Will Adam Dunn's contract status be a bonus or onus?

The following are lists of players scheduled to become free agents at the close of the 2008 season. Those players with an asterisk (*) have either a player or club option for 2009. We offer this list to fantasy managers for two reasons. First, if you are playing in an AL or NL-only league, these players all have the potential to be traded during the course of the season. The possibility exists that they could be traded out of their current league, leaving you scrambling to find a replacement. Of course, there is no way to predict or anticipate trade activity. In general, the teams that are more likely to trade a marquee player either have strict budget constraints (Athletics, Pirates, Rays, Marlins), or are out of contention for a playoff appearance.

Second, some believe that players in their contract year have an incentive to turn it up a notch, since they are playing for their next contract. There is no research to prove it though. For every player who had a career year in a contract year, another did poorly despite the implications of a bad season. A good example would be Andruw Jones. Jones batted 40 points below his career average, struck out more, walked less, and generally saw a significant drop-off in production last season, a contract year for him. Jones had to settle for a short-term contract with his new club for less than he would have made if he had hit as he normally did in years past. Perhaps the pressure of a contract year affected his performance. Either way, the point is that the contract year player is not guaranteed to perform any better than he would in a non-contract year.

Catchers
Michael Barrett
Johnny Estrada
Kenji Johjima
Jason Kendall*
Paul Lo Duca
Ivan Rodriguez
David Ross
Jason Varitek
Gregg Zaun*

First Basemen
Ben Broussard
Carlos Delgado*
Nomar Garciaparra
Jason Giambi*
Scott Hatteberg
Kevin Millar
Richie Sexson
Mark Teixeira

Second Basemen
Mark Ellis
Mark Grudzielanek
Orlando Hudson
Tadahito Iguchi
Jeff Kent
Felipe Lopez
Mark Loretta

Shortstops
Orlando Cabrera
David Eckstein
Adam Everett
Rafael Furcal
Cristian Guzman
Cesar Izturis
Edgar Renteria*
Juan Uribe
Omar Vizquel*

Third Basemen
Casey Blake
Hank Blalock*
Troy Glaus*
Joe Crede
Wes Helms*
Chipper Jones*

Left Fielders
Moises Alou
Garrett Anderson*
Milton Bradley
Pat Burrell
Carl Crawford*
Adam Dunn
Cliff Floyd*
Raul Ibanez
Jacque Jones
Jason Michaels*
Craig Monroe
Jay Payton
Wily Mo Pena*
Manny Ramirez*
Juan Rivera

Centerfielders
Rocco Baldelli*
Jim Edmonds
Mark Kotsay

Right fielders
Bobby Abreu
Brian Giles*
Ken Griffey Jr.*
Vladimir Guerrero*

Designated Hitter
Frank Thomas*
Jim Thome*
Jose Vidro*

Starting Pitchers
A.J. Burnett*
Paul Byrd
Jon Garland
Tom Glavine
Orlando Hernandez
Randy Johnson
John Lackey*
Esteban Loaiza*
Braden Looper
Derek Lowe
Greg Maddux
Pedro Martinez
Matt Morris*
Jamie Moyer
Mark Mulder*
Brad Penny*
Oliver Perez
Andy Pettitte
Kenny Rogers
C.C. Sabathia
Johan Santana
Curt Schilling
Ben Sheets
John Smoltz*
Tim Wakefield*
Woody Williams*
Randy Wolf

Closers
Joe Borowski
Ryan Dempster
Brian Fuentes
Eric Gagne
Trevor Hoffman
Jason Isringhausen
Todd Jones
Brad Lidge
Joe Nathan
Al Reyes
Francisco Rodriguez
Rafael Soriano

Middle Relievers
Doug Brocail*
Juan Cruz
Alan Embree*
Scott Eyre
Kyle Farnsworth
Aaron Fultz
Tom Gordon*
LaTroy Hawkins
Matt Herges*
Bob Howry
Steve Kline
Brandon Lyon
Damaso Marte*
Guillermo Mota
Will Ohman
Darren Oliver
Juan Rincon
Russ Springer
Mike Stanton*
Mike Timlin
Salomon Torres*
David Weathers
Dan Wheeler
Kerry Wood