Jake Odorizzi was linked to the Mets last winter, though in a recent podcast appearance alongside former Twins teammate — and current Met — Trevor May on The Chris Rose Rotation, Odorizzi indicated that the team’s initial interest was generated by team president Sandy Alderson. (Mike Puma of the New York Post has an account of Odorizzi’s comments.) Once Jared Porter was hired as the Mets’ GM, however, the interest dissipated, and the situation didn’t reignite after Zack Scott took over the job after Porter’s resignation. “Early on, I thought I was going to be a member of a certain team, then some people took over that team and they pretty much hated me, so it fell through. It was Trevor’s team,” Odorizzi said.
Odorizzi reportedly drew interest from several teams beyond only the Mets, but he didn’t end up finding a new club until early March, when he signed a two-year deal with the Astros worth $23.5MM in guaranteed money. The long wait didn’t sit well with the right-hander, who described his free agent stint as “the single most frustrating time I’ve had in baseball. At certain points you think you are going to be a member of a certain team and then it falls through or whatever maybe and it’s like, ’All right, now what?’ And it’s March and I am still sitting at the house. It’s like, ’What the hell is going on right now?’ ”
More from around the baseball world…
- X-rays were negative on Buster Posey’s left elbow after the Giants catcher was hit by a pitch during the seventh inning of tonight’s game with the Marlins. Posey remains on the basepaths after being hit, but was replaced by Curt Casali at catcher in the bottom half of the inning. Manager Gabe Kapler told reporters (including NBC Sports Bay Area’s Marcus White) that Posey suffered an elbow contusion. Casali was already likely to start tomorrow’s game, though if Posey needs a bit of recovery time short of an proper IL stint, the Giants might have to call up Chadwick Tromp or Joey Bart so they aren’t shorthanded behind the plate.
- Tigers manager A.J. Hinch provided Chris McCosky of the Detroit News and other reporters with some updates on injured players. Miguel Cabrera (left biceps strain) will be on the injured list beyond the 10-day minimum, as Hinch said the veteran slugger wouldn’t be available for the Tigers’ series with the Pirates from April 20-22. However, Cabrera is making progress with baseball activities, taking grounders and hitting in an indoor batting cage. Hinch said the plan is for Cabrera to take on-field BP during that Pirates series, “and once he does that for a few days, then we will make an assessment on what’s next for him after that….We’re going to go series by series with him.” As for Nomar Mazara, the Tigers outfielder hit the 10-day IL last Thursday due to a left abdominal strain. Hinch also expects Mazara’s IL stint to last beyond 10 days, estimating “a couple of weeks” but noting that the nature of the injury makes it difficult to project a specific timeline.
- Yoshi Tsutsugo is off to a rough start, with only a .154/.214/.179 slash line over his first 43 plate appearances of the season. This performance has already cost Tsutsugo playing time, and Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times wonders if it might lead the Rays to part ways with Tsutsugo altogether, maybe as soon as May when Ji-Man Choi is off the injured list. It would essentially be a punt on the $7MM salary Tsutsugo is owed this season, and while the low-payroll Rays would be loath to eat that much money, Topkin writes that “the Rays may decide Tsutsugo is a lost cause.” The terms of Tsutsugo’s two-year, $12MM contract prevent him from being sent to the minors without his permission. Tsutsugo was pretty average (98 wRC+, 99 OPS+) over 158 PA in his first Major League season in 2020, with the obvious caveats that he had to deal with the pandemic on top of the difficulties of adjusting to a new league.
The Chris Rose Rotation is finally getting some publicity here. An excellent podcast, with a very interesting group of guys. Also, shoutout to Jomboy Media Baseball.
Odorizzi showing up with the loser comment. You got paid, bro, $9 million, for league average stats.
“Odorizzi’s a p*mp, he coulda never out-fought Santino…
But I never knew, until this day, it was Excel all along…”
I agree. He does come across like a bit of a bitc h
Tai Walker is looking like a better signing for the Mets than Odorizzi…
Because he is a better pitcher. Odorizzi is and pretty much always has been nothing but a back end, innings eating pitcher and he was thinking could get well more than was worth this past winter. nothing but sour grapes he couldn’t get some gullible GM to over pay him.. Good for them
Taijuan has had a subpar career. Unless the Mets fixed him, Odorizzi has been slightly better over the years
He may finally be healthy.
Walker has a way higher ceiling for sure. He hasn’t been able to operate anywhere near that ceiling for most of his career though. As a neutral observer, I hope he puts it together one of these years.
Walker has had more injuries, but doesn’t have as much mileage yet on the arm.
I hope Buster doesn’t miss much time for this. He’s been having a good year so far, and a really good comeback season
Polishuk is actually being rather kind to Tsutsugo. More embarrasing than his slash line is the fact that he has K’d nearly 40% of the time this year. Three BB in 43 PA.
The Rays will probably do the right thing and bid sayonara to Tsutsugo once Choi comes back. I have looked at every sabermetric and algorithm I could find, and all of them say Tsutsugo is a pretty horrible player this season, and I believe everything the stats tell me.
Rays aren’t likely to eat almost $7 million in salary. They will either try to convince him to go to the minor leagues once the minor league season starts or roll the dice and hope he turns around. Barring a massive improvement over the remainder of the season “Go Go” will probably be going back to Japan to play next season
Tsutsugo has value to Rays by taking up a roster spot. He keeps prospects in the minors so the Rays can manipulate salary through service time. No way the Rays start anyone’s clock based on anyone’s performance.
Gerrit Cole would like a word.
Does anyone remember what the jays were willing to offer Odorizzi before he took the qualifying offer the year before? I can’t seem to find it and I wonder if the jays bothered to pursue him this time around.
No, but I read MLBTR during the offseason and know that the Jays were in on everyone. Hope that saves you some time.
I believe it was around 3 years and $45 million, and then he accepted the QO of $17.8 million with the Twins.
Jays were also in on him right up until he signed with the Astros, but their interest appeared lukewarm at best.
The problem with the player (any player) complaining how long they stayed a free agent lies squarely at the feet of said player and/or agent. While no one expects anyone to sign for peanuts overplaying your market and refusing to accept that teams don’t value you at the price you value yourself at is why Odorizzi and JBJ stayed free agents til march
Rsox – You are 100% correct. One of the best examples of overplaying the market was Varitek after the 2008 season. He and Boras made the very foolish decision to reject an arbitration offer that would have gotten him around $10M in 2009, and he wound up with a contract that paid him just $5M in 2009 and $3M in 2010. One thing players need to realize, when you try to sign with a new team they will pay you for the value they believe you will give them …. NOT for the value you provided to your former team.
That’s true. But on the flip side there’s millions of dollars at stake. So waiting it out is still the right course
What is about the Mets that guys can air their grievances that they wouldn’t do with other teams?
I’m no fan of Harper but I didn’t hear any whining from him when the Yankees didn’t step up with a huge contract which is what he really wanted.
I’m no fan of Harper, but that was a different situation because the Yankees never expressed serious interest in him. Martino wrote “Yankees and Mets both went wire to wire with their disinterest”.
I think this was Boras criticizing Mets for not acting like a big market team. It wasnt direct from Harper just his camp.
I was surprised that it took so long for a team to sign Jake but he wound up getting a great deal from the Stros. Time for him to quit complaining and start pitching cause he ain’t looking so good in the early days of his deal.
I understand why the Tigers have to waste a roster spot and keep the fat old man in the lineup through 2023 to the detriment of their team. However, the Tigers’ infatuation with Grayson Greiner and JaCoby Jones is mystifying. Each have accumulated a total of two weeks in their careers where they demonstrated that they have a chance to become mediocre players. The Tigers may or may not have better players; no one will ever know.
The Tigers are stuck with him for 5 more years. He has produced superstar numbers in the past. I think it is sad that the player he once was is now only a shadow of himself. This is the price ownership pays for those long term contracts. It balances out for both player and management in the long run. It just looks bad now because Cabrera will no longer produce the numbers a $30m salary would normally suggest. He is 38 and is rapidly approaching his declining years. He may very well be on track to becoming the “Chris Davis” of Detroit, tons of money with nothing to show for it until the contract expires. I know, he doesn’t stink it up quite like Davis, but that will change soon. I still cheer for him with hopes he rebounds well.
Not exactly sure why he deserves to be called “fat old man!”
That man has put up numbers that we could only dream of.
One of the best in the league. In a league where some guys are just A-holes to us average Joe’s.
You can’t disagree.
Miggy never turned down a fan. Always smiling.
That is one awesome guy!
Remember the young fan who was cheering Miggy on in Clev or Minn. (I can’t remember)
After the game. Miggy sought that fan out and gave him signed cleats, balls, jersey etc…
It’s on YouTube.
Let’s just tone it down on insulting the guy.
Cant fault him for loving Carne asada!!
Cabrera is a first ballot Hall of Famer that has played his whole career with two organizations that are not easy on the fans. He could have chose to seek big money in New York or Boston or Los Angeles but he stayed in Detroit and rewarded the team and fans with a triple crown and a great appreciation for the fans making himself accessible. Lots of lesser players don’t do that. He may not be the player he was but he’s earned it
Let’s be honest, Rocco Baldelli got nervous whenever Jake got to the 5th-6th inning. Rare he allowed him to see opposing lineups a 3rd time. That’s not a reliable arm in my book
Odo’s the perfect example of what Bill Veck called “the high price of mediocrity”. It’s not paying the Scherzer-s et al the big money; it’s the money you have to pay the Jake’s of the world.
I wonder what kind of prospect the Rays will attach if you take Yoshi’s contract. The kind of question the Pirates, O’s, Tigers and others should be asking.
During him prime, Cabrera was one of the best hitters in the game. His opposite-field first approach is what made his hitting so good. If not for his contract, he’d have been retired for 3 years already, but he’s stuck. And his decline has been painful to all, especially him, as he can’t stay healthy and he can’t hit anymore, so much so that he has altered his approach at the plate, has become a far more impatient hitter and it has made him look even worse. The Tigers and him should be seeking a mutual buy out agreement so he can retire. There’s not a team in the league who would roster him even as a pinch hitter. Great career, it’s time for it to end.
Orodozzi got one gift in his qualifying offer. Go out there and pitch these next two seasons like you are a top rotation type and you’ll be paid like one.