I'll insert ages (I hope I can in a quote). Lorreta, Kennedy, and Polanco are old, and Iwamura is coming off a bad, bad knee injury. Sanchez may be the best of the rest, but, besides one fluky batting title, I'm not sure he's that much better than Hernandez.
Second baseman is becoming a position for a decent bat. It is a much less important defensive position than SS. Tactically, had we not signed Guzman, filled in at SS with a cheap good glove (Everett, Izturis, or even AG), and signed Hudson (or, as it turns out, Kennedy), we would have been better off. We got sentimental about Guzzie and misgauged the market.
Anderson Hernandez looks like he might not pan out to be anything other than a back-up, utility 2B-man off the bench.
Throughout the Minors we don't have many decent 2B options unless they want to convert some guys to that position.
Here is a list of some of the 2010 2B Free Agents:
Ronnie Belliard 34
Jamey Carroll 35
Akinori Iwamura 30 (not old, but hurt badly)
Adam Kennedy 33
Felipe Lopez 29 (not old, but a #$@)
Mark Loretta 37
Omar Infante 27
Placido Polanco 33
Freddy Sanchez (Option year) 31
