The Dodgers officially announced their five-year, $85MM extension with Andre Ethier this afternoon on a day that featured lots of draft news. Here are some of Tuesday’s non-draft-related links, starting in Los Angeles…
- Mark Teahen can opt-out of his minor league contract with the Nationals if not called up by June 15th, MLBTR has learned. The 30-year-old has hit .293/.347/.404 with Washington's Triple-A affiliate while playing all four corner spots.
- Jorge Soler is still in the process of securing a visa prior to officially signing with the Cubs, reports MLB.com's Carrie Muskat (on Twitter). That could take about a week.
- The Dodgers’ deal with Ethier could eliminate them from the Josh Hamilton sweepstakes after the season, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney writes (Twitterlinks). This could limit Hamilton’s leverage with the Rangers whenever the sides resume contract talks.
- Olney points to the abundance of quality outfielders nearing free agency and suggests it makes sense for the players to accept deals now instead of waiting for what could be a buyer’s market.
- There are no new developments in contract discussions between Cole Hamels and the Phillies or Zack Greinke and the Brewers, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports (on Twitter).
- GM Sandy Alderson told Ken Davidoff of the New York Post that the Mets haven't drawn up plans to buy or sell this summer. Davidoff suggests that the Mets could decide to stay the course at the upcoming trade deadline.
- One scout watched Kevin Youkilis play and wasn’t impressed, Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com reports (on Twitter). "For what he costs, he can't do anything," the scout said.
Mike Axisa contributed to this post.
If I had to choose, I’d much rather spend my money on Hamilton instead of Hamels. The dodger’s system is extremely deep in pitching. The dodgers have an excessive number of pitchers coming up, like Rubby De La Rosa, Eovaldi, Withrow, Lee, and Gould. And that’s just to name a few. Plus our entire rotation is under contract for next season. Bats coming up? It’s very slim pickings beyond Sands and Van Slyke. I’d have Andre move to LF, Kemp stays in center and Hamilton in RF. itd be extremely expensive but I think it would be better for a team that struggles to score runs.
I think Hamilton could be a big risk being he is so injury prone. He will stay in Texas. He loves it there, and those fans/the franchise love him. He will never get the love anywhere else, and he needs that…
He is a big risk, but a giant award. And the risk plus his past may keep the long term commitment down a little, or at least give the team an out clause if “problem X” happens. Also, you should note I didn’t put him in CF, the most demanding OF position. Him playing in RF would hopefully help the injury risk.
I would have said he will stay in Texas until he said he wants to test FA. I know most people want to test it just to see what it is like, but he seems intent on finding out his worth. It may be best for him to stay in Texas, but I don’t think it is in any way a slam dunk.
Btw sorry about grammar. My phone won’t let me edit it for some reason. Last part should read, “I would have said Hamilton staying in Texas was a sure thing, until he said that he wanted to test free agency”
Youk isn’t very good. Nobody cares what he did from 2007-2010.
I can see the Cards, Mariners, Giants and Rangers being major players for Hamiliton. Cards can move Craig to 1st, Move Jay to right and put Hamiliton in center or just put Josh in right. Mariners SHOULD have money with Ichiro off the books, good 3-4 with Hamiliton and Montero. Giants have the money and can put him in any OF position. I’m have a feeling Josh won’t sign with the Rangers unfortunely.
Dodgers are a possibility. Ethier, Kemp, Hamiliton outfield would be sick.
I don’t understand why people keep saying that. He was worth 3.7 WAR last year in 120 games.
He’s also owed a huge amount of money and he’s been declining each year. He’s 33 and injury prone.
Isnt Youk a FA after this year? I dont understand all the talk about him being owed a ton of money.
Look at Jason Bay whos a far worse player or Chone Figgins…there are some much much worse contracts out there
Has anyone traded for Bay or Figgins? No. Those deals became bad ones AFTER they were signed as FA. Right now Youks may not be as washed up as others claim but as far as his PRODUCTION he isn’t worth his pay.
I can name several other people in this game not worth nearly the pay they receive and some of those are in a city a bit to the south of Boston…
Nobody (sans writers) has said anything about Youk getting moved.
What is your point-do you even have one?
If you look at the Yankees, it’s basically a team full of bad contracts: Arod, Texiera, etc. The Arod contract might turn out to be the worst in baseball history when all is said and done. I only digress because I mirror the spirit of your post.
He has a 13M option with a 1M buy out.
It’s more so that he’s been injury prone and playing a position that’s out of place for him (He’d be a first baseman on most teams.)
The Cards have no money to spend. The 9 players under contract for next year have salaries totaling 84.5 Mil.
Dodgers deal with Ethier does NOT eliminate them from being big spenders in off season; may have in the past but not now. Kasten will have the wherewithal to pick up the major piece(s) that he will have trouble with at the trade deadline this year.
How could they afford Hamilton with Kershaw needing to be extended? The new ownership spent a fortune to buy the Dodgers as well.
The Dodgers can afford it. I expect that payroll will go up significantly. Wouldn’t be shocked to see it go to $140-$150 mill next season. A new huge TV deal will be in place after next season so the money is coming soon.
Yes, at least this is what we’ve been led to expect. The Dodgers have always been a major-market team, they just haven’t been spending that way for the last ten years or so. I hate to hear myself say it, but the Dodgers could become the new Yankees when it comes to payroll.
Don’t know that they will become the Yankees, but I definitely expect the Dodgers to spend at least what the Angels do. Angels payroll for this year is about $155 mill and I would expect Dodger management will be under pressure to spend at least that much. Especially with a huge TV deal coming in 2013 and the need to bump up TV ratings as much as possible in order to have max leverage on a new deal.
Going forward, I see the Dodgers annually being in the Top 5 of payrolls in MLB, and that’s how it should be.
The operative word being “could.” I can see ownership having the financial wherewithal to go in that direction if they choose, but I agree the more likely scenario is taking payroll into the $150-160m range, putting them in the neighborhood with the Angels, Phillies and Red Sox. Good point about ratings and the upcoming media rights renewal, though they may hang onto the media rights and set up their own network instead.
I think you are right on the cable network, but they will still need to negotiate with carriers of the network and having a lot of eyeballs watching the product helps with that.
Wall St. Journal said that if the Dodgers do go to a regional cable network, they think the Dodgers could eventually see $250 to $300 mill a year in revenue and that doesn’t include advertising revenue on the network.
Angels are currently averaging $150 mill/yr on their new deal with Fox.
So you are looking at maybe double the annual revenues from media rights than what the Angels would be getting, not including advertising revenue.
Right, and this is the answer to the question “why did they pay so much for the Dodgers?” They still have to unlock some of that value though, and that takes fielding a competitive team.
I forgot Mark Teahen existed.
Remember not too long ago when he was going to be the cornerstone of the new KC franchise?
Yeah, he actually had a darn good year back in 2006 now that I’m looking up his stats and had a .749 OPS through age 27.
Him and John Buck just never really put it all together consistently.
For sure.. Load of raw talent and many thought he would be a decent 3b for years.. Now he is just another Billy Hall type.. Carries many gloves, can’t really field well at any position and swings at everything.
This might be a great time to pick up Youkilis as it appears he has very little value right now especially with the emergence of Middlebrooks.
Better yet I like the idea of signing him as a FA to like maybe a 3/$18 deal or something like that.
I wonder what it would take from the White Sox to get him? They could use somebody competent at third right now. I know Youk isnt what he normally is but he is still a damn sight better over O dog or Brent Morel. I kind of wish they trade a package of guys for David Wright instead. NO VICIEDO! I say John Danks, Jared Mitchell, either Simon Castro or Nestor Molina and a reliever. Probably wont happen but a man can dream cant he.
I am a Met fan and it is a joke that they have no money. They are a big market team and need to act accordingly. I can see not signing big name free agents but if they have to trade off R.A Dickey “to keep their 3-4 year old plan going” they are in serious trouble with respect to fan attendance. Any consideration of not signing David Wright should result in total fan apathy toward this team.