The Phillies suffered their first sweep since August 2010 on Thursday night, but they got good news regarding the long-term outlook of one of their starting pitchers. More on that in this late-night grab bag of links …
- Phillies righty Roy Oswalt's agent, Bob Garber, said that the 33-year-old is no longer considering retiring after this season, according to Todd Zolecki of MLB.com. Oswalt and the Phils have a $16MM mutual option for 2012, although Zolecki writes that it's unlikely the Phils will exercise their end of that deal. The Phils could bring back Oswalt on a lesser deal, however. In February, Oswalt, who has dealt with back injuries in recent years, said, "I'm going to play this year and see how it goes."
- Diamondbacks senior vice president of scouting and development Jerry Dipoto has played an integral role in Arizona's resurgence this year, writes Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. The Snakes' former interim GM remained with the organization last offseason, even though he was a candidate for the full-time GM job and didn't get it. Dipoto was interviewed recently by Tim Dierkes as part of MLBTR's GM Candidates series, so be sure to check that out.
- Teams are moving closer to monitoring their players' physical conditioning year-round, according to Buster Olney of ESPN.com, although the players' union likely won't care for it. Some executives are growing increasingly frustrated by players who report to Spring Training out of shape or let themselves go during the season, according to Olney.
Oswalt 2 years 20 million…I hope, but I think the Red Sox and Cardinals (if they don’t sign Pujols) may offer more.
Wainwright Carpenter Oswalt Garcia Westbrook looks pretty good for them.
I would like that, but Lohse is the number 4 guy. The cards’ rotation is set for 2012.
Does the monitoring of conditioning mean no more pick up basketball?
Oswalt back to the Astros
Oswalt to Kansas City
Easy fix baseball gms. At the next
CBA do away with guaranteed contracts. Let the current ones play out and then do away with them. And don’t start a new baseball season until you have that. Look at the NFL. One of If not the strongest grossing sports in America. A player comes in fat said play gets cut. A player plays badly next season is cut. It awesome. No more bad contracts. This will help baseball. No need for a salary cap when gms can just cut players.
The MLBPA would never, ever, agree to that.
That would be ideal, but as said above, but would never be accepted. The irony is that in MLB, the power is basically solely in the players’ hands – all guaranteed contracts – whereas NFL contracts, the teams generally have the power. That’s why I laugh whenever I read about player X signing for $300 trillion in the NFL, knowing full well they’ll get cut in 2 years and only receive the guarantee, which amounts to a fraction of the overall value. Plus, without guarantees, you get those knuckleheads holding out, clamoring for more money… I wouldn’t want any part of that garbage. They’re not so quick to hand it back when they play lousy.
Non-guaranteed contracts are a two way street. If we had a system like that, we’d see guys like Bautista or Longoria holding out for money or trying to force a trade to a team that WILL pay their price. Guaranteed contracts are a big risk, admittedly, but non-guaranteed contracts have just as many problems. Heck, we’ve seen it in action in a way, Manny Ramirez essentially forced his way out of Boston because the Red Sox refused to commit one way or the other to his club options before the season ended.
From a Sox fan perspective, I’d say I prefer the idea of hoping Carl Crawford turns it around than having to worry that maybe Jon Lester will hold out in spring training for a larger contract. And yeah, while it might be nice to be able to just call it a day on Lackey’s deal, I likewise don’t want to see Ellsbury sitting it out because Boras doesn’t like his arbitration figure.
Thats a terrible idea. The fact that in baseball you cant just get dropped when your contract is too expensive or if you get injured (something that happens quite a bit in the NFL) is one of the things that makes baseball better than football (no matter what the masses say). If GMs don’t want to pay players those contracts, they shouldn’t sign them to those contracts.
I know the MLBPA hates it, but if a team is paying MILLIONS that basically hinge on you being able to perform, then yes, they own your a$$ year-round. Sorry, don’t like it, get a normal 9-to-5.
Oswalt i tink said he will not go to the AL and will only play for NL contender, dodgers? Cardinals? Marlins?
I see the Cardinals and the Phillies as the only real teams with a chance at Oz. I am a Phillies fan, I saw Oz pitch in person last night. Fastball was still humming at 94 in the 8th inning. If I am the Phillies, depending on how his next start, and how the playoffs go, I pick up that option. 1/$16 is a steal if Oz is healthy.
I think he signs a lesser deal to stay. $16 million is far from a steal with his back concerns. I love watching this guy pitch and hope they can figure something out but they have 4 major contract situations to deal with:
Cole Hamels – Arbitration Eligible… I think he gets a monster deal.
Hunter Pence – Arbitration Eligible… I think he signs a 3-4 year extension
Jimmy Rollins – Free Agent. Maybe they let him go and let Galvis take over, but I don’t see that as likely
Ryan Madson – Should get a 3 year deal worth maybe $21 million. There’s going to be a lot of interest in him for people looking for a cheap, veteran bullpen arm who can close.
They’re not going to give Roy Oswalt $16 million with all these concerns and their limited payroll. I see them settling for a 2 year deal worth $20-$24 million. He loves pitching on this staff and has gone on record as loving playing in the Philly atmosphere and says it re-energized him.
I don’t see the Phillies going into the season with Vance Worley and Joe Blanton at the back end of their rotation.
Marlins aren’t contenders, Dodgers aren’t contenders. I think it’s Cardinals, Phillies, Brewers, Braves, Reds, home. With the Cardinals and the Phillies as his destinations of choice.
I don’t know if the Cardinals want to spend the money on Oswalt though given their situation (Wainwright coming back, Carpenter, Garcia, Westbrook, Loshe) not great but an above average rotation.
I think Oswalt will leave, mainly because he wants to be 100% sure that if his team makes the playoff he will be the one starting game 1 or 2. With the Phillies he is being considered as the fourth best starter.