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Amateur Signing Bonuses: Royals
Time to take our amateur signing bonus series to Kansas City…
- Eric Hosmer, 6MM (2008)
- Alex Gordon, $4MM (2005)
- Mike Moustakas, $4MM (2007)
- Luke Hochevar, $3.5MM (2006)
- Christian Colon, $2.75MM (2010)
You're looking at five of the Royals' last six first round picks, with the lone exception being 2009 pick Aaron Crow. He received a $1.5MM signing bonus as part of his $3MM major league deal.
Hosmer, the third overall pick two years ago, was touted as one of the best high school bats in recent memory. He has lived up to that hype in the minors, crushing Single-A and Double-A pitchers to the tune of .338/.406/.571 with 20 homers as a 20-year-old in 586 plate appearances this season.
Gordon was the best college player in the country when the Royals selected him second overall in 2005, but so far he hasn't delivered on the unrealistic and unfair George Brett comparisons. In parts of four seasons with the big league team, Gordon is a .244/.328/.405 hitter in 1,641 plate appearances, moving from the hot corner to the outfield in 2010. He's still just 26 though, plenty of time left for him to figure it out.
Drafted with the second overall pick in 2007, Moustakas holds the California high school record with 52 career homers. He's continued to mash in the minors, hitting .322/.369/.630 with 36 homers split between Double-A and Triple-A as a 21-year-old this season. Moustakas is Kansas City's third baseman of the future, and he and Hosmer represent prospects 1 and 1A in the game's best farm system.
The lone pitcher on the list, Hochevar was the first overall pick in the 2006 draft after spending a year in an independent league. The Dodgers selected him in the supplemental first round the year before, but after much drama the two sides were unable to work out a contract and he went back into the draft the next year. Hochevar has made 65 starts (and four relief appearances) for Kansas City over the last three-plus years, posting a 5.60 ERA with 6.0 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 in 387.2 innings.
Colon was the fourth overall pick in this year's draft, and his pro debut consisted of a .278/.326/.380 batting line in 271 Single-A plate appearances. His coming out party is set for 2011.
The Royals have the best farm system in baseball, and it's easy to see why. They spend the money needed to sign elite amateur talent, and that extends beyond the first round. Over the last three years, they've spent over $24MM on draft picks, the fifth most in baseball.
Odds & Ends: Alderson, Marte, Jeter, Mets, Werth
Some links to check out as San Francisco recovers from celebrating Brian Wilson's strikeout of Ryan Howard, which sent the Giants to the World Series…
- Over at RotoAuthority, Tim Dierkes lists some Baltimore Orioles to watch for your fantasy team next season.
- ESPNNewYork.com's Adam Rubin re-posted a selection of questions from a 2008 interview conducted with current Mets' GM candidate Sandy Alderson. Very interesting read.
- Damaso Marte underwent shoulder surgery this weekend and won't begin throwing until after the 2011 All-Star Break, writes MLB.com's Dan Mennella. If the Yankees want to look for some low-budget options, MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith looked at some bargain southpaws last week.
- Joel Sherman looks at the delicate situation that is Derek Jeter's free agency. Sherman concludes that Jeter is more valuable to the Yankees than to other teams, and that the 37-year-old will have to accept that it's not a "divine right" that he hit at the top of the order and play 150 games per season if his production doesn't improve. According to Sherman, Jeter's numbers may only warrant a one-year, $7MM deal or so on the open market, but the Yankees will bid higher. He offers up a speculative three-year, $45MM deal.
- ESPN's Adam Rubin says the Diamondbacks will be pulling for Josh Byrnes to win the Mets' GM opening, as any money the Mets pay him will be deducted from what Byrnes is still owed from his five-year contract with Arizona. Potentially saving $1MM or so annually on their GM may be a factor if the two candidates end up being neck-and-neck, according to Rubin.
- Jayson Werth's teammates don't see him returning to the Phillies next season, tweets SI's Jon Heyman.
- Curt Young has declined the Athletics' offer to return as the club's pitching coach and will pursue another opportunity, according to a team press release. The San Francisco Chronicle's Susan Slusser speculates that he might be joining former Oakland colleague Terry Francona in Boston. That would make sense, given Toronto's decision to hire John Farrell. Slusser says the A's offered Young a raise of nearly 40% on a one-year deal.
- The Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo, however, tweets that Young is likely on his way to the Diamondbacks' organization.
- For A's fans thinking this could mean a reunion with Rick Peterson, Slusser also tweets a reminder that Peterson has one more year on his contract with Milwaukee.
Amateur Signing Bonuses: Astros
Next up in our series looking at each team's amateur spending, the Houston Astros…
- Ariel Ovando, $2.6-2.8MM (2010)
- Delino DeShields Jr., $2.15MM (2010)
- Chris Burke, $2.125MM (2001)
- Jason Castro, $2.07MM (2008)
- Max Sapp, $1.4MM (2006)
The Astros made a major splash on the Latin American market this summer by signing Ovando, a 16-year-old Dominican outfielder. The exact amount of the bonus isn't known, but it's easily enough to set the franchise record. Ovando's playing career will begin next season.
The son of the man once traded straight up for Pedro Martinez, DeShields was the eighth overall pick in this June's draft and signed for a bonus roughly $100K over slot. He started his career as an 18-year-old down in rookie ball, hitting .289/.337/.395 in just 83 plate appearances. Like Ovando, DeShields' career will begin in earnest next year.
Castro was a bit of a surprise with the tenth overall pick in 2008, but he has more than justified the selection by reaching the majors this June. He hit an unimpressive .205/.286/.287 in 217 plate appearances with the big league club, but that's not out of the ordinary for a 23-year-old rookie backstop. Castro is clearly Houston's catcher of the present and future.
Burke, the tenth overall pick in 2001, reached the big leagues in 2004 and spent the next three full seasons playing all over the field as a super-sub, getting over 350 plate appearances each year. A career .249/.319/.377 hitter with the Astros, Burke was shipped to the Diamondbacks in the Jose Valverde trade in December 2007.
Sapp, the 23rd overall pick in 2006, had his career derailed by a life-threatening battle with viral meningitis, chronic sinus disease, and seizures. He was released earlier this year after hitting .224/.310/.313 in 839 minor league plate appearances. Sapp hasn't played in a game since 2008.
MLBTR Originals: 10/17/10 – 10/24/10
All eyes are on the World Series, but we here at MLBTR are looking ahead to the Hot Stove League. Here's a recap of our original content from the last week…
- Ben Nicholson-Smith tackled the bullpen market, looking at potential relievers for the Diamondbacks and five potential bargain lefties. He also listed some minor league deals that paid off.
- Tim Dierkes looked at the free agent market for left fielders and the trade market for third basemen.
- Luke Adams listed five pitchers that could benefit from a move to the NL, and I rounded up each team's 2011 payroll commitments.
- Ben compared Robinson Cano and Darren O'Day, who don't have much in common beyond a birthday. His series looking at what was said about each GM when they were hired concluded with the NL West.
- The Arbitration Eligibles series continued with the Padres, Dodgers, and Rockies.
- Our series looking at each team's spending on amateur prospects continued with the Cubs, White Sox, Reds, Indians, Rockies, Tigers, and Marlins.
- This week's poll questions includes queries about the Mets' next general manager, A.J. Burnett's contract, baseball's model franchise, and the World Series.
- We looked at the free agent stock of Kevin Correia of the Padres, Ty Wigginton of the Orioles, and Derrek Lee of the Braves. We also discussed Jimmy Rollins' next contract.
- Steve Adams broke down the Giants' roster.
- The best of blogosphere was rounded up in this week's Baseball Blogs Weigh In.
- This week's chat transcript can be found here.
- Learn about our team and transactons-only feeds here.
Week In Review: 10/17/10 – 10/23/10
Seems hard to believe that the World Series is already upon us, but we're just three days away. Congratulations to both the Rangers and the Giants! That said, let's take a look back at the MLBTR world over the past seven days:
- The Tigers and Brandon Inge agreed on a two-year extension that will pay the 34-year-old $11.5MM. Beyond Adrian Beltre, there's not much on the free agent market, so Detroit stuck with what it had, even if the price was a bit steep.
- Details emerged on the Ted Lilly signing, as we heard the Dodgers will pay the left-hander $33MM over the next three seasons. That's one free agent starter off the market, and another could be gone soon as well, with Jake Westbrook and the Cardinals discussing an extension.
- Some news about the market's other top pitchers: Texas will bid aggressively on Cliff Lee to keep him in Arlington, Zack Greinke's no-trade clause is larger than originally thought, and Javier Vazquez is interested in pitching for the Nationals.
- The Nationals signed Mike Rizzo to a five-year extension this week as well. Tough to argue with Rizzo's results to this point, although the Adam Dunn situation is questionable.
- In managerial news this week, the Cubs hired Mike Quade, and we heard that John Farrell was offered the Blue Jays job before this morning's announcement that Toronto would indeed hire him. Also, the Cardinals re-signed Tony La Russa for 2011 with a mutual option for 2012.
- The Mets have narrowed their GM search down to two candidates: Sandy Alderson and Josh Byrnes. We heard that Alderson is the favorite, but no decision has been made yet.
- We already know the Reds will pick up Bronson Arroyo's option, but we also learned this week that they'll probably exercise the $1.75MM option on Jonny Gomes. Orlando Cabrera's $4MM option will most likely be declined, despite the fact that the Reds will be increasing payroll in 2011.
- The Yankees sent Andrew Shive and Matt Cusick to Cleveland in order to complete July's Kerry Wood trade. Neither prospect is particularly impressive, though that's not a surprise given Wood's injuries and salary.
- The Braves had a busy Tuesday as they released Melky Cabrera and also released Takashi Saito, as they were contractually obligated to do. Saito adds an intriguing arm to the late-inning relief market, while Melky could make a nice fourth outfielder if he can trend back toward his Yankee numbers.
- Josh Willingham would like to sign an extension to remain with the Nationals.
- The Padres will seek production for the top of their lineup this offseason as they look to improve the table-setters for Adrian Gonzalez.
- Interesting note on a trio of players: Bengie Molina is still probably ready to call it a career, while Randy Winn is hoping to avoid that fate and play in 2011, and Orlando Hernandez wants to come out of retirement and pitch again in 2011.
- In international news, Yu Darvish announced that he's planning on remaining in Japan next season, while we learned that multiple Japanese teams are interested in Kenshin Kawakami. One team said it will pay as much as $3MM of Kawakami's 2011 salary.
- The Mets and Francisco Rodriguez resolved their grievance, with the Mets not paying his final $3.1MM of 2010, but paying him in full for 2011.
- In a couple of minor moves, the Brewers signed Mike Rivera and the Marlins re-signed Donnie Murphy.
Phillies Face Multiple Decisions In Offseason
With their 2010 season officially in the books, MLB.com's Todd Zolecki examined the Phillies' decisions regarding both free agency and arbitration this offseason. Here are some highlights:
- The Phillies and Jayson Werth will both say they have interest in working something out, and while that's probably true, Zolecki agrees with the common belief that Werth will be playing elsewhere in 2011. The Phillies already have $145MM committed to 16 players in 2011, and Werth's probable $15MM+ salary will be too much to add on.
- J.C. Romero's option will probably be declined due to the left-hander's injury problems and control issues (7.1 BB/9 the past two seasons).
- Jose Contreras could be this season's Chan Ho Park. Both pitched well out of the Philadelphia bullpen, but in doing so significantly raised their stock. Contreras could be in line for more money than Philadelphia wants to offer. Zolecki does note that Contreras' best friend and fellow Cuban, Danys Baez, is under contract for 2011, so that may help sway Contreras.
- Chad Durbin is 50-50 on whether or not he'd take less money than he could get on the open market to stay with the Phils. As Zolecki points out, this could be Durbin's only chance to secure a decent multiyear deal.
- Jamie Moyer, Mike Sweeney, and Greg Dobbs are all unlikely to be brought back.
- Ben Francisco will almost certainly be tendered a contract, and could platoon with Domonic Brown. Kyle Kendrick is due a raise and could be non-tendered and then re-signed at a more affordable price.
A Look At The Giants’ Roster
Giants' general manager Brian Sabean has taken some flak over the past few years, and some of it has been well deserved. The seven-year, $126MM contract he gave to Barry Zito and the five-year, $60MM contract for Aaron Rowand have been colossal disappointments. He traded Francisco Liriano, Joe Nathan, and Boof Bonser to the Twins for A.J. Pierzynski. Edgar Renteria should not be making $9MM per season.
Yet in spite of those moves, a look at the current roster shows some shrewd low-budget options that have landed the Giants in the World Series opposite the Rangers, with one of the more interesting rosters in baseball. Let's take a look:
The Outfield
While Rowand's deal looms over the others, it should be noted that the Giants will be paying their primary outfielders under $2MM this World Series. Cody Ross is due roughly $1.1MM from the Giants after their August waiver claim, and already has an NLCS MVP trophy to his name. Pat Burrell was signed following his release from Tampa Bay, and the Giants are only on the hook for about $300K. He supplied 18 home runs and an .872 OPS. Andres Torres arrived in San Fran with little fanfare, but he's been a key to their success generating a whopping 6.0 WAR at just $426K this season.
The Infield
Remember when experts said that the Aubrey Huff signing was one of the worst of this past offseason? Huff totaled a .290/.385/.506 line and led the club with 26 homers while earning just $3MM. Juan Uribe returned on his second one-year deal with the club for just $3.25MM and tallied 24 home runs of his own. While the two-year, $18.5MM Renteria deal was awful, the Giants managed to fill the void on the cheap and get a .754 OPS from the position during Uribe's 103 games there. Freddy Sanchez missed the begining of the season after signing a two-year, $12MM deal, but totaled 2.7 WAR in 111 games, easily justifying his $6MM salary. Pablo Sandoval, of course, manned the hot corner for next to nothing.
Catcher
It may have been a bit late, but the Giants made absolutely certain Buster Posey was Major League ready, and did he ever silence any doubters who may have questioned his power after a slow start in Triple-A. Posey's .305/.357/.505 line has Giants fans swooning, and voters fretting over whether he or Jason Heyward deserves NL Rookie of the Year honors.
The Rotation
Sometimes the best trades are ones you never make. Over the past several seasons, we've heard about possible Tim Lincecum–Alex Rios and Matt Cain–Prince Fielder trades, as well as several others involving both Jonathan Sanchez and Madison Bumgarner. Through it all, the Giants stuck with that quartet, who totaled under $15MM in 2010 salary, and were rewarded tremendously.
The Bullpen
There were 722 players drafted before Brian Wilson in 2003. There were zero in 2010 with more saves and only eight relievers who posted a mark higher than Wilson's 11.21 K/9. In 2005, 851 players were drafted ahead of Sergio Romo — he of a 2.18 ERA and 10.2 K/9 in 2010. Ramon Ramirez and Javier Lopez, acquired at the trade deadline, combined for 46 innings of 0.98 ERA ball. Jeremy Affeldt's two-year, $9.5MM deal may not have been a huge bargain, but it was hardly a disaster. He totaled a 2.80 ERA over 112.1 innings as a Giant, though he struggled more in 2010. They received quality innings out of the likes of Guillermo Mota ($750K) and Chris Ray (acquired from Texas for Bengie Molina).
Wrapping Up
It's possible — assuming a starting nine of Lincecum, Posey, Huff, Sanchez, Uribe, Sandoval, Burrell, Torres, and Ross — that the nine players who take the field on Wednesday night wearing orange and white will be earning a total of just under $23MM. That's less than the trio of Zito, Rowand, and Renteria alone earned this year ($39.5MM). And let's not forget they're paying Mark DeRosa approximately $6MM for just 26 games as a result of his injuries.
That total alone is greater than the entire payroll of teams like the Pirates and Padres, and yet the Giants find themselves four wins away from baseball's highest peak. The 2010 Giants serve as a rare example of a team that managed to overcome some of the game's worst contracts through low-risk, high-reward signings, and seeing talent where others thought there was nothing left or it simply wasn't worth the investment.
Cafardo On Greinke, Arroyo, Hall, Rays, Ortiz
In today's column for the Boston Globe, Nick Cafardo examines the possibility of a Zack Greinke trade, noting that the Red Sox should at least inquire, given Allard Baird's history with the Royals and Greinke. Here are some of Cafardo's other notes:
- One AL GM on Greinke vs. Cliff Lee: "There may not be anyone better than Lee right now, but how long is that going to last? …. If you’re looking to build around someone, you would roll the dice with Greinke and hope that what he showed this season is an off year and not a sign of things to come. You’d have to do due diligence, but the upside with Greinke is pretty good."
- The Reds are attempting to work out an extension with Bronson Arroyo that would keep him in Cincinnati for a few years and slightly reduce his 2011 salary ($13MM). That way, the team could have some flexibility to add free agents this winter, and would lock up one of its best arms to a long-term contract.
- Bill Hall will look to find a full-time job at one position this offseason, but "people around Hall" are suggesting the all-purpose utility role he played in Boston might be better suited for him.
- The Rays are expected to field trade offers for B.J. Upton, Jason Bartlett, and maybe James Shields.
- David Ortiz and the Red Sox have had some contract discussions, but there's no resolution yet on either an extension or Ortiz's 2011 option. Boston will have until three days after the World Series ends to decide on the $12.5MM option, last month, we heard the Sox were prepared to exercise it.
Poll: Who Will Win The World Series?
Although it briefly appeared as if we may have been heading for a Phillies/Yankees rematch, this year's World Series will feature some new faces. The Giants are aiming to win their first championship in San Francisco, while the Rangers are playing in the Series for the first time in franchise history. No matter which team wins, two things appear certain: one side's fanbase will be devastated, and Bengie Molina will end up with a World Series ring.
When we asked you for your ALCS and NLCS picks, votes were nearly evenly split. Let's see if there's a consensus choice for this year's champion.
Who will win the World Series?