The new Elias rankings are out, and the Rangers got some pretty good news on the free agent front...
T.R. Sullivan reports that GMJ and Carlos Lee are both Type A free agents, and Mark DeRosa, Rod Barajas, and Vicente Padilla are both Type B free agents.
I'm pretty surprised Barajas is a Type B -- I've been saying for a while that I was almost sure he'd be a Type A -- but this probably makes it more likely the Rangers will get compensation for him, since any team that signs Barajas won't have to give up one of their own picks.
The Rangers could get as many as 7 compensatory picks for those guys, if they all leave (and are all offered arbitration). If they all leave, it seems reasonable to believe that the Rangers will lose their first rounder by signing at least one other team's free agent, but even in that scenario, you'd be talking about 8 picks in the first two rounds, which would be a huge boost to the team's efforts to replenish a depleted farm system.
Also, Sullivan says Michael Young was ranked the #1 infielder in the A.L. by Elias, and the #2 player in the A.L. overall, behind Vlad Guerrero. While this is a nice honor, it is worth noting that the Elias rankings do not take into account park effects, and reportedly are based on just five categories -- plate appearances, batting average, OBP, homers, and RBIs -- and are not the most accurate measurement of a player's performance.