Eight players signed as free agents for over a million bucks in the offseason have been dumped so far this year. Let's look at the grisly details.
- Alex Cora, released by Mets on 8-7-10. Signed to a one-year, $2MM deal by Omar Minaya on 11-30-09. Received 187 plate appearances.
- Chan Ho Park, designated for assignment by Yankees on 7-31-10. Signed to a one-year, $1.2MM deal by Brian Cashman on 2-24-10. Pitched 35.3 innings.
- Brendan Donnelly, released by Pirates on 7-29-10. Signed to a one-year, $1.35MM deal by Neal Huntington on 1-18-10. Pitched 30.6 innings.
- Garrett Atkins, released by Orioles on 7-6-10. Signed to a one-year, $4.5MM deal by Andy MacPhail on 12-18-09. Received 152 plate appearances.
- Adam Everett, released by Tigers on 6-15-10. Signed to a one-year, $1.55MM deal by Dave Dombrowski on 12-7-09. Received 89 plate appearances.
- Randy Winn, designated for assignment by Yankees on 5-28-10. Signed to a one-year, $1.1MM deal by Brian Cashman on 2-8-10. Received 71 plate appearances.
- Bob Howry, released by Diamondbacks on 5-17-10. Signed to a one-year, $2.25MM deal by Josh Byrnes on 12-28-09. Pitched 14.3 innings.
- Jack Cust, designated for assignment by Athletics on 4-3-10. Signed to a one-year, $2.65MM deal by Billy Beane on 1-7-10. This may have been more of a procedural move by the A's, but they were still willing to let him go for nothing three months and zero plate appearances after signing him.
- Only $16.6MM was committed to these players, so it's not outrageous. The cases of Cust, Howry, and Winn are curious because they were cut so quickly, while Atkins stands out as the worst signing of the bunch.
- Also consider Jeremy Hermida, Akinori Iwamura, and Brian Bruney. They were not free agents but these offseason acquisitions were also outrighted or released.
Um… I believe Jack Cust is still on the A’s. Just check game logs.
Never said he wasn’t.
Tim also, Randy Winn is on the cardinals and Park is on the Pirates. lol
That doesn’t mean they weren’t abandoned by their original club…
Tim, if the A’s cut Cust, yet he is now playing for the team – is he getting paid in addition to the 2.65MM?
I think they DFA’d him before sending him down to Sacramento. This got him off the 40-man roster while they were passing him through waivers–I assume he is out of options–and possibly getting him to accept a AAA assignment. He was never released. I am also guessing that they outrighted him to Sacramento since putting him on irrevocable waivers allowed them to do that as well and purchased his $2.65 million contract when they brought him back up. I don’t know offhand if Cust’s contract provided for a lower pay scale at AAA, but I kind of doubt it.
And Randy Winn is on the cardinals unless i missed something and Park on the Pirates
Never said they weren’t on those teams.
yeah i misunderstood sorry tim.
I believe the point of the post was these players signed a FA deal AND then were cut from the team that they originally signed with. It is irrelevant to this discussion whether they eventually resigned later with the same or different club.
Donkey Donnely and Cust about only 2 that deserved a MLB contract following last season anyway. More GM’s that continue to waste money on aging and for the most part, fairly useless old veterans rather than go with a younger talent from the farm system.. That is.. if they even have anyone in some of the signing teams cases. Oakland sure does and Beane of all people knows better, then Cust had the most upside of all those mentioned as well.
I would add Gary Matthews Jr. to the list with Hermida/Iwamura/Bruney
the post says, free agent signings.
Please read the full post and then correct me. At the bottom, he mentions 3 acquisitions that were not free agent signings. I added to that list, not to that of the free agents.
Could you then add Bob Howry to the list a second time? Cause he signed with the Cubs, got brought up to the majors, then got released again…
The last sentence on Park should read: Pitched 35.3 inning, had diarrhea.
Bob Howry – never forget that Dave Cameron declared that this guy would be a good choice as a closer last season.
I didn’t think the Winn deal was bad. I mean $1.1M is only about $700K more than the league min, so in reality that’s all he would have cost to keep around all year. That’s nothing to the Yanks. Granted Winn probably deserved a deal more in line with Austin Kearns (minor league deal), but still hard to fault the Yanks for taking a shot on a guy for $700K…
No, but you can fault them for overpaying him @1.1M…..I don’t really understand your logic, you can’t just subtract the league minimum from every contract to make it seem more team friendly.
Howry’s ERA was north of 10. I don’t think it was that surprising that he was gone so quickly.
And to think Chan Ho turned down reportedly $3+ mil to stay with the Phils immediately following the season. Could have doubled his money and still pitched poorly!