NL East Notes: Revere, Marlins, Franco, Phillies

The Nationals announced today that offseason acquisition Ben Revere has landed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right oblique muscle. In his place, the club has recalled outfielder Matt den Dekker from Triple-A Syracuse. As MLB.com’s Bill Ladson writes, the Nationals didn’t think the injury severe at the time, but Revere will now undergo an MRI tomorrow after waking up Wednesday feeling increased soreness. “We didn’t think we could go short for a long period of time,” said manager Dusty Baker. “Instead of letting it linger, we’ll take care of it right now early.” The Nats will turn to Michael Taylor in Revere’s absence which, for the time being, doesn’t appear likely to be prolonged in nature.

More from the NL East…

• Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald examines the reasons behind the Marlins’ relatively minor payroll in spite of projections prior to the construction of Marlins Park. The largest problem, Jackson writes, is that their TV contract with FOX Sports is the worst of any MLB club, affording them a mere $18-20MM annually. Comparatively, the Yankees and Dodgers are north of $300MM in annual rights fees, while the Phillies, Rangers and Mariners all have TV deal with average annual values north of $140MM. The Marlins also have yet to broker a deal for the naming rights of the stadium, which could yield $5MM+ in annual value. President David Samson says the club is negotiating with FOX and seeking a partner for the stadium’s naming rights, and Samson also discussed future payrolls. Most interestingly, perhaps, he notes that the maximum percentage of payroll the team might be comfortable dedicating to one player would be around 25 percent. As Jackson notes, with Giancarlo Stanton’s salary set to hit $32MM in 2022, the Fish would need a payroll of $128MM to make that number hold true.
• In light of the Pirates’ extension of Gregory Polanco, David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily News explores a theoretical Maikel Franco extension for the Phillies. Because Franco will finish the season in the same service class as Polanco but Franco has had more success at the plate, Murphy writes that any deal would need to surpass Polanco’s $35MM guarantee. Murphy proposes a six-year deal (beginning in 2017) that would guarantee Franco $48MM, noting that if Franco continues to perform as he has throughout his limited big league tenure, his first arbitration case could compare favorably to that of Josh Donaldson, who landed a $4.3MM salary as a Super Two player (which Franco projects to be as well). Murphy looks at the risk for the Phillies in the deal — other well-regarded young third basemen like Brett Lawrie, Ian Stewart and Will Middlebrooks, for instance, could not sustain early success — while also touching on the luxury tax and cost-saving benefits the Phillies would reap if Franco blossoms into a star.
• Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com notes that the Phillies’ rebuild has resulted in a roughly $50MM drop in the club’s payroll from Opening Day 2015 to Opening Day 2016. Team president Andy MacPhail says that the Phillies still expect to be active in free agency once the club has developed a young core of talent to supplement. “It’s an artery that we’ll use to improve — not the only one, but it’s there to help us improve and fill in where need be,” said MacPhail. “Ownership, as it has demonstrated repeatedly in the past, is committed to improving and building a winner and there’s no reason to believe that will subside.” MacPhail added that he doesn’t expect the Phillies’ payroll to be in the current range (~$85MM) for too long.