Roughly eight or nine teams are known to have interest in Carlos Rodon, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post (Twitter links). Many of the suitors are already known, as past reports have indicated the Mets, Yankees, Giants, Twins, Dodgers, and Rangers have all checked in on Rodon’s market at different points this offseason. However, Heyman also lists the Orioles as a new name in the mix for the left-hander’s services.
Baltimore has already made one notable rotation move in signing Kyle Gibson to a one-year deal earlier today. Needless to say, signing Rodon would take a much heftier financial commitment, and the first major acquisition of the Orioles’ post-rebuild era. Though past reports suggested that the O’s were wary of shopping at the very top of the pitching market, Rodon might represent something of a bridge between the “top tier” and “secondary tier,” depending on how one would define such players.
Entering his age-30 season, Rodon is considerably younger than either Justin Verlander or Jacob deGrom, so Rodon might make more sense for a young Baltimore team that appears to be just entering its competitive window. As Orioles GM Mike Elias noted last month, the club has “got a lot of interesting starters. But they’re not guys who have a track record of being front-end-of-the-rotation starters.”
Baltimore hopes at least one or two of their young arms can eventually develop into being ace-level pitchers, but waiting on that development might not be too helpful for a team that wants to win in 2023. Gibson has had some quality seasons and was an All-Star just in 2021, but he struggled in his time with the Phillies, and he is more of a veteran innings-eater than a true frontline pitcher.
In other Rodon news, Heyman writes that Texas is still in on the southpaw even after already signing deGrom to a five-year, $185MM deal yesterday. As expected, the Rangers have put a heavy emphasis on rotation upgrades this winter, between signing deGrom, re-signing Martin Perez, and acquiring Jake Odorizzi from the Braves. That trio joins Jon Gray and Dane Dunning in the projected starting five, but the Rangers have been so aggressive over the last two offseasons that it wouldn’t be all that surprising to see them also sign Rodon. In this case, one of Dunning or Odorizzi could become a depth starter or swingman, or potentially even a trade chip.
Both the Mets and Yankees have been linked to Rodon and Verlander, with Heyman tweeting that the two New York teams seem to have differing top choices. Rodon seems to be the Yankees’ chief target, while Verlander seems like the Mets’ preferred option.
I hope they sign him.
“Dodgers want to be in the action”
Smart move getting their name out there after fans were underwhelmed with the Gibson signing.
If Verlander signs soon he would be the best arm left. Which could get him a nice pay day.
If the Mets having lost DeGrom miss out on Verlander they would have to sign him just to have a shot at a decent pitching staff.
Wow…that’s a lot of teams. Dude is gonna get $30M a year….
I was thinking he was more of a 3-5 mil a year type guy. Still a lot of $ right?
Say what now? 3 to 5 mil ??
Yeah Joe. I know. I have a different take on the guy. 7 mill tops.
Agree Trumbo. 3-5 for a sure contender. Baltimore might have to step up to 6 or 7.
Well your view isn’t grounded in reality
Next these clowns are going to be saying Judge and Verlander are going to get 30 million a year.
Judge might get 400 MIL at 10 years from the Yanks. Verlander will probably want 3 years 35 mil a year.
If Verlander wanted 3 yrs $35MM per, he would’ve resigned w Houston before Thanksgiving
Thickiedon, So does he want more years? $? How much? How far off am I?
Verlander wants a Scherzer deal or very slightly more.
I can understand that. He’ll probably get it.
TJumbo, he’d remain w Astros for 3 yrs $40MM per but it’s starting to seem doubtful. Maybe elsewhere at 3/$120MM w possible opt-outs. Being highest paid player (or damn near it) seems to be his goal.
JV could sign w Mets, not make it to WS, have a stellar year, opt out and sign w LAD for 2/$90MM. Gotta believe the 2024 Dodgers will be much different than ‘22 & ‘23.
It’s a lot of teams if it’s even accurate. How can Heyman send out a story citing “8 or 9 teams” being interested? It’s not that hard to count. 8 or 9? So one mystery team isn’t sure if they’re interested?
That’s like saying “some or all the teams” are interested. It’s another generic word dump from Heyman to ensure he posts….stuff. He’s the Captain Obvious of the MLB world. The only inside sources he has are Scott Boras and Bob Nightengale.
Come one Joe open up your checkbook for Jed for this guy. He’s worth tbe long term investment.
Cmon Mike! Let’s do this
Only 8-9?
I was thinking about 15-20?
THE HOT STOVE IS COOKING DONT FORGET TO WEAR AN OVEN GLOVE WHEN CHECKING UPDATES ON MLBTR
WITH 15 OTHER MYSTERY TEAMS
Ahh Yes Craven, I always forget about those frisky little mystery teams!
…Harlem Globetrotters waiting for his price to drop.
His birthday is a week from today, so I feel like he’ll try to sign before then, so long as he gets a deal he wants.
Being a year older will hurt his value. He must sign this week.
They LURKING
I mean, I’m an O’s fan an all, but seriously, not gonna happen.
Remember when Mark Tiexera was going Orioles too, lol
Whoa, that’s a throwback rumor lol.
Yep, was coming back home… until he didn’t.
Teixeira would have hit 60+ home runs in the ballpark
The Guardians are major players as well… heck they tried to get him at the trade deadline last year.
Rodon’s FA market is like the housing market. The asking price was probably close to 5 yrs/$125M, and now with that many teams involved, that number is his floor.
Ticking time bomb for whomever commits 8 or 9 yrs. Mike Hampton anyone?
Yep it’s gonna be one of the same 5 times. Baseball economics…what a joke
Rangers might just go back to back offseasons with two huge FA signings. Last year was bats, this year is arms.
And they are still the 3rd best team in their division.
I would just once like to see a team like the Marlins/Reds/A’s/Pirates make an incredibly low ball offer to a star player just to say they made an offer and the player actually take it. The “what? Really??” Reaction from the GM and the fans would be priceless
Kinda like the Red Sox did with Bogaerts : )
Would never happen because of the players union. No player is going to screw over the market of other players (and themselves). Also, teams aren’t making low ball offers. It’s a respectable offer or nothing.
There was that Jose Ramirez deal.
foster – The Red Sox offered Xander 4 years/$90M which is as lowball as you can get.
I mean that’s over $20 mil a year. Tack on more years and it’s closer to what he’ll actually get. I wouldn’t go as far as saying it’s a lowball since coming from his existing team and also not far off from what the Braves are doing. We as fans tend to exaggerate…
It’s not possible for them to make a offer. If Judge Verlander Rodon see one of these poor never winning anything teams calling them they are just going to hit block number.
I’d hand the phone over to my drunk uncle or a 6 y.o. and have him negotiate as my agent.
Im actually quite shocked theres no reports of the Blue Jays being interested lol
Tomorrow: “Blue Jays are in agreement with Justin Verlander for 10 years plus two conditional years.”
8-9 teams? Where do they get these numbers?
Who’s to say they aren’t more or less but to give a somewhat specific number I feel these beat writers pull alot of these numbers out of their ass just for content.
I think when they say 8-9 teams interested that it is more of teams checking in. I think a lot of teams just check in on a player just to see what the price tag is etc. Information is always a good thing. You check in on him seeing what his asking price is and maybe view a lower tier player on a different pay level. Also could help a team view a player they could trade for knowing what the market would be.
I think there is a lot of behind he scenes work put in by teams that we never hear about.
It’s right before the Winter Meetings (when deals occur) and he’s the top SP under 40 (can’t believe I’m writing that). Each team can afford to have a gopher make a 5-minute call testing the waters, if they have a serious need and aren’t under ownership orders to tank. I’m surprised it’s only 8-9.
They ask agents then agents inflate the number to put pressure on the negotiating teams.
But, I do prefer the scenario I made up in my head where *insert tim and Eric head explosion* you are amazed numbers can get as high as eight or nine.
It’s a Heyman rumor.
In other words, made up.
You’re telling me the NY Post, THE NY POST, makes things up?
Next thing you’re going to tell me is the National Inquirer was feeding me lies when they told me Bat Boy joined the army after 9/11. He got married and had kids not even a few years before, so his decision to join really struck a nerve.
Well the New York Post was founded by Alexander Hamilton who used the paper to slander Aaron Burr which led to the famous duel where Burr killed Hamilton. The paper was legit founded to spread misinformation on Hamilton’s political opponents. Somethings never change lol.
Alexander Hamilton was a b!sh and I’m glad he died. Big ups to Aaron Burr.
Bat Boy was actually there for that duel, and was declared the winner. It was only after Reagan took office was the appearance of bat boy remove from official record. Reagan felt intimidated by the fact bat boy got more national attention even though Ron was just as stupid as bat boy.
Bat Boy was the World Weekly News… so if the National Enquirer told you anything about him it was definitely lies.
My bad. It’s so easy to confuse trusted news sources. World Weekly News broke the story of Clinton hiring a three-breasted intern like in total recall.
Sinclair media and Rupert Murdoch purposefully keeping people in the dark. Awfully strange there are fewer alien babies being birthed now that world weekly news is gone.
Heyman and Martino are the worst.
Jon Heyman works for Rodon’s agent. He’s trying to get the bids up.
As a lifelong Orioles fan, I’d rather see them sign two lower cost SPs than pay one large contract to Rodon.
Maybe sign Bassitt and Wacha. That would make an Opening Day rotation of Bassitt, Gibson, Wacha, and two of the younger arms. Then when Means comes back Wacha could be sent to the pen or traded.
Actually checking in on players from the orioles stand point could show other free agents that they are going be serious about trying to sign some players.
Traded for what exactly?
Lifelong O’s fan here as well. I want Bogartz, move to 3rd, trade package (ex. Westburg, Hall, Ortiz) for Woodruff or Burnes. Far better option imo.
dpsmith22;
LOL
I don’t think Mr. Elias is trading 3 quality young players with 6 years of control each for a starting pitcher with 2 years of control that fairly obviously will go free agent after those 2 years are up.
The O’s will be contenders for at least the next 5 years. A trade like that will scuttle what they’ve been working hard at the last 3 years and positioning themselves for.
Let’s be honest: Westburg, Hall, & Ortiz is no where near enough prospect capital to get Woodruff or Burnes from Milwaukee.
1) you have no idea if they will extend with O’s.
2) Ortiz and Westburg are dealing from surplus. We have inf all over the place.
I wrote ex. as in example. But thanks for your useless and condescending comment.
Please no thank you
Then you will get life long Orioles results.
If that means three World Championships…sign me up.
You’re lucky. Most fans aren’t satisfied with world championships from 40 50 years ago.
Agreed, Rodon is just too injury prone for a team like the Orioles to gamble 6 or 7 years at $30mil on. I would much prefer to split the risk on shorter deals for Bassitt and Walker.
He had TJ and a setback. He’s been extremely good and healthy since then
He missed 8 starts in 2021 with arm issues and only reached 30 starts for the very first time in 2022 after debuting all the way back in 2015.
I was impressed with how well the Orioles played against the Astros this year. I hope they don’t set themselves back by going after big ticket free agents. Bassitt would be an ideal addition
Yankees gotta get
I agree
Yankees can’t hit in the playoffs. Getting Rodon won’t make a difference
Ridiculous, We got a spider tack-less overpaid version of Cole (which to be fair is still a solid #2) we got Sevy, Cortes and then absolutely nothing after that. And don’t try to sell me on Clark Schmidt, German, or Montas who has been atrocious in pinstripes. If we’re losing Judge to the Giants then Rodon is a must.
Whatever happens one year is not guaranteed to play out the same way the next year. Proclaiming Rodon won’t help New York be a better club is just a lamebrained attempt to badmouth the Yankees. Do ya think your user name fools anyone about your obvious bias against the Yankees? You are so clever you ignorant p.o.s.
I think he ends up a Met
Houston needs to overpay here and sign Contreras. That’ll put em in the drivers seat come next season
No. Rather have Roberto Perez than overpay for Contreras over the next 4-5 yrs.
Contreras would be more of a DH/LF/C rotation and fills a huge hole in that respect for the Astros. I’m betting Crane & Co. make him top priority.
This still leaves them room to trade for possible outfield upgrades and keeps them under the soft cap.
The Rangers could sign Rodon and have the best 1-2 in baseball. They are at 150 million with the 10 million from Odorizzi and the backloaded deGrom contract. 175 million and maybe trade for Reynolds
Now you’re getting bonkers, and isn’t it great that it’s not even that outlandish? For all the bashing of the deGrom contract, it has to be super exciting to be a Rangers fan right now. I do think they sign another top end starter.
If they sign Rodon they’ll have no payroll flexibility and probably still finish under 500 even with Seager Semien Rodon and deGrom
I’d really rather the Orioles not gamble $150-200mil on Rodon’s brittle left arm.
I hear ya but this team despera9 needs better arms. Grayson is going to be a stud but limited in innings. Who knows when Means will be fully back and Hall walks way too many guys. I think Rodon is worth the gamble
Elias could make a splash with Rodon. He has followed his mentor’s (Luhnow) model so far and it might be time to start adding some top of rotation pitching pieces. Speaking of Luhnow, I think he should go back to the Astros. Crane should bury the past and make it happen.
Brittle arm AND shoulder, I believe.
Good lord, shoulder fatigue is very common after getting TJ. Rodon has been extremely good since then. pitched over 300 innings in last 2 years with insane SO rate and impressive WHIP and ERA. Worth the gamble, esp for the Os because of the park favoring LHP
My concern with Rodon, aside from the shoulder & elbow, is the velo drop towards the end of the season–something that has happened the last two years.
If the Orioles sign him, aren’t they going to want to have him pitch in the post season? Will he have any gas left in the tank?
I’m not opposed to them signing him. They have an absurdly low payroll, and there’s room for a gamble, but a Rodon signing, in my eyes, is just that: a big gamble.
I think the Orioles would be better served signing Bassitt & Stripling, two guys that could be had on shorter term deals with less risk involved, and if they’re in contention come the deadline, take a swing at a true ace.
Come on Cardinals
Mr. Illich nor Mr. Harris hired me and the meetings are ready to get underway.
Disappointment
My only friend.
It’s Sunday. I’ll pray for them both.
Pay me.my money
Be a champion!
That over 20 teams aren’t interested is more telling.
Is there a way I can switch off the Boras-planted stories?
His overall stats are just ok but last two years have been stellar. If it was only one great year or even two great years on one team then maybe an argument could be made. But two great years on two different teams means he should get around 5 years $100 million
Is it legit to say that this guy might be a risk signing? He was pretty much irrelevant until two seasons ago. He’s had 2 great seasons and the rest were way below average. Seems like the a Jake Arietta-type player
He is overhyped for a guy who never threw more than 178 innings in a season.
Why am I not surprised to see Jon Heyman’s name in the first sentence of the above report?