The Tigers and shortstop Jose Iglesias have agreed to a one-year, $1.65MM contract, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter link). Though Iglesias is not yet arbitration eligible, his salary needed to be determined following completion of his original four-year, $8.25MM Major League contract signed with the Red Sox. Iglesias is represented by Scott Boras.
The 23-year-old Iglesias finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting after batting a combined .303/.349/.386 between the Red Sox and Tigers in 2013, but his offense predictably slipped with the Tigers. Most of damage at the plate with the Sox was the result of a .376 average on balls in play, and that number fell to .320 in Detroit while his strikeout rate jumped by eight percent. Iglesias wasn't acquired for his bat, however, and the Tigers are valuing him based on an elite glove at shortstop that he should have no trouble maintaining for years to come.
Barring a long-term deal, Iglesias will be in for a similar salary next offseason, as he won't be arbitration eligible until the 2015-16 offseason. He is under team control through the 2018 campaign.
Saw the headline, thought they’d signed Julio Iglesias to sing the national anthem for a year.
Just a recap…
Iglesias was involved in a huge trade that significantly impacted both ALCS participants.
I’m pretty sure he knows who Jose Iglesias is.
Just a little joke there, my friend.
Especially with the huge error Iggy made in…game 6 was it? I don’t remember very clearly, but he botched a double play ball.
Not hating on Iggy…I love his glove and hope the best for him to come!
Those doubting Dombrowski’s ability as a top flight negotiator and an evaluator of value, keep track of these facts:
1. Iglesias is taking a pay CUT in AAV.
2. He is going into his prime. He has not peaked yet.
3. He is represented by Boras, who many think is impossible to negotiate with.
He’s not actually taking a cut in AAV. That 4 year/$8.25MM contract included a $6 million signing bonus, so technically in each of the last four seasons he was averaging ~$550k (or roughly the major league minimum). He’s getting a pretty significant salary for a guy who won’t even be arbitration eligible for another two seasons.
I thought bonuses were baked into AAV? Anyone know?
I believe they are when we’re talking taxability and such, but on a more pragmatic level regarding Iglesias taking a raise versus taking a pay cut, I’d equate the signing bonus for an international player more to the bonus given to a drafted player.
That is, I don’t really think it’s accurate to say that Iglesias has been making 2 million dollars each of the last four seasons (regardless of how the luxury tax calculations consider it). It’s really, in my view, more like the Red Sox gave him 6 million to come to Boston and then paid him like a major league rookie (even though he was in the minors for most of that). From a league-wide perspective, Iglesias’s deal for 2014 is a significant boost over a typical sophomore in his position.
Seems to me that the Red Sox paid the huge bonus and got less than one year of production from him.
Tigers get the benefit of multiple MLB years of production for LESS than the Red Sox paid.
It’s the cost of developing international prospects. And we converted him into a season and a half of Jake Peavy, who while ineffective in the postseason did push Felix Doubront to the pen, whose relief work was a big part of the World Series title, so I can hardly complain.
AAV is in guaranteed contracts. The guaranteed portion is done. Iglesias counted against the cap for 2+mil each of the past 4 years.
He should have signed him for more then a year then.
Detroit has him through the 2018 season already.
There are 2 parts to this equation.
1. Dombrowski got a guy the Tigers can control at low cost for many years AFTER the Red Sox already paid him an artificially high bonus and got less than a year’s worth for value from him.
2. He has the ability to keep Boras happy which will help with Scherzer or other negotiations.
Not following you, how is paying a player 1.65mil, when the player would be required to play for the league minimum, proof of a “top flight negotiator”? – I think I could’ve handled that one “Mr. Boras you want 550,000 or 1.65mil for your client?”
Also, Red Sox didn’t release him, they got Jake Peavy who helped win WS and will most likely net a 1st round pick at the end of the season.
Lastly, you point out that he’s going into his prime and still hasn’t peaked, but failed to point out he dramatically overachieved offensively in ’13. He may continue to overachieve, but he may regress as well.
Iglesias Batting Avg:
Triple A – .221 in 916 ABs
Apr-June ’13 – .411 in 141 ABs
Rest of time in Majors – .205 in 283 ABs
Smart money says the .411 is the anomaly here. Don’t gloat too much, yet.
Peavy was not part of the equation from the Tigers perspective. They traded Garcia to get Iglesias at a steep discount relative to his value.
… and when he did play against the Tigers head to head, he pitched poorly. He had negative value in terms of getting the RS to the World Series.
As for your other comment about offensive value, consider this analysis:
1. Let us assume that a hit = a hit taken away. I am confident in stating that Iglesias can make one play every 5 games than an average SS cannot. On average, Iglesias will likely have about 20 ABs every 5 games. One hit extra hit every 20ABs = FIFTY points in batting average. He can hit .250 and make one extra defense play every 5 games and have similar value to being an average defender and hitting .300.
2. Iglesias did not play for the Red Sox very much in his best and most valuable position, SS. His value to the Tigers projects to be much higher than to the Red Sox even if he “regresses” offensively, just because he is playing SS.
Whole lot of this “Boston got the bad end while Detroit got it all”, even after Karkat tried to explain.
Here is why Boston didn’t mind shedding him:
He’s a L’side of the infield prospect, something they have a GLUT of already in Bogaerts (SS), Devin Marrero (SS), Garin Cecchini (3b) at AA and higher. That’s not even going into Tzu-Wei Lin and Lowell, Mookie Betts at AA next year (2b, could be positional move). and who knows if Middlebrooks will play 3b.
The Sox took any pitcher to cement the rotation for a title run and Iglesias was in a glut position in the minors, as well as the MLB roster once Drew was healthy and Middlebrooks started hitting.. IE? he was easily expendable.
This is a classic, great job – now do it again before we commit. Tigers should sign Iglesias to as many one year deals as they can. They have much bigger fish to fry with the contracts of Max Scherzer and Miguel Cabrera. Once those are done, they can use whatever is left (if anything) to solidify the pieces around them. Tigers FO should be lasered focused on keeping the superstar core of the Tigers intact.
agree for the most part. If they offer Max more than 100 mil….they’ll regret it. He’s a 10-12 mil a year pitcher.
Tanaka is a better deal at similar money.
Trade Scherzer for a young 2015+ replacement for Hunter or VMART and then sign Tanaka.
Rather have Tanaka at ages 25-31 v. Scherzer at 29-35.
The problem is everyone else also would rather have that. And good luck trading Scherzer to a team without that team signing him to an extension, a type of deal Boras isn’t very fond of.
There is no need to trade Scherzer if they do not get value from him… just give Tanaka the money that would have gone with Scherzer. And get Scherzer for his arbitration salary. Nothing wrong with a 2014 rotation of:
Verlander, Scherzer, Tanaka, Sanchez and Porcello (with Smyly as the #6).
Scherzer leaves after 2014, Tigers get draft pick compensation and Smyly gets promoted to starter in 2015.
Yes and Lennerton can replace
Martinez and Feilds Hunter. So you trade him to the Mariners for Hultzen and another prospect or to the Jays for Sanchez and Loup plus another prospect. Also you could trade Porcello for something , you wouldn’t get as much but you could get a good amount because he has 2 years left. Then your team is
Verlander
Scherzer/Sanchez
Sanchez/Tanaka
Tanaka/Porcello
Smyly
Bench is Lennerton,Lombo, Davis and holiday. This is your line up
Left handed SP
Kinsler 2b
Davis LF
Cabrera 3b
Martinez DH
Hunter RF
Castellonos 3B
Holaday C
Jackson CF
Iggy SS
Right handed SP
Kinsler 2b
Dirks CF
Cabrera 3b
Martinez DH
Lennerton 1b
Hunter RF
Castellanos/Lombo LF
Avila C
Iggy SS
Look at what pitchers are getting in free agency, Phil Hughes just got 8 million a year. If you think he signs for anything near 12 million a year, you are crazy.
Iglesias now makes triple Mike Trout’s salary…
Assuming Trout makes say $750k this year in Year 3, Arod will be making 33 times his salary.
Are you implying the rules change? Or just an obvious observation?
I like this deal for both sides. Iggy gets a nice base to build upon. Detroit gets good value.
And for those doubting the Red Sox value for the 8 million, they also got a good trade chip for Peavy who helped them win the World Series, and still had Drew last year and Bogaerts waiting to take over if and when Drew ultimately leaves town..
Worked out well all around, IMO.
Iggy actually took a pay cut. The AAV of his previous deal was over 2 million, However, most of that was his bonus.
I know it’s a matter of semantics, but I fall on the side of the “6 mil signing bonus and then half a mil a year to be in the minors” as his deal, particularly considering it was known and widely accepted that he wouldn’t be in the majors for at least two of the four years of that contract.
In fact, it’s probably better for him in the long term that he didn’t make it to the majors sooner. Otherwise he’d still be under that contract for one or two more years of pre-arb or, who knows, maybe he’d be in the first year of arb eligibility and only entitled to a raise twice (although he likely could have made up for it on the back-end of his career, assuming he keeps productive enough to stick around long enough).
This way he has several years to build upon the 1.65, rather than his prior deal, which viewed as a “salary” perspective (which is what the arb is based upon generally – last year’s salary), left him at 1/3 that base.
I get what you’re saying though. But I still think it’s a good deal for him. (Then again, who am I to tell him what a good deal is for him, ha!)
I’m confused. What would have happened if they had not reached a deal? Arbitration? Free agency?
Arbitration. iglesias signed with the Red Sox as an international free agent, and the deal he signed essentially paid him like a major leager for his entire time in Boston and with Detroit. That deal was up so arbitration would have been the next step as he hasn’t acquired the proper amount of service time for free agency.
Not trying to argue, bust confused. The article says he is “not yet arbitration eligible.” What does that mean in this case?
Now Iglesias can show off his World Series Ring to his Tigers team mates next year.
Sox made this Trade because Buchholz was out for 3 Months. Not knowing when he would return.
Also, Lester was pitching lousy for a 2nd year and a row and there was some talk they might not pick up his option. After Peavy came aboard, Lester woke up and was dominant for the next 2 months.
Can’t wait to watch McGlovin play for the next several years for the Tigers. Best defensive SS since Vizquel.