club-leading 89 RBIs while playing what manager Ron Washington said was "Gold Glove" defense in center field. He is also one of the Rangers' team leaders. source Rangers.com

It will likely take a three-year contract from anywhere between $18-24 million to re-sign Byrd. That's the best guess at this point, but who really knows where the market is headed this winter. The Rangers may be reluctant to go to a three-year deal with Byrd. Cameron is an obvious option. source Rangers.com

I don't think Byrd would be enough, this is simply passing along the information for me, but the Mets were rumored to be interested in him in 2008 and at least eight people voted for him on the sidebar poll.