Adrian Gonzalez's agent John Boggs will visit Fort Myers next week, according to Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports, and extension talks with the Red Sox for his client may resume at that time. Everything appears to be going according to plan, with a deal more likely after Opening Day. Alex Speier's December 5th article for WEEI explained why waiting until then to sign Gonzalez to an extension could save the team millions on their 2011 luxury tax bill.
Although vibes are positive from Boggs and the team, it is important to note that no agreement is in place. Morosi has the key quote from Boggs:
"We don’t have a term sheet signed. There’s nothing agreed to right now. But I fully expect we’ll start moving in a positive direction again in the near future. There is a mutual understanding of where our bottom line is. We’re going to try to pick up where we left off in December."
Reportedly, a seven-year contract in the $154MM range will get it done. Boggs told Morosi that Gonzalez assured the Red Sox he wouldn't change his December asking price.
Boggs has a pair of other young clients that I imagine he'll be checking in on in the near future: Trevor Cahill and Cole Hamels. ESPN's Buster Olney tweeted in December that the A's were exploring a Cahill extension, while Cole Hamels hopes to remain with the Phillies long-term according to Morosi and Ken Rosenthal. Hamels is under the team's control through 2012, with an eight-figure arbitration reward likely for that season.
they have an agreement in place but don’t want it to effect the luxury tax so they will do the same thing that they did with Beckett
That’s been well known since after the trade. This appears to be the start of negotiating that will run until the team can work out a deal. I would think that a deal would be made around April 1. Nod, wink, wink nothing to see here.
Yup
“he wouldn’t change his asking December asking price”
He’s asking two much.
I think it’s obvious that Theo and his agent are just hitting bars/partying until April 1st to announce the deal they made in December.
Hamels should be and interesting case. He is still only 27 years old, with the exception of his down year of 2009 coming off an increased work load in 2008, he has been a consistent 12 – 15 game winner with an ERA in the low 3’s. His WAR has been consistently above 4 in every healthy year. The WAR suggests a salary in the $18M annual range, so 5 years with a slight discount for that final arbitration year would bring us to about $90M. We shall see soon I suppose.
I can see a 5 yr/$90M extension in Hamels future, maybe a little more if you add in a signing bonus and some kind of mutual option with a buyout. Of course it makes more sense if they let Oswalt walk (now that’s almost a tongue twister).
Agreed, although depending on what happens this year with the Phillies, and considering how Hamels has made it clear he wants to stay in Philadelphia, I think Cole may be willing to defer some of that money to beyond 2012. This may make it easier to pick up Oswalt’s option.
After 2011, at least $24M will be coming off of the books from Ibanez and Lidge. But Hamels and Madson may eat up most of that money between just the two of them. This leaves Rollins’ contract as the biggest issue facing the Phils in the 2011 off season.
I won’t pretend that I know everything about the Phillies financing, but I have my doubts that the Phillies see spending $75M on 4 starters is a good plan for 2012. It’s $85M if they can’t dump Blanton which would mean half their payroll would be in their starting 5 and even if they can get rid of Blanton they’d still eat salary and pay another starter.
What does that have to do with this article. This is about an A-Gon ext.
Sorry didn’t see the Hams part my bad.
Typical
If Cahill signs an extension with the A’s he’ll be screwing himself out of many, many millions of dollars. And this is coming from someone who doesn’t hate the A’s. The minimum I’d take if I was Cahill would be 4 years/$20MM guaranteed ($1.75, $3.5, $5.25, $7) w/ a $10MM club option and a $2.5MM buy out. It’s very similar to the deal with Nick Swisher, but slightly better since you’re accounting for when Cahill could hit free agency and the fact that pitching is at a premium.
That’s the whole point of young pitchers signing extensions – they leave future money on the table in exchange for long-term security. And you can’t really blame young pitchers for doing this either. They’ve yet to get that first BIG payday and their future is far from guaranteed..always injury and regression possibilities.
Thank you. It’s baffling how few posters seem to get that here.
Hamels is gonna be a monster this year, setting up a monster extension.
I wonder if Crawfords deal has Boggs thinking about increasing his price. A-Gon is worth more than 1.5 million a year than Crawford.
Sounds like the Red Sox could lower their offer if A-Gon got off to a slow start as a result of his shoulder, or injured in ST, so increasing his demands in light of additional market information is within his rights.
I was always afraid of that possibility, that the Crawford deal could increase Gonzo’s asking price. He (and his agent) could certainly argue that he’s worth more like 23 or 23.5 mil per year if Crawford is making 20. That said, I really think he is a gentleman and is going to stick the # that they “agreed” on.
I’ll take that bet and raise you a Roy Halladay.