Free Agency

Baltimore Orioles catcher Mickey Tettleton, who has been waiting for months to see if the club would make a serious attempt to re-sign him, is going to get a chance to find out whether anyone else is interested.He was one of 26 players who notified the Major League Players Association yesterday that they had opted for free agency.Tettleton, Darryl Strawberry, Kirk Gibson, Dave Righetti and former Oriole Phil Bradley were among those who exercised that option on the first full business day after the start of the 15-day, free-agent filing period.

ASHBURN, Va. -- If money talks, Jack Kent Cooke's checkbook spoke volumes about the future of the NFL this week.The fact that the Washington Redskins owner was willing to spend more than $14 million to lock up Desmond Howard for four years and both Darrell Green and Jim Lachey for three years shows how concerned Cooke is about the possibility of free agency coming to the league.When you add in the $9 million for three years -- plus $3 million more for an option year -- thatquarterback Mark Rypien got, Cooke spent $26 million on four players.

What would quarterback Dan Marino be worth if all 28 National Football League teams could bid for his services without restrictions?That's the question the NFL Players Association hopes to answer in the next year.The NFLPA climbed the first of three hurdles in its four-year legal fight for baseball-style free agency yesterday, when a federal judge in Minneapolis, David Doty, ruled the association is not a union.If the decision is upheld by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, it then would be up to a jury in Minneapolis to decide if the NFL's restrictions on free agency violate antitrust laws.

The themes of the stories in a newspaper's sports section in December tell you all you need to know about that city's NFL season. If the hometown team is rolling into the playoffs, the talk is about playing for home-field advantage, bye weeks and resting the stars. If it's a bubble team, then the stories try to figure out all the playoff scenarios and tiebreakers. But if your team is like the Ravens, then the attention turns to the offseason - namely the draft and free agency. We started looking at the draft last week and, as a result of Sunday's loss to Miami, the Ravens moved up in the draft pecking order - likely somewhere between the fifth and eighth positions.

In 1987, with an NFL players strike looming, I recall standing in front of Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia and talking casually with John Spagnola, an Eagles tight end who was the team's player rep to the NFL Players Association. Club owners had announced that they were going ahead with the season using replacement players. It was a stunning tactic, and no one knew how such a move would be received. "We're about to find out who controls the game," said Spagnola, a Yale graduate. "The players who play the game or the guys who own the jocks and the socks."

Washington Redskins safety Brad Edwards got the benefits of free agency last night without even testing the free-agent waters.Edwards came to terms on a three-year, $2.55 million deal with the Redskins, according to a source close to the negotiations, and will sign today.That means Edwards will not be among the more than 300 players with five or more years of experience whose contracts have expired who will be eligible to sign with any team today when the new free agency period starts.When Edwards came from the Minnesota Vikings to the Redskins in 1990 as a Plan B free agent under the old system, he signed a three-year deal for $1 million, an average of $333,333 per year, so his new salary is a boost of more than 2 1/2 times over his old salary.

Three days before the start of free agency, the Ravens' big target just happens to be their biggest player. Maake Kemoeatu, a burly 6-foot-5, 350-pound nose tackle, is considered the Ravens' priority based on their need and the market. If they lose Kemoeatu, it's assumed there isn't anyone on the Ravens' roster or in free agency who can adequately replace him. Agent Ken Vierra said yesterday the Ravens have been "aggressive" in trying to re-sign Kemoeatu before free agency begins Friday but indicated the first-year starter is basically forced to test the market.

Mark Buehrle rolls on. He's headed toward both the last turn in what has been one of his best seasons and a chance to go on the free-agent market this winter. But Buehrle is only one of five elite left-handers who could control his fate in the next 16 months. CC Sabathia, C.J. Wilson, Cole Hamels and John Danks, Buehrle's teammate with the White Sox, also are on track for free agency after 2011 or '12. The buzz created by Cliff Lee's free agency last winter, when the Yankees romanced him and he was pressured to stay with the Rangers before jumping to the Phillies for $120 million over five years, could foreshadow crazy scenarios the next two offseasons.

Four years, four months, two days and two lawsuits after it started its legal fight for free agency, the NFL Players Association will get its day in court Feb. 17.The jury trial to determine whether the NFL's restrictions on player movements violate the antitrust laws will be held in Minneapolis.The NFLPA finally won that long-awaited court date yesterday after the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals declined to hear an appeal by the owners of federal Judge David Doty's ruling on May 24 that the NFLPA is no longer a union.

The Baltimore Orioles tried to get a running start on the off-season, but their attempt to make a pre-emptive trade has been undermined by uncertainty over the free-agent market and the pending collusion damage settlement.Club officials have worked furiously the past month in an attempt acquire a proven run-producer, but the Orioles' enthusiasm has not been enough to overcome the industrywide wait-and-see attitude that has stifled trading activity."We tried to accelerate the process," Orioles president Larry Lucchino said.