[Hellwig]

Won't be easy: Melvin is pursuing centerfielders Juan Pierre and Dave Roberts on the free-agent market, but so are several other clubs. And, as the two-year, $18 million deal Frank Thomas got from Toronto proved, this figures to be a winter of wild spending on free agents, elite players or not.

With that in mind, Melvin probably will have to make trades, as in the past, to improve his club. He already discussed a deal with Baltimore that would have sent outfielder Kevin Mench to the Orioles for right-hander Rodrigo Lopez, but nothing came of it.

It's not surprising that Melvin is willing to move Mench, who looked awful after coming from Texas in the Carlos Lee trade. Mench made $2.8 million last season and is eligible for salary arbitration this winter.

Melvin can't say so publicly, but he is very open to offers for disappointing rightfielder Geoff Jenkins, who won't be easy to move with a $7 million contract for 2007. Melvin probably will have to wait until free-agent sluggers Alfonso Soriano, J.D. Drew and Lee are signed before clubs start looking at second-tier hitters such as Jenkins.

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The outfield is in kind of a mess right now more with the back-ups than the starters. Jenkins is no longer the RF starter and Mench is no longer the left field starter two guys that are probably going to make over 3 million rotting away on the bench. They need to be moved for sure.