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Archives for August 2012
Indians Designate Shelley Duncan For Assignment
The Indians have designated Shelley Duncan for assignment, the team announced. The move creates room on the roster for Jeanmar Gomez, who was recalled from Triple-A.
Duncan, 32, hit .203/.288/.388 with 11 homers in 264 plate appearances for Cleveland this season. He's a .229/.306/.427 career hitter in 933 big league plate appearances, including a .243/.319/.428 line against left-handers. Duncan has experience in both corner outfield spots as well as first base.
Indians Claim Scott Maine
The Indians announced that they claimed left-hander Scott Maine off of waivers from the Cubs. The Cubs designated Maine for assignment two days ago to create 40-man roster space for catcher Anthony Recker.
Maine, a sixth round selection in 2007, appeared in 21 games for the Cubs this year, posting a 4.79 ERA with 11.3 K/9 and 5.2 BB/9 in 20 2/3 innings. The 27-year-old has had high strikeout and walk rates throughout his professional career. In parts of six minor league seasons, Maine has a 3.28 ERA with 10.2 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9.
The Indians note that Maine and Cleveland closer Chris Perez played together in college at the University of Miami.
Outrighted To Triple-A: Jeff Gray
The latest outright assignments from around MLB…
- The Twins announced that they outrighted right-hander Jeff Gray to Triple-A Rochester to create 25-man roster space for Chris Parmelee. Gray, 30, posted a 5.71 ERA with 4.5 K/9 and 3.8 BB/9 in 52 innings of relief work for Minnesota this year before being removed from the roster.
Extension Candidate: Dexter Fowler
The Rockies are expected to discuss a contract extension with Dexter Fowler this offseason in an attempt to keep him in Denver long-term. While an extension could make sense for both sides, it’s no longer possible for the Rockies to lock him up inexpensively.
The arbitration eligible center fielder recently switched agencies from the Boras Corporation to Excel Sports Management, a development that the Rockies reportedly found encouraging. Fowler indicated to Troy Renck that he’s open to signing an extension this winter if the Rockies wish to discuss one. It sounds as though there’s already some positive momentum toward a deal.
Fowler has leverage since he's enjoying his best offensive season and plays a premium defensive position. He has a .304/.389/.495 batting line with 12 home runs and a league-leading 11 triples so far in 2012. As well as he has played, his bargaining power could collapse following a poor season or injury, so an extension could be appealing.
If the Rockies pursue an extension, they would likely attempt to lock the 26-year-old up through one or more free agent years and obtain a club option. Such a deal would provide the Rockies with an above-average performer at a premium position for his prime seasons. Meanwhile, Fowler would obtain the security of guaranteed salaries for his three remaining seasons of arbitration eligibility and beyond.
Fowler, who’s now earning $2.35MM as a first-time arbitration eligible player, is under team control through 2015 as a super two. Any long-term deal would presumably cover his next three arbitration seasons and at least one free agent year. In general, teams are also able to obtain a club option when extending a player three years away from free agency.
Fowler has likely played his way to a 2013 salary in the $4.3MM range, but that’s if he goes to arbitration. Players who sign extensions don’t generally obtain maximum value for their arbitration years, so $3.5MM might be a more reasonable estimate for Fowler’s 2013 salary. The sides might then approximate Fowler’s last two arbitration salaries at $6MM in 2014 and $8.5MM in 2015. This would add up to a total of $18MM for his three remaining arbitration years.
Fowler’s free agent years would be valued below market value but above his arbitration seasons. Adam Jones recently obtained $15MM per free agent year on his extension with the Orioles, but he was less than two years from free agency when he signed. Cameron Maybin obtained $8MM per free agent year on his extension with the Padres, but his offensive numbers are inferior to Fowler’s and he signed as a pre-arbitration eligible player. Fowler’s free agent years can safely be valued in the $8-15MM range at this stage, likely around $11.5MM. Lastly we'll add a club option worth $11.5MM ($1MM buyout) for a third free agent year.
If the sides agreed to value Fowler’s three remaining arbitration seasons at $18MM total and his two free agent years at $23MM total, they’ll have reached $41MM in guaranteed money. Add the $1MM buyout for the 2018 club option and the total climbs to $42MM over five years.
This proposed deal wouldn’t be unlike the extensions signed by Kevin Youkilis (four years, $41.25MM), Ryan Zimmerman (five years, $45MM) and Alex Gordon (four years, $50MM). Each deal covers a number of arbitration years and at least two free agent years. These contracts provide teams with discounted arbitration years and extended control over the player. They provide the players with security they wouldn’t otherwise have: tens of millions in guaranteed money. In this context I believe a five-year, $42MM deal would represent fair value for both the Rockies and Fowler.
Photo courtesy of US Presswire.
Joe Mauer On Waivers
10:00am: The Red Sox won't claim Mauer, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports (on Twitter).
7:17am: The Twins placed Joe Mauer on revocable waivers, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports. The Red Sox, who recently freed themselves of more than $260MM in future salary obligations, have long-standing interest in the catcher, Rosenthal reports. Mauer has full no-trade protection and approximately $142MM remaining on his contract through 2018.
Teams routinely place their players on waivers, so this isn’t an indication the Twins are looking to move Mauer. They recently placed Justin Morneau on waivers but declined to let him go when he was claimed. If Mauer goes unclaimed, the Twins will be able to complete a trade just as easily as they could have before the current waiver period began at the beginning of August.
If a team claims Mauer, the Twins will have three choices. They can let him (and his contract) go to the claiming team, they can complete a trade with the claiming team, or they can pull him back off of waivers. American League teams will have claiming priority on Mauer, whose waivers expire at 12pm CDT today.
Mauer's record-setting eight-year, $184MM extension assures him of a $23MM annual salary through 2018. The 29-year-old has a .309/.403/.425 batting line with as many walks as strikeouts (70) in 522 plate appearances this year.
The three teams American League teams with waiver priority over the Red Sox have young catching of their own and payrolls that rank among the lowest in the sport. It would be a surprise if the Blue Jays (J.P. Arencibia, Travis d'Arnaud), Royals (Salvador Perez) or Indians (Carlos Santana) submitted a claim on Mauer.
Felix Doubront Claimed On Waivers
Red Sox left-hander Felix Doubront was claimed on waivers by an unidentified team yesterday, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports. American League teams had waiver priority on Doubront, who has put together a solid season in Boston's rotation.
The 24-year-old has a 4.79 ERA with 8.9 K/9 and 3.8 BB/9 in 127 2/3 innings over the course of 23 starts for the Red Sox. He won't be arbitration eligible before the end of the 2013 season (he's a possible super two player) and will remain under team control through 2017.
Doubront was reportedly on waivers as early as August 16th. Either he’s on waivers for the second time (in which case the waivers are no longer revocable) or there’s been an erroneous report. Rosenthal has suggested the Red Sox could send Doubront to the Twins in a possible trade for Joe Mauer, who was recently placed on waivers.
Quick Hits: Astros, Blue Jays, Yankees, Wolf, Appel
Blue Jays first round draft choice Marcus Stroman has been suspended for 50 games for violating the minor league drug prevention and treatment program, the team announced. Stroman, who obtained a $1.8MM bonus earlier in the summer, maintains that he “unknowingly ingested a banned stimulant that was in an over-the-counter supplement.” He wasn’t the only former first rounder suspended today. Josh Sale, who was selected 17th overall by the Rays in 2010, also obtained a 50-game suspension, according to Roger Mooney of the Tampa Tribune (on Twitter).
Here are Tuesday’s links…
- “We’re continuing to assess our list of candidates,” said Astros GM Jeff Luhnow to MLB.com's Brian McTaggart about the club's managerial search. “We need someone that’s going to be good at teaching, someone good at inspiring and basically working with the front office and help us achieve our goal of becoming as competitive as possible."
- The Yankees hadn’t placed Alex Rodriguez on waivers as of yesterday morning, Ken Davidoff of the New York Post reports. Though the Yankees would like to dump Rodriguez and the $114MM remaining on his contract for luxury tax purposes, Davidoff says A-Rod and the Yankees have a pretty good relationship these days.
- ESPN officially announced an eight-year extension for the rights to broadcast MLB games. John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal reports that the deal is worth $700MM per year for a total of $5.6 billion. The deal also covers digital, international and radio rights.
- Four teams showed interest in Randy Wolf when he hit the free agent market, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports (on Twitter). The Athletics were one of the teams with serious interest in Wolf before he agreed to sign with the Orioles, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com reports (on Twitter).
- ESPN.com's Keith Law previews the 2013 amateur draft class, suggesting it projects as one of the weakest in years. Mark Appel, the Pirates' first round selection in 2012, projects as a top talent for 2013 along with college right-hander Ryne Stanek.
Mike Axisa contributed to this post.
The Red Sox’s Future Payroll Obligations
A few days ago the Red Sox freed up more than a quarter-billion dollars in the future payroll obligation with their blockbuster nine-player trade with the Dodgers. Nine-figure commitments to Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford are suddenly off the books, as is a short-term but still substantial commitment to Josh Beckett. GM Ben Cherington essentially hit the reset button on the club's payroll situation.
A few hours after the trade we broke down the Dodgers' future payroll obligations, which are up to $88.5MM in 2017. Now let's turn the tables and look at what the Red Sox still have on the books going forward, which is a pittance compared to their trade counterpart. With a big assist from Cot's Baseball Contracts, here is an unofficial recap of Boston's guaranteed commitments (salaries and buyouts only, not arbitration or pre-arbitration players)…
- 2013 ($42.938MM) — John Lackey ($15.25MM), Jon Lester ($11.625MM), Dustin Pedroia ($10MM), Clay Buchholz ($5.5MM), Jose Iglesias (approximately $563K)
- 2014 ($33.2MM) — Lackey ($15.25MM), Pedroia ($10MM), Buchholz ($7.7MM), Lester ($250K buyout)
- 2015 ($12.5MM) — Buchholz ($12MM), Pedroia ($500K buyout)
- 2016 ($245K) — Buchholz ($245K buyout)
The Red Sox will have a massive 11-player arbitration class next season, though not all will be tendered contracts. Jacoby Ellsbury, Andrew Bailey, Alfredo Aceves, Daniel Bard, and Franklin Morales highlight those 11 players. Other than that, Cherington will have plenty of room to work with going forward, especially if ownership is willing to maintain the same $160MM+ payroll they've had the last three seasons.
Cleared Waivers: Jeremy Hermida, Luis Hernandez
Here's an update on two players who were recently removed from their team's 40-man roster…
- Outfielder Jeremy Hermida cleared waivers and has become a free agent, reports MLB.com's Chelsea Janes (on Twitter). The Padres designated the 28-year-old for assignment last week after he hit .250/.333/.375 in 27 plate appearances.
- Infielder Luis Hernandez has cleared waivers been outrighted to Triple-A, reports Jeff Wilson of The Fort-Worth Star-Telegram (on Twitter). The 28-year-old was designated for assignment by the Rangers yesterday after hitting .262/.302/.372 for the club's Triple-A affiliate.