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Archives for April 2010

Rich Aurilia Retires

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Rich Aurilia officially retired, according to MLB.com's Chris Haft. Aurilia says he misses playing, but told Haft it's time for a "different phase" of his life.

Aurilia had hoped to play again this year with the Yankees or Mets. Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News reported earlier in the year that Aurilia had a broadcasting deal in place in case he couldn't find a big league job.

The 38-year-old signed a minor league deal worth $1MM with the Giants last year and went on to hit .213/.256/.279 in 133 plate appearances. That's far from the .275/.328/.433 line Aurilia posted over the course of a 15-year career that began on the Giants in 1995, alongside Dave Burba, Deion Sanders and Rod Beck. 

Aurilia hit 186 home runs, made an All Star team and won the 2001 Sliver Slugger when he hit 37 homers as the Giants' shortstop. Aurilia made about $32MM in his career, according to Baseball-Reference.

Week In Review: 4/4/10 – 4/10/10

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We're a week into the MLB season and there's been tons of action on and off the field. Let's take a look back at the week that was…

The Value Of Super Two Status

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Every spring, we hear about teams keeping top young players in the minors to prevent them from obtaining Super Two status. Players like Ryan Braun, Matt Wieters and Stephen Strasburg dominate the minor leagues for a couple months before getting the call near the end of May. The teams' logic is simple: Super Twos go to arbitration four times instead of three, so they make more money than their peers. That provides clubs with an incentive to keep players in the minors for eight or ten weeks of extra seasoning.

But how much more money do Super Twos really make? It depends on the caliber of the player, but Ryan Braun's contract gives us insight into how teams and agents value that extra year of arbitration. Braun isn't a Super Two player, but as Cot's Baseball Contracts shows, his contract would have paid him $25.5MM as a Super Two instead of the $19.5MM he will actually earn.

For Braun, Super Two status would have made a difference of $6MM. Not all Super Twos are superstars, of course, but even ordinary players could make as much as 31% more money over the course of the four last seasons they're under team control. As Yahoo's Jeff Passan explains in this article, Super Twos may be "negotiated into the ether" before long.

Odds & Ends: Lowell, Paulino, Cardinals, Nationals

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Links for Sunday….

Assessing Elijah Dukes’ Value

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Most 25-year-olds don't hit the open market, especially if they have a .349 career on base percentage and a track record of success in the minors. A .280/.369/.451 minor league batting line is better than average, but Elijah Dukes is not your average outfielder. 

The reputation he developed as a trouble-maker has been hard to shed and there's been little reported interest in Dukes since the Nationals released him about a month ago. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports noted (via Twitter) that multiple teams were interested in late March, but there's been no reported interest in Dukes since.

Dukes seemed like a promising player as recently as last spring, but Ben Goessling of MASN.com says the Nats released Dukes because of his on-field performance (Twitter link). Dukes' outfield defense is below average, according to UZR, and his on base and slugging percentages dropped considerably last year, so the Nationals have a point.

Even though Dukes had a poor season last year, he gets on base, he's young and he's controllable. He is a pre-arbitration player, so the team that signs Dukes will have the rights to his services through 2013. There's no doubt that Dukes' past limits interest in him, but he has enough positives that it would be surprising not too see some club sign Dukes.

Could Rays Release Pat Burrell?

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Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times writes that the Rays will have to consider cutting Pat Burrell loose if their designated hitter doesn't start producing. Although Tampa Bay management maintains that they have confidence in Burrell's ability, Topkin speculates that by mid-May or early-June, the club may run out of patience.

Burrell hit .221/.315/.367 in 2009 and is off to another slow start in 2010, the final season of his two-year contract. He'll make $9MM this year, a figure which will likely make him unmovable. Topkin thinks that at some point the Rays "will just have to accept their mistake and cut him loose."

If they were to cut ties with Burrell, the Rays would have other options available. Hank Blalock is currently in Triple A, waiting for an opportunity to earn Major League playing time. Additionally, Topkin points out that Rocco Baldelli has been taking regular batting practice at Tropicana Field and would like to play again. The long-time Ray would be a cheap right-handed alternative, and, as this Rays Index article suggests, Tampa fans would have more patience with him than they've had with Pat the Bat.

Burrell's $9MM salary would be a huge cost for the budget-conscious Rays to eat, so expect them to give the 33-year-old every chance to succeed. However, if his struggles continue and compromise the club's chances of contending, they could be forced to make a change.

Cafardo On Gonzalez, Oswalt, Crawford, Granderson

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Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe is now on Twitter, under the handle @nickcafardo, so be sure to follow him. In the meantime, Cafardo also has a new column up for the Globe, in which he addresses the possibility of an Adrian Gonzalez trade and touches on a few other hot stove topics. Let's check out the highlights….

  • Cafardo isn't bullish on the Red Sox' chances of acquiring Gonzalez, noting that a trade would deplete Boston's farm system. Plus, they should face stiff competition from teams like the Mariners and Orioles.
  • The consensus among a few baseball people who spoke to Cafardo is that Padres GM Jed Hoyer will field trade offers for Gonzalez but won't necessarily deal the slugger. The situation could be similar to the Jays shopping Roy Halladay at last year's deadline, when Toronto wasn't sufficiently blown away by any offer.
  • The Padres are more likely to move Chris Young and Heath Bell.
  • Assuming the Sox don't land Gonzalez, Cafardo wonders if Carlos Pena might be an offseason target for Theo Epstein.
  • Roy Oswalt could be an attractive trade chip for the Astros, given the lack of top starting pitchers that will be available during the season. Cafardo thinks Houston will move their ace if they have to, adding that "it looks like they may have to."
  • The Brewers' extension of Yovani Gallardo is a good sign that they'll be aggressive in attempting to lock up Prince Fielder, though it will likely take a Mark Teixeira-esque contract to get it done.
  • Cafardo's "dark horse candidate" in this winter's Carl Crawford sweepstakes? The Angels.
  • The Red Sox looked into acquiring Curtis Granderson to replace Jason Bay, but were outbid by the Yankees.

Examining The Tigers’ Rotation

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When we looked last week at questions facing the AL Central heading into the season, a crucial one for the Tigers involved their starting pitching. With Justin Verlander heading up Detroit's rotation, they can match aces with any club. After Verlander though, there are a few question marks for a team that aims to contend.

Rick Porcello and Max Scherzer have a ton of talent, but had thrown less than 400 major league innings between them coming into 2010. At the back of the rotation, although Dontrelle Willis and Jeremy Bonderman have enjoyed success in the past, both have struggled immensely over the past three years. Last season, Willis posted a 7.49 ERA in seven big league starts, while Bonderman had an 8.71 mark in eight appearances.

There are at least a couple names remaining on the free agent market that could interest the Tigers. Jarrod Washburn may not be one of them — his disastrous eight-game stint in 2009 in Detroit (7.33 ERA) is too fresh, and Scott Boras is still pushing for his client to earn more than clubs are willing to pay. Right-handers like Pedro Martinez and Braden Looper could be fits for the Tigers, however. Pedro has been effective enough in the National League to believe that he could succeed in the AL Central, and Looper has eaten up 190+ IP in each of the last two seasons.

For now, the Tigers appear content to exercise some patience. By trading away Nate Robertson, they exhibited confidence in their current group of arms, and so far they've been proven right. Willis and Bonderman both opened their campaigns with quality starts, and should young guns Porcello and Scherzer falter, it's more likely to happen later in the year, as they rack up a full season of innings. The success of the Tigers' rotation should be an important factor in the AL Central race in 2010. Whether or not they'll need to acquire another starter will be worth keeping an eye on as the year progresses.

Odds & Ends: Beimel, Cust, Dukes, Santos

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