6:27pm: Heyman tweets that Alvarez will receive $100K for making his 12th start and another $100K for making his 15th start. He will receive $150K for his 18th start, $200K for his 21st start, $300K for his 24th start, $350K for his 26th start and $400K upon making his 28th start.
5:56pm: The Athletics have announced the signing of right-hander Henderson Alvarez to a one-year deal. Previous reports had indicated that the deal was close, with Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, Yahoo’s Jeff Passan and SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo all contributing details. Alvarez reportedly will receive a $4.25MM guarantee and can earn up to $1.6MM worth of incentives on his one-year deal as well. Alvarez, a client of the Beverly Hills Sports Council, is under club control through the 2017 season via arbitration after being somewhat surprisingly non-tendered by the Marlins earlier this winter.
The 25-year-old Alvarez missed most of the 2015 season due to shoulder problems that ultimately required season-ending surgery in July, and that was enough for Miami to cut him loose rather than risk paying him roughly $4MM (per MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz’s projection) and watching him struggle through similar injury problems in 2016. This past season, Alvarez was the Marlins’ Opening Day starter but totaled just 22 1/3 innings of 6.45 ERA ball and didn’t pitch after May 22. However, he reportedly won’t be ready for the start of the season (though he could return within the first month of the ’16 campaign).
However, Alvarez was outstanding for the Marlins in 2014, when he totaled 187 innings with a 2.65 ERA, 5.3 K/9, 1.6 BB/9 and a 53.8 percent ground-ball rate. Though Alvarez has never been one to miss many bats, he possesses pristine control and has kept the ball on the ground at a 55 percent clip in his big league career to date. As many as 10 teams reportedly showed interest in Alvarez before he signed with the A’s.
Assuming his shoulder is healthy, Alvarez will slot into the Oakland rotation behind Sonny Gray, alongside right-hander Jesse Hahn and lefty Rich Hill (who was reportedly promised a rotation spot when signing his one-year deal with the A’s). Oakland has a deep crop of rotation candidates to fill out the final spot, including Chris Bassitt, Kendall Graveman, Sean Nolin, Aaron Brooks and Jarrod Parker. Top prospect Sean Manaea, acquired in the Ben Zobrist trade with Kansas City, is a former first-round pick that isn’t too far off either, having reached the Double-A level and thrown 49 2/3 innings there this past season. With the exception of Hill, all of the names listed are controlled beyond the 2016 season, giving the A’s a wide variety of options both in terms of their rotation and in trade scenarios.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Best thing out of this article is that Richie Hill is getting a rotation spot. I want him to succeed since I went to the 9.0 CG he pitched
We really might be looking at the new R.A. Dickey here. Closest thing I’ve seen to it.
Great move by Alvarez. Go to a team you know will likely trade you if you pitch well. It also means you are likely pitching for a contender at the end of the year and since you are traded there is no QO going into FA again next year.
He’s not a free agent next winter.
Gotta love Oakland and their sneaky moves, hill will pitch well in the coliseum
Love this move for Oakland, for a couple of reasons:
1. It will still keep open a spot in the rotation for one of their young talented pitchers for about a month and a half.
2. While keeping number 1 in mind, it will also allow the A’s the opportunity to keep down the time clock for one of their young studs, after Alvarez is healthy and starting.
3. The risk to reward ratio clearly favors the A’s. If proven healthy and along career norms, the A’s can ask for a very nice package come the trade deadline or in the off-season, for a young cost-controlled starter.
4. This will add another quality arm, at the level of around a #3 level starter, to use up innings to assist the A’s in limit counts for some of their younger pitchers who play into the A’s long-term plans.
I do not see any scenario, in which the A’s take a loss here, barring a major set-back or another injury to Alvarez. Even with that being said, teams and front offices are taking that risk with every other pitcher, and player for that matter, on their roster.
All in all, excellent move by the Athletics, and I’m looking forward to seeing this move pay off for both them and Alvarez, as he continues his journey back to being a solid, young major league pitcher.
I was really hoping the braves would of gotten him innings eater and could pick up some wins for us but great get for As glad Yankees Bosox and and NL west lost out on him
I completely agree, and thought the Braves had a good chance at getting him. I figured maybe Alvarez wanted to stay in a division he was familiar with and had great success in…So, I thought Atlanta maybe had a decent chance…And apparently, I thought wrong…lol
Although, in my mind, that decent chance did indeed lessen when the Braves signed Chacin…
Regardless, like I said before, great pick up for the Athletics…Love the signing for both the A’s and Alvarez.
Honestly very surprised the Marlins didn’t bring him back to Miami, good move by Oakland, when healthy he’s a solid number 3 starter
Good signing by Oakland, I think he can be good if he stays healthy
Is anyone else not seeing new articles?
Yea, pretty sure MLBTradeRumors is going through some issues right now.