Friday is the last day that teams have exclusive negotiating rights with their impending free agents, and then the offseason signing frenzy will begin. You can get in on the action (and possibly win some cool prizes) by entering the MLBTR Free Agent Prediction Contest and making your best guess as to where this winter's top available players will land. Get your picks in now as the deadline for entries and edits is coming up on November 7.
Not to brag, but I've held at least a share of first place amongst the MLBTR staff in our own internal competition each of the last two years…wait, that "not to brag" wasn't accurate at all. That was totally bragging. Though, as a wise man once said, "if you can back it up, it ain't braggin'." Here are a few notes from around the majors as I pat myself on the back…
- The Nationals are considered the favorites to sign Michael Bourn while the Phillies "are an early favorite" to sign B.J. Upton, reports Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. Heyman sees Bourn getting a five-year, $80MM contract while Upton is in line for at least a five-year, $60MM deal.
- Roman Colon is suing J.D. Smart, his former agent, and Smart's former bosses at Hendricks Sports Management for allegedly failing to inform him about a new contract offer with the Korean Baseball League's KIA Tigers, reports Darren Heitner of the Sports Agent Blog. Colon pitched for the KIA Tigers in 2010 and then signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers in January 2011, a contract Colon said he never would have signed had he known about the new offer from KIA.
- Smaller-market teams that have to "overpay" for free agents only dig themselves in deeper holes, writes Fangraphs' Dave Cameron, as these clubs often find themselves committing too much payroll space to players that can't live up to those larger contracts.
- Former Phillies Shane Victorino, Brett Myers and Ryan Madson could all be intriguing choices to return to Philadelphia and fill some holes in the current roster, writes Ryan Lawrence of the Philadelphia Daily News.
5 years and $80 million for slap hitting Bourn?!?…..
steals bases, gets on base, plays GREAT defense at a position
Even Shane O’Mac can’t handle that money!
that’s dad’s job….
Oh, sorry Shane. Then again, so do Steph and Trips, at some point.
Does Ruben Amaro Jr. think an underachieving hot dog that strikes out a ton is gonna play well at CBP?
Maybe maybe not, but Im sure Bartolo Colon wouldn’t mind.
For me, I’m a huge Shane Victorino fan, but really, it was time to move on from him. I wish him the best of luck wherever he signs but I think the Phillies need to and will go in a different direction.
As for the other guys, I don’t see Ruben having any interest in bringing Brett Myers back into the fold and Ryan Madson can’t be the closer in Philadelphia. I’m sure Ruben would have interest in Madson though, I mean, who wouldn’t? Before he got hurt he was one of the best relief pitchers in baseball.
I’d rather have Upton.. let someone else overpay for Bourn
The Bourn-Nationals talk strikes me as similar to the Prince Fielder situation last year, with Boras using the Nats to drive up his guy’s price until someone goes insanely huge on his contract.
Yeah, this is an interesting situation. My gut tells me that the MLBTR predictions will be reversed – Bourn back to the Phillies, and Upton to the Nats. Especially because I don’t think the Phils want another high strike out guy like Upton.
Bourn strikes out a ton too. Just sayin’.
Word on the street has it that Phils are more interested in signing Upton than Bourn. Originally it was thought they’d go after Bourn, but his asking price is going to be so high. Plus, Upton is probably a better fit for them in their eyes.
5 yrs 60M for Upton. This is precisely why the Rays WILL be offering Arb to him, because he’s not turning that down just to make 1.3M more this year. So can we please stop with this nonsense that the Rays won’t offer arb?
Bourn is poised to be an even more overpaid version of Juan Pierre.
I don’t think Nationals are getting either Upton or Bourn. First order of business is ALR. If he is signed, there is no room for Bourn or Upton on Nationals roster unless Morse is traded which I doubt since replacing a #5 power bat will be more difficult. I guess they can insert Upton in Morse’ place but I am not sold on that idea.
They could move Harper into the middle of the order and have either Werth/Upton or Bourn/Werth 1 and 2. I’m not sold on Bourn or Upton, but I’m also not really sold on Morse as an OF. I think the best course of action may be to resign ALR and then trade Morse for a low K hitter who can bat 1st or 2nd and play somewhere in the OF. I like Morse, but don’t think both him and LaRoche fit on the team.
I know that in overall payroll the braves cant match up with the phils or nats but they do have a chunk of change this off season. Unless wren plans on trading for a centerfielder he is going to have to make a serious attempt to resigning bourn. Atlanta went too long without a legit leadoff hitter. Ranked near the bottom in stolen bases.
the braves money is better spent elsewhere. Also trading excess young arms for good pre-prime position player(s) is probably a better route for ATL to get better and also stay better for the long haul. Just my opinion.
I hate giving up a draft pick, but I don’t see how the Phillies don’t sign a player that turned down a qualifying offer, whether its Bourn, Upton, Hamilton of Swisher. In my mind, if they are giving up a pick to sign Upton, they might as well get Swisher too at that point. Money will not be an issue.
i really hope that nationals or braves dont sign bourne. he will be vastly overpaid aka carl crawford. at least crawford had a better bat
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Myers come back to Philly, they seemed to each have a great relationship and I don’t think he’ll be highly sought after around the league.
One thing I wonder though is if other teams will try to sign him as a starter and if he could still start at this point. He was pretty solid when his HR rate was down.
I think they sign a stop gap CF like Angel Pagan or Shane Victorino for a year or two until Brian Goodwin is ready.