Juan Uribe's Next Contract

In a sea of blah free agent middle infielders Juan Uribe appears to be one of the few that isn't in his mid or late 30's and has a respectable bat.

Here is the list of free agent shortstops:

Geoff Blum (38)
Orlando Cabrera (36) - Type B
Juan Castro (39)
Craig Counsell (40)
Bobby Crosby (31)
Adam Everett (34)
Cristian Guzman (33)
Jerry Hairston Jr. (35)
Cesar Izturis (31)
Derek Jeter (37) - Type A
Julio Lugo (35)
Nick Punto (33)
Edgar Renteria (34)
Miguel Tejada (37) - Type A
Juan Uribe (31) - Type B

It should be obvious that the Giants would like to have Uribe back, they have a glaring hole at shortstop with no in house option that is ready to step in and give the same value. That leads to what kind of a contract should be coming to Uribe?

Fangraphs asked its readers that very question and got that he is due 2 years at $6 million a season as the median and average. That makes sense as that seems to be the going rate for a 30's middle infielder.

However I think this under shoots what he will end up with. Uribe should be a solid 2 win player with upside to be a 3 win guy, at the marginal cost of a win that puts him in the $8 to $12 million range a season.

Personally I think that with such a weak class and an economy that isn't collapsing spending will increase this winter. My personal opinion is that he will get an additional year or a few million more. 

I am thinking that he will get a 2 year $15 million deal or a 3 year $18 million deal and that should be more then fair for the team that signs him which is hopefully the Giants.

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