Prince Fielder is looking to join the $200MM club and the Red Sox considered trading Jonathan Papelbon to the A's or White Sox, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com. Here are the details and the rest of Heyman's rumors:
- Fielder is looking for at least eight years and $200MM or so when he hits free agency after the season, according to Heyman. Not surprisingly, the Brewers don't like the idea of committing that much to their first baseman.
- The Red Sox talked to the A's and White Sox about Jonathan Papelbon. Boston appeared willing to offer Rafael Soriano a one-year deal and make him their closer. If the sides had agreed to a deal, the Red Sox would have sent Papelbon elsewhere, likely to Oakland or Chicago
- The Rays, who are moving toward a deal with Johnny Damon, have also considered Vladimir Guerrero, Manny Ramirez, Russell Branyan and Nick Johnson.
- The Yankees hope to hear from Andy Pettitte soon, but the lefty is still mulling retirement.
- The Giants appear to be nearing a one-year deal with Andres Torres. As our Arb Tracker shows, Torres filed at $2.6MM and the Giants countered with $1.8MM.
- Heyman says there's "scuttlebutt" that the Rangers could look to lock Josh Hamilton up on a multiyear deal.
- Heyman talked to executives about Joey Votto's new deal and arrived at the conclusion I reached after talking to insiders earlier in the week: the Reds didn't appear to gain much from their deal with the reigning NL MVP.
- Heyman points out that Jose Bautista's representatives will have to convince arbitrators to overlook the string of pedestrian seasons that led up to Bautista's mammoth 2010 campaign. For more on Bautista's case, click here.
Heyman gets points for using “scuttlebutt”
A’s going after a super expensive closer???
Was it to be a 3 way deal with Chicago, Boston and Oakland? Would the A’s eat Pap’s salary and flip him?
All we know is that Boston knows that Papelbon sucks.
That’s idiotic. Even with 10′ being his worst season yet he was still one of the top 5 closers in baseball. Look out for a monster year from him this year.
Thats even more idiotic.. how was he top 5 closer in baseball??? based on Fangraphs WAR for relievers he was 39th in the league.
And Mariano Rivera was 15th.
why does every Papelbon argument have to mention Mariano?? Leave him out of this argue to the point… I know the whole red sox/yankee rivalry thing but give it a rest once in a while
It was more of a point towards my opinion on fangraph’s reliever WAR.
Mariano’s rank amongst relievers last year was not in question.. What I refuted was the claim that in a down year Papelbon was still a top 5 closer in the game.. . which I still believe to be highly incorrect
Its relevant because the Red Sox took a serious charge at getting him this offseason, it ended up just inflating his salary but truth is Boston wanted him and they wanted Paps out.
But how “serious” was it? That’s the key point. It made the Yankees overpay him on a two year contract so it would seem to have been a masterstroke.
Dude, because he plays for the Red Sox, and all Red Sox players are in the top 5 in the league at their position? Are there more than three teams in the major leagues? I count three: the Red Sox, the Yankees, and everyone else.
ah there it is. Was waiting for someone to make a stupid comment like this. It’s a wonder dumb arguments get started on these threads.
Are you disagreeing with me that Red Sox fans tend to have a RedSock-centric view of the baseball world? I’d argue fans of every team tend to overvalue their own players, with Red Sox fans and Yankee fans being the worst (or at least the most vocal) perpetrators. You are certainly entitled to disagree.
I’m not disagreeing I hate extremely biased fans too but like you said it’s not just the Sox and Yankees fans. And I felt your post wasn’t to start a conversation about it but instead it was an attempt at a low blow to all Sox and Yankees fans.
Fair point. It was a bit of a low-blow. But, given that you guys make the playoffs every year while we small-market fans have to feed from the scraps you toss on the ground, we’re entitled to take a couple shots below the belt every once in a while, whilst you enjoy the feast at the Big Boys table. No?
eh I guess but mostly those posts just explode in to silly arguments about nothing.
Most small market teams have money, but their owners don’t want to spend it. No?
No. The Rays are a perfect example of why that theory is flawed.
No the Rays philosophy is suck long enough you have 1st round picks at every position.
That’s true. What those owners don’t have is the revenue streams that the Steineys and Mr. Henry have. So, while Henry and the Steineys can spend, spend, spend, and never worry about losing money, those small-market owners actually have to dip into their personal wealth to put together a $100+ million payroll, because their franchises don’t generate enough money (on a year-over-year basis) to cover the massive payrolls that the Yankees and the Red Sox can afford.
Now, I’m the first person to say: “The owner of a baseball team shouldn’t be in it for the annual profits; you make your money when you sell, not while you own.” But, facts is facts, and teams like the A’s, the Twins, the Rays, the Reds, etc. could never generate enough money (1) to sustain the payrolls the Red Sox and the Yankees do and (2) to turn a profit, at the same time. So, even though the owners of those teams are wealthy, they’re not in the same position as the Steineys and Senior Henry.
The owners of small market teams have the money. But most of them pocket it.
Isn’t the Royals’ owner supposedly one of the richest in baseball?
Some people think that. But I have to admit, the Royals are coming to a bright point in their franchise
Not sure, but I know the Nationals owner is the richest.
Bull Crap on a stick to that, every team has the same revenue streams as any team, only thing the Yanks and Sox have is they probably sell more hats and jerseys because their fans love to sport them…. every major city has a deal in place that gives tv revenue as well as radio and internet to your respective teams what ever city you are in, if you watched the game on FSN or Fox, your team got paid by them to have the honor of showing it.
I’m sure this won’t get a reply, because I’m three days late, but you’re dead wrong. Each team controls its own local TV rights; a few years back (maybe more than a few), the Expos had no local TV contract. Last year, the Yankees pulled in $184 million from the YES network (in annual payments and dividends). I guarantee you no other team in MLB gets $184 million from its local network (the Rangers, for example, just signed a deal with Fox Sports Southwest which will pay them $3 billion over 20 years, which works out to $150 million a year, average, over the next 20 years… how much you want to bet YES will pay the Yankees a little more than $3 billion over the next 20 years, given that they’re already paying the Yankees $184 million a year right now?). So, “every team has the same revenue streams as any team” is about as incorrect a statement as you could make on this subject. Hopefully you read this; if not, hopefully your ignorance finds another person who’s willing and able to eliminate it.
the steinbrenners are actually some of the poorest owners, the wealth of the owner does not correlate to how much money the spend on the team. The twins owner is one of the richest but doesn’t spend his personal money.
The yanks make more money because nyc is a richer town than any other in america and generates more revenue for their team. It really has nothing to do with george, or now hal.
They make their money from the 20 million people in the metro area.
This is exactly right. The Steinnys aren’t rich, but NYC delivers massive revenues. Twins owner (Pohlad) is rich, but the Twins can’t generate the same revenues as the Yankees, because the Twins Cities don’t have the population and TV market that NY does. It’s all about geography; it isn’t that NYY fans buy more hats and merchandise. This is baseball economics 101; you can’t dispute this stuff.
Case in point the Nationals, who knew they had that kind of money?
Maybe because the Red Sox and Yankees have two of the top 5 teams in baseball. They have something to talk about.
He is still a good closer just had a rough year.
They are not looking to trade him because “they think he sucks” It’s business. His contract is up this year they are not going to resign him so why not try to get a something for him?
How about based on actually watching the game and not some stat? the Giants Brian Wilson was awesome, so was Neftali Feliz, Joakin Soria was stellar, Mariano Rivera was classic, Rafael Soriano was amazing…thats 5 closers I would rather have than Papelbon.
I see your point, but consider one year to be a small sample size. Even despite a poor 2010, if you look at WAR for relievers over the period 2007-2010 then Papelbon is ranked 2nd behind Rivera.
Papelbon wasn’t a top 10 closer, let alone a top 5.
In the top 5 in saves w/ an ERA in the mid 3s.
Very few had better numbers as a closer in the AL.
two words:
Kevin Gregg
A 3.90 ERA is the mid 3’s?
He better hopes he gets it because he is a free agent and when there is no arbitrator you have to hope other clubs view you as a 12 million dollar pitcher.
Scuttlebutt has it that you don’t know what you are talking about.
If Boston liked him, they wouldn’t be trying to trade him.
All we know is that Boston wants to move him at that price. Doesn’t mean he sucks. Just means he’s expensive.
It said they talked with them about trading. It never said the Sox were trying to trade him. Nor does it say which team approached who. If the Sox didn’t like him they wouldn’t have given him 12 mil. They could have flipped him for a real low time prospect easily and moved Bard to closer.
Who says they’re “trying” to trade him? Do you believe every off hand uncorroberated report you read? I don’t. If we were to assume it was true then just beause they’re willing to listen on a player who is in the last year of a contract doesn’t mean the don’t want or like him as their closer. There were reports 2 years ago that they listened on Youkilis too. Point of the matter is if they wanted him gone they could have simply non tendered him and it would have cost them ZERO. They didn’t and then they gave him a raise. Use your head. That tells you more about what the RED SOX think about him than an off the cuff, uncorroberated report from Scott Boras’s personal media puppet…especially when it DIRECTLY involves one of his clients.
So do the other 29 clubs, let me guess, he throws a fastball and wants a strike? watch where this ball lands.
We don’t need papelbon! Hope the A’s don’t get him
couldn’t be worse than Ben Sheets
Why 3 way deal sox only need to lock him up for 1 year and the bullpen would be fine Soriano wasnt interested in joining ”The Club” from day 1.
Fielder, slimmed down to 265 or not, will have a hard time getting an 8 year/$200M deal as teams (right or wrong) will forever be concerned about his weight.
It’s not his weight that will keep him from getting close to $200 million. It’s his lack of production. It’s not worthy of $150 million much less $200. 28 HR and 83 RBI last year. Tell me that’s worth $25 million a year? Please.
Look I’m a Brewer fan and I like Fielder. But Boras has put such nonsense in his brain it’s ridiculous.
Agreed. Why Fielder’s contract would soar over those of Mauer, Teixeira, Miguel Cabrera, or most of the other recent $120+ million players is sort of baffling to me. I guess when you’re negotiating you start high, although I’m not sure that starting laughably high is a good idea.
once again “Prince Fielder = Mark Teixiera” hahaha
Prince Fielder is twice the baseball player Mark Teixeira is!
…in waist size!
Badum tish!
*Sigh*
Starting high will get the Nationals attention i’m sure!
I agree, but it’s more than just his weight. It’s the matter of supply and demand. Slugging first basemen may be the most un-rare position in all of baseball. Pujols is probably the only guy who will end up being worth the investment in the history of overpaying the position, and I include one of my favorite players in that group (Ryan Howard).
Prince wants $200M over the next eight years? He better start investing in lottery tickets.
Fielder is one of my favorite players, but doesn’t it put pressure on the player when it’s being rumored that you are expecting to earn over $200 million? Isn’t that like a presidential candidate saying he hopes to join the “win every state in an election” club? I understand Prince isn’t holding town hall meetings discussing how he plans to earn $200 mill, but still all these reports have to put some kind of pressure on a player. I know I would get nervous with my performance if $200+ million were on the line.
Considering all the high spending teams are set at first for a while I don’t c him making more than cliff lee is making
I seriously hope the A’s don’t get papelbon! We don’t need him, our bullpen is stacked. It just makes me wonder if there is something more seriously wrong with Bailey and his elbow. Supposedly it was just a elbow cleanup, but why are they pursuing another closer! They would also have to eat up some of his salary…
You won’t! Yeesh. It was their plan -if- Boston was able to sign Soriano. That didn’t happen, so Papelbon’s not leaving.
Its funny that the A’s drafted Papelbon first but he held out for a year and was picked by Boston. He easily could have been with the A’s the whole time.
Any idea why Vlad hasn’t been signed? To me he’s the best DH-type available. His stats last year were solid and he doesn’t come with the Manny-esque headaches…
Health? Desired salary?
It must be desired salary, otherwise MLB teams are forgetting how dominant of a hitter he once was, and still was extremely productive last season. He’s by far the best DH on the market.
29 hr, 115 rbi. Manny isn’t going to put up those numbers again in his life.
you’ll bite your tongue on your last comment if Manny gets a full healthy season with 600 AB’s ( RBI depending on the team obv)
29 hr, 115 rbi. Manny isn’t going to put up those numbers again in his life.
not without steroids
I think he wants 2 years which is the issue.
I would say he has not been signed because there were so many DH’s type’s this year, and only a few teams looking for a DH. Also, he put up great numbers, some teams probably don’t think he will put up the numbers again But I still think he will find a place to play, on a major league deal.
Exactly the case. But now that Dunn, Matsui, Thome, Konerko, Berkman et al have signed, the competition for Vlad and Manny will heat up amongst those still searching for a DH. Enough to secure two-year deals? Seems doubtful, but possible, given they agree to deals laden with incentives rather than guaranteed money.
200 million for Fielder is a bit rich isn’t it? I’m sure someone will pay it though.
I seriously doubt it, beyond the fact that he’s destined to be a DH and the weight concerns etc.. most of the free spending clubs have their 1B locked down for some time.. I just don’t see a market set up for a bidding war that would get up that high. I can see him getting a 5-6 Year deal worth 17-19 million per
Nationals. lol
Actually, that’s not a terrible suggestion, but if they wouldn’t pony up for Dunn it seems unlikely. Though a 3-4-5 of Werth, Fielder, Zimmerman would look pretty good.
He’s Pronk 2.0 waiting to happen. How can anyone say with a straight face that this player who is massively overweight will be a valuable asset into his 30s? His dad’s last season was his age 34 one, there’s nothing to show Prince wont be any different.
I wouldn’t be surprised if a team like Baltimore offered something like five years, $120MM.
At $24MM per, that gives Prince a higher AAV than Teixeira, but puts the team on the hook just through his 32-year-old season.
Giants waiting to see what other body parts might need to be removed from Torres before signing him.
Prince (goofy name) fielder is a big fat gelatinous injury risk waiting to happen!
He should treat the brewers and fans with respect and loyalty that they deserve, and not try to hold up the team that made him a multi millionaire.
Princess should be asking for 120-136 mil 8 yr contract thats 15-17 mil per year and is more than he’s worth.
If I was the Ned I wouldnt want to go over 4-5 years for the guy just for the fact that his weight or his health will eventually land him on the DL for a extended period of time.
The brewers have done a great job from building from within for the most part and are especially strong for a small market team.
Im a cubs fan and thats my humble opinion.
and BTW I know that the cubs suck its been a cross to bear since I first learned how bad that they are back in the mid to late 80’s.
Prince has daddy’s gambling debts to pay – it takes a lot to feed big Cecil’s appetite.
I dont even think they talk, I doubt very much big Cecil is going to get to see a penny
Prince isn’t so goofy when you realize his dads name is CECIL!
With the White Sox signing Dunn to 4 years and Konerko to 3 years this off-season, I am so unbelievably happy that Fielder will not be considered (realistically) for the ChiSox. Dude can mash ’em… but, for another team, hopefully in the NL.
Why is Heyman always talking about things that could’ve happened, but never did? Who cares about rumors after-the-fact?
Interesting….the A’s actually drafted Papelbon the year before the Red Sox did, I mean granted it was in like, the last fifteen rounds so of course he didn’t sign, but still, just interesting
I want to know what Fielder’s contract options look like if he puts up another year like 2010. He doesn’t play well under contractual pressure (see 2008, not a bad year, but not worth $200m), and his weight at the beginning of Spring Training is irrelevant. He’s shown up looking good for the past three years, but come September, he looks like a house. I wonder if he’ll regret blowing off the 5/100m offer he got from the Brewers last year.
Trade him, keep the focus on pitching, and let Gamel have a shot.
Signed,
Brewers fan who is sick of Prince Fielder
Just goes to show Kenny Williams explores EVERY option. After non-tendering Bobby Jenks because he was getting too expensive, he explores a trade for an eight-figure closer.
Your logic is faulty due to bad analogy. Greinke and Gonzalez had to be moved because those teams can’t afford those players.
Boston can afford Papelbon, which is why they offered arbitration. They are not confident in him, which is why they signed Jenks and have considered trading Papelbon.
I’m not sure they signed Jenks because they don’t have confidence in Paps as a pitcher. I think it’s more complex than that: they can use Jenks’ contract as leverage in any talks with Paps (i.e., they don’t need Paps as their long-term plan because they have Jenks, a “proven” closer,” locked up through 2012, and Bard under team control even longer); Jenks gives them an “insurance policy” in case Paps or Bard goes down with an injury; etc. If they had really lost confidence in Paps as a pitcher, they would just demote him and make Jenks the closer. Maybe that will happen, but there’s no sign that’s what’s happened.
I agree that the Jenks logic is flawed. Jenks was a reclamation contract.
Also, saying that signing a former closer to your bullpen means your current closer sucks is faulty in itself, as it would suggest, for example, that the A’s think Andrew Bailey sucks and therefor signed the shattered remains of Brian Fuentes.
Both wrong, both teams COULD afford those players if they wanted to, they just swung deals to hopefully improve, the Brewers dont have more money than the Royals, and San Diego still wishes it was 1990 because for some reason they think 6.5 is too much for a 40 HR hitter who just wanted fair market value after his contract was up and I wouldnt be surprised to see him sign at just around 18 a year, and Bard is going to be the closer, not Jenks.
this guy.. always with the big words and the sound reasoning.
“in this case, the analogy is that all of the teams involved would prefer not to pay for the players.”
You can’t pick one similarity between two points and claim it’s a good analogy. Just because Kansas City and Boston would prefer not to pay their players doesn’t mean both teams think less of their player. Kansas City traded Greinke because he demanded a trade. Boston tried to trade Papelbon because they thought they could replace him with a better player, such as Soriano.
You can swap out KC and Greinke with San Diego and Gonzalez. The problems that affected KC and San Diego are nowhere near the same as what Boston faced.
You’re correct in that all three teams didn’t want to pay their players. However, this is as far as the similarities, and your logic and rationale, go.
DickAlmighty, I probably should have used a different word than “suck”. Boston knows that Papelbon is still a serviceable pitcher and could return to form, which is why they gave him so much in arbitration. However, it’s also clear that they are not entirely confident in having him as their closer in 2011.
“Also, saying that signing a former closer to your bullpen means your current closer sucks is faulty in itself”
Which is why I added the additional evidence that Boston considered trading Papelbon. If you consider all of the evidence:
1. They signed Jenks
2. They wanted to trade Papelbon
3. They considered not offering arbitration
4. The team has a considerable amount of money
5. The team is a contender
There is enough evidence to claim that Boston does not think highly of Papelbon at the moment for reasons beyond him being too expensive.
AH! my #1 fan is back.. haven’t heard from you in a while…you got back your internet cord from your parents?
that’s what an analogy is, elmo
+5 points
“haha. well why didn’t you say this?”
Because I assumed you had read the article.
Oh my god. They do think highly of Papelbon! Or he would not be on the team right now. They have Bard and Jenks that can both close. You make no sense. If they didn’t think highly of him, they would have traded him a long time ago.
😉
He moved the goalposts, and you fell for it.
Not really… I just really enjoyed the fact that he called you elmo. I could careless about the over all argument.
Boston soured on Papelbon during the 2010 season. Their desire to trade him arose during this offseason in an effort to get a better player in Soriano.
You can’t claim that because a team doesn’t trade a player they don’t think highly of him. It doesn’t follow for many reasons. Perhaps the team couldn’t find a trade partner; perhaps the team couldn’t get other deals to work out (Soriano); and perhaps they didn’t have anybody better to replace them with.
You could also mention that the sox offered Mariano a contract this offseason..
How can you say they have soured on a player they just agreed to pay 12million to lol… that’s ridiculous. Boston just knows that Papelbon will keep on wanting more money which they aren’t willing to do. But to pay a guy 12mil to close definitely means the team think he’s pretty damn good
Good to know one of notsureifsrs’s supporters has no interest in the actual argument he’s making.
Waste your life elsewhere.
well at least your not bitter about losing the argument or anything.
and ps its not elementary school.. ‘one of notsureifsrs’s supporters’.. I found something funny, so I commented.
Fair enough. I was probably nit-picking. I am prone to picking nits.
and the italics and bold fonts!
I PREFER CAPS TO MAKE MY POINTS IT MAKES ME SOUND LIKE I HAVE MORE SMARTS.
You stay out of this.
With as long as it took the Yankees to sign Mo and the fact that they then signed Soriano Aaron X is due to bust out “Rivera sucks” next…
aahhh, i just remember Papelbon dancing with spandex like 3 or 4 years ago, that was funny,
lol geeze, what did I do?
MOR MISSPELD WERDS AND EKSCLEMASHUN POINTS!!!!!!