Fresh off one of his most effective seasons as a starter, free-agent right-hander Trevor Cahill has drawn interest from “four to five” clubs this winter, according to Jon Heyman of Fancred. Cahill now has “multiyear opportunities,” Heyman adds on Twitter.
It took Cahill until late March to sign last offseason, when he reunited with his first major league team, the Athletics, for a guaranteed $1.5MM. That proved to be a bargain for Oakland, which saw Cahill serve as an important part of a patchwork rotation and help the club to a wild-card berth. Cahill finished first among A’s starters in fWAR (2.0), second in starts (20) and third in innings (110), and managed a quality 3.76 ERA/3.54 FIP with 8.18 K/9, 3.35 BB/9, a 53.4 percent groundball rate and a personal-best 11.7 percent swinging-strike mark. He also dealt with multiple injuries along the way, though, which has often been the case throughout his career.
Cahill was a prolific innings eater with the A’s and Diamondbacks from 2009-12, a span in which he ranked 29th in the majors in frames (925 2/3) and twice exceeded the 200 barrier. Since then, however, Cahill has only gone beyond the 145-inning plateau once – when he amassed 146 2/3 with Arizona in 2013 – thanks to both injuries and time spent as a reliever. But Cahill, who’s also a former Brave, Cub, Royal and Padre, has functioned primarily as a starter since 2017 and turned in decent results when healthy. With the Padres and Royals two years ago, he combined for 14 starts and recorded a 4.38 ERA/4.30 FIP with 9.75 K/9, 4.13 BB/9, leading Oakland to take a low-cost flier on him an offseason ago.
Now, thanks to his reemergence as a viable starter over the past couple years, it appears Cahill’s poised to reel in a far more lucrative contract than he received nine months ago. MLBTR predicts Cahill will land a two-year, $22MM pact as he gears up for his age-31 season.
San Diego where you at
People like Cahill on multi year deals and making upwards of 22m is why the salary structures of journeymen (at best) players is out of whack.
He’s still a back end starter on a 2nd division club.. If that who ought to be fighting for a job during ST. this guy has no out pitch and is command/control that has to be pin point every time on the mound to not get massacred.
He was a pretty effective starter on a 97 win team, not a 2nd division club, whatever that is.
Yes, very effective for 110 innings. Not exactly the level durability that demands a multi year deal. Anibal Sanchez is the better signing for the teams looking for a fifth starter.
what are second division teams?
Below .500 teams. When the league was eight teams or six-team divisions, the lower- half places were 2nd division.
Its not like that anymore tho
Cahill has a true 4 pitch mix. Not every guy In your rotation needs to be lighting the gun up. With his injury history I’d prefer a 2/16 with incentives like Andrew Cashner got in Baltimore given his injury history. But he’s been a better pitcher than cash who received a 16MM guarantee over 2 years. However, given his injuru concerns It wouldn’t surprise me to see him with a deal w a lower guarantee.
“2nd division club” that was one of 5 teams to make the postseason and not one of the 11 teams that didn’t. Grow up, troll.
Trolls are ones here who babble nonsense on just about every topic or add things that are meaningless. I don’t post on that many, nor add nonsense. Do you?
Let’s see who posts on near about every topic.
Very ironic for you to call someone else a troll, you troll.
Yeah, Oakland made the postseason, so they obviously aren’t a “2nd division club”. Probably more misinformed than trolling
What about 2010? We won 18 games and a sub 3 ERA? What about 2012? We won 12 and had a sub 3.50 ERA? I think 2010 was his best season as a starter.
Nobody is going to sign Cahill Two years for $22 million. That’s ridiculous.
Unfortunately the Angels will think it’s a bargain. Btw love the name.
Unfortunately somebody will pay up and regret it. Look how many bad contracts that teams are stuck with. Mariners had to trade away a good young player to get rid of a bad contract.
Never say never!
Have you ever done an offseason before? Always, ALWAYS take the over on money/years. Teams get silly and sometimes teams get caught up in sweepstakes and go higher. I think Cahill can easily get 2/16 but that could bump to 22 if say, Oakland don’t have any SP’s in a month still. He was very good last season.
Last offseason guys like Lance Lynn, Mike Moustakas got way under what people were thinking they would get. Don’t think it’s crazy to think Cahill gets under $22M as well, given he hasn’t thrown more than 110 IP in a given season since 2013. Also wouldn’t be too surprised if he approached $22M either.
$9M for 1yr w/a $500k buyout of a $8M option
He is the type of pitcher that can fill the 5th spot in a rotation and also do long relief work for a team. Not sure how that equates to 11 million a year? Cahill is just average when he is at his best, when he is off, he gets shelled…..hard.
He actually pitched like a #3 last year. His past dictates he won’t get 3+ years, but he seems to have figured a lot out.
Angels!! Better sign this guy
With Simba and Cozart in the infield for Cahill’s sinker. Lots of opportunities
Personally, I wouldn’t be too keen on paying a ton for him.
Were talking about a guy who posted a +5 FIP just a year ago.
hope angels get him on 1+1 deal.
Cubs can use him as a replacement for chatwood they can option him to double A or rookie ball. Or outright release him. Cahill knows the Cubs well enough.
Thats probably not going to happen. Essentially Hamels takes Chatwoods spot in the opening day rotation because Darvish returns
this has Reds written all over it. Not saying I’m particularly stoked about it
Hey Bartolo Colon is still out there.
2 year,$16m-$18m tops. Jason Hamels type money
Atlanta wont be one of those clubs. Less than impressive during his short stint.
Giants are gonna swoop in and get this guy. Seems like the kind of cheap, quality rotation depth Zaidi has been talking about.
In the last 5 seasons combined, Cahill has been worth 0.7 WAR, or about the value that almost any team’s second or third-best pitcher in AAA could provide. Any team that signs this guy for more than the minimum is just throwing money at a problem and hoping it goes away. And still, signing a few dozen pitchers to minors deals would be a much better use of the $22 million. You’d at least get a few dozen chances at catching lightning in a bottle, as opposed to just one chance.
I like him as a long reliever and spot starter, but no way at 2/22.
How is this guy still playing baseball and how do people struggle against him?
The guy has thrown 100+ innings once in 4 years. So surely someone will panic and offer him 3/30 and then wonder what went wrong. Mets, Phillies, Cardinals, Yankees…anyone who thinks they are competing will surely overpay once the primary free agents are gone and feel they need “to do something” to show their fans in the media guide.
Of all the As beautiful jerseys this one is a thing. Yuck.