Headlines

  • Dodgers Sign Miguel Rojas To Contract Extension
  • Jake McGee Retires
  • Royals Re-Sign Zack Greinke
  • Orioles To Decline Five-Year Lease Extension At Camden Yards, Seeking Longer-Term Agreement With Maryland Stadium Authority
  • Mariners, Dylan Moore Agree to Three-Year Extension
  • Blue Jays Sign Chad Green
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Rumors

MLB Trade Rumors

  • Home
  • Teams
    • AL East
      • Baltimore Orioles
      • Boston Red Sox
      • New York Yankees
      • Tampa Bay Rays
      • Toronto Blue Jays
    • AL Central
      • Chicago White Sox
      • Cleveland Guardians
      • Detroit Tigers
      • Kansas City Royals
      • Minnesota Twins
    • AL West
      • Houston Astros
      • Los Angeles Angels
      • Oakland Athletics
      • Seattle Mariners
      • Texas Rangers
    • NL East
      • Atlanta Braves
      • Miami Marlins
      • New York Mets
      • Philadelphia Phillies
      • Washington Nationals
    • NL Central
      • Chicago Cubs
      • Cincinnati Reds
      • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Pittsburgh Pirates
      • St. Louis Cardinals
    • NL West
      • Arizona Diamondbacks
      • Colorado Rockies
      • Los Angeles Dodgers
      • San Diego Padres
      • San Francisco Giants
  • About
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Tim Dierkes
    • Writing team
    • Advertise
    • Archives
  • Contact
  • Tools
    • 2022-23 MLB Free Agent List
    • Top 50 Free Agents
    • Projected Arbitration Salaries For 2023
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Arbitration Tracker
    • Agency Database
  • NBA/NFL/NHL
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • App
  • Chats
Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Mariners, Marco Gonzales Agree To Two-Year Deal

By Steve Adams and George Miller | November 1, 2018 at 7:14pm CDT

7:14pm: Heyman tweets that Gonzales agreed to drop his grievance, which could have increased his service time and, consequently, his earnings, in exchange for a current salary greater than that of a typical player with his service time.

6:13pm: According to Heyman, part of the explanation for the abnormally high value of Gonzales’ deal is the existence of a previous grievance from his time with the Cardinals, which is still pending (Twitter link). The grievance reportedly concerns the timing of a demotion. The outcome of this dispute may alter Gonzales’ service time and therefore his earning power, which would explain the $1.9MM figure.

4:40pm: The Mariners have agreed to a highly unusual two-year contract with lefty Marco Gonzales, reports Fancred’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link). The contract promises Gonzales a total of $1.9MM despite the fact that Gonzales is still two full years from reaching arbitration. Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets that Gonzales will earn $900K in 2019 and $1MM in 2020.

Presumably, then, there’s some type of club option associated with the deal that will give the Seattle organization the right to control at least one of Gonzales’ arbitration seasons at a predetermined rate. Beyond that, it’s not entirely clear why the Mariners would bump Gonzales’ pay to this extent; he earned just north of the league minimum in 2018 and could’ve been given only minimal raises over that sum in both of the next two seasons. While it’s only a minor difference, the Mariners are effectively promising as much as an additional $700-800K with this deal.

Gonzales, 27 in February, emerged in 2018 as a quality rotation piece for a Seattle team that was in desperate need of arms. While some raised an eyebrow when Seattle traded slugging outfield prospect Tyler O’Neill to St. Louis in order to acquire Gonzales, the lefty delivered plenty of value to the Mariners in his first full season with the organization. Through 166 2/3 innings (29 starts), Gonzales pitched to an even 4.00 ERA with 7.8 K/9, 1.7 BB/9, 0.92 HR/9 and a 44.9 percent ground-ball rate.

There’s also yet some reason to believe that Gonzales has more in the tank. His pristine control helped to offset his average strikeout tendencies, prompting metrics like FIP (3.43), xFIP (3.49) and SIERA (3.81) to view his 2018 results even more favorably. Meanwhile, he induced swings on pitches out of the strike zone at a whopping 35.9 percent clip — a mark that ranked fifth in the Majors and trailed only Patrick Corbin, Jacob deGrom, Carlos Carrasco and Miles Mikolas. That speaks to the deception that Gonzales brings to the table and suggests that there could eventually be more strikeouts — or at least more weak contact — in the future for the southpaw.

Share 0 Retweet 3 Send via email0

Seattle Mariners Transactions Marco Gonzales

Stephen Vogt Elects Free Agency
Main
Dodgers Re-Sign David Freese
View Comments (24)

Comments

  1. ken48tribe

    4 years ago

    Another move by DiPoto who seems to lead the league in head scratching moves.

    Reply
    • colon

      4 years ago

      Another online comment; another odd mistyping of Jerry Dipoto’s last name. Folks around here bat around .600 on its proper capitalization (1.309 OPS).

      Reply
      • NorahW

        4 years ago

        Haha, I’ve noticed that too.

        Reply
      • Stevil

        4 years ago

        I remember someone claiming that their iphone auto-corrected his name with the capitol ‘P’. I have no idea if that’s true, but they would still be guilty of not correcting the auto-correction.

        Reply
      • ken48tribe

        4 years ago

        I apologize for the mistyping of the GM’s last name.

        Reply
      • disadvantage

        4 years ago

        I always thought it was DipOto.

        Reply
        • TwinCities

          4 years ago

          My friend thought it was Nomargar Ciaparra.

    • dimitrios in la

      4 years ago

      Well it’s a good move, for sure. I love watching this guy pitch!! Hits spots and is aggressive, hides ball extremely well, does very well without plus velocity.

      Reply
  2. muskie73

    4 years ago

    This season Seattle lefthander Marco Gonzales ranked 23rd among all starters in fWAR, just ahead of Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke:

    https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=sta&lg=all&qual=30&type=8&season=2018&month=0&season1=2018&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0

    Reply
    • joepanikatthedisco

      4 years ago

      Where did Andrew Cashner rank last year?

      Reply
  3. nutbunnies

    4 years ago

    Not unusual if you play MLB The Show or worship at the altar of Cost Certainty!

    Reply
    • Steve Adams

      4 years ago

      It’s still unusual even factoring in cost certainty. The Mariners could’ve controlled Gonzales for something like $1.2MM over the next two seasons if they wanted. They had total say over his salary.

      The existence of a pending grievance makes more sense though.

      Reply
      • dshires4

        4 years ago

        Why is $700k by your own estimation an issue? It’s a gesture of good faith for a guy that just took a monster step in the right direction after a TJ surgery. He gets a pay bump, and it’s still less than $1M AAV over the course of two years. Hardly detrimental.

        Reply
        • jbigz12

          4 years ago

          His future arb salaries are based on what he makes now. He’ll get a raise on 1.9 Instead of 1.2. Then he’ll get another raise the next year on his salary ARB 1 salary and so on. When the club has team control they usually don’t cost themselves extra millions of dollars doing this sort of thing because the raise is NOT just 750K. It’s an added expense that wasn’t required nor did the team benefit from doing so. The presence of whatever grievance Gonzales filed seems like it influenced this move.

        • Steve Adams

          4 years ago

          I never called it an issue. I said it’s unusual that the Mariners are paying Marco Gonzales at the same level the Red Sox and Cubs chose to pay Mookie Betts and Kris Bryant during their pre-arb years. That, unequivocally, is unusual.

          Lots of pre-arb players took huge steps forward in 2018. Most of them will get a raise south of $50K. Not sure why you took offense to that being pointed out in fairly innocuous fashion.

      • b2bjacks

        4 years ago

        Wade LeBlanc possible 31 mill over the next 4 years. LeBlanc and Gonzales are getting their due. They both had a nice year and deserved more than what they were paid. You’ve known Jerry in Cali and you have known Jerry under prior Mariner ownership. He’s getting free reign now. He’s not the norm, he never will be!!

        Reply
  4. citizen

    4 years ago

    So 800k over two years is considered abnormally high compared to mlbtr prediction of Harper getting $31 mil and up?
    Go figure.

    Reply
    • jbigz12

      4 years ago

      Considering his future arb salaries are based upon that salary yes, yes it is. The multiplier on this raise for arb is much much higher.

      Reply
      • Matt Russell

        4 years ago

        It’s not enough money to significantly influence his arbitration dollars.
        The numbers that will blow up his arbitration number are the 3.43 FIP and 1.22 WHIP.

        Reply
    • Steve Adams

      4 years ago

      On what planet can pre-arbitration salaries be compared with free-agent salaries? No one ever said Marco Gonzales is being overpaid or anything. I said it’s strange to see any player receive $1.9MM for two pre-arbitration years when most would be paid $800K less than that. It’s a factual statement that has no bearing on Marco Gonzales’ open-market value. If we were a free agent right now, he might make $10MM+ per season on a multi-year deal. That’s beside the point, which was that this type of arrangement, on a multi-year, guaranteed deal, has virtually no precedent.

      That there’s a former grievance tied to it makes it more understandable, but I still can’t think of a single other contract of this nature.

      Reply
  5. ck420

    4 years ago

    Pay the man he deserves it, carried the team till his arm was done. If he can build on this season he’ll be worth it

    Reply
  6. ColossusOfClout

    4 years ago

    What do the Mariners care if he drops his grievance, the Cardinals were the ones accused… I don’t get it.

    Reply
    • JFactor

      4 years ago

      Because it could affect his arb pay outs which they will be paying

      Reply
    • JFactor

      4 years ago

      In the end, his service clock will remain the same instead of potentially moving up, affecting the number of years of control the M’s have. They get that in exchange for paying him some salary

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.
Log in Register

ad: 300x250_1_MLB

    Top Stories

    Dodgers Sign Miguel Rojas To Contract Extension

    Jake McGee Retires

    Royals Re-Sign Zack Greinke

    Orioles To Decline Five-Year Lease Extension At Camden Yards, Seeking Longer-Term Agreement With Maryland Stadium Authority

    Mariners, Dylan Moore Agree to Three-Year Extension

    Blue Jays Sign Chad Green

    Rays Extend Yandy Diaz

    Dexter Fowler Announces Retirement

    Mets Sign Jeff McNeil To Four-Year Extension

    Red Sox, Marlins Swap Matt Barnes For Richard Bleier

    Darren O’Day Announces Retirement

    Braves Extend Manager Brian Snitker Through 2025

    Rays Sign Pete Fairbanks To Extension

    Royals Sign Aroldis Chapman To One-Year Deal

    Athletics Sign Jesús Aguilar

    Orioles Acquire Cole Irvin From A’s

    Astros Name Dana Brown General Manager

    Rays Extend Jeffrey Springs

    Royals, Red Sox Swap Adalberto Mondesi For Josh Taylor

    Red Sox Designate Matt Barnes For Assignment

    Recent

    Mets To Hire Carlos Beltran As Special Assistant To The GM

    AL Notes: Ohtani, Angels, Vespi, Yoshida, Red Sox

    MLBTR Chat Transcript

    Rays Notes: Adam, Peralta, Extensions

    Twins Sign Locke St. John To Minor League Deal

    Yankees Sign Ian Hamilton To Minor League Deal

    Quick Hits: Muñoz, Sadler, Vavra

    Brandon Crawford Discusses Offseason, Upcoming Campaign

    Dodgers Notes: Valenzuela, Urias, Vargas, Muncy

    Giants, Logan Webb Have Talked About Long-Term Extension

    MLBTR Newsletter - Hot stove highlights in your inbox, five days a week

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • Offseason Outlook Series
    Trade Rumors App for iOS and Android

    MLBTR Features

    MLBTR Features

    • Go Ad-Free
    • Projected Arbitration Salaries For 2023
    • 2022-23 MLB Free Agent List
    • MLB Player Chats
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Agency Database
    • MLBTR On Twitter
    • MLBTR On Facebook
    • Team Facebook Pages
    • How To Set Up Notifications For Breaking News
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors

    Rumors By Team

    • Angels Rumors
    • Astros Rumors
    • Athletics Rumors
    • Blue Jays Rumors
    • Braves Rumors
    • Brewers Rumors
    • Cardinals Rumors
    • Cubs Rumors
    • Diamondbacks Rumors
    • Dodgers Rumors
    • Giants Rumors
    • Guardians Rumors
    • Mariners Rumors
    • Marlins Rumors
    • Mets Rumors
    • Nationals Rumors
    • Orioles Rumors
    • Padres Rumors
    • Phillies Rumors
    • Pirates Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Rays Rumors
    • Red Sox Rumors
    • Reds Rumors
    • Rockies Rumors
    • Royals Rumors
    • Tigers Rumors
    • Twins Rumors
    • White Sox Rumors
    • Yankees Rumors

    ad: 160x600_MLB

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives
    • Feeds by Team

    MLBTR INFO

    • Advertise
    • About
    • Commenting Policy
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

    hide arrowsFOX Sports Engage Network scroll to top
    Close

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version