Free agent lefty Franklin Morales, most recently of the Rockies, has moved his representation to the Boras Corporation, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports on Twitter. The 28-year-old had a rough 2014. He put up a 5.37 ERA over 142 1/3 innings, including 22 starts, while striking out a below-average (against his career) 6.3 batters and walking 4.1 per nine.
Here’s more from Colorado and the rest of the National League:
- The Rockies‘ extension of a qualifying offer to free agent outfielder Michael Cuddyer was the big surprise on the QO front. Colorado’s rationale for the move, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets, is to remain flexible to trade from its outfield depth. Cuddyer, meanwhile, had hoped to land a three-year deal, per Rosenthal, and the offer makes that a more difficult proposition. In my view, it makes little sense to create outfield depth to trade from by adding a contract with negative trade value; the move seems irrational unless the club has good reason to believe that Cuddyer will turn down the QO.
- While teams can always simply price in the loss of a draft choice in assessing how much to offer a compensation-bound player, the presence of the QO can in some cases be a significant enough deterrent that it keeps a team out of the market altogether. That appears to be the case for the Mets vis-a-vis Cuddyer, as Marc Carig of Newday reports that New York had been quite interested in pursuing the veteran but has little interest in giving up the 15th overall pick in doing so.
- The Mets may, however, be more willing to pursue non-QO-bound Michael Morse, according to Mike Puma of the New York Post. Morse would represent an option in the outfield and, perhaps, part-time platoon mate at first.
- Giants righty Sergio Romo hopes to re-sign with San Francisco, he told MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM (via host Jim Bowden). But the former closer is looking forward to testing the market, and should draw plenty of interest.
- Cuban slugger Yasmany Tomas worked out at third base in a tryout yesterday with the Diamondbacks, according to a tweet from his agent Jay Alou Jr. The 24-year-old had been talked about primarily as a corner outfielder. Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com first tweeted that Tomas had spent time with the D’backs.
For all future FA’s he needs to accept the offer. They need to prove that they will accept if a team offers it to a fringe player and that will stop teams from offering them in the future to those types of players.
Cuddyer has more options than accept or become a FA. He can re-sign with the Rockies for a longer term but lower AAV contract. Which, I suspect, is what is being negotiated right now.
Unless, of course, the Rockies do not want to sign Cuddyer to a long term contract.
I think they do (well, in this case long term means 2 or 3 years). I think they want to trade Cargo, essentially save the difference between the two players’ salaries going forward, and use that $$ on some pressing needs.
I can see that. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out. If he turns down the QO and doesn’t sign a LTC with the Rockies, they will likely keep Cargo. If it’s the other way around, Cargo is likely gone.
I agree with this. QO is beginning to look like a sure way to get a draft pick for a high to med-high tier FA.
Not a bad contract either so i guess he would be taking for the union’s sake
The dbacks should trade away Hill and Montero for some decent pitching prospects… They could use the extra payroll to sign Tomas as a third basemen. It’s sets them up for a young but bright future as an infield with Goldy, Didi, Owings, and Tomas.
But nobody knows if Tomas is a capable enough 3rd basemen. If I remember correctly, Dayan Viciedo was moved from 3rd to OF because of his size and terrible defense, and I would put Tomas in the same physique as Viciedo so, he’s better off in the outfield. Now, if I were the D’backs, I’d consider him for their OF, but not 3rd Base.
No one is gonna take Montero or Hill.
You aren’t getting decent pitching prospects for Hill and Montero. You actually probably aren’t getting anything for Hill unless you eat contract
I’m gonna disagree with Mr. Puma there. Mike Morse is not a good option for the Mets. Granderson was terrible in RF and Morse would be extremely bad in LF; Lagares is a GG but it doesn’t make up for dreck to his left and right. Duda’s also going to get the majority of playing time at 1B. The Mets would be much better off going with Alex Rios and platooning him with Matt den Dekker if they’re looking for old, righty outfielders. They’d also consider trading for Céspedes and Van Slyke before going after Morse.
I both agree and disagree. I want Morse, but more as a bench bat, backup OF, and platoon partner for Duda. Duda hit .180/.264/.252 against lefties last year. It would be nice to have a righty to spell him, and maybe make occasional starts in left. But yes, I would also rather Alex Rios, or maybe even reach for Melky depending on price
Agreed. If the Mets are banking on Morse and Duda to be the main power guys in the lineup it’s an issue. The Mets should seriously be considering a playoff run this year, There are other options I’d prefer to spend the money on.
I hear you and recognize Duda’s limitations against LHP but feel that a guy like Campbell (or ideally Van Slyke) could do a fine job while offering more positional versatility. Even moving Flores to first against lefties with Tejada at SS would be a major upgrade over Duda’s career line against LHP.
Morse would be a waste of a roster spot if all he could do is DH in interleague, pinch hit, and platoon with Duda. He also wouldn’t accept a contract for that scenario. I’d rather go with a guy like Campbell or someone beyond the organization with more positional versatility – someone who could actually play an OF position ideally.
Morse hits righties equally to lefties. Platooning him doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Who ever said that you have to hit poorly against righties to be the second half of a platoon?
I read some of those trade articles about Cespedes to the Mets… Most of the proposals won’t happen. Niese/Gee/Murphy make no sense for Boston. Boston needs top tier arms not 3-5 guys (they have plenty of them).
I could see a package of Cespedes plus prospects maybe Margot for Wheeler, otherwise Boston proabbly wouldn’t be intersted
I have a hard time seeing Boston trading Cespedes in part of a deal for anything short of a #2 pitcher, an upgrade in the OF (like Heyward), or a top prospect like Tijuan Walker
I agree, but Céspedes+Margot would definitely be an unreasonably weak offer for Wheeler.
Well, since no one has ever accepted the QO it may be that the Rockies think that no one WILL accept it, so you may as well get a draft pick out of it. It depends on whether Cuddyer and his agent see him as in the same tier as Stephen Drew and Kendrys Morales, or if he is in the upper tier who are *worth* the draft pick. Free Agency sort of reminds me of that game show Deal or No Deal. Everyone always wants more; sometimes it works out, and well, sometimes you are Stephen Drew. Either way, the Rockies win.
To be honest I think if Drew was not a Boras client he would have accepted the QO last offseason.
The Rockies don’t win if they are stuck with this contract and Cuddyer only plays 49 games again.
It is true that would be bad for the Rockies, but I would say that they still *win* because a one-year contract,even a terrible one, is gone after that year.
Agreed.
Unless you wind up “replacing Gonzalez with Cuddy.
By that logic, why did they not give Anderson, Belise, Masset and Morales all QOs? No one ever accepted one, so why should they?
The implied premise is that it still has to be worth it for the team if they do take it.
EDIT: That sentence is kind of a mess, sorry. What I mean by saying this is only for top and middle-tier FA’s is that teams wouldn’t offer it to every FA, only to those players who are elite or at least deemed *good enough,* so that if the player does call their bluff and take the QO the team would consider it *worth* the risk of a one-year overpay in the first place.
This is interesting. Maybe Tomas could be a Martin Prado type?
I actually disagree about Cuddyer with you. The whole reason to offer a QO to a good but 35 year old player is hopefully they will decline it as they are looking for more long term protection. Being 35, they might not produce as in years past, thus making a 1 year deal risky and a bad idea. The Rockies perspective, is they get a draft pick for the compensation. Also, if he does agree to the QO, he is a very sought after Mid season trade acquisition on a year 1 year deal where he doesn’t hinder the new teams future. Also, he’ll have around 8 mill at halfway, and the Rockies can eat 3mill and still get 1-3 prospects. By offering him the QO, they will receive value regardless of the outcome unlike not extending him the QO and him signing elsewhere.
I doubt the 15.3 mil will overcome the risks or be worth the prospects acquired in such a scenario. The risk of him doing very well to get more is the same of him doing poorly and getting nothing. No team will pay the remaining 7 mil of that contract and still give something back in return so the prospects will have to be worth more than a first round pick for a mediocre product. I don’t see it being worth the risk he might accept at all unless they know he won’t or it’s good press/fan pleaser.
With the Rockies also shopping Tulo and Cargo it also gives Cuddyer the notion to not accept if he wants to have a shot at playing on a winning club. I also, stated that the Rockies would eat salary in a trade. It’s rather a low risk, high reward situation.
Really, a Rockies FO move that seems illogical? The devil you say!