On this date back in 1983, Dodgers' hurler Fernando Valenzuela became the first player in baseball history to receive a seven-figure award through the arbitration process. During his first two-plus seasons as a big leaguer, Fernandomania had been named the Rookie of the Year, appeared in two All Star Games, and won a Cy Young Award. The arbitration panel awarded him a $1MM salary in his first year of eligibility, nearly tripling his 1982 salary.
As the last few present day arbitration cases wrap up, here are some links to check out from around the baseball blogiverse…
- Mets Paradise reviews the Amazin's offseason, and says they aren't a finished product even if the team believes they are.
- Capitol Avenue Club examines a potential Adrian Gonzalez-to-Atlanta trade, and notes that it's the same situation as the Mark Teixeira swap of 2007.
- Turn Two looks at some AL and NL position battles.
- The Sports Banter tries to find homes for the best remaining free agents.
- Phillies Nation grades the Jose Contreras pickup.
- Gear Up For Blue Jays Baseball breaks down Kevin Gregg and the rest of Toronto's bullpen.
- Tipi Talk wonders if Rafael Perez could contribute to the Indians as a starting pitcher.
- Dodgers Digital answers questions about how the Dodgers' roster decisions will affect their Triple-A affiliate.
- AdamAdkins.net ranks the top five catchers in the game today.
- Brew Crew Ball provides an easy-to-use guide for creating your own Spring Training story.
If you have a suggestion for this feature, Mike can be reached here.
Link is to the wrong Fernando Valenzuela
If the Braves were to do another Tex like trade for A-Gon I wouldn’t be happy.I mean of course I wouldn’t mind having him on the team but for a year and a half ? Thats just a waste of prospects ect.I would sign him to a multi year deal instead of trading him next year like they did Tex.
padres will ask for jason heyward. if he is not in it no ideal.
They won’t include Heyward in the deal and who could blame them ?
Then Hanson. Look, Braves farm is deep but for a guy like Gonzalez they’ll want a major piece. Quality over quantity.
This is such a joke. People act like all Atlanta has to offer is either Heyward or Hanson. Braves system is chock full of young arms including Teheran and Vizcaino. Not saying that a deal is going to happen, and I hope it doesn’t because a healthy troy glaus would be more than adequate plus there’s hinske to back up, but atlanta has the pieces w/o Heyward and Freeman. I mean there’s Teheran, Vizcaino, Spruill, Minor, Randall Delgado, and Freddie Freeman plus a few more. And as for quality over quantity, Teheran would definitely be a centerpiece type arm
And the same people who think the Braves can offer so little were the ones screaming to Red Sox fans who were making trade proposals that didn’t include Westmoreland and/or Kelly.
I already said the Braves farm is deep. But you need to remember a few things about your farm: 1) Freeman has less than 150 Abs above single A level… he posted an unimpressive .650 OPS during this time. 2) Teheran has less than 40 innings above rookie ball and they weren’t exactly dominate. 3) Vizcaino has less than 50 innings above rookie ball though dominate. 4) And now that I’ve gone through them… none of the pitching prospects you mentioned are above single A ball.
Add to that remember, this is for a guy who posted a .958 OPS last year… his OPS away from PETCO was 1.045. Yeah, you will have to give up something huge and certain.
Freeman wouldn’t even interest the Padres much as they have Blanks, I was just including him as part of the depth of the system. Freeman’s wrist was also messed up in his time in AA, tried to play through it, didn’t go too well as you can see by the less than impressive numbers. Teheran and Vizcaino, yes they’re young, but these are two of the 15 or so best pitching prospects in all of baseball. A-Gonz had a monster season for sure but it really was the first time he ever showcased superstar potential, his huge value comes in that he’s incredibly cheap for the next two years unlike Prince Fielder, the better player, who is going to make ~25M compared to Adrian’s 10 or so. As for Westmoreland, hasn’t he had multiple knee surgeries and missed extensive time in his minor league career? Fantastic prospect and I’d love to have him but that’s got to be a concern. And Kelly is in the same situation as Teheran/Vizcaino. Honestly Teheran=Kelly and something like Vizcaino + Spruill would equate to the caliber of a Westmoreland. Atlanta could without a doubt pull off a deal without Heyward/Hanson but it’s all moot because it’s not happening.
They can keep dreaming then.They ain’t getting Heyward or Hanson.
If the Pads insist on a Heyward level of return, they’ll wind up getting a Peavy-like deal after waiting too long. Every day they wait, his value goes down. They managed to turn Yunel Escobar into a set of good but not great prospects last time by overreaching, and I bet they do it again.
Except for the fact that its a completely new front office staff. You did know that Kevin Towers got fired, right?
Well that certainly explains why they’ve let every team have the whole offseason to set their 1B position without making a move while the market was still open. You did notice that, right? They’ve already blown the max return.
I’d argue that they haven’t blown their max return since teams become more desperate for bats as the trading deadline approaches. In the off-season there’s always the free agent venue that can be perused as a viable alternative to trades. Mid-season teams don’t have that luxury and therefore prices are driven up. Its like the law of supply and demand. If there’s three teams that’d like an upgrade at 1B and A-Gon is obviously the best option available, then there will be a nice little battle for his services.
Completely backwards. Fewer suitors, fewer matches in terms of talent to trade vs, need acquired, and the primary asset has reduced in value by 25 percent of his remaining “cheap” contract. Teams aren’t as dumb about how much value a single player adds to their team as they used to be. You are counting on one of the deadline teams A: needing a 1B, B: willing to trade with you and vice versa(Dodgers? I think not) C; having talent that you want, and D: being willing to swap that talent for Gonzalez. Good luck with that. What if none of the three teams you are referring to has players you like at a salary level you want? What if two of them are division rivals? Or wild card challengers and you are still in it? Your strategy has an extremely large potential for failure as a result of a reduced number of teams competing for his services and what they may have to offer in return, as well as limiting your strategic options of who you’d like to trade him to.
edited for clarity
Feliz and Andrus…but we did get Kotchman
Feliz and Andrus… but we did get Kotchman which landed us LaRoche who is now a Dback…now, how much longer are Feliz and Andrus under team control?
And while I’m not for a big time trade on Atlanta’s part at this point in time, it is not the same situation as the Texeira trade. Atlanta still had legitimate holes on that roster when they made the deal for Tex, namely lack of any quality depth in the rotation behind Smoltz and Hudson, and were not missing just one player. This 2010 version of the Braves is already a legitimate contender with excellent pitching, lacking only a guaranteed 30 HR hitter right now. This is a much more complete roster than what they had assembled upon acquiring Tex
Padres probably won’t get anywhere near Hanson or Heyward, but Kris Medlen is the proposed centerpiece of this deal? Can we at least _try_ to have a realistic trade scenario from Braves fans sometime? It was the same crap last year with Peavy…”Yeah, your guy is really good. But this prospect of ours is totally off-limits…and so is that one…and him too…oh yeah, that guy too.”
So tired of this…
that would be because they ARE off-limits and your genius of a GM last year couldn’t understand that. Everyone who cares about their farm system understands that you have to place the “untouchable” tag on certain guys no matter what, something the Phillies and Yankees don’t understand. I would say our untouchable list consists of
Heyward
Freeman
Minor
Schafer
Viscaino or Teheran (probably Teheran)
Thanks for proving my point. This is exactly why a deal wasn’t done with Peavy, and why a deal won’t get done for Adrian.
Suits me. 1 1/2 years of Gonzalez ain’t worth 6 of Hanson or Heyward. And 6 of Esco will be worth a TON more than 2 of Peavy (who wasn’t ill-paid, I might add). I wouldn’t think Freeman, Vizcain, Teheran or Schafer are untouchable right now, however. The point is, the Padres have 3 options: find a trade partner who is willing to trade what they want for Gonzales, accept something else, or keep him. Most teams have already set their 1B for the season opener, so their leverage to get option one is not so hot right now. It may well improve during the season die to injury or poor play, but it may also get worse if the right teams aren’t in the mix at the deadline. Right now, option 3 and taking the picks is looking like what may happen by default, if they don’t start getting more realistic about the return – and that may well be the best thing.
Capitol Avenue Club tried and failed to make a case for a trade between the PAdres and Braves for Adrian Gonzalez.
According to MLBtraderumors, the Padres were asking for Clay Buchholz, Lars Anderson, Jed Lowrie, Ryan Westmoreland, and Justin Masterson from the Boston Red Sox on July 31st last season.
According to Buster Olney and this site, the Padres turned down a trade with the Red Sox that involved Buchholz, Tazawa, Anderson and two more prospects.
They are certainly not going to be looking for any less in return for Gonzalez in 2010.
So punch the numbers in for those players and what Capitol Avenue Club proposed as a good trade just does not make the cut. Its not enough.
Try again.
They are certainly not going to be looking for any less in return for Gonzalez in 2010.
How is this possible when the value of his contract has declined?
How many years were left on Texeira’s contract?
The braves would not be wise to trade hanson. However, 2 years of Gonzalez is worth more than 6 years of heyward. Heyward is a “prospect”. Key word in quotations is “prospect”. The fact is you would have to wait 6 years to prove your argument, hoping that heyward does in fact produce at the level you expect. I am tired of hearing about untouchable crap. Gonzalez with a cheap contract and such a fan draw with SD ties and with all his production by any measures should by “untradable”. Every team has its needs. If atlanta feels gonzalez is “the piece” that puts them into the playoffs then heywards “untouchable” label may not apply. I dont think atlanta will sniff the playoffs even if they aquired gonzalez. If I was a braves fan I would want to wait until the playoffs are more realistic then spend my prospects.
A; The Braves overpaid, and B: Salty/Feliz et al did not project nearly as well as Heyward. Heyward is a 19 year old who has demolished competition older and more experienced at every level. It just doesn’t happen very often (as in next to never), and is generally indicator of future success. ATL hasn’t had a guy hit like this since Andruw. Gonzalez is not “the piece” that will put the Braves over the top – another lesson learned from the Tex trade. Tex hit as well as could be hoped, and it wasn’t enough. I don’t care how “sick” you are of hearing it, the opportunity to own a superstar on the cheap for years is worth quite a bit more than the opportunity to pay 10M/yr for two years of something you can buy for 15M on the open market. As you said, in your view ATL doesn’t make the playoffs in either case – why on earth would you give away Heyward to finish a couple of games higher in second?
Why don’t you look at Heyward’s minor league stats and age versus Gonzalez – link to baseball-reference.com
link to baseball-reference.com
Pretty severe beatdown that’s even worse when you consider that the PCL is a hitter’s paradise, and Heyward was younger at every level.