Henry Blanco declined his side of a $1.15MM mutual option with the Diamondbacks and is now a free agent, according to the Associated Press (via ESPN). Arizona had exercised its side of the option on Monday.
In 112 plate appearances in 2011, the 40-year-old Blanco posted a .250/.330/.540 line with eight home runs. His teammate, Willie Bloomquist, also declined his side of a mutual option with the Diamondbacks this week.
Is he going to really make that much more as a backup catcher?
Well, he’s old. And old baseball players tend to play wherever they feel more comfortable. He’s made a little over $15 mil in his baseball career (per BR), and that’s probably more than enough for a guy with such a limited skill set.
Or maybe he/his agent feels like the market is going to grossly overpay lesser talents this offseason.
This is surprising, i thought he had it pretty good with Arizona.
Oh wow, I’m shocked he didn’t re-sign with Arizona. He played great here, I can’t imagine why he didn’t want to re-sign.
oh, henry.
LOL.. wtf is up with guys like Bloomquist and Blanco? You are backups and it will always be that way, I can’t believe that Willie wants multiple years and Blanco wants more money. Goodluck to them is all I have to say.
At the end of the day, there’s no reason for these guys not to opt out. Arizona has already expressed a desire to have these guys on one-year deals for the option salaries, so it’s not like they’re going to *lose* much money by hitting free agency. And if they find a team who is willing to overpay for some veteraniness or based on the small samples of success these guys had this year with a higher salary or an extra year, then great for them. Risk/reward here makes declining make sense for these guys. No reason to give up the opportunity to see if someone else will give you an extra year of security, a player option, or a bit more change.
No one in their right mind would pay more than 1.15 million for a 40 year old back up catcher, much less give him 2 years
I think that Henry will make a great coach some day (some day really soon) and hope that the Cubs bring him back and groom him in that new role. Bottom line, he can’t be worse than Hill.
never…ever…realized Blanco was 40..wow
agree the cubs should look into him, he was good in his role when he was here.