Kyle Kendrick of the Phillies is highly motivated as he prepares for free agency, Matt Gelb of the Inquirer writes. Gelb points to Jason Vargas, Scott Feldman and Ricky Nolasco — all of whom signed contracts worth at least $30MM — as potential comparables for Kendrick. "When similar guys close to your numbers sign those deals, that's a good thing," says Kendrick. Kendrick has never pitched more than 182 innings in a season, so 200 innings in 2014 would likely go a long way toward helping him strike gold on the free-agent market. Here's more from the National League.
- The Diamondbacks' fate will be determined primarily by returning players like Paul Goldschmidt and Patrick Corbin, but their additions of Mark Trumbo, Bronson Arroyo and Addison Reed could be what finally gets them past .500, Nick Piecoro of AZCentral.com writes. The Diamondbacks are also likely to receive a contribution from top prospect Archie Bradley, although the addition of Arroyo should allow the team to give Bradley some extra minor-league time. Bradley, 21, pitched most of last season at Double-A Mobile.
- Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez tells the Miami Herald's Clark Spencer (via Twitter) that he will make $635K in 2014, a very significant raise for a pre-arbitration player. Earlier in the day, the Marlins announced that they had signed all of their 28 pre-arbitration-eligible players. Fernandez, of course, is following up a stellar first season in which he won the Rookie of the Year award and finished third in NL Cy Young voting.
I like him, but not enough for an extension. Hes a solid 3/21M to 4/28M though.
Yeah I don’t “like” him ir neither, he’s just the second strongest candidate for the Cy Young only behind Clayton
I’m guessing he is talking about Kendrick.
Fernandez or Cole is gonna take a big step forward this season imo. Loria should be smart and start throwing some cash at Fernandez if he wants any hope of keeping him long term. That wuld help his image with Stanton as well.
I don’t know if he gets what Vargas did even. Vargas is a crafty, control lefty who is capable of going on rolls at least and is unhittable when he’s on one.
Nolasco, for all the problems he has had along the way may be the most gifted of all those, just has a really hard time getting everything all together for more than a game or 2. He’s got a really good curve ball and decent 93-4FB, not a bad change either. he’s k’d as many as 15 before when his curve/FB change was on, including the 1st 9 batters vs Atlanta back in 2009. He has a focusing problem, maybe someone at Twinkie town can help him there since several older marlin SP seem to have improved after leaving.
Kendrick is OK, but just OK. He had an ERA+ of 81 last year, which is nothing the shout from the rooftops over, and he hasn’t really taken a step forward to give you the idea that he’s capable of being anything more than a 4/5 or a swing man. If the market give him 4/40, so be it, but it’s a strange market that does that.
Agreed. Every team should have a Kyle Kendrick. Not a good sign if you have to go pay $10MM a year for that type of pitcher.
Wow. Kendrick? He better have a much better year than he’s had. I don’t think much of the other 3 but they’re all better than Kendrick. He’s the definition of a “serviceable 5th starter”. Why would anyone give him a long term contract?
My guess is Kendrick’s market is around 15 mil/3 years. Any team paying more than 4-5 mil per years for that guy are making a big mistake.
Was Kendrick not motivated until now? I realize he has only made just under 20m including 2014 but he should be able to squeak by?
The hope is Kendrick shines right up to that trade deadline and they flip him for something good.
Kendrick hit the lottery when he was drafted into the clannish Phillies organization. Just about every other organization in mlb would have non-tendered Kendrick 2 years ago. The fact that the Phillies paid him $7.7 M this year is mindboggling. KK was 2-7 with a 6.91 era the second half of last year and his fastball rarely reaches 92 mph.
I don’t mind paying top dollar for talent but I absolutely despise overpaying for mediocre talent.