The Marlins have offered Dan Uggla a four-year deal that starts with $8MM in 2011, according to Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated (via Twitter). The second baseman, however, is seeking a five-year pact with the club.
It was suggested late last week by the Palm Beach Post's Joe Capozzi that the Fish could have offered a four-year deal to the two-time All-Star. Uggla's agent Terry Bross told the paper that there was some "movement" in the negotiations.
A 2011 salary of $8MM would essentially represent a lateral move for Uggla in the short-term as he earned $7.8MM this season. Uggla is expected to earn upwards of $10MM next season if he heads to arbitration.
Dude just needs to hit the market.
Uggla should not settle for that
Agreed. He deserves more, but I praise the Marlins for going 4 years instead of anything less. When it comes down to Nolasco and Uggla, you need the former but the ladder is more important despite his horrific defense. I’d decline it if I’m Uggla’s representation but say, “we’re getting somewhere.”
Latter, not ladder. But I do agree, he deserves more, Loria needs to open that safe he calls a wallet and grab a couple more million out of there.
honestly im surprised they have not realistically tired to trade him
I wonder how he’d be at 3B.
I don’t think Uggla can get 5 years on the market @11m average after next season and maybe not even 4 marketing himself as a 2B. A (to be) 32YO in 2012 2B with little range who granted, hits a ton for the present, but is of such small stature. I wonder myself how he is going to age and that bat will hold up, cause his defense is already suspect at best.
Marlins just need to go out and offer a 4 year deal with the average being 11m per year now and see what his camp says.
Yeah seriously, they are the most frustrating team in Baseball because they have 2 of the smartest Baseball people around, but an owner who doesn’t spend money at all. I just dont get it because these young guys aren’t going to be around forever. I love how they do buisness sometimes but at other times I don’t.
“I love how they do business sometimes but at other times I don’t.”
Very insightful…
Yeah
i like their business sense from a logical point of view too. it is the “fan” in me that gets frustrated. but, they hardly ever get stuck with a contract that comes back to bite them in their a@@. i know the response will be that is because they keep no one, and that is fair.
I don’t like the way the Marlins are handling this situation. It sends a negative signal to the player. The guy has earned 7.8M last season and after hitting 30 HR’s he is given a 200k raise. Not classy at all. Yes he will get long term security but he can match the duration and perhaps get more money than what Marlins are offering.
Florida doesn’t really have that much payroll to play around with and if they sign Uggla to 10+ for 4-5 year type contract then a good chunk of their payroll is being consumed by Johnson and Uggla which wouldn’t be a bad thing if it was a bigger market but these are the Marlins. I think Uggla might just completely decline all the negotiations if he keeps getting low-balled. Marlins likely end up trading him.
EDIT: Did I seriously leave out Hanley?
Florida gladly pockets the luxury tax money so I won’t take the argument that Florida doesn’t have money. They shelled out 40M for Josh Johnson in no time when they were under fire by MLB. They can but they want to be in the image that they have a low payroll and low ball Uggla. Look at Minnesota..their payroll is almost 100M and they too were a small market team.
If they sign Uggla to a five year deal he will be considered an albatross by 2014. I like Uggla a lot and I think he is a great baseball player but I wouldn’t throw around contract years like that.
Let’s evaluate the performance of Dan Uggla:
33 HR
105 RBI
.287 BA
.508 SLG
.369 OBP
This may or may not shock you, but above average production from a second baseman. All sarcasm aside, he has to account for his poor defense.
Over the last 4 seasons he has averaged:
32 HR and 94 RBI
Now, that 4 year offer is a definite low ball. I wouldn’t be afraid to give him 5 years if he shows he can be durable though he is 30. But the thing is, I doubt the Marlins would give him any more than 4 years. Uggla will definetely decline but I think they will be able to get something worked out. Uggla has shown he is consistent offensively, and emerged as arguably(maybe second to Prado) the best second baseman out of the NL East this year with the injury of Chase Utley. And If he can keep up that production for 4+ more years, He will amass around 282 HR, and will definetly give him a shot at being one of the few second basemen with 300+ HR in history. 4/$45-$50 could be done depending on what Loria wants to do.(?)
Lets assume that 4 year offer was for something between $32-44MM. That 4th year is risky but he’s going to get paid by somebody and if the Marlins want to contend it can’t be Hanley Ramirez and nobody else. They gave Josh Johnson a competitive deal, why not Uggla?
they could always move him to 1st….4yrs with a 5th year option? at 8.5 to start then maybe like 10 mill at the end something along the lines of 4/40(with consistant raises per year) witha 5th year option at 10-12 mill…throw in some incentives that could total another 5-7 mill for the lifetime of the contract, move him to 1st after the 3rd year…decent deal…considering 1stbasemen who average his stats tend to get 10mill+ per year in their deals….or simply trade him to the AL where he can play 2nd for a year or two, move to first then move to DH…if he was in the AL he could easily get a 5 year deal
That’s Gabi Sanchez’s position I’m afraid for a while. Hometown boy. He’s not going anywhere.
Uggla’s coming to the STL, and we will lure him with the 2 year supply of gatorade and McDonald coupons when we trade schumaker to a independent league team.
Oh, and a 5 year/45M contract.
the rumor around miami is that it is going to be a 4 yr. 40mill. deal. also, the marlins control him through next season.
The marlins really like back loaded contracts. You never know, maybe 8 million this year, but much more the next three. the team increases payroll much more in 2012 and maybe they have discussed it with him. Its how we signed Delgado in 05…and that went well….but hopefully this gets better with Dan….
well done. I can’t believe it took this long for someone to mention this. When signing long-term extensions, it’s fairly common for the player to take a decrease in pay for the first year and then enjoy nice raises the following years. Seeing that he was getting a raise (albeit minor), I thought, “well FLA is getting serious about keeping him around.”
IF this is a backloaded contract, it appears, based on the first year money, to be worth $45-$48MM. If (big if again) that is the scenario, you can’t be calling the FLA front office cheapskates on this one.
well done. I can’t believe it took this long for someone to mention this. When signing long-term extensions, it’s fairly common for the player to take a decrease in pay for the first year and then enjoy nice raises the following years. Seeing that he was getting a raise (albeit minor), I thought, “well FLA is getting serious about keeping him around.”
IF this is a backloaded contract, it appears, based on the first year money, to be worth $45-$48MM. If (big if again) that is the scenario, you can’t be calling the FLA front office cheapskates on this one.
The backloaded contracts are so they can get a few cheap years and then trade them when they get expensive. That only works if the player retains/increases his value. As soon as someone flames out and becomes untradeable, they’re going to have a big payroll problem on their hands.