The Red Sox are reluctant to exceed the $178MM luxury tax threshold on player salaries, writes Nick Cafardo in his latest column for the Boston Globe. If the Sox decide to remain under the threshold, it will limit the team's spending flexibility for outfield and pitching help, effectively eliminating top-tier free agents. Cafardo discusses the club's options and touches on a few other topics in his piece. Here are a few highlights:
- The Braves have some concern about Tommy Hanson's shoulder, meaning they may end up holding on to Jair Jurrjens rather than dealing him.
- An NL GM on J.D. Drew: "I know he had a wasted year, but he can still hit, he can still defend, and for a National League team, he'd be a heck of a bat off the bench. If he wants that role. He could easily be a starter somewhere. He's not that old, and sometimes that fresh start energizes a player."
- Cafardo names the Rays, Braves, Giants, Rangers, and Cardinals as possible fits for Drew.
- A source tells Cafardo that Cody Ross is seeking a three-year deal worth about $6MM annually. Sounds like an awfully tall order for Ross' representatives at SFX.
- Mike Brown, former pitching coach for the Nippon Ham Fighters and current scout for the Diamondbacks, is confident that Yu Darvish will be very successful in the Majors: "He's the real deal. He's got great stuff, a great presence on the mound. He would definitely be a top pitcher here if he comes out."
What, Theo’s not going to pick him up? After all the times he defended this ‘great’ player?
As much as we like to flame Drew, he wasn’t all that bad. For two years he was very quite good…his stats don’t impress anyone, but he did have OPS of 900+ for 2008 and 2009. Not to mention, for the most part, he got on base at a consistent rate, and was a solid defender. Obviously the contract is by no means a good one, but the fact is he wasn’t as bad as he’s cut out to be.
they said, statisticly, he was worth more than 14mill a year……..so he should sign for atleast reyes money maybe even albert……
Queue the Brave’s fans hatred for J.D. Drew because of the Wainwright trade while completely ignoring Drew’s 7.5 WAR in 2004. Having said that, the Braves need a right-handed bat, not another lefty.
The hatred is towards the FO not Drew for that one. Texiera gets unfair hate also.
I say if you’re that worried about Hanson, you’ve got Teheran and Beachy who have Hanson’s potential, deal Hanson. No way in hell Hanson stays in ATL after he becomes a FA anyways- JJ I can see wishing to be a lifetime Brave, and that means something.
Don’t forget, the genius behind the Teixeira and Drew trades was John Schuerholz….
Yep. Wren’s mostly done a good job, and the cases that haven’t have been reasonable risks.
except for 3, Derek Lowe, Kawakami, and Mclouth
Kawakami and Lowe were an overreact and an overpay , McLouth was a reasonable risk.
Agreed. We didn’t give up that much for McClouth: Charlie Morton, Jeff Locke, and Gorkys Hernandez. None of any real value to ATL.
Kawakami was better pitcher than Lower for 2 years.
There is something else going on with that guy. He should have been successful.
True, and good point. However, the genius behind trading Teixeira (upon realizing Tex wouldn’t sign with ATL) to the Angels for Casey Kotchman/Stephen Marek was Frank Wren, rather than not trading him and gaining multiple valuable draft picks when Tex bolted and declined arbitration, which is what happened to the Angels. The Angels picked Mike Trout and Tyler Skaggs, the top position prospect and a top pitching prospect with those picks.
And the rest is history.
I see it the other way around. Hanson was drafted by Atlanta and they seem to really like him. The only time Hanson’s name was ever mentioned in a trade was for Peavy, and that was led by a bunch of crying fans (and man how disastrous that would have been). I think Hanson is the anchor of their future rotation. Lowe and his big salary will be gone after this season for sure. Hudson can only go so much longer. Chipper is basically just playing ball as a $14M hobby. The money will be there and the Braves have built their team around solid young pitching, just like their glory days. I don’t see Hanson going anywhere.
The issue is from Hanson’s side, not the Braves. He wouldn’t sign a contract last year, they had to just tender him one.
JJ and the Braves get along much better. Also I think Hanson wants to wear his beard more then the Braves want him to.
Also, another reason is JJ when healthy does go deeper into games then Hanson on average. With all those young starters, you need guys like Hudson and JJ who can go keep to save the bullpen, which is part of what did the Braves in last year.
I agree on the not selling low part of things. You keep Hanson and JJ after this year, Hudson’s gone though. I think you can get by with Hanson/Hudson/JJ/Beachy/Minor/Teheran as your 6 starters (should the Braves even consider a 6 man rotation Japan-style?) and keeping Delgado/Vizcaino in AAA.
If someone goes down you switch to a 5 man rotation.
Bullpen would have to be cut to 6: 3 long-men Medlen/C-Mart/Varvero and O’Ventbrel for closing/short-end. You could stretch the starters out with fewer starts and not hit inning limits.
This would be thinking way outside the box so it won’t happen though in Atlanta.
I don’t blame him for not signing a contract; the guy wants to get paid just like anyone with his kind of talent would and signing last year would have been like him gift-wrapping stacks of cash and just handing it over. I don’t think he didn’t sign because he doesn’t want to be a Brave. I think he’s just interested in getting his due. The Braves have had the best pitcher(s) in baseball on their roster before, granted while Turner owned the team but I think they’re going to do everything they can to keep Hanson in Atlanta. I could be wrong. But the way they’ve built their team, at some point they’re going to have to retain some of these very talented arms and there is NO WAY Hanson’s next contract will be bigger than Lowe’s current contract annually. That’s why I think the Braves will retain him. Just can’t see a guy getting $15M/yr in his first contract. Tim Lincecum’s deal was 8M/$13M for 2 years and he’s got some hardware that Hanson doesn’t.
People at 1-2 years of service time get the minimum or close to it unless they sign long-term like Price did recently.
Boras represents both guys
I think ATL is thinking like that, but more in the sense that keeping someone pitching in AAA is like having another man on your roster, considering the AAA team is in Gwinnett, which is only a half-hour’s drive from Turner Field. And Vizcaino is going to remain in the bullpen unless they want to use him as a starter and stretch him out in spring training, but I can’t see that happening considering we’re deeper in the rotation than in the ‘pen. Ditto regarding Medlen.
And I’ve never heard anything about Hanson’s beard. That’s odd. I can understand it from both sides, but if that’s Hanson, let the man fly his ginger flag low.
I know it was mentioned once last year- but neither side made a huge deal over it. I suspect given this+ the contract+ other stuff Hanson is biding his time until he can get out though.
I say grant his wish when his stock is highest, and let JJ be a lifetime Brave and get about 150-180 wins and a well-loved good pitcher while people keep calling him terrible outside of Atlanta.
There is some fanboyism here, JJ I’m a big fan of, Hanson not so much.
Some people in Atlanta actually realize that JJ is not that great. The Braves need to trade him while he still has reasonable value. Hanson is one of the top young arms in baseball. They need to keep him and let JJ go.
Agreed. JJ doesn’t have a great rep in ATL. He’s not healthy enough to get the pay day from an Atlanta organization that rewards consistency as much as they do loyalty and professionalism. I can understand not being a big fan of Hanson, but I’m glad the spotlight is off Hanson so much so he can develop for the long-term (ditto for Heyward) and put it altogether.
Lowe… right
????
I guess you didn’t get the memo that Lowe is gone (to CLE). We paid him $10M to not pitch because CLE validated our coupon for 33% off.
Agreed with the sentiments. Hanson is and has been cared for with kid gloves because there’s a sense that he will be the ace of our future teams, once we move on from Hudson and Jurrjens.
LOWE’S SALARY IS ALREADY GONE HES BEEN TRADED TO CLEVELAND FOR A MINOR LEAGUER AND 5.3 MILLION IN CASH
What? No way in hell Hanson stays in ATL after becoming a free agent? We have the money for a sizable contract. The rate he’s going though, he needs to start turning a corner if he wants the contract, though he’s young and there still is time.
And dealing Hanson right now would be insane given his controllable salary and concern of his shoulder injury. It’d be selling low on who many view as an ace-in-the-making.
In my opinion, Hanson is Halladay in the making. Hanson has similar stuff to Halladay at this point in his career and it wasn’t until Halladay’s 5th season that he really built on that potential by going 19-7 with a 2.93 ERA for TOR. He added a 22-win season after that then missed some time due (DL twice) for shoulder problems…and look at him now. If Hanson needs to have surgery or make an adjustment to his mechanics – which seemed to have worked with Halladay and his work with TOR coach, Mel Queen, and not trying to overpower batters so much – he still has his best years ahead of him. I’m not saying Hanson will be Halladay, but so far, Hanson’s short career looks similar to Halladay’s.
Halladay never had a surgery
You’re right, my bad, but he did go on the DL twice due to lingering shoulder problems, which is going on with Hanson.
I really don’t think Braves fans have any animosity towards Teixeira or Drew in any way. Sure, they were the centerpieces of the worst, most infuriating trades of my life, but they were both good for the Braves. I would LOVE to see Drew in a Braves uniform next year. I think he is a perfect fit as a 4th OF.
Not necessarily true on either points. Most knowledgeable Braves fans were appreciative of JD Drew (unlike any other fanbase that he’s played for). If Prado is kept and Jurrjens is traded, the Braves will have right-handed bats at 2nd, short, 3b, and LF regularly. Bringing in Drew to platoon in LF with Prado is not a bad idea.
However, at 3 yrs/18 million, I’d take Cody Ross any day. Aside from last year, he’s been well worth that.
Well, I admit I was basing my statement based solely on the vitriol on this here website, not some scientific method…
And as far as platooning Diaz and Drew… are the Braves going to carry 5 OF’s or are we not going to have any real option to play CF if Bourn needs a day off or gets hurt in-game?
Edit: Prado, not Diaz. Although that does bring up the fact that Diaz is still on the roster, so they’d have to trade or cut him.
I think the only worth Drew has any more is a NL bench player and even that’s a stretch
bit.ly/ssZrsK
he does have exp playing the bench, thats all he did with bos……..
Except for the 548 games he started, you mean.
i was stating to all the games he missed……….not the ones he started, tito always penciled him in to play then a few hrs b4 a game he pulled himself out of the line up…
Oh. Here is what confused me: “thats all he did with bos”. Perhaps I took your quote out of context…
Cafardo also talks about the DH rule being unified between the leagues when the next commissioner is put in place. I see this going one of two ways. Either the NL adopts the DH, or the AL drops it and to satisfy the MLBPA, the 25-man roster expands to 26 (or maybe even 27 for those managers who want to carry 17 pitchers so they can have each hitter face a different pitcher).
I’m an NL guy, but I can see the DH going to both leagues, because the National League is the outlier. And could you imagine how much different the game might be if pitchers never hit in Wrigley or Enron or The Bank?
I hope that never happens. Having the DH removes strategy from the game and makes it less interesting.
I agree, I love the NL game, the strategy is more fun to watch. Not only that but it gives fans more things to complain about, the manager for pulling “so and so” in a late game double switch.
“James analyzed sacrifice hits and the use of pinch hitters between 1968 and 1983 and concluded that the rule actually increases managerial strategy. It is true, according to James’ research, that the overall number of bunts and use of pinch hitters decreased once the DH Rule was imposed. But, James believes the decision to use these strategies became more complex.”
I’m not an advocate of the Designated Hitter Rule; I’m only an advocate of seeing the truth and telling the truth. What the truth comes down to here is a question of in what does strategy reside? Does strategy exist in the act of bunting? If so the Designated Hitter Rule has reduced strategy. But if strategy exists in the decision about when a bunt should be used, then the DH rule has increased the differences of opinion which exist about that question, and thus increased strategy…[the research shows] that there is more of a difference of opinion, not less, in the American League.
Watching pitchers hit is the most pathetic thing in sports.
Mike Hampton, Carlos Zambrano, Tom Glavine, Roger Clemens, and several others would disagree with you on that.
Four guys over two and a half decades disproves his point??
Livan Hernandez, Jason Marquis, Mike Leake, & even Dan Haren could crack that list.
Rick Ankiel, as a pitcher…
There are plenty of modern guys who are actually good with the lumber.
And lots of older players too.
Just do some research.
Don’t forget Micah Ownings and Dontrelle, Micah would stand a chance in the home run derby.
Yes, the Kirk Gibson HR in the ’88 World Series was truly pathetic as was all of the other great moments in baseball history that wouldn’t have happened if both leagues had the DH.
The player on 1B, Mike Davis, for that historic HR was a PH. Davis batted for Alfredo Griffin. With a DH, Griffin bats 9th and Gibson PHs for him in that situation…
DH in both leagues would take so much strategy away from the game. It would be sad to see this happen.
Maybe we should have all the hitters pitch. Imagine the strategy this would produce. Or maybe you can just go watch some chess while we watch Big Papi blast another season-saving HR.
Yes, reductio ad absurdum is always the best and most intellectually honest way to argue a point.
I’ve heard a legit counterargument that no DH makes too many decisions obvious.
I like no DH because it increases the need for bench depth, and makes a good-hitting starter more useful.
I’d take him on the Giants for a 1 year deal… It’s clear we’re not going to spend big for an impact bat, so we might as well try and get lucky again. (Huff, 2010)
Ugh, I had hoped the Braves would trade Jurrjens while he still has a little value.
There is no way the Braves have interest in Drew. They need a guy who can play all three OF positions.
If indeed the Red Sox are intent on not exceeding the $178MM luxury tax threshold in 2012 they are going to really have to go really on the cheap to fill out the rest of their roster. By my calculations and based on Cot’s baseball contracts the Red Sox have about $163MM already committed or will be via arbitration awards. And that $163MM approximately doesn’t include all the players needed to fill out the 25 man active roster never mind the 40 man roster that the luxury tax is based on. Add to that the Sox need to somehow get 2 starting pitchers to replace Lackey and Dice K and a closer unless they go with Bard (which I think unlikely) and someone to play RF. Now of course they can go on the cheap for 1 or more of those 4 players but even on the cheap I can’t imagine a team can sign 2 inexpensive starters a closer and a RF (even if they platoon Reddick and someone in RF) for less than $15MM. That brings them up to just about $178MM the luxury tax threshold and they still have not accounted for the rest of the players for the 40 man roster. I think it’s a foregone conclusion the Sox will exceed the luxury tax it’s a matter of by how much in 2012.
Or they could trade someone. And yes there are players they could trade for cheaper alternatives.
I’m curious as to who those players might be. Yes they could trade Ellsbury but he’s probably only going to make between $7.5 and $8MM via arbitration. If ownership tried to trade him their fan base would string them up alive. Ortiz I guess could be traded since he’s scheduled to make about $14 or $15MM via arbitration. But I can’t see many teams willing to give up much to the Red Sox for the right to have Ortiz a one way player and his $14MM salary. Besides giving him up really hurts their offense. The only player realistically the Sox could trade is Youkilis and his roughly $12MM plus salary. But again with his injury/health issuses the past couple of years he probably won’t bring much of a return. They can’t trade Lester or Beckett that would only make their pitching situation even worse then it currently is. Crawford isn’t going anywhere. Gonzalez and Pedoria are the only one’s left making any sort of “real” money and again the Sox aren’t going to trade them.
I’m sorry but as best I can tell the Sox are between a rock and a hard place with the luxury tax threshold for 2012.
Players from the minor leagues. Although, if they do trade them, their system will be officially barren & they’ll be officially screwed for coming years (like they were last year), due to lack of help down there in the first place.
But for major league players they could trade, you forgot Lowrie, who’s not worth much anyway.
Trading Lowrie does absolutely nothing for the Sox. It doesn’t free up much money at most about $1MM via arbitration and like you said he’s not very good.
Actually, Lowrie’s talent hasn’t every really been the question, it’s his ability to stay on the field. I would argue, though, that trading Scutaro (and his, I believe, $6M contract) and playing Lowrie/Aviles/Iglesias at SS would make more sense when you are talking about saving money.
Picking up someone’s option to trade him away would be unfair to Scutaro. If they didn’t want to pay for him, they shouldn’t have picked up his option & let him choose where he wanted to go.
Not that they won’t do it.
It’s not uncommon, and I wouldn’t want them doing something detrimental to the team just to be “fair” to a player.
Jed Lowrie’s on-base percentage of .303 and OPS+ of 83 in his age 27 season is concerning (paired with his career OBP of .324 and OPS+ of 92 for an infielder with defensive shortcomings).
Jed Lowrie has been injured for most of the time he’s been on the field, but when he’s been healthy he’s hit very well. And check out what scouting guys have said about him, even in recent years, and the offense has never been in question.
Jed Lowrie’s injury history does not enhance his trade value.
No kidding
I don’t think Youkilis’ value is as low as people seem to think it is. He has been one of the best hitters in baseball in recent years despite a couple of season ending injuries, and none of his injuries have been related in any way, so it isn’t like he has lingering injury concerns.
It’s not what I see the Sox doing, or what I think they should do, but I think Youkilis could bring back a decent #2 type pitcher pretty easily and be replaced at 3B by Lowrie/Middlebrooks on the cheap.
Please forgive me but I have to disagree with you about Youkilis’s value. First off over the last 3 seasons he’s played 136/102/120 games respectively. Last year his numbers across the board were way down. Add to that that in March of 2012 he will turn 33 years old. With his injury history regardless of what it is and his age the chance of a team paying his $12MM plus on his 2012 payroll and a $1MM buyout if they don’t exercise his $13MM 2013 team option as well as giving the Sox a “decent” #2 are in my opinion incredibly low.
Two years of Youkilis, on a reasonable contract no less, could definitely bring back a #2 starter (especially if said starter is a free agent after 2012, and even if the Sox send a couple million with him they would still be freeing up money).
Youkilis from ’08-’10 was the second best hitter in all of baseball according to wOBA, and the 4th best hitter in baseball according to wRC+. Add to that gold glove quality defense at 1B, and the ability to also play 3B and Youkilis is still a very valuable trade chip.
And so you know it’s not just me (and not just Sox fans) Dave Cameron listed him as the 29th most valuable trade chip in all of baseball, and he said “Youkilis is an established star and one of the best hitters in baseball, and yet the Red Sox owe him just $25 million over the next two seasons. As an older player who might not age all that gracefully, almost all of his value is tied up in the here and now, but his performance relative to his salary is tremendously valuable.” If you believe Cameron, I was probably being conservative when I said he could bring back a decent #2.
I’m not disagreeing with you, but name a starter or two who could be snagged in a trade of Kevin Youkilis.
I don’t know enough about who might be available to speculate on specific names, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Brewers would be interested in him after (presumably) losing Fielder.
You’re missing the point. If the Sox traded Ellsbury, (and they should) not only would they save that money, they’d be getting something in return. In other words, more money to spend and a shorter list of needs.
Remove rock and hard place.
If they were to trade Ellsbury who do they put in CF? And really how much do they wind of saving? He’ll only be making about $7.5 to $8MM via arbitration in 2012.
If they were to trade Ellsbury and let’s for a minute say we don’t know who will replace him in CF.
The Red Sox have an outfield of Crawford, no CF and no RF for the moment. Now please don’t take this the wrong way but anyone who witnessed Crawford play LF for the Sox last year has to be in utter shock at how badly he played defense for a guy making about $20MM per year on average. Now add to that 2 unknowns for both Center and Left Field. And what to save a couple of million dollars over whatever his replacement might cost. Sorry but rock and hard place are staying for now in my opinion.
Just one final comment concerning Ellsbury. He undoubtingly would bring a healthy group of prospects from a team. But keep in mind he hits FA in just 2 years (2014) and is represented by Scott Boras. Any team trading for him will have that in the back of their mind and what it may cost to resign him in the future as a consideration.
For one, I agree about Crawford. He’s a terrible defender in basically every way.
For two, Kalish can actually play center field. But that leaves them with a whole in right (especially offensively) & not much money to spend either, so it doesn’t really help.
You think Crawford is a terrible defender, and you think Kalish can play CF?
Crawford has been one of the best defensive outfielders in the game for years, and Kalish could do spot duty in CF but nothing more.
Reddick/Kalish is perfectly fine for RF. That’s what had last year while leading the majors in offense and both of them are better defenders than your Yankee RF.
With the money we save on Ellsbury we could easily afford any available CF such as Yeonis. Crawford will rebound defensively.
You realize that if the Sox duck the threshold this year they get to start paying at the much lower lux tax rate again while your Yankees will continue to get escalated – what is it now, 40%?
Then next year when we’re paying 17% the Sox will be buying up all the ace pitchers on the market and this 5 or 10 million you’re talking about will look like a smart non play.
Bard has already been told that he is either going to be a starter or the teams closer, so they either need 2 starters or 1 starter and a closer, not 2 starters and a closer; and Reddick and/or Kalish can cover RF for league minimum, so all they really need is two pitchers (either 1 starter and a closer, or two starters). And as Jab points out, there are always trades that could be made.
I’ve not forgotten about Bard. Even if they convert him to a starter he has only pitched about 75 innings at most during his big league career. He’s not going to go from that to 200 innings which is what they need from a starter. Especially when you consider the unreliability of Buchholz and his inability to give the Sox innings during his tenure there. If the Red Sox plan on going to war in the 2012 season and hope to be successful in the AL East with a starting rotation of: Lester, Beckett (who has had his own injury issues), Buchholz (who over the last 4 years has only pitched over 75 innings once), Bard and ????. And an unknown closer and set up man yet to be determined they and their fans are fooling themselves.
As for your comment about Reddick/Kalish they certainly can go that route. But that’s the type of combination a small market, low payroll team would put in the field. Not a team trying to recoup from the worst September collapse in MLB history and one with a $160MM plus payroll and one with the die hard fan base like the Red Sox.
In my opinion if that’s the route they take as well as what else you seem to be suggesting they might as well tell their fans we’ve written off the 2012 season.
Again just my opinion but a team like the Red Sox. A team with a $160MM plus payroll a team that owns 80% of NESN an ownership group that spent $400MM to purchase the Livermoor F.C. in the last 12 months or so. Shouldn’t be overly concerned about going over MLB’s luxury threshold by $5 or 10MM if that makes the team more competitive.
2010 was Buchholz’s first full year in the majors, so him not pitching over 75 innings at the major league level does not mean he can’t be relied on for innings (he has actually pitched more than 75 major league innings in each of the last four years by the way, plus all of his minor league innings those years). They can also do perfectly fine with a #4-5 pitcher who throws 135-150 innings (Bard). A top three of Lester, Beckett, Buchholz is better than most teams in the league.
Playing Reddick/Kalish in RF isn’t something only small market teams do, it’s something smart teams would do. Either one of them would be a plus defender in RF and neither would be a black hole in the line-up, so particularly with Ortiz coming back next year they would actually make a great deal of sense to play there.
They also have plenty of set-up options in house; Bowden, Jenks, and Wilson could all be good set-up men (Jenks has actually been a good closer in the past, but I don’t think they’d wont to rely on him coming off of an injury).
playing ellsbury in CF is something only small market teams do
playing pedroia at 2B is something only small market teams do
No joke, I was going to ask him if playing Gardner in LF is something only small market teams would do (I had it all typed out and everything) but I decided no one would understand the point I was trying to make, and it wouldn’t be worth trying to explain it.
You forgot to include medical expenses. Include those and Boston is really in a mess. As it stands, Boston’s close to $175M or more in payroll.
Cardinals won’t give him a chance. He is just like Colby Rasmus.
I would love Cody Ross, he’s not a he-man but he does have some pop and he has quite the history against Roy Halladay
6 million a year…. I was thinking more like 3 mill/per yr
I personally think he’s worth it. Maybe now he can apologize to Randall Delgado for that little hop after he broke up his no hitter 😉
I wouldn’t apologize, and I’m a Brave’s fan. When a guy is grooving like Delgado was, it’s worth celebrating when you get the best of him.
Wow how bad is it that the red sox have $178 mil and STILL have holes in their lineup. How bad is that?
Someone brought this up way back in the offseason and I was initially shocked to read it, but Drew isn’t a bad match for the Yankees either. I’m on the fence about that, but he would be a decent guy on the bench, extra DH, back-up RF type of player. It’s really a moot point while both Montero and Swisher are in the line-up and the availability of A. Jones lurks, but if Swisher were to be moved, which seems unlikely, Felix becomes available (which if the Rangers get Fielder, I can’t see how at this point the M’s don’t wave the white flag — they’d be stupid to continue their defiance at that point) and Jones signs elsewhere, I’d definitely take a flyer on Drew. 2 years for $8mm? Too much? Too little? What’s Drew’s real value right now?
I don’t think the Mariners would trade Felix even under those circumstances. Keeping him is not about whether they can win or not, it’s about keeping fans coming to the park; if they trade him now they are pretty much forfeiting their future.
I do understand that and its an incredibly valid point. It’s just an epic mess of proportions we’ve never seen for a team. As it stands, there is no chance the M’s can really be competitive in that division for another year or two at this point. It’s a roll of the dice for 2014, Felix’s last year and with the new CBA agreements, and perhaps more amendments to the terms, who knows what the M’s will get in return for Felix at that point. If they continue to suck into 2014, no one can realistically expect him to sign a new contract there. It is what it is, but the smart baseball move is to trade him. The business move can go either way right now. Spend $20mm to make a few million in sales or not spend $20mm, trade him, improve for later and take a huge hit on revenues. This is all that comes to mind ???????????????????????????????????????????????????
If the Yanks offer Montero, Nova, Banuelos, Robertson and a couple more pieces, the Mariners have to start listening.
No they don’t; that doesn’t make their team better now, which is the only way dealing Felix makes sense at this point.
“I had 0.9 WAR last year, now give me 18 million dollars.”
If he were going to actually say that he surely would go with the 1.6 WAR that B-R has him at. I mean, he’s crazy, not stupid.
I hope Sox fans out there do the same thing to them as they are to us. You don’t want to spend on the team? Neither do we.
They are spending on the team though — is $170 million not spending?
They just have terrible contracts (Crawford, Jenks & Lackey) that aren’t helping their budget. They don’t need to go out every year & sign some big free agent.
The most idiotic thing they did this off season was offer Ortiz arbitration. That hurt the budget just as much as anything. $14 million+ for an aging DH who could stop hitting at anytime seems like a great investment when they needed relief & starting pitchers more and they could have filled the DH roll internally.
John Henry is one of the wealthiest men in the world. And all of a sudden not being willing to spend? C’mon. They make more than that from the pink hats everywhere.
John Henry’s personal wealth is irrelevant, and it’s not like they’re “all of a sudden” wanting to stay under, or around, the luxury tax; that’s where they always stay.
A good front office doesn’t need to spend near the tax if they have the right people running the show. Look at Tampa but you need to spend to keep your uwn good players. Give Ben time and maybe he can get the team competivated and also cut payroll to try it make it affordable for the general fans.
im done…..im becoming an astros fan
I don’t see the Cards being a fit for Drew.
Now Beltran… That I like.
You could blow a shotgun up Drews behind and it still wouldn’t energize him. Not a bad player but Pete Rose, he is not! More like Mr. Roboto!
J.D.DREW to braves ?? i know is a good player , but .. this team [ braves ] this team is not going well, I have decided not to follow sometimes but as fan of them but I really love this team and Braves fan at heart I am indeed. but we’re screwed for 2012
I knew Steve Austin, and Steve Austin was a six million dollar man. Cody Ross is no six million dollar man.
Do you really think the Cardinals or Braves want Drew back after already having experienced this unmotivated, injury-prone player first-hand earlier in his career?
Drew was QUITE good to Atlanta in his short stint, 145 games, more BBs than Ks and a 1000+ OPS is pretty nice. More a shame we didn’t resign him honestly.
Completely agree. Aside from his dismal postseason that year (he and Chipper) Drew was a force in a Braves uniform.
Now I would expect that same kind of return to form, but he’s still a great athlete and would be a great consistent sub. A platoon of Prado/Drew would be lights out. It would at least be much better than Prado/Diaz.
I think Drew is a great solution for the Braves next year. Having a solid 4th OF who you don’t mind subbing in on a regular basis gives the Braves the opportunity to give Chip regular rest and keep him healthier longer, plus the more third Prado plays the better he handles it. I bet Drew will be the best 4th OF in baseball next year, so he will probably be playing for the Phillies. They always have an awesome bench.