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BA released their college commitment list for the top 100 draft eligible high school players yesterday. Subscriber content, but this is always a good, early look to determine what players might be more unsignable than others (nice notes from Alan Matthews about this as well):

http://www.baseballamerica.com/online/college/news/265177.html

Speaking of Alan Matthews, he also noted in one of his stories covering the WWBA Jupiter tourney that Eric Hosmer has retained Scott Boras to be his advisor.

I tried to peak around this evening to see what teams were planning on doing with their Type A and Type B free agents with the arbitration deadline approaching (11:59 PM EST, Saturday night). I deleted a few names off the list in the process (Andruw Jones being the most notable), but wasn't able to scratch a few off that aren't likely to be offered arby, such as Barry Bonds and Milton Bradley.

The Type B FAs are almost as equally important, as they will determine just how long the Brewers have to wait until they can make selections for their early second round picks acquired from the Reds and White Sox respectively for Cordero and Linebrink.

Peavey, thanks for updating the list. I was peeking around last night and deleted a couple of names, but didn't want to take the names off of the list until the moves were official.

Such as Timlin, who reportedly has re-signed with the Red Sox, but until I see that move listed on the Red Sox official site I'm going to leave his name where it is.

Right now there are 23 players that could effect free agent compensation, and that likely will go down when some of these players, such as Timlin, re-sign with their 2007 clubs. Andy Pettitte also is unlikely to effect the compensation process, as it is beleived that he will either re-sign with the Yankees or retire.

Assuming Timlin and Pettitte don't count towards the compensation process but the rest do, here is what the sandwich round would look like (keep in mind that last year the sandwich round went 34 picks deep):

31. Twins (Hunter)
32. Brewers (Cordero)
33. Mets (Glavine)
34. Phillies (Rowand)
35. Brewers (Linebrink)
36. Royals (Riske)
37. Giants (Feliz)
38. Astros (Miller)
39. Athletics (Piazza)
40. Cardinals (Percival)
41. Braves (Mahay)
42. Cubs (Kendall)
43. Padres (Cameron)
44. Diamonbacks (Hernandez)
45. Yankees (Vizcaino)
46. Red Sox (Gagne)
47. Athletics (Stewart)
48. Brocail (Padres)

The Brewers second round picks stand to be no worse than #58 (Reds), #59 (White Sox) and #67 (their own) as the Braves get a compensatory pick just ahead of their comp picks for Cordero and Linebrink as the Braves were unable to sign 2nd rounder Josh Fields from last June's draft. Here's what the Brewers projected picks in the top two rounds cost at slot value (approximate) last year:

#16: $1.5M
#32: $900K
#35: $800K
#55: $570K
#56: $560K
#64: $515K

That's $4.845M required for those picks as is. A few people have mentioned that they hope the team takes a chance on someone that falls. I don't see that at all, as I think it's more likely they reach for a player that will sign for a little less money than slot. EDIT: Shawn Green not offered arby, which I see Peavey already caught above. I adjusted the numbers to show this.

No, the Elias scores don't play too big of a part of how the picks are distributed. The biggest effect they have is if a team signs two Type A free agents, as the team losing the higher rated free agent gets the earlier pick.

If teams lose multiple Type A or Type B free agents the Elias rankings do play a part somewhat, but more as a technicality. I'll try to explain this just below. Here's the nitty gritty:

Teams are awarded comp picks for Type A free agents first.

The worst team from the previous year that loses a Type A free agent gets the first pick, followed by the second worst team, etc. Teams that lose a free agent are each given a compensation pick before teams that lose multiple free agents are awarded their second, third, etc., comp picks.

Once all comp picks are distributed for Type A free agents, compensatory picks for Type B free agents are handed out, with the same format, worst team getting the first pick for Type B free agents, cycling through all of the teams first before picks are handed to teams with multiple Type B free agents, etc.

When it comes to teams that have multiple Type A or Type B free agents, the player with the higher Elias score garners the highest pick, but as noted above, this is merely a formality. For example, the Brewers 32nd pick in the sandwich round is for Cordero, and their projected 36th pick is for Linebrink.

And if Piazza goes to Japan, the A's do not get a comp pick. The rules only apply to the free agency among the 30 MLB teams. I agree, I could also see Loretta, Stewart and Vizcaino all accepting arby. I also think guys like Mike Cameron and Michael Barrett could re-sign with the Padres, and Timlin as reported is supposed to re-sign with the Red Sox.

We whittled some names off the free agent list last week, and we may be able to remove a few more after today, as today is the deadline in which free agents have to accept or decline arbitration. Players that accept arbitration return to their 2007 teams, players that decline can still negotiate with their 2007 team (a change that started last year I believe), but they are also free to negotiate with other teams as well.

Two Astros, Mark Loretta and Trever Miller, reportedly are expected to accept arbitration. Eric Gagne may do so as well, as he would keep his contract in the $6M/year range if he's not getting the offers he was initially expecting (although he may not be improving his case by doing so as a set-up man in Boston as opposed to signing a one-year deal elsewhere to serve as a closer, as the difference between closers and set-up men is huge when it comes to money).

Michael Barrett is expected to accept arbitration with the Padres, with Mike Cameron a possibility as well, who reportedly is still mulling a two-year offer from the team (accepting arbitration would still allow for that to happen).

Shannon Stewart and Mike Piazza are expected to decline arbitration from the A's. As are Livan Hernandez, Aaron Rowand, Shannon Stewart, Mike Piazza and Ron Mahay. I'm unsure about Luis Vizcaino and Pedro Feliz.

If Loretta, Miller, Gagne, Cameron and Barrett all accept arbitration, that brings the sandwich round down to 15 picks, less than half of the number of picks a year ago, and even that number could do down a little more if guys like Vizcaino and Feliz end up accepting arbitration, if Stewart re-signs with the A's and if Piazza heads to Japan or retires. If all of that happens, we're talking about 11 picks in the sandwich round, meaning each of the Brewers second round picks could move up at least five spots and as many as nine or 10.

When those names are confirmed I will be sure to remove them from the master list above, unless someone beats me to it of course.