There’s no doubt Jack Flaherty will be tendered a contract in his first season of arbitration eligibility, though Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the Cardinals have yet to speak with Flaherty about a long-term extension. With Flaherty under team control through 2023, there isn’t necessarily any rush to work out a multi-year deal, so the Cards might prefer to wait a little longer before exploring a larger deal (especially if the team is still trying to figure out its payroll situation after the revenue losses of the 2020 season).
That said, an extension would also give both Flaherty and the Cardinals some financial certainty through what could be a tumultuous few years, given both the pandemic and the expiration of baseball’s collective bargaining agreement following the 2021 season. Signing young players to long-term deals has been a key tactic of John Mozeliak’s tenure in the St. Louis front office, so one would imagine an extension would be broached with Flaherty at some point this offseason, perhaps during Spring Training. It’s worth noting that past negotiations between Flaherty and the Cardinals over the relatively simpler matter of his pre-arbitration contracts also haven’t been straight-forward, as the Cardinals have renewed the right-hander’s contracts in each of the last two seasons.
More from the National League…
- Jon Gray is a potential non-tender candidate following a rough 2020 season, though MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (Twitter link) reports that the Rockies are “expected” to tender Gray a deal in his third and final year of arbitration eligibility. Gray posted a 6.69 ERA over eight starts before being shut down due to shoulder inflammation in early September, ending a season that saw him post some ugly Statcast metrics as well as career worsts in K/9 (5.1), K/BB rate (2.00), grounder rate (36.7%), and fastball velocity (94mph). While there was some misfortune involved in Gray’s struggles (such as a stunningly low 54.4% strand rate), the season represented another low point of an up-and-down career for the former third overall pick. Gray is projected for a salary in the range of $5.9MM in 2021, which the Rockies may feel is an acceptable price tag to see if Gray can get himself on track next year.
- “There have been many clubs with interest” in trading for Marlins first baseman Jesus Aguilar, SportsGrid’s Craig Mish writes. It isn’t known whether any of those teams might make the Fish a big offer prior to today’s non-tender deadline, though Mish feels the Marlins will indeed tender Aguilar a contract despite the uncertainty about whether or not the DH will be part of National League baseball next season. Aguilar started 19 games as a designated hitter in 2020, and was a first baseman in his 31 other starts. “Jesus returning without the DH is not optimal, but possible” for Miami, Mish writes, and of course trades could still be explored throughout the offseason.
I don’t think Flaherty is going to re-sign long term unless the Cardinals just wow him with an offer. Unless it’s just to cover the arb years.
I don’t think the Cardinals really want to offer him a long-term extension right now until they know what the new CBA is moving forward. It’s a bad time to be signing longer-term deals.
jack doesn’t deserve an extension
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name wasn’t taken, so i took it
He has been excellent in his two full seasons , struggling in 2020. Maybe 3/$24M with a $16M option on his first FA season. Is that too little?
Toss out 2020, here is why…
Pitched July 24th typical Jack, didnt pitch again for 26 days, then threw only 1 IP., then in his next 2 starts he went 5ip each time, while giving up 1 run.
Sept hits and Jack makes 5 starts, 3 ok and two crappy ones. Brewers tagged him for 9 runs in 3IP, Cubs 3 runs in 2.2IP.
So basically Jack’s ERA is skewed by 9 starts & 2 of those were bad starts, and thats a struggling season to you?
A 4.91 ERA, an ERA+ of 88, and -0.3 bWAR indicate signs of struggle. If it’s largely attributed to two starts, great, but those games still happened.
I’m a fan of Flaherty and would love for the Cardinals to sign him to an extension. His lower performance in the shortened 2020 campaign may make that more likely, though my gut tells me he’s not interested in staying around once he reaches free agency. I was speculating that a chance to secure up to $40M could increase the odds of signing him.
Last chance for Gray and probably last season with Rockies. Could be a 3 or 4 guy at a pitchers park. Plus fastball and good slider. That’s about it.
As a Yankee fan, why do I think if Jon Gray is DFA’d and Outright Released, the Yankees pick him up on something like a 1 year/$2M deal…
I would be thinking the same thing except for the Giants
Rockies might as well keep Gray and see if he rebounds. Who knows, with a better 2021 maybe he could be flipped at the deadline for something useful.
Starting pitching is like the only position where FA are signing so far, and the market doesn’t look as weak as most originally thought. Its obviously a case by case basis but I think teams on the fence about SP should probably tender them.
If Gray is non-tendered Rangers should jump on the opportunity.
If Gray is not tendered, I could see the Rangers, Brewers and other teams calling.
Jon Gray reminds me a lot of Jason Schmidt back when he was with the Giants. He just has to find a way to get a acceptable changeup and things could be different for him.
How about a trade Gray for Aguilar. It works on both ends.
Uncertain times like these (as if there was Ever anything to compare to these times) are when good GM’s earn their money. This would be a great time to leverage the uncertainty of how the future of baseball is going to shape up and use that mindset as a way to frame “certain money” as a good long-term bet for Flaherty. I bet a good GM could hammer out a very reasonable 5 or 6 year deal right now that would look golden in a year or so after things settle.
Mozeliak unfortunately does not have that kind of insight into how to make a good deal at the right time so he will flounder and equivocate until he either has to pay Way too much to keep Flaherty or just let him escape to free agency for nothing more than a draft pick.
Your key phrase in your comment is “A good GM (Cardinals President of baseball operations)”. John Mozeliak of the Cardinals does not fit that bill.
John Mozeliak’s bad contracts, poor player evaluation, plus nonsense trades over the past 6 years are the reasons the Cardinals have wasted multi -millions of Dollars!!! Because of Mozeliak actions, (way before Covid empty stands) the Cardinals have dropped from a World Series caliber team to a “Let’s strive to hit .500 or better team!!”
The Cardinal Owners were already crying they didn’t have any money to spend before the Covid empty stands of 2020.
Surely the Cardinals Owners are smart enough to see that John Mozeliak has put them in the situation they are currently in both financially and the lack of any younger impact players.
Then again—— maybe the Cardinals Owners aren’t as smart as I’ve given them credit. (??)
Cardinals have very little to no interest in signing Flaherty long term. Outspoken on numerous issues including his renewed contract rates and the Cardinals have never kept those kind of players. Pham was a similar situation and he got moved. Cardinals just dont commit to personalities like him, just the way its been.
Marlins need offense. Keeping Aguilar should be a no-brainer even if he is not the best defensive 1B out there. Plus if the NL keeps the DH they would already have one in house
Brewer fans hoping Cardinals lock up Flaherty.