The A’s announced on Tuesday that they’ve released veteran righty John Axford. The former Brewers/Rockies/Indians closer was designated for assignment last week and is now a free agent.
Axford, 34, signed a two-year, $10MM contract with Oakland prior to the 2016 season and had a respectable first year, logging a 3.97 ERA with 8.2 K/9, 4.1 BB/9 and a 54.2 percent ground-ball rate in 65 2/3 innings. That 4.1 BB/9 rate was his best mark since 2013, but his control once again took a step back in 2017. Through just 21 innings this year, Axford has issued 17 walks and also hit two batters. On the plus side, he’s also picked up 21 strikeouts, posted a 50 percent ground-ball rate and averaged 95 mph on his fastball.
He’s earning $5.5MM this season in the second year of that contract, but any team that signs Axford will owe him just the pro-rated portion of the league minimum (for any time spent in the Majors). That amounts to about $181K through season’s end, and that number will continue to decrease with each passing day. Any money he is paid by his new team will be subtracted from what the A’s owe him for the rest of the year (~$1.86MM).
Brewers please get him a Minor League deal. No risk and definitely worth a try!
Liked this guy… It just did not work for the A’s…
Rockies reunion?
First thing that comes to mind:
Phillies, Braves or Blue Jays should get him?
So if I understand correctly, a released player won’t make any more money by signing with a new team than he already would have, because his original team’s salary obligation is offset by the amount of his new salary.
What would happen in a situation where a released player drew enough interest to have multiple offers… would the money even matter?
Say a player like Hector Olivera made it back to MLB and received a $1M/yr and a $2M/yr offer: is there any benefit to taking the bigger offer, since any amount would be offset from his existing contract? For the same reason, would a team ever offer a released player more than the minimum salary (since he’d make the same net salary no matter how little they offer)?
You just answered your question with your last sentence. The only way a player can make more money is if someone offers them more than their last contract (which would never happen because they were released for a reason.) it all comes down to which team offers them a contract and what that team has to offer.
I figured as much. I started thinking about this when Sandoval accepted a minor league contract with multiple team option years — I thought, wouldn’t he just want a short deal so he can re-enter free agency ASAP if he (miraculously) rebounds?
Turns out it doesn’t matter because his salary is capped over the life of his existing Red Sox contract.
Exactly. Do you want to play on a winning team where you’ll most likely see less appearances, or sign with a rebuilding team where you may get more appearances and a chance to reestablish your value? Also, do you want to sign a major league deal with a team or a minor league deal?
Olivera is done
No mlb gm will touch him
He was great for the A’s last year… Hope he finds a new gig soon…
I see the Brewers reunion coming. We’d have a past closer party. He can’t be worse than the fearsome foursome.
The Phillies need him
Brewers should sign him to minor league and send him to AA Biloxi. (Not C springs where pitchers go to die.). No harm, no foul if it doesn’t work.
If he was released from the Giants, the Dodgers would have picked him up just out of habit.
Please don’t come back to Milwaukee. Don’t need to watch the home run derby again.
just couldn’t overcome the injury this season,and got off to a bad start once he returned and now with the youth movement just wasn’t a good fit,I hope he gets back on track and continues his career
He could be the closer instantly in Minnesota. Wouldn’t be a bad pickup. They didn’t totally sell off as expected, so if Minnesota catches lightning in a bottle and makes a run (not expecting this, just tossing it out there), this piece could be useful.
I love axford and if we weren’t still in the hunt I’d say brewers for sure but our bullpen was just revamped to non axford arms. Can’t go back to that
I always thought the Jays should invest in this low risk Canadian. Get him Atkins!