We looked at the Orioles yesterday; now it's time to discuss Red Sox players who will be eligible for arbitration after the season.
- First time: Andrew Miller, Alfredo Aceves, Mike Aviles, Daniel Bard, Jed Lowrie, Franklin Morales
- Second time: Jacoby Ellsbury, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Rich Hill
- Third time: Matt Albers
Aceves and Bard seem likely to be arbitration eligible as Super Two players. My non-tender candidates are Miller, Aviles, and Hill. Miller projects to an arbitration salary around $1.7MM; I'm not sure how his club option compares to that. Aviles hasn't done much with Boston, and I'm not sure whether they value him around $1.5MM. Hill, who had Tommy John surgery in June, is probably someone the Sox could non-tender and then re-sign to a minor league deal.
Ellsbury is easily the team's biggest case. His MVP-caliber campaign, coupled with his stolen base tally, could result in a salary over $6MM by our calculations. That'd exceed even Hunter Pence's second-time raise won through a hearing last year. The Boras Corporation probably won't be shy about trying to set a new precedent. Most of the team's other arbitration eligibles project to make less than $2MM.
BORAS!!!!! Wait until he has to deal with AA
I know AA has been good but unless he has blackmail photos I doubt Boras will treat him any differently.
I believe that would be an epic match of the ages, Lawyer that gets what he wants vs. The GM Ninja Assassin that never loses. Fight to the Death … and now FINISH HIM!
While a long term deal with Ells is probably out of the picture I wouldn’t be surprised if Theo tries to just buy out his arb years, maybe even one FA year. 2 yr/$14M maybe?
The player can always override Boras, but that’d be a bit of a tough sell. If he’s already looking at perhaps $6.1MM, a month away from that, locking down just a $2MM raise for 2012 doesn’t seem all that helpful. Maybe a million or two more? But then Theo probably doesn’t see a point.
im a sailor peg and i lost my legggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg!
It’s a good song, but everyone in Boston hates it now. And I’m sure the Murphys hate playing it too.
hey carl this is kinda embarrassing haha but uhhh we kind of goofed up and gave you jacoby’s money…heh…uhhh…yeah haha…sorry about that. but we’re gonna need that back
with jose iglesias hitting like a one-armed alex cora in AAA, i’m pretty sure at least aviles will be back – even at $1.5M. i think there’s a real chance scutaro’s $6M option gets exercised too unless jed lowrie suddenly remembers how baseball is played
jed lowrie= poster child for male osteoporosis
No way Scutaro’s option gets exercised. Jason Varitek has nearly as good stats as him this year and Varitek is their backup catcher.
Scutaro batted .299 and his option will clearly be picked up. He has average defense and great on-base skills too. Clearly you don’t watch baseball
This could get expensive.
Thank god arbitration is by and large an idiotic process or we’d get taken over the coals for Bard. As it stands, not being able to use the word “saves” should save us a few million on him.
if you’ll have a look at these statistics on leverage and defense-independent pitching, you’ll see that my client mr. bard has been at least as good as papelbon, maybe even better…
“…I DON’T SEE ANY SAVES????? WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS??? I ONLY COUNT 3 WINS…”
well with all due respect, you have to account fo–
“DOES HE HAVE ANY RBI?????”
I would love to be a fly on the wall if it went to arbitration watching Epstein trying to swallow his usual philosophies to argue why Bard doesn’t deserve a significant raise because of a lack of counting stats. The dichotomy between Epstein trying to argue against Bard The best reliever we have) versus Aceves (Professional Win Vulture) would be even better.
If the BoSox don’t like their professional win vulture, they can return him to the open market so that a certain Mr. Cashman can re-evaluate how much he likes him (or not).
No thanks. Despite the Win Vulture remark, I consider Aceves a valuable part of our bullpen. My point is simply that, were it to go to arbitration, Aceves could very well make more than Bard would, which is unfortunate.
Wonder what the Nats would give up for 2yrs of Ellsbury? He seems to be exactly what they are looking for
that’s an interesting idea, but i think boston’s price would be prohibitive after this year: norris, cole, and clippard?
pretty unusual to see a contender trade away a star for prospects, but i actually would not mind selling high on ellsbury
I’ve seen a lot written about Michael Morse with the Nat’s–what about Morse and someone that is a 4 or 5 capable starter and a prospect for Ells?
that’s an interesting idea, but i think boston’s price would be prohibitive after this year: norris, cole, and clippard?
pretty unusual to see a contender trade away a star for prospects, but i actually would not mind selling high on ellsbury
Something tells me the Sox would ask for Strasburg, and the Nats would wisely pass.
I think/hope the Sox will look to sign Aceves to a 2 year deal this offseason for around 5 or 6 million. He’s been absolutely invaluable out of the pen this year. Rubber arm, competitor, and can take the ball in just about any situation.
yah the one major injury he has had to my knowledge was not even baseball related, it was a biking accident! haha
Aceves was rehabbing from a back injury that cut short his 2010 season when he fell off of his bike – flipped over the handle bars, to be specific – and broke his collarbone.
they don’t need to give him an extension, they have him under arbitration control for 3 years. He will probably make like 2 million this year at the most.
How exactly is Matt Albers not a non-tender candidate?
3.26 FIP, 3.25 SIERA, 9 K/9
he doesn’t suck anymore
He was absolutely dominant the first 4 months of the season and then his arm fell off because Tito had him pitch multiple innings so many times. Offer him arbitration and the Sox will get lucky because he’ll probably only make 1M.
I am sure Theo is already talking internally about trying to lock up Salty and Jacoby long term.
Salty isn’t getting any extension, he’ll just get the regular arbitration deals. He’s an average catcher, which is all the Sox need, but there is no need to lock him up long-term.
All these people writing we and us on here are out of your minds honestly none of you have ever put on any type of athletic uniform if you think you are on the team. You are all crazy! That being said the money for crawford will have nothing to do with resigning Ellsbury. Ellsbury will get paid they will offer him a huge deal down the road. Watch the Jose Reyes signing to see what Ellsbury will get.
“Aviles hasn’t done much in Boston.” Yeah, he only hit .317, lets dump him because he will cost 1.5M.
He’s a career .288 hitter and is only gonna be 31 next year. They mine as well offer him arbitration and trade either him or Lowrie for value.
Definitely agree. I actually liked the Saltalamacchia trade from the beginning, but even I didn’t expect him to be this good right from the start, I really thought we’d have to see a lot more of Varitek than we have. As far as Lavarnway goes I’m thinking he may be able to at least have a career like Napoli (C/DH), and while it’s still not exactly encouraging, the tone on him seems to have gone from “no way is he a catcher in the big leagues” to “it’s not very likely that he’s a catcher in the big leagues.” He threw out 35% of base stealers in the minors, and only had one error, so while stats don’t always tell the whole story, the results have definitely been there for him this year.
Disagree
Lavarnway 6-4 225lbs
McCann 6-3 230lbs
Weiters 6-5 230lbs
Pierzynski 6-3 230lbs
I think he still has alot to learn but there are alot of bigger catchers who have been fine at the position. I just don’t think size is a very good argument to why he can’t be a catcher.
I think Ryan Doumit would be a good fit for the sox to back up Salty. Not to mention he can also play RF and 1B to back up A-Gon and Reddick.
And then block Lavarnway? I don’t see the reason in that.