"Third base appears to be the Phillies' first order of business once the free-agent negotiating period starts. But they don't seem to have a clear-cut top choice among Mark DeRosa, Placido Polanco and Adrian Beltre. DeRosa is a great fit in many ways, but there are concerns that he's never played 75 games in any season at third base. Polanco has sent signals he's open to playing third for his old team, but he has started only 38 games at third base in the last seven seasons combined. And while Beltre is probably the best pure baseball fit, he figures to want a longer contract than the Phillies are interested in offering. So this hunt could still move in a lot of different directions.

Pedro Martinez may be itching to come back and pitch a full season. But two clubs we surveyed said he's better off doing exactly what he did in 2009 -- pitch a half season, with as much downtime between starts as possible. "At this point," said an official of one club, "he's sexy in name only.""