Links from around MLB on the day teams must decide whether to make qualifying offers to departing free agents…
- The Yankees like Russell Martin very much and are hoping to re-sign him as a free agent this offseason, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports. The Pirates, Rangers and Mariners could all spend on catching this offseason. While the Mets need catching, they seem likely to pursue trades in Heyman’s view.
- Agent Scott Boras said there’s no chance of Rick Ankiel returning to the mound, Yahoo’s Tim Brown reports (on Twitter). “He's not pitching," Boras said. It was reported yesterday that Ankiel might be open to pitching again.
- The White Sox announced that they promoted former MLB manager and player Buddy Bell to the role of vice president/assistant GM. Bell, 61, played from 1972-88, then managed the Tigers, Rockies and Royals.
- Dave Cameron of FanGraphs provides a guide to the top 25 values available in free agency this offseason, complete with a look at five players teams might want to avoid. Within the piece, which is well worth your time, Cameron explains that Delmon Young has essentially become a platoon bat, and argues that Maicer Izturis could bounce back in 2013. Be sure to check out MLBTR’s list of the offseason’s top 50 free agents if you haven't done so already.
Cameron’s comments on Dice-k are amusing
Young and Lohse are pretty amusing also. Shame of it? Think he probably has the contracts awarded to Napoli and Lohse about pegged in his ‘worst” about right.. Some GM’s are going to regret those 2 big time for reasons outlined in the Fangraphs article for the exact same reasons some of us here have been going over for months.
Yeah… I’m just glad my tigers don’t have a catcher opening and disposable income…
And I really hope Lohse isn’t DD plan B if Annibal signs elsewhere.
Sanchez is the bargain FA of the off season and the 4/52m they have him projected at is actually at the bottom end of where thought he might end up AAV wise. He was the “Ace by default” on many Marlins teams when JJ went down and wouldn’t be shocked still to see his AAV FA contract creep up towards 14m over 4Y and a team option at 5. possibly even 5 guaranteed if grienke attempts to price himself out of the market like the 110m+ figures shown in Fangraphs are correct and actually are what he is looking for.
Don’t quite agree with where he thinks someof the contracts on the good list will fall. On the bad list I think he is pretty close. IDK if young will get that much, but I an pretty sure that Bourn and Lohse will be terrible signings. I’ve just never been high on Bourn. He doesn’t seem to get on base high enough to compensate for his lack of power, over his career.
Yeah.. Some of the good contracts are wishy-washy also. Example? I have a hard time figuring out how anyone paying grienke 110M+ over 6 years is any sort of good contract. People were complaining (here) when Cain got 110m and grienke is no Cain. grienke has been living off of what he did several years back for a couple of years, same with BJ Upton. yet they have both ranked as top FA.
Sanchez? yeah, Hunter, McCarthy, Scutaro. Same thing. Then rates people lower who have a RECORD and HISTORY of performing, like LaRoche, while non consistent performers in Grienke and Upton up high.. Wishy washy.
The bad deals post he hit right on though Lazertown and had some bang-on commentary to boot, hillarious ways of pointing out exactly what was wrong with each of them, some things several of us have been pointing out for months on some.
His article depends greatly on WAR, except certain players like Greinke don’t seem to follow a normal xFIP pattern. Only one time has he ended the season with an era below 3.40. His era over past 3 years is roughly 3.85, not exactly someone I can see it being a bargain at that price.
Upton is another case of WAR fever. His value is based entirely off of his great UZR, without considering the .298 obp, and the fact he is a perenial lock for 160 strikouts. He has never been the same player since 2008, if he can get back to that he would be a bargain, but at current production he is not. And would only sign him if coaches could pinpoint exactly what the problem is.
” And would only sign him if coaches could pinpoint exactly what the problem is.”
You hit it right on the head there Lazertown. Maddon couldn’t and he is one of the best in the buisness. Had him for 6 seasons and couldn’t straighten him out/fix him. Just how are most any “normal” manager supposed to get the best out of BJ Upton?
Martin has pop and he knows this pitching staff.
He’s still only 29 years old and he hit 20 + homers while providing a 1.5 WAR
He struggled all season long with his average but he got it up to .211
which is impressive (considering he sat on .190 all season long)
If he gets on base a little more via the walk and gets a few more breaks
here and there on hits, he is a 2 WAR catcher for us for the second
straight season.
Martin should be retained. I’ve warmed up to the idea of the Yankees keeping him.
Probably comes down to cost. Cashman does attempt to cut payroll and someone thinks Martin is worth more than a 10m AAV and he’s gone. Napoli could actually come into play with NY have been thinking myself and haven’t seen that mentioned elsewhere.
martin leaves somehow and Napoli probably ends up with less, but it would have to be one of those perfect scenario situations.. Martin is over valued and Napoli isn’t getting the multi year deals he was looking for and signs a 1Y deal, looking to build value.. Why not pick NY where a ring is always possible as well?
Want to keep martin, but if he costs more than $10M aav they really should just say goodbye.
I’ve wanted to still keep him all season. He struggled, but he still sees alot of pitches, works good with the pitching staff, and should still be able to get his obp up to a decent level, and paired with 20 hr power is pretty good.
He still is around 15th in WAR, and that doesn’t even account for his pitch framing. Was article this year how martin is near one better in league at pitch framing, and is able to get his pitchers several more strikes over the season.
It’s Russell Martin’s defense at his position that to me makes me want to see him retained; he was a definite upgrade over Jorge Posada.