The Orioles are next in our 2012 Contract Issues series.
Eligible For Free Agency (6)
- Vladimir Guerrero and Derrek Lee were signed as free agents to one-year deals totaling $15.25MM plus incentives. Ideally, Orioles minor league player of the year Joe Mahoney will be ready to take over at first base in 2012.
- Mike Gonzalez, signed as a closer at the cost of $12MM and a draft pick, seems to be third in the pecking order in an improved Orioles bullpen. He's in need of a healthy year.
- J.J. Hardy will be eligible for free agency, probably a year later than he thought he'd be. Right now he's headed to the DL for a strained oblique; Hardy hasn't had 500 plate appearances in a season since '08. Though Jose Reyes and Jimmy Rollins may also be on the free agent market, Hardy should be fairly popular. His backup Cesar Izturis is also eligible for free agency.
- Justin Duchscherer hopes to make his Orioles debut on April 21st. He's battling hip and back issues.
Contract Options (1)
- Koji Uehara: $4MM option vests with either 55 appearances or 25 games finished. Though his elbow started barking during Spring Training, Uehara still has a good chance of meeting one of the requirements.
Arbitration Eligible (11)
- First time: Robert Andino, Brad Bergesen, Jake Fox (close to projected Super Two cutoff), Alfredo Simon (if he's activated early enough)
- Second time: Adam Jones, Felix Pie, Jim Johnson, Josh Rupe
- Third time: Jeremy Guthrie, Jeremy Accardo
- Fourth time: Luke Scott
A few of these players will fail to accrue enough service time to be arbitration eligible or will be non-tendered or released. Jones, Guthrie, and Scott are the three cases that will be worth watching. Guthrie and Scott could cost $9MM each, and Jones around $6MM. It's hard to say at this point whether Scott will be a non-tender candidate.
2012 Payroll Obligation
The Orioles have a 2012 payroll obligation of about $36MM for 2012 according to Cot's Baseball Contracts, with Nick Markakis, Brian Roberts, and Mark Reynolds leading the way. Assuming Uehara, Jones, Guthrie, Scott, Pie, and Johnson are retained, they'll be in the $69MM range – about $18MM short of the 2011 Opening Day payroll. The Orioles should again have payroll space to work with, especially if one of the more expensive arbitration eligible players is traded.
I wouldn’t extend Luke Scott until he showed me his papers.
Luke Scott was actually born in Santo Domingo in 1975.
can someone explain tendering/non-tendering a contract (re: Luke Scott)? I was under the impression that after the third round of arbitration, the player had the right to become a free agent.
Under certain curcumstances players can earn the right to be elligible for four arb and only two pre-arb years instead of three of each. This is called being a super two player and it looks like Scott is one of them.
Under certain curcumstances players can earn the right to be elligible for four arb and only two pre-arb years instead of three of each. This is called being a super two player and it looks like Scott is one of them.
Man, Brandon Snyder really dropped off the radar
The biggest problem with Snyder is even at his best his bat and glove never really played well at 1st base.
What you have is a guy with some offensive upside and who can play 3-4 different positions, but none of them well. I am still rooting for him to succeed.
the bat is a bigger concern. so far, he’s had nearly 700 plate appearances at AAA with an OPS below .700. that doesn’t play well at *any* position – even Robert Andino has a career .725 OPS at AAA. he’s only 24 this year so at least there’s plenty of time (Melvin Mora didn’t get his first major league action until he was 27, and Riemold is a more recent example of a late bloomer).
I’m guessing the O’s will make a push to resign Hardy (assuming he comes back and plays okay). Scott is the one I see as most likely to be traded.
The Free Agent picture is just about where you want it to be. The better guys there are aging, signed for one year contracts. Duke was low risk. The guy who they rolled the dice on but sucks (M. Gonzalez) is due to leave, and probably won’t be retained. A LHP who isn’t a sure thing to get at least Lefties out isn’t attractive.
Hardy is probably the only one worth keeping an eye on. His injury is not severe and he will be back in the lineup soon. What he flashed before he went down was sound defense and a above-average bat. Both are good things.
I agree with Hardy, I think his defense was much better than advertised. Highlight reel at times.
The real issue is after this season the O’s lose two areas of major production in 1st and DH, regardless of what you think of Lee and Vlad.
It will be an interesting offseason.
who was doubting his defense in the first place? among shortstops with more than 2,000 innings played between 2005 and 2010, he ranked 4th in UZR/150 behind Everett, Vizquel, and Brendan Ryan.
Hardy is an above avereage player, but he cannot stay healthy. Last year in Minnesota he was always hurt and even when he was healthy he did not contribute very much.
The second sentence about first base should have said, “Ideally, Prince Fielder will be playing first base for the O’s in 2012”.
As great as that would be I seriously doubt that would happen. Way too much money to tie into one player. Other teams with deep pockets will outbid us, Cubs and Angels come to mind. I am sure there are other teams out there that would get into the bidding.
O’s fan probably think since NYY and Boston have 1B that Prince would be an option for the Orioles. I guess there is a small chance it happens, say things all fall a certain way. I just can’t see Angelos giving Prince a 7 year 160 million dollar deal.
I see little chance of that, not because he isn’t good, but because this particular regime seriously values defense. Fielder is better than one might think for his size, but it’s probably only going to diminish over time fairly quickly. I think MacPhail and Showalter views DH as a flex position to use in a versatile way based on matchups, not a slot devoted to a Free Agent everyday DH.
how about brandon snyder