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« Free Agent Stock Watch: Derek Lowe | Main | Rays Claim Dan Johnson »
Rays To Sign Longoria Long-Term
12:23pm: MLB.com has the particulars: $17.5MM guaranteed over six years, with the potential for $44MM over nine years. I like this unprecedented move by the Rays.
11:25am: Rosenthal says it will be something like $17MM over six seasons plus options for two free agent years. There will also be incentives along the way.
10:45am: Ken Rosenthal has the scoop. It's a long-term deal for Evan Longoria. I definitely didn't see this coming - he only has six games in the bigs! Interesting move. I'm curious to see if the Rays snagged options for any free agent years.
10:12am: Baseball Digest Daily reports that the Rays have a press conference and major announcement planned a couple hours from now. No one has any idea what it's about.
Barry Bonds signing? B.J. Upton extension? Something about the new stadium? Let's hear your guesses.
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BAARRYY! BAAAARRRRYYYY!!!!
Posted by: zito4cyyoung | April 18, 2008 at 10:13 AM
I second that, pessimistically. BJ extension would be great too! New ballpark good too, heck maybe they're releasing Nathan Haynes and using his salary to hire someone who will just type their DL press releases, also a good move.
Posted by: CubFanRaysaddict | April 18, 2008 at 10:21 AM
I just don't see the Bonds signing happening or at least why they would do it. They basically gave up on Dukes and Young mostly due to personality problems. Bonds has more baggage then anyone in the league. They are a young team, I just don't see it. I think the Upton extension, news about the ball park or something like Murton deal makes more sense (although we would be hearing rumors from other sources if that were happening).
Posted by: jfish26101 | April 18, 2008 at 10:28 AM
Shortening their name to the Tampa Bay R's.
Posted by: Laputian | April 18, 2008 at 10:33 AM
I'm saying its stadium related. When they announce these things like this (not sure if they used the term major announcement) it tends to be more corporate/administrative related then player related.
Posted by: Jared78 | April 18, 2008 at 10:33 AM
I doubt its Bonds, someone would have leaked something by now.
Posted by: start_wearing_purple | April 18, 2008 at 10:35 AM
The purchase of the Ray's Famous pizza franchise.
Posted by: gigabutz | April 18, 2008 at 10:36 AM
"Shortening their name to the Tampa Bay R's."
haha, good one.
Posted by: GoTribe | April 18, 2008 at 10:40 AM
It will be the trade of Iwamura for Matt Murton and a prospect pitcher. Reyes just went down an d they need a setup man.
Posted by: cubfever7 | April 18, 2008 at 10:46 AM
It'll be Carl Crawford to the Cubs for Mike Fontenot, Matt Murton and a bag of balls.
Posted by: cubfever7 | April 18, 2008 at 10:48 AM
Uh, why would you extend a guy that you already have the maximum amount of control for? Doesnt seem to really make any sense whatsoever. I mean, can he finish his first week of MLB first?
Posted by: nrmax88 | April 18, 2008 at 10:49 AM
It'll be to announce the making of a sequel to "The Rookie"--Dennis Quaid will still star--but this time the uniforms hanging in the lockers will be Baldelli, Floyd and Reyes instead of Boggs, Canseco and McGriff.
Posted by: cubfever7 | April 18, 2008 at 10:50 AM
Gotta be something stadium related...just don't see them going to get Bonds
Posted by: dbacksbuzz | April 18, 2008 at 10:51 AM
10:45am: Ken Rosenthal has the scoop. It's a long-term deal for Evan Longoria. I definitely didn't see this coming - he only has six games in the bigs! Interesting move.
Posted by: Tim Dierkes | April 18, 2008 at 10:54 AM
It will be interesting to see the years and money. It has to be pretty damn team friendly if they couldnt even wait for a full season, or a full week.
Posted by: Laputian | April 18, 2008 at 10:58 AM
Seriously? That has to be the quickest signing in history.
Posted by: start_wearing_purple | April 18, 2008 at 11:00 AM
They must still be amazed that he hit a big league HR.
-shrugs-
Posted by: zito4cyyoung | April 18, 2008 at 11:10 AM
I love this - they're going to overpay him for his non-arbitration eligible years in order to WAY underpay him for his arb years. I wouldn't be surprised to see a couple one year club options to buy out his free agency.
Btw, PECOTA (usually conservative on young guys) has his production valued at over $100M over the next 7 years. He'd easily be looking at $10-14M in arbitration once eligible.
Posted by: V | April 18, 2008 at 11:28 AM
Excuse my french, but WTF?!?! But then again, if you look at V's comments, it looks very good. Then think, what if he didn't pan out? It's $17 million over 6 six years, that's pocket change....relatively speaking. The Yankees are wasting more than that this year alone on Giambi. How about Mike Hampton? This'll either be a brilliant move by Friedman, or just mildly bad.
Posted by: TheBaseballOpinion | April 18, 2008 at 11:37 AM
I find the timing of this extension very curious.
We have already seen the salary landscape in other lesser sports (like football and basketball) changed by what teams must pay for draft picks before they play one game for the team. Free agents with proven production can, at times, be cheaper than unproven rookies who are acknowledged by their draft status as possessing top talent. We've seen a lot of rookies never live up to their salary.
In football you can cut them (other than the bonus), but in baseball a contract means something. I don't mean to take one contract and run too far with it, but this extension appears to me to be another step toward rewarding talent without production at the major league level in baseball. We're already seeing MLB teams paying more for draft picks with talent and high school and college production - will they have to start paying for minor league production, too?
Think that agents are already studying to develop new comps based on this contract? Looks like ticket prices could be going up again soon.
Posted by: the stork | April 18, 2008 at 11:49 AM
It's official: $17.5 for 6 years, a one year option for his last arbitration year and a two-year option for his first two years of free agency. Both options bring the maximum value to $44M.
http://tampabay.rays.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080418&content_id=2546402&vkey=news_tb&fext=.jsp&c_id=tb
Posted by: ryne | April 18, 2008 at 12:10 PM
"Think that agents are already studying to develop new comps based on this contract? Looks like ticket prices could be going up again soon."
That is a terrible contract for an agent/player. The Devil Rays just got Longoria's prime years for 44 million bucks. Outstanding signing for Friedman.
Posted by: ArodSucksAtLife | April 18, 2008 at 12:53 PM
Its a fair point, this didnt make sense to me until I saw the numbers. If Longoria pans out he could have probably approached and gotten 17 mil in his second or third year of arbitration the way the market it going.
Are they team or player options?
Posted by: nrmax88 | April 18, 2008 at 01:10 PM
Well, this should put all the "they kept him in the minors to start the season to delay his arbitration years" hoopla to rest.
Definitely an interesting move especially coming out of Tampa. Progressive and forward thinking or premature? At worst it takes him right up to his prime at 30 and possibly through until 32. Never have the best years of a player come so cheaply if he fulfills the promise.
I wonder if this becomes the norm for can't miss type guys instead off sweating out situations like Howard, Fielder, Cabrera, and the guys who feel "disrespected" going year to year.
Longoria, Kazmir, Pena, Upton, Crawford, etc. Might be interesting the next couple years.
Posted by: CubFan81 | April 18, 2008 at 01:22 PM
It's a good move for the Rays. Longoria just traded possible huge money for guaranteed years and big money. Look at it from his perspective: He makes the Big Leagues, then 6 days later, someone is asking for his signature so they can hand him $17MM. He's not crazy for taking this at all.
Posted by: FineHamAbounds | April 18, 2008 at 01:55 PM
Excellent move by Andrew Friedman and the Rays. Locking up a core player to a known cost in an inflationary market is a good business decision. This limits salary risk in this one case and signals his teammates that the Rays are interested in getting better in the long run.
It also helps the public relations aspect of garnering support for the new proposed stadium as Longoria is a popular player.
Posted by: HoratioAlgae | April 18, 2008 at 02:00 PM
He was the one who said that you don’t have to be supremely gifted and impossibly strong and touched by God in order to get where you want to go. You can also dive for every ground ball.
That was exactly my first thought. I think Horatio just nailed it. This is a great move for the Rays -- and I think it's good to see them still going "outside the box" with non-traditional extension strategy even after they got burned by the Baldelli deal (which if I recall was also positively received at the time). Of course you never see degenerative mitochondrial disease coming.
Posted by: asm | April 18, 2008 at 02:27 PM
Wow, uh, sorry about that nonsensical post. I was trying to quote "Well, this should put all the "they kept him in the minors to start the season to delay his arbitration years" hoopla to rest." from Cubsfan and something else came off my clipboard. Weird.
Posted by: asm | April 18, 2008 at 02:28 PM
I could see draft picks demanding money like this in a few years. Asking for guaranteed contracts and money for years.
This is a ballsy move, I guess, I just hope that this isn't the direction we're going... rewarding prospects and unproven players.
I like the idea of paying big contracts, but cutting players if they falter, just like the NFL.
Posted by: IowaCubs | April 18, 2008 at 05:05 PM
asm... "Of course you never see degenerative mitochondrial disease coming."
It's okay... it's Friday.
Posted by: IowaCubs | April 18, 2008 at 05:07 PM
Well hopefully this means that the Rays will be looking for pitching or another position with that 1st pick in the draft and are gonna let Pedro Alvarez slip down to my Pirates at #2.
Posted by: LongSufferingBucsFan | April 18, 2008 at 10:36 PM