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Never before has baseball's annual Hot Stove League been this likely to burn so many teams.

In the 30-year history of free agency, the market for available players has usually featured either an attractive array of high-quality pitching options, or a healthy stash of powerful hitters. Sometimes both.

Not so this year. The top bats on the market are likely to be instant busts the moment they sign. The pitching market is stacked mostly with future headaches.

But Scott Boras and his ilk needn't fret. Major league owners can't help themselves. Where most people see past free-agent fiascos like Jaret Wright and Carl Pavano and recognize the virtue of restraint, many owners will see only future 20-game winners and pay the price of a small island chain to get them.

All of which leads us into an intriguing — and potentially dangerous — offseason. Which teams will make the right few wise moves to get to the next level? Which teams will quietly add good, young talent for the future? And will anyone show fiscal restraint?

Let's take a look, with our Hot Stove Burning Questions.

1) Will the Tigers make a big trade for a big bat?
Whether they meant to or not, the Tigers followed the blueprint of the 2005 Chicago White Sox this season — and nearly duplicated the South Siders' World Series victory for their efforts. Detroit built its roster around strong starting pitching, airtight defense and a strong bullpen led by several young, live arms. But where the Tigers fell short was offense. Sure, the '05 White Sox had about as much trouble getting on base as did the '06 Tigers, as both clubs liberally swung away. But the Sox featured more power. Playing the likes of Alexis Gomez and Sean Casey at premium power positions such as DH and 1B with everything on the line only works if you have a bunch of Jeters and Mauers up the middle. While Carlos Guillén was (and is) one of baseball's most underrated players, his supporting cast proved lacking.

The baseball world knows shrewd general manager Dave Dombrowski won't stand pat with his pennant-winning team, and will likely trade arms for bats. The rumors have ranged from blockbusters (Jeremy Bonderman for Mark Teixeira) to intriguing prospect deals (Jordan Tata for Jarrod Saltalamacchia). Bonderman owns a world of talent, and has improved every year — his three-year streak of improving ERAs (5.56 to 4.89 to 4.57 to 4.08) is widely known. But he's still mostly a fastball-slider guy who lacks the knee-buckling offspeed pitch that would allow him to get lefties out and move into the elite level (his OPS against right-handed batters was more than 200 points lower than against lefties in '06). With a trio of fireballing incumbent relievers capable of moving to the rotation in Joel Zumaya, Wil Ledezma and Andrew Miller, the Tigers would be one of the few teams that could afford to ship off a 24-year-old future ace for a top-10 power hitter.

2) How did Gary Sheffield get incriminating photos of half the GMs in MLB?
That's about the only way one could explain so many teams' rumored fetish for Sheffield on the trade market. Sure, steering clear of a multi-year, multi-gazillion dollar free-agent deal for a corner outfielder makes a world of sense. But Sheffield at his $13 million option price isn't likely to pay off, not with the petulant one about to turn 38 and coming off an injury-plagued season in which he played in just 39 games. The Yankees often do a great job of manipulating the media spin machine, whether it's playing up the value of their B-level prospects or putting a shine on an expensive headache like Sheffield when they're overloaded with outfield candidates. But if the rumors are true and multiple teams plan to engage in a bidding war to trade for Sheffield's services, hats off to Brian Cashman for making it happen.

A special "Whaaaaaaaa?!" to Pat Gillick, who's trying desperately to shop a slugger eight years younger and with better '06 numbers than Sheffield, in Pat Burrell — and doing so just for the privilege of trading one of his best pitching prospects for Sheffield and signing Alfonso Soriano for more money than the GDP of Burundi.

3) Speaking of Soriano, what's your problem with a guy who hit 46 homers in 2006 anyway?
Sorry, please excuse the pointed question to myself — the insanity of the numbers being bandied about for the top free-agent hitters has me a little loopy. Forty-six homers are all well and good when it comes to Soriano. But the soon-to-be former Washington National plays left field, one of the easiest positions to field on the diamond and thus one of the places where offense is generally easiest to find. He's also 30 years old, an age where he's more likely to level off and eventually decline than see any further improvement. Oh yeah, and his career on-base percentage is .322 — just above the .319 of noted offensive stud Aaron Guiel. It's conceivable that Soriano could walk more and post OBPs closer to the .351 he managed in '06 than his career mark. But Soriano's asking for a contract similar to the seven-year, $119 million deal given to Carlos Beltran — a player who was three years younger, a better overall hitter and an all-world defender in center field. If Soriano gets a deal like that, three years from now his employer will be on bended knee begging teams to take him off their hands for pennies on the dollar.

And yet, Soriano probably won't be the biggest bust of the hitter market. That honor will likely go to Carlos Lee. With a body that suggests he may have eaten Alfonso Soriano for lunch with a side order of Alfonso Ribeiro, Lee definitely has the "biggest" part of the bust category sewn up. Like Soriano, he's a below-average on-base threat (career OBP of .338). Unlike Soriano, who improved in his new left-field position as the year went on, Lee is a horrific gloveman who shouldn't be anything more than a DH at this point in his career, and he is only going to get slower and more frightening to watch out in the pasture. Reports have tossed around figures exceeding $60 million, even $70 million for a deal lasting five years or more. If that's what the market will bear, all 30 teams would do well to shop at a different market.

4) Which pitcher is the Soriano/Lee equivalent?
That dubious honor goes to Jason Schmidt. The Giants' erstwhile ace turns 34 in January. He's been relatively healthy the past five years, but has a number of major injuries — and plenty of miles — under his belt, er, arm. He's a year removed from an injury-plagued '05 season in which he walked a batter every other inning and posted a pedestrian 4.40 ERA in a pitcher's park. Yet the early buzz has Schmidt poised to make $50 million or more on the open market, in a deal that could lock him up well into his late 30s. Whichever team signs Schmidt better be close to World Series contender status right now, because once the glow of a good season or two fades, he's going to be one big albatross.

5) Are there any free agents actually worth paying for?
A few. Gregg Zaun has only one season with more than 400 plate appearances to his credit. But the 35-year-old catcher may be a better offensive player than Jason Varitek at this stage of their careers, and compares favorably with any other catcher in the non-Mauer division. But he's probably not going to get more than a couple of years and a few million bucks. He's a great pick-up for anyone who gets him.

David Dellucci has rung up 42 homers and 104 walks over 699 at-bats the past two seasons. Yet he doesn't get much respect, as Philly's reach for Sheffield underscores. At 33 years old and a spotty track record against lefties, Dellucci would be best suited for a platoon role in a corner outfield slot. But a two-year deal for $10 million or less for a player who could post a .900 OPS over 120 games in '07 and '08? I'll take two, thanks.

Want a bigger name? How about Barry Bonds — yes, Barry Bonds. He's still a good enough offensive player — his .999 OPS ranked 10th in MLB among hitters with 450+ plate appearances — to be worth multi-millions to a club that can DH him for 130 games. Add in the extra dollars sure to be garnered from attendance and other effects of the home-run chase and the team that signs him could end up benefiting from a possible Bonds bad-press discount.

6) If the free-agent market's likely to disappoint, where else will teams find help?
Trades, trades and more trades. Many teams will likely see the shallow talent pool out there and get their cell phones busy. Vernon Wells has one year left to free agency and the Blue Jays likely won't want to pay his big asking price, so he could go; the team that gets Wells will be adding one of the 20 most valuable players in the game. The Marlins would have done well to trade Dontrelle Willis a year or two ago, when his value was higher and his salary lower. He'll still have plenty of value now, though, and the Fish should shop him aggressively. The Marlins are one the few teams whose pitching depth rivals that of the Tigers — which shouldn't be a huge surprise, since a few of their arms are holdovers from the Dombrowski era in Florida. If they can get something akin to a Bonderman-Teixeira deal for Willis, that's a trade they have to strongly consider.

Will the Red Sox make a run at Andruw Jones? Could Miguel Tejada become an Angel? Todd Helton a Tiger? Anything's possible.

Don't sleep on some other player acquisition modes, either. The six-year minor league free-agent market and Rule V drafts perennially produce a gem or two. Johan Santana was once a Rule V pick.

7) Barry Zito and Daisuke Matsuzaka…Game 1 starters in a 2007 Subway Series?
It's quite possible. Zito has a close relationship with Mets pitching coach Rick Peterson, going all the way back to Zito's dad and Peterson talking frequently while the lefty was still in college. The Mets have plenty of money to spend and face the frightening prospect of Pedro Martínez possibly never pitching again, a 40-year-old ace in Tom Glavine and a world of question marks. They're going to get at least one front-line pitcher, and Zito's as good a bet as any. Still only 28, durable and possibly poised for a move to the lighter-hitting National League, he could thrive in Queens.

Matsuzaka is the great mystery of this year's free-agent crop. But at just 26 years old, with a darting fastball, great command and his legendary gyroball pitch, he's more likely to resemble vintage Hideo Nomo than Hideki Irabu. At press time, teams were still in the midst of the bidding process for Matsuzaka's signing rights — bids which are expected to top $20 million and possibly approach $30 million before the first dollar is spent on the right-hander's contract. Boras recently implied to the media that the teams that dropped out of the bidding did so because Matsuzaka made it known he won't want to play for those teams. A distasteful occurrence perhaps, but one that leaves the Yankees on the short list of teams for which the Japanese sensation is likely to pitch into the next decade.

How cool would it be for the Yankees to trot out Matsuzaka and Chien-Ming Wang as their co-aces for the next five years?