Non-Tender Notes: Alvarez, Mejia, Holland

The Marlins face a difficult call on whether to tender a contract to injured righty Henderson Alvarez, as Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald explains. He’s one of many interesting names that could end up on the free agent market if they aren’t tendered a contract today. Click here to find a list of possible non-tender candidates.

Here are the latest rumors as decisions begin to be reported, with all arbitration projections via MLB Trade Rumors:

• The Mets are planning to tender volatile reliever Jenrry Mejia a contract, ESPNNewYork.com’s Adam Rubin recently reported. Mejia’s talent easily supports his $2.6MM projected salary — which would match his earnings from last year — but he’s now twice been suspended for PEDs. Of course, that also makes it easier to roll the dice from a value perspective, as Mejia will miss a good chunk of 2016 and will be able to be ramped up before returning. In a sense, then, New York could be pre-buying a late-season pen reinforcement at a cut rate, in addition to maintaining its future control rights over a player who won’t be able to accrue enough innings to command a huge arb raise.
• Agent Scott Boras says that he doesn’t expect the Pirates to non-tender Pedro Alvarez, as Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes. “Pedro has extraordinary power,” said Boras. “He’s got a history, when he plays every day, of hitting 35 home runs and driving in 90 to 100 runs. And he’s done it in a ballpark (PNC Park) that’s very tough on left-handed hitters. That’s something most teams don’t have.” Of course, the question remains whether that skill set is worth a projected $8.1MM, particularly when Alvarez has struggled so badly in the field. It will certainly be interesting to see how Pittsburgh handles the slugger today.
• While it’s long been clear that the Royals wouldn’t offer a straight tender to Tommy John patient Greg Holland, given that he’s projected at $11.3MM but probably won’t pitch next year, it’s now increasingly apparent that the team won’t reach any other deal with him before tonight’s deadline, Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star tweets. That means that the ace closer will hit the open market, where he’ll be an interesting player to watch. Holland would presumably be a candidate for some kind of multi-year arrangement that would allow him to complete his rehab process and return to MLB action in 2017. Kansas City remains interested in working something out with the former All Star, McCullough adds.
• The Cubs are likely to tender contracts to all eligible players today, ESPNChicago.com’s Jesse Rogers reports. That’s not a big surprise, given the solid list the club has compiled. Chris Coghlan is the only arb-eligible position player, while Jake Arrieta leads a length group of arms which also includes Pedro Strop, Justin Grimm, Clayton Richard, Hector Rondon, Travis Wood, Ryan Cook, and Rex Brothers. (Brothers has already agreed to a deal for 2016.)