Conventional wisdom says Jayson Werth won’t be playing for the Phillies in 2011, but someone familiar with the team’s thinking tells Jon Heyman of SI.com that he expects the Phillies to try hard to re-sign the outfielder. Here’s the latest on Werth, plus other updates from around the league:
- Heyman hears that the Phillies suggested a Jason Bay-like contract to Werth this summer (four years, $66MM) and he rejected the idea.
- Some baseball people say they would not be surprised to see Derek Jeter seek a six-year deal this offseason. Heyman hears hints that the Yankees are thinking about offering a three-year contract. Hal Steinbrenner said yesterday that negotiations could get messy with Jeter.
- The Mets will have one of baseball’s most expensive front offices. Omar Minaya earns over $2MM, Sandy Alderson makes an estimated $2-3MM and J.P. Ricciardi won’t be cheap either.
So Jeter wants a 6 year deal and also the “Derek Jeter” money. Call me crazy, but there is no way the Yankees give him a 6/yr $120-150MM deal. No way at all and if it’s not the Yankees, there is no way any team gives him that. They will have to wait out the market until his price eventually drops…Or if Heyman’s sources are wrong it should be 3-4 18-25MM anually.
I agree that the Yankees should not bid against themselves but the offer should be no more the 3 years at 8 or 10 million per year.
and again with the “some baseball people”…Heyman probably just makes this stuff up for stories
It should read ‘some delusional baseball people’. Jeter knows he’s not getting 6 years from anybody. I can’t see his agent making any kind proposal like that, even as an opening bid. Heyman has been coming up with some really off-the-wall tweets lately, I’m still waiting for him to get the Bobby V- managerial situation correct.
if Jeter was that selfish (which he’s not) and said give me 6 years or im not coming back the Yankees would have no choice to give in.
Why would you engage in a hypothetical absurdity when you know that will never take place?
If I was the Yankees I would offer him a 10 year deal that includes a claus that the Yankees can switch him to a personal services contract (at a lower rate) when they deem it is time for him to retire. He then has the option to opt out if he doesn’t agree that it is time to retire.
It seems like the best way to accomodate the fact that he is both aging and THE face of the Yankees.
Jeter would never sign something like that. That sounds good, but how does that work for Jeter?
1. The Yankees get to tell when to retire even if he disagrees
2.The lower personal services contract is a pay cut.
3. His ‘opt out’ is NOT an opt out- what is the alternative? What does he get?
I would pay Jeter 13MM over 3 years. He must be delusional if he wants 6 years right after his decline years started.
No way will Jeter get a six year deal from anybody, After his worst offensive season ever and his diminishing range at ss, He dosen’t have a shot at six, Maybe not 3. This should be very interesting…Pox on the Evil Empire
I am ok with giving Jeter a 3-4 year deal… Something like 4/40…
Jeter is one of the biggest overpaid players I have ever seen. What is his true value?
prob the same contract scutaro signed
I think the yanks should sign jeter a 2 or 3 year deal. He’s absolutly insane if he wants 6years
Years let alone, he wants 20MM dollars!!!!! Come on. If he gets that much I would sign Cory Aldridge to a 8yr/100MM deal.
Where did you hear he wants $20 million. I can’t find a source saying how much he wants a year.
As much as the Yankees “need” Jeter, he needs them too. Not only for the salary he’s going to get, which is probably going to be higher than anyone else would pay, but also for the endorsement deals he’s surely got going in NY. Biggest market, larger endorsements. I have to think negotiations are going to go smoothly because quite frankly they each got the other by the short and curlies, so to speak. They need one another.
You can’t cut Jeter’s pay….4yrs $88mm
Sure you can. His play is regressing, why shouldn’t his pay? He’s already been paid for what he’s done, how about his next contract pays him fairly for what he will do and not what he did do?
yes you can while he is a stable for the team if he thinks he can make over 20 mil per then thats why it could get messy. It comes down to years and money. He will no doubt resign but not for as much .. i’m thinking 15mil per.. otherwise let him go out and find a team willing to offer him 20m per and 5-6 years..they won’t be out there.. someone else said it he needs the yankees just as much as they need him.. he will look like the bad guy if he doesn’t take the pay cut and shops for more money and that will tarnish his image
Why not c’mon dude – he’s making bank anyway you slice it – it’s all ego right now
You can’t cut Jeter’s pay…3 or 4 yrs at 22mm
Actually, his last contract was 10-yrs, $189 million. You’d be giving him a raise. Yeah, he earned more than $18.9 million last year at the end of the contract but he’s not even an $18 million dollar player anymore, why pay him $22 million?
I would be ecstatic if they got a 2 year deal out of him. I can live with three. Anything more than that, thanks for the memories Jeet.
No way Jeter wants a 6 year deal..
He did well in not getting married, having a family too early. He’s made a boatload of money, can play for a few more years and then retire and be with his family. I think at most you can go with a 4 deal.
Agreed.
6 years for Jeter? He better have some incriminating photos of Cashman or Hank to get that.
If he manages 3+ years, the Yankees have absolutely no backbone.
Maybe the Yankees can give him a five or six year contract, but with a huge buyout that diminishes towards the final year of the deal. Just a thought. I’m sure he’ll be looking for guaranteed money, though. All MLB players do.
It’s not like they can’t afford him or are going to let him walk, though. The guy is the face of the franchise and I imagine will probably always have a job with the Yankees in some capacity. Cashman and the Steinbrenner Bros. don’t want to be the men who sent “Derek Jeter” (said in Hal Sheppard voice) to another team.
No way is Jeter delusional enough to believe he can command 6 years/$120 million. Forget the dollars, even at league minimum he wouldn’t get a 6 year deal with the way he’s been playing. If he were to explore the market I wouldn’t give him anything more than 2 years/$15MM with a club option for $9MM with a $3MM buy out and right there that’s purely out of respect. ANYBODY ELSE with Jeter’s numbers, heading into free agency and being 37 the first year of a new contract would be lucky to get offers of 1 year/$2-3MM guaranteed.
I would like to see him take a 2 years/$20MM deal and then accept a reduced role and hope that Eduardo Nunez steps up. I love Jeter but his time is coming to a close. He got that final ring. Don’t overstay your welcome.
Finally some one with common sense!!. Thank You
As for Werth: 4 years/$56MM seems like the most reasonable deal there. He’s delusional if he thinks he’ll get 5 years/$90MM or 6 years/$90MM or whatever it is he thinks he’s worth.
Somebody is going to overpay for Werth. I’m guessing whoever loses out on Crawford. As much as most people agree that he isn’t worth 90mm. He could get close b/c a team will try to make a drastic move to show the fan base they are trying to compete.
Yeah, I think that’s what’s going to happen too. Werth is pretty good and all but in a strong free agent year he wouldn’t be a top 2 hitter, he’d have to settle. It’s his good luck that there aren’t many good outfield bats available and he’s going to capitalize on it with some team that’s likely going to regret the deal towards the end of it. I hope he gets all he can, I just hope he gets it from a team I don’t like.
To me, Werh is the offensive version of Derek Lowe. He’s had the good fortune of being on good, perennial post-season clubs and thus his numbers and accumen is inflated and he’s deemed to be worth A-list consideration when he’s a 2nd tier outfielder and of average power at best.
I wouldn’t go THAT far. His skills are obvious.
He’s not a Batman, but he’s a very good Robin.
Sorry but anything with the name “Jon Heyman” attached to it is automatic BS.
Jeter a six year deal and after the thrid he becomes the manager?
lol after 3 yrs so jeters getting 3 yrs poss 45-60 mill to manage the yanks lololol u must be a genius…
I doubt Jeter would ever want to manage (I bet Posada may be an option after Girardi’s deal) Jeter seems to be the charismatic Jock-in-the booth or analyst type; not a slam at all, but he seems to be the type to make more than a few bucks at that.
Why can’t Heyman give the Mets kudos for once just once – c’mon Alsderson and Riccardi are major upgrades – always something negative – always. Give them credit for not just keeping Minaya and spending $$$$ on proven baseball men –
Wasnt Riccardi tarred and feathred just a year ago in TO? Dubious moves like the Wells and Rios contracts have set back that team quite a bit.
Yes bad contracts,,,,all gm make those mistakes,,,,Look at Sabean…..but Riccardi also is a good talent evaluator and Mets need to upgrade their minors and his background is perfect for that job
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Rios’s contract is really not that bad, he fell out of favour with the organization and the fan base because of the combination of his bad play, nonchalante attitude and a youtube incident…
but if you break down Rios this year, i dont know if you can call him overpaid.
heyman just reports rumors, rumors of deals, etc. he’s not supposed to give his opinion if he’s a reporter, not a commentator
Then why did he say he would prefer Byrnes as a gm? That seems to be his opinion…and a wrong one
I don’t know wtf you people are talking about with Werth. The guy is a superstar. He’s been basically a 5 WAR per year player and worth over $20 MM according to Fangraphs. He plays top notch defense and is a great hitter who walks, hits for power and has speed. What else do you want in a player? The only reason he won’t get a MONSTER deal is because he’s already 32. If he hit the market as the player he is today at 29 he’d probably top Matt Holliday’s deal, and somehow he’s worth $50 MM?
He’s 36, not 32. Big difference
Nope, he was born in ’79.
Thought he was talking about Jeter, sorry.
now if a future first ballot hall of famer jeter is a free agent at 36, why would 31 yr old werth (just a very good player) think he deserves a contract for more than four yrs? bay got a 4 yr deal last yr. he’s 32 now. it’s not like werth can’t or won’t get another contract after 4 yrs. i think werth should consider his team the phillies, fans and his legacy. the phillies gave him a chance when no one else did, gave him a starting job in right field, and a world series championship. players who go to other teams don’t always gel with the team, fans or city.
Not sure why you responded to me. At first I made a dumb mistake and missed the Werth part in his first sentence. I didn’t say anything about what Werth should/should not get.
Your fandom has blinded you. Jeter signed a 10 year deal. You think every single player should reach free agency in the same year? So Cliff Lee should only get a contract until he’s 36? Does Andy Pettitte get a -3 year deal? Everybody tried to turn Werth into a catcher and he had a lot of knee problems because of his build. Once he became and OF there was no problem. And Jason Bay plays atrocious defense and has long term injury problems. He didn’t hit that well outside of Fenway (go figure). Werth is healthy, consistent, a great defender and a pretty complete player. I’m sure if the Phillies pay him what he’s worth he’d gladly come back, but this is his first shot at a real payday to set him and his family for life. And if anyone else had him on their team when he started playing that well they would have given him a starting job too. OH, and probably an extension. And I think if he can deal with the Philly fans I’m sure he’ll be fine somewhere else.
uh a pitcher is totally different than a fielder. so you’re comparing apples and oranges. i’m not blinded by my fandom. he has a right to see how much others are offering but i think he has a great situation in philly and he should remember that.
it doesn’t matter if i was talking about pitchers or position player. the point i was knocking down was it’s ridiculous to think every player, pitcher or not should reach free agency at the same time in their careers. it shows no knowledge of how the sport works and how and when players come to free agency.
If Philly would have offered him a fair extension I think he would have serious interest. But a Jason Bay contract isn’t going to come close to what he deserves. A great situation no matter how great it is won’t overcome under bidding by tens of millions of dollars.
It is ridiculous that you compare pitchers to fielders. Fielders play every game unlike a pitcher. I never said free agency has to come at the same point in every player’s career. Also i know bay is not as good as werth. Whether he is being underbid at this point by the phillies when he obviously wants to test free agency anyway or not has nothing to do with my knowledge of the sport or free agency. Btw pettite came back to the yankees bec no one wanted to pay anywhere close to what he wanted.
I don’t know why Jeter would get more than one year…one is all he needs to get 3000 hits…other than that he is not an asset to the Yankees…He will continue to decline i don’t think 37 year olds have bounce back seasons unless they are taking PED’s and that doesn’t sound like Jeter…I hope the Yankees start paying players based on what the market demands and nothing more…Let Arod be the last contract the Yankees give out where they bid against themselves.
that’s what everyone said after 2008 when they said people don’t bounce back that late in their careers and he (i think) led the majors in WAR in 2009. And the whole point that not one single person who wants to get rid of Jeter gets is WHO IS GOING TO REPLACE HIM???
“that’s what everyone said after 2008 when they said people don’t bounce back that late in their careers and he (i think) led the majors in WAR in 2009.”
While I don’t disagree that the Yankees basically have no choice but to bring him back, this is quite off.
He definitely had a solid season, but he was far from the MLB (Or even AL) lead in WAR. Dependent on what site you go to, Fangraphs had him as #7 in the MLB (Fourth in the AL) and he doesn’t chart the top ten MLB on B-R (He charted #7 in the AL).
I think the biggest win-win scenario is one that involves ancillary benefits as the two are in a mutually beneficial relationship. If Jeter is looking for 6 years, the contract needs to be structured in a way that is very specific. I would recommend that the Yankees offer a base salary + 5% equity in the franchise for services tendered as well as future services delivered, having Jeter serve as a representative and liaison of the Yankees.
At current writing, the Yankees have a franchise valuation of $1.6 bn, giving Jeter an $80 million stake in the franchise. In exchange, the player agrees to a 3 year player contract with 3 years of mutual options, one that voids Jeter’s equity if he signs with another team, which creates a conflict of interest for the Yankees and the player.
If the Yankees are unwilling to give up ownership equity, the contract needs to be structured similarly to David Beckham’s with the Galaxy that includes a total package.
You sound smart. Other than that, no way that deal ever happens. If anything close to that deal is done, Jeter takes on a player-bench coach role next year as they give Nunez one big push to get prime time capable and then no matter what happens, Jeter will be forced into retirement or tarnish his legacy by going to another team.
The Mets front office seems to have improved on paper. Let’s see what they actually get done.
I’d say give him a 4/55 deal, and then after he turns 40 give him a Tim Wakefield-esque contract. I can’t see him going anywhere else or having any extraordinary value after age 40, so a deal like that might make sense if the deal entitled maybe 4-5MM per for a contract like that.