We've already rounded up notes from the east and central divisions, now let's head out west…
- The Rangers and Nelson Cruz avoided arbitration by agreeing to a two-year, $16MM deal earlier today, and the outfielder told Anthony Andro of FOXSportsSouthWest.com that a long-term deal is still possible (Twitter link).
- The AP (via ESPN) reports that the Giants and Guillermo Mota have finalized their one-year, $1MM agreement. The two sides agreed to the contract in December. San Francisco's 40-man roster is now full.
- The Padres are poised to sign a new television contract with FOX Sports that will guarantee them $75MM annually for the next 20 years, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today. The deal is pending MLB's approval.
- ESPN's Jayson Stark listed five players that could get traded in Spring Training, including Bobby Abreu of the Angels. One executive told Stark: "There's no team in baseball more likely to make a deal this spring than the Angels."
One executive told Stark: “There’s no team in baseball more likely to make a deal this spring than the Angels.”.. I say this sounds like pure speculation to me.
Also, who in their right mind would want Abreu on their team. Stark should know better than this. I remember once the Phillies traded Abreu all of a sudden they started improving and rapidly….of course it’s been some time since the trade things change… still.
Anyway, Fox Sports is going to pay the Padres 75 million a year for 20 years….that’s quite a bit of money especially for the Padres. Are their TV ratings that good? What’s the draw? Maybe that’s the going rate, but that just seems extraordinary to me.
no speculation….angels need to move some people out the door
Okay first, Abreu is still a very serviceable outfielder. It goes without saying that he’s on the decline, but he still puts up a respectable OBP, still swipes bags, and still has some value as both a clubhouse leader and a model of patience at the plate. His $9 million 2012 contract is a slight overpay, but it is by no means terrible.
Second, Bobby Abreu’s departure from Philly had absolutely NO correlation with their rise to contention.
In 2005 they were 88-74. Abreu put up a .286/.405/.474 slash line with 24 HR and 102 RBI’s with 31 SB’s.
In 2006 (Abreu’s last season) they were 85-77. Abreu posted a .277/.427/.434 slash line with 65 RBI’s and 20 SB’s in the 98 games he played in before the trade. They were on the rise while he was still on the team.
Abreu was expendable because of A) How expensive he was becoming and B) A young dynamo making league minimum by the name of Shane Victorino was waiting in the wings.
Second, Bobby Abreu’s departure from Philly had absolutely NO correlation with their rise to contention.
Statistics are a funny little bird and it depends on your viewpoint. However mine remains the same and you still could be right, but for whatever reason I like my version better.
On 7/30/06 Phillies Trade Abreu and Lidle for Smith, Henry, Monasterios, Sanchez. Phillies Record on that date 48-54.
Season ended 10/01/06 Phillies Record 85-77
Sure their were other trades and things happening, but some of us remember things like this and it sticks in my mind as to what happened when Abreu was traded.
Are you really suggesting that Abreu leaving contributed to the huge turnaround?
Wow.
Correlation and causation are two totally different things. The Phillies would have been even better had Abreu stayed on.
I am not just suggesting, I am “SERIOUSLY SUGGESTING”!
I would not call Abreu a serviceable outfielder. He is a serviceable DH however.
High OBP and the ability to steal 20-30 bases has some value. He’s maybe a 1/$5 guy at this stage. If the Angels eat $4m there should be someone out there would take a flyer on him.
The Padres may have really made a mistake if this is locked at 75 mil per year, sure it is great now, but in 2032 is 75 mil going to be even close to what it is today?
Maybe it’s $75 million in real terms and the nominal amount received annually will take into account inflation.
Doubt it. I highly doubt they’d be offered something so friendly.
lol yeah right. how much baseball do you think people will be watching on cable tv in 2030?? if i were the one making the bet i would say streaming will become the dominant form of content-delivery before this deal is even half over.
if the $75m number is real, then its a serious coup for the padres as the last deal with cox only provided $13m a year and most of the numbers being reported prior to this were between $20-30m.
i think what is going on here is that Fox/News Corp. is intent on being a major player in baseball as part of a strategy to finally pressure ESPN for sports coverage. They have just handed out two massive contracts to the Rangers and Angels. If the Padres ownership group is smart then they’ve leveraged that into this $75m figure.
Yeah, right!
$75 Million won’t be enough to tip the Valet in 2032.
Pads got the shaft. AGAIN!
Abreu to Astros for Matt downs, royals for Lorenzo Cain, or Pirates for Jose Tabata
Abreu does not go to a NL team. He cannot play the field with any competence. He would go to an AL team that needs a left handed split of a DH platoon.
Why would any of those teams want a old, declining player who probably only has a few years left in the tank at best, much less trade young, controllable talent (most of which is probably beter than him!) to get him?
That’s something somebody who needs a push for a title might do, but not teams struggling to build a winner in the first place which is all of the teams you mentioned.
You are 100% spot on.
The Angels will need to eat money just to move him. To get back anything of value won’t happen.
Maybe a bad contract swap is a possibility.
Abreu is one of the games most dominent offensive force. Why wouldnt anyone want him, hes a better all around player than Puols.
the only reason abreu hasnt been traded is because of the status of kendrys. if morales proves that he is healthy in spring training then abreu will be traded, but if he doesnt prove it abreu will be valuable to the angels
i think he’ll stay no matter what… I mean the Angels wont get anything for him and they really dont need to clear cap space. Just keep him and deal him at the deadline for someone who needs a left handed bat. possibly get a reliever for bobby. plus bobby could be a great left handed bat off the bench. Bottom line is I feel his value is greater staying on the Angel team than off and being traded… atleast for now.
I actually think this is very likely. If they end up only saving $4m it’s probably not worth moving him. Given the injury history of Morales and the unknown in Trumbo it wouldn’t the worst thing to keep him around.
After this season Abreu and Hunter are gone. Trout slides into LF while Wells goes to right. Morales and Trumbo rotate at DH and provide relief for Pujols at 1st.
I’m a little bit confused as to what the Padres TV deal would mean to the team…
Does this mean that Padres can increase their payroll by $75 Million (minus expenses) in the upcoming years? Or does most of the money go to the ownership and other branches?
I would not be a 75 million dollar increase. But about a 60 million dollar increase, since the old deal paid somewhere in 13-15 million per year ball park. But its a massive increase for the Padres, since their last deal was about 140 million over ten years, compared to 1.5 billion over 20.
Basically it allows the Padres to have a 85-90 million dollar payroll going forward in years in which they feel they will be competitive. It should allow the Padres greater flexibility with their payroll, and most importantly possibly allow them to retain some of their core talent.
Even if the Padres had a steady 75 million dollar payroll with all other revenue going to the group of owners it would be great. Obviously that won’t be the case, but as you said, maybe this deal coupled witht the prospects coming up in the near future could be the start of something special in San Diego. They still won’t be able to keep all of their “stars”, but this should help with the revolving door that has been the Padres roster in recent years. This is a great time to be a Padre fan, Go Padres.
Since the Yankees keep looking at past players like Damon and Matsui, I wonder if Abreuwould be on their radar now.
Doubt it… they’re looking to DH on the cheap.
I don’t think there would be interest in Abreu but what about Trumbo for McClellan?
I’m very excited about this Padres tv deal, they can actually sign a free agent or two next year and they can give actual long term deals to guys with out the “SD discount”.