The Orioles have maintained dialogue with free agent first baseman/DH Kendrys Morales over the last several weeks, reports Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. At present, a “fairly significant gap” still separates the two sides.
Notably, according to Heyman, the key issue is not years but dollars. Negotiations between Baltimore and Scott Boras (Morales’s agent) have focused on one-year scenarios. It is worth noting that Morales will only earn a prorated portion of whatever annual salary rate is agreed upon for 2014.
Heyman notes that the Mariners and Brewers continue to look like other possibilities. Seattle seemingly stepped back from Morales after its rough stretch, but Heyman wonders if they could get back involved if the club continues its recent revival. Of course, the closer we get to the June draft, the greater the possibility becomes that the Mariners will lose the supplemental pick they stand to gain should Morales find a new home before that time, which could increase the club’s motivation.
Performance has not been an issue for Milwaukee, of course, and Morales may well be just the kind of mid-season addition needed to cement the team’s status as a contender. As Heyman notes, the Brewers have recently landed fellow Boras clients Kyle Lohse and Francisco Rodriguez.
Really wish the Padres would get in on Morales – Alonso has lost all ability to hit the ball out of the infield and the offense needs a boost. With a halfway decent offense they could be contending.
About 10 games into his Padres tenure, he’d fall apart at 1B so he wouldn’t really help you get a decent offense.
Would like the O’s to get in on Morales, but noting Buck’s defensive stance, they would play Morales at 1st until Davis returns, then would they decide to put Cruz in LF over Lough? I honestly don’t want that…like how much defense our team has and how it wins our mediocre pitching ballgames, plus we have so much hitting already…
I wonder if Boras tried to get 14.1 without the prorated portion factored in. Morales should take a one year deal with whoever is still talking to him.
The Orioles could be pretty scary if they add Morales. Accounting for the missing 1/6 of a season, I still see him as a viable candidate to hit 25 homers this year, especially in a park like Camden Yards. Defense would slip, obviously, with Cruz needing to shift to the OF once Davis returns, but it seems like a fair trade-off.
I think adding Morales would give them the edge in the division. They would have some scary lineup
I’m not sure he makes total sense in a fully healthy O’s lineup. It forces Cruz to play every day LF, which is hurtful defensively. However, if Davis has to miss real time, its for sure worth it.
If the Mariners re-sign Morales, they lose the draft pick anyway unless he signs with another team before the draft (highly unlikely barring a big injury for another team.) So unless the M’s really want Morales in the lineup, or his price drops dramatically before/after the draft, they probably won’t be in on him.
Point is: if Morales remains unsigned after the draft, SEA will lose the comp pick regardless where he signs. As the draft gets closer and closer, then, the likelihood of SEA receiving the comp pick dwindles, which will require the club to adjust its own internal valuations of Morales. (At one time, not so long ago, the notion that Morales would wait out the draft seemed far-fetched; now it seems a very possible outcome.)
But for other clubs, the proposition is fixed until the draft: sign Morales, sacrifice X pick. Don’t sign him, don’t lose the pick.
After the draft, other clubs’ internal valuations of Morales will rise (without the threat of the lost pick), making it more likely that one of them will grab Morales. In the meantime, the Mariners would have missed out on him and lost the pick (not gained, really, but same thing).
Obviously, this doesn’t mean the M’s should sign him just to sign him. But if they are actually interested enough to maintain dialogue and seriously calculate his value to the club (however they accomplish that internally), then the passage of time (and market development) over the next month will have a clear impact on what the team should be willing to pay.
I agree, but don’t the Mariners have to overpay now to get him, in years/money or both? They are the only team with what amounts to negative leverage. If Morales believes his value will be significantly higher on June 8 and Seattle would lose something, he would want to be bought out of that option. For the other teams, there might be a possibility of getting him a little cheaper now, if they were willing to forgo the pick, because there won’t be that much competition.
Looking at things from a practical perspective, the lost expected value to the club will probably only go up while the amount of salary left to be sacrificed by Morales will go down. For other teams, there is nothing to be lost other than the opportunity to sign him.
So, yeah, the situation definitely transfers some leverage to Morales vis-a-vis the M’s. Guess I see that as another way of stating the “motivation” I referenced.
But it may be that this is the most leverage Morales will hold against any one team. And there is still over a month to go of foregone salary. (OTOH, for teams looking to add a bat in the summer, he will suddenly be the only option that doesn’t require giving up young talent.)
If other clubs are set on their valuations (which is probably the case, barring a major injury or other huge shift), then you can imagine it making sense for both SEA and Morales to get things done now. (Assuming, of course, that they have present interest.)
If the draft pick is truly what is preventing Morales from finding a multi-year deal (which I doubt) Morales is best off just accepting a modest 1 year deal now. He would be ineligible for a QO next year and will command a much better deal next off season if he produces well over 75% of the 2014 season instead of 50% of the season.
I agree; it is somewhat puzzling to hear that he’s discussing a one-year deal. When this whole strategy was first seriously being talked about, I remember mentioning that it would make much more sense if you were holding out for a multi-year deal and felt that the market would greatly expand after shedding the pick.
If it’s a one-year deal, though, it’s hard to imagine that you’d offset the missed earnings from missing time. Of course, maybe Morales will ultimately take home $8MM for playing just over half the year, while Cruz made that for the whole season … or some such thing.
If a multi-year deal next year is the goal, the hold out could create some negative perceptions and limits the opportunity to show your stuff over a full year. On the other hand, it limits injury risk. Bold move, for sure.
My question is why?
I read most of the comments and it made me a bit more thoughtful about it, but still I am like why?
The Orioles would have to shuffle their roster again, which I don’t think is a good idea here’s why.
I like Steve Pearce, he’s a decent contact hitter and he’s a pretty good 1st baseman.
While, I don’t know what his metrics are I am not sure if I care. He looked solid at 1st base and was a big reason why the O’s swept the double header against the Pirates last night. I like Delmon Young, I realize of course some don’t feel the same way I do, but I do like him. When he’s hot, he’s among the best hitters out there. I like Nellie Cruz, his defense is ok or acceptable to me. While the metrics thinks he’s awful, I however do not. Plus, Morales can’t play the field really and to me that’s a problem.
Quite frankly, if the O’s pitching doesn’t get itself together, that is where the Oriole war-wagon will fall apart. It won’t be because we didn’t sign Morales. It will be because out pitching can’t get thru the 6th inning!
I can’t help but wonder if these holdouts even want to play baseball anymore, or if they’re just in it for absolutely the most money possible.
Real ballplayers would be sick to their stomachs waiting for the phone to ring in May.
The guy I would most like to have from this article is Lohse.
Morales is going to the rangers and he will help the this team