Justin Verlander filed for $9.5MM in arbitration today, while the Tigers countered with $6.9MM according to a tweet from SI.com's Jon Heyman. The soon to be 27-year-old righty earned $3.675MM in his first year of arbitration last season, so he's shooting to nearly triple his salary after finishing third in the AL Cy Young voting.
Better lock him up!!!
Woah, woah, woah. Jail is hardly the answer. Just do the completely human thing and run his name through the mud until the finally agrees to the Tigers’ arb.
Better lock him up!!!
Focus right here, boys and girls: $8.2 million
he isn’t worth 9.5MM..i think the tigers are making a pretty fair offer of 6.9MM..atleast for now. Two or three years from now, he will be worth much more.
Put him in the open market to see how much he gets. Pavano got 7M ( and ( know he was a free agent), Verlander should actually get twice that.
Dude is one of the 5 best starters in the league. How is he not worth $9.5M now, but will be in two or three years? What is he going to do in those 2-3 years to improve to meet your criteria for earning $9.5M? Or better yet, which starting pitchers are worth $9.5M?
I agree man. I think he’s worth it– might not get it this year, but worth it. If I’m the Tigers, I don’t have any problem paying him that this year, but I can understand why they’d like to save a few mil obviously.
Why would the Tigers allow him to go to arbitration?
verlander is easily a 15 mil pitcher.. so if you use 40-60-80% arbitration scale.. 60% of 15 is 9mil.. lock this man up long term!
hes gonna win
Seems like a fair offer from Verlander. Unless they can negotiate a deal in between I’m betting his number gets picked.
This gets settled….don’t expect a hearing.
I think (could be wrong) that DD has never let a case go to arb-hearing since arriving in Detroit. They will probably do the same as last year, meet in the middle for a one year contract and focus on locking him up in a 4-5 year contract worth a lot more.
Supposedly signing him long term is one of their main goals this offseason.
It’s time for DD to make up for all those bad signings… Lock Verlander up so we don’t have to worry about him hitting the open market.
You got that right man… I don’t want to deal with that at all. Locking him up is a no-brainer though
You can’t compare what Verlander would get in FA to what he will get in arbitration.
I do think that Dombrowski needs to make this a smooth negotiation. Last thing you want is to enter a hearing (not a fun experience) and then try to sign him long term later on.
I expect them to land somewhere around $8.5M and then sign him long term after this season (a lot of money coming off the Tigers payroll)
Absolutely right, 100% on the prediction.
Tiger Priorities next offseason.
Lock up Verlander Longterm with Magg’s 18MM
Sign Carl Crawford with Bonderman and Willis’ 20MM
Sign Adam Dunn/Carlos Pena. with majority of Robertson’s 11MM
Resign Inge/look for other cheap 3b options with whatever remains.
DONE.
Why would we EVER want Carlos Pena back? No BA, racks up the strikeouts, just for 45 homers IF he stays healthy? No thank you.
Oops, meant to comment to the other guy
first off, he has developed into one of the best power hitters in the league over the past three years. secondly he has produced extremely well in the AL East, the toughest division to do so. Thirdly, he is a big improvement defensively over Cabrera at 1b, who they can then move to DH to avoid injury. Fourthly, there will be a lot of 1b/Corner OFs available next year. JUST for 45 Homers? Think about what you just said. BTW he has only been injured once in the past 5 years, and that was because he got HIT BY A PITCH ON THE HAND AND BROKE HIS FINGERS. That does not make him injury prone at all.
Peña’s also a very good defensive first baseman but we have a first baseman, so … what? Are you suggesting Peña should be signed as a DH?What about Jayson Werth? I think he’s more get-able than Crawford, tbh.
a big source of werth’s production comes from all the protection he has in the phillies lineup. rollins, utley, howard. and also they play in a homerun hitter’s park and in the National League which is better for hitters. He also will be more expensive than pena because he’s in the OF. they also have several OF prospects in Wilkin Ramirez, Casper Wells, and A-Jax. meanwhile pena plays great defense and has hit well in the AL East, one of the toughest divisions to prosper, in a decent hitter’s park. comerica is a better place for players who when they hit homers, the homers would be homeruns at EVERY other stadium in the Bigs. cabrera is not a great defensive 1b and should DH.
I think if the Tigers had a legitimate shot at Werth they’d take him over Ramirez and Wells. And Austin Jackson is probably going to be a center fielder. I think Werth is a right fielder, IIRC.
Yeah, Peña’s been great with Tampa, but he was already a Tiger once and it didn’t go well. Maybe that’s unfair but it might play into the team’s thinking.
you make a legit point and its good to see some tiger fans still looking up for the future. I would love to have Werth, don’t get me wrong. But I’d prefer the money for an OF to be spent on Crawford. And in regards to Pena, he was still developing with the Tigers. I think he’s worth revisiting and taking another shot for the right price (which would be cheaper than Penas price tag) Also, Pena is NOT injury prone, so he will almost guarantee 35 Homers. He’s like a better fielding, slightly poorer-hitting Adam Dunn, and has been so for 3 seasons in the AL East, the toughest division.
additionally, IF (and its a big if) they are able to land Crawford next year (keep your fingers crossed), it MAY encourage Pena to come aboard.
I think most people would prefer Crawford over Werth (myself included), but I just think Werth is more realistic. Not basing this on anything but gut feelings, much like Leyland and his process of making up the game day lineup.
As for Peña and Cabrera, I think I would rather have Cabrera playing pretty much every day in the field. Cabrera’s also a career .232 hitter at DH. Small-ish sample size, but interesting nonetheless.
I have no idea what they’ll do with Magglio. I think they’ll probably end up having to pay him the $15m. They’re kind of screwed in that regard because if they cut him to keep him from reaching the number of ABs needed for the ’11 contract to kick in, they’ll get slapped in the face with a grievance from the players’ union and if the ABs kick in the $15m, they obviously have to pay him.
You are spot on. Crawford>Werth>Pena. However, assuming the Tigers have to pay Magglio and Carlos GUillen next year, that takes away at least one OF spot in Magglio and either 1b, 3b, LF or DH in Guillen. My preference would be for Guillen to move to 3b(Inge is a free agent). I suppose Magglio could move to DH, but then they have RF and LF open and there’s no way they get BOTH Crawford and Werth. There is a decent shot that they could get Crawford AND Pena or Werth AND Pena. But I’d prefer Crawford and Pena.
In regards to the DH statistics for Cabrera, I don’t see how not playing the field would really affect his hitting that extensively. I think a switch to DH in the long-run will lay no impact on his offensive stats.
they also could be stuck with RF Magglio in 2011 if he gets enough ABs this season for 15MM. (PLEASE NO!)
Tigers better try to meet him halfway cuz Verlander will probably win his arb hearing.
I think the Tigers need to make extending Verlander this offseason a priority. If they lock up Verlander, I could care less about acquiring another hitter. He is a guy who if we do not have in 2012 and beyond, we will not compete. I feel if we don’t extend him this offseason he will be more tempted next offseason to try and test the free agent market after the 2011 season. He’s a key piece to our rotation, and you can talk all you want about the young talent coming up, it doesn’t piece together right if Verlander isn’t the ace of the Detroit Tigers. I think DD needs to sit down with Verlander and use Felix’s 5-year $78MM deal as a starting point to getting a deal done. I have a feeling Verlander is going to be a little pricier than Felix, so I wouldn’t be too upset to see Verlander get a 6-year $92MM deal. Make it happen DD!
Here’s what I think will happen: Verlander and the Tigers will reach a one-year deal to avoid arbitration, and then may or may not work on an extension during Spring Training a la Cabrera.
Earlier, I thought he would absolutely jump at the chance to test the open market but now I’m not so sure. Who knows? I think if the Tigers offer him what seems fair, he’ll probably take it rather than set his sights on hitting the open market as soon as his contract is up.
First, I guess you don’t remember the incredibly HUGE disappointment he was when he was in Detroit. Secondly, 2007 was his only year that could be considered a good year. Also, the AL East is not a tough division to put up good offensive numbers in, it’s the toughest division to pitch in. Also, my bad, he’s only hit more than 31 homers twice. Career .247/.355/.502, plus 471 strikeouts in those last three years you mentioned – more strikeouts we don’t need. Not to mention career he’s .224/.314/.448 vs. LHP. Even if you want to ignore the entire rest of his career, he was even worse last year, at .211/.332/.482.
But all other things aside, you said he'[s been hurt once in the last five years? Heckuva number to pull out, since he spent the first two of those five unable to crack the major leagues (combine 97 games in ’05-’06). He’s also only played 148-139-135 the last three. I didn’t say injury prone, but he’s not a guy you can send out 150+ games a year and count on to stay healthy.
He’s turned into a decent player, but no way do we want him back. Carlos Pena can rot on someone else’s roster, just like Tony Clark and his couple of good years in Arizona. And yes, I “thought about what I just said,” “JUST 45 homers.” No way to I want a guy $5-10m who hits .227 with 163 strikeouts in 447 AB’s, just for 39 homers who plays good defense at a position where, as you said, guys are a dime a dozen. WAY too early in Miggy’s career to move him to DH, especially for Dave Kingman… I mean Carlos Pena.
Moving on…