Mariners right-hander Felix Hernandez’s contract expires after next season, but he doesn’t expect it to be his last deal. “Oh yeah, I’ve got more years to play. I’m not going to retire,” Hernandez told Jon Heyman of Fancred, adding that he has an affinity for Seattle and would like to continue his career in the only major league city he has ever called home. Whether the Mariners feel similarly is up in the air, as Hernandez has fallen off in recent seasons since inking a seven-year, $175MM extension prior to the 2014 campaign. Hernandez was among the game’s best starters then, but he’s now sporting a career-worst 5.11 ERA over 100 1/3 innings in his age-32 season.
More on a couple other AL teams:
- Tigers center fielder Leonys Martin is headed to the 10-day disabled list, Jason Beck of MLB.com tweets. Martin departed Detroit’s game on Sunday with a left hamstring cramp – a similar injury to the one that sent him to the DL in early May. Hamstring troubles aside, Martin has been a solid contributor for the Tigers this year, having hit .257/.327/.431 with nine home runs and 2.2 fWAR over 303 plate appearances. The 30-year-old looks like a logical trade candidate as a result, as MLBTR’s Jeff Todd wrote this week, but that’s up in the air given Martin’s health issues.
- Injured right-hander Garrett Richards could return to the Angels’ rotation as early as Wednesday, per Ian Quillen of MLB.com. Richards went to the DL on June 15 with a left hamstring strain, and he’s among a slew of injured Angels pitchers who are currently on the shelf. Thanks in part to their host of injuries, the Halos are amid a slide in which they’ve fallen to 11 1/2 games behind AL West-leading Houston and 10 1/2 back of a wild-card spot. The 30-year-old Richards, a pending free agent, did his best to keep the Halos in the hunt before going on the DL, as he recorded a 3.42 ERA with 10.27 K/9, 4.21 BB/9 and a 50 percent groundball rate over 68 1/3 innings.
- Although 39-year-old Tigers designated hitter Victor Martinez is struggling, the fact that this may be his last season means manager Ron Gardenhire will continue to give him opportunities (via Evan Woodbery of MLive.com). “We all know what’s going on with him. It’s the last year of his contract,” Gardenhire said. “Right now he feels really good, he’s feeling great, so we’re letting him play. We’ll get him more breaks as we go along. But like I said, if this is his swan song, or whatever you want to call it, I’m going to make sure he gets as many opportunities as he needs here as we go along. Hopefully he’ll keep having quality at-bats.” While Martinez has been an offensive standout for most of his career, he’s now in the throes of his third subpar season in the past four years, having batted a meager .238/.293/.321 with the majors’ fifth-worst ISO (.083) in 290 trips to the plate. He’s in the final season of a four-year, $68MM deal.
Hernandez has regressed terribly over the past four years, he must be crazy thinking any team wants to sign him to some huge contract when he’s barely even a major league caliber starting pitcher anymore.
I agree, the last couple of years he has declined. Let’s see how he finishes the season.
Where does it say he’s demanding some huge contract? Dude just wants to play…
Right, Yovani Gallardo has been a nightmare the last 3 seasons and he’s still starting games in the major leagues. King Felix will have a MLB contract next season for sure. The dollars won’t look so good but he’ll have a home.
Yes he will have a MLB contract for sure and it will be with Seattle and it is for a very good dollar amount since he’s under contract through 2019 season as it states in the article.
No way Felix comes any where close to his salary with his next deal. Would be lucky to get a minor league deal at this point.
If the Mariners don’t bring him back, I think he’d still get a job with someone like the Padres or Rangers. Padres like to pick up old guys and see if they have anything left in the tank (Weaver, Ross, Richard, etc.)
Sad but true.
I agree he will not get a big deal, but he would get a minor-league deal from probably every single team and will likely end up with a one-year Major league deal.
Sign him as a late inning reliever. It’s hard to hate in Felix, he pitched his heart out while the mariners did nothing to help him. He deserves the respect of a smaller deal. And I’d imagine the mariners fo feels the same.
One problem…… Felix will never agree to a move to the bullpen. He can easily be a 4-5 starter on any team in the league
unfortunately that’s a stretch. Felix is working on his second straight unproductive season. I’m sure he could find a spot in 10-12 teams rotation but at his current form, not every team in the league would have a spot for that. I was thinking he may have a shot as a pretty decent reliever if he ever wanted to kick the tires.
Maybe he can reinvent himself and have a late-career resurgence a la Jake Peavy. I’d love to see it from such an amazing player
Because of his reported affinity for Seattle, Felix Hernandez could sign a modest extension with the Mariners after the 2019 season … or not.
In his six June starts, Hernandez posted an ERA of 3.71 with 30 strikeouts and only eight walks. Hernandez has a solid hold on a slot in the Seattle rotation, albeit at the opposite end of the rotation from his heyday.
With Seattle now 23 games above .500, Hernandez could make his first postseason appearance (although the veteran would not start a Wild Card game). His postseason hopes may lie with the Mariners wresting the division from a Houston club that currently has only a half-game lead over Seattle.
Sadly, it’s not like the Ms have a ton of options to replace him in aaa. At least he can still pitch 150 innings and throw some good games every now and then. Plus I wouldn’t get any more yellow t shirts without him, which surely is reason enough to retain him for minimal dollars.
If the Mariners don’t sign him, a rebuilding team will sign him. He isn’t going to get a big contract, but I expect he could land a 2 year deal.
I think he signed that deal before the 2013 campaign….otherwise it won’t expire until 2020.
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
7 year contract….or is the 7th year player option?
I was wondering the same thing
It was before the 2013 season.
Mariners better not resign him.
King Felix signed with a team that did not support him on the field. Yeah the money was great but still the guy did nothing t enjoy a postseason run. Now, the Ms are playing better and King Feliz is no good anymore. It is what it is…
I don’t know if they never supported him. They signed Robbie cano to a huge deal many years ago. Their plans didn’t work out as expected but they tried. Not like the blew it up and didn’t attempt to be good.
It is nice of Tigers to forego trying to win games and let the corpse of Victor Martinez have his “swan song or whatever you want to call it”
Just means they are closer to 1-1
Victor Martinez is not helping the team in any capacity.
Sure he is. He’s delaying Stewart’s free agency clock.
“King Felix”… What exactly has this guy done to warrant that nickname lol
He was a dominant pitcher. He did fall off last season and the beginning of this season, but he is still a very good pitcher. As stated previously, his june numbers are very good. He won a Cy Young while pitching on one of the worst teams in the MLB that year.
I’m not a fan of the nickname but in the 10 seasons from 2006-2015 Felix Hernandez led all pitchers in fWAR:
link to fangraphs.com
Hernandez earned the nickname over that decade.