Free Agent Racism?
Twins second baseman Orlando Hudson hinted that racism is why Jermaine Dye is out of work, reports Yahoo's Jeff Passan. Hudson's comments:
"You see guys like Dye without a job. Guy with [27 home runs and 81 RBIs] and can't get a job. Pretty much sums it up right there, no? You've got some guys who miss a year who can come back and get $5, $6 million, and a guy like Jermaine Dye can't get a job. A guy like Gary Sheffield, a first-ballot Hall of Famer, can't get a job. We both know what it is. You'll get it right. You'll figure it out. I'm not gonna say it because then I'll be in [trouble]."
Passan is correct in that the perception of racism in the free agent market is a problem. But let's look at individual cases referenced in the article:
- Gary Sheffield hit well in 312 plate appearances for the Mets last year, but was lousy the year prior. The 41-year-old is a big negative on defense. He battled knee, back, and hamstring injuries, and sat out a game in August when the Mets declined his request for a contract extension.
- Passan provides good examples in Kenny Lofton and Ray Durham. But Lofton was said to be asking for $2.5-3MM by some, $6MM by others. In the spring of '08 Lofton was a near 41-year-old part-time player with suspect defense. Durham, 37 at the time, turned down an $850K offer from the Nationals. He was still able to hit, but his defense was questionable. Isn't it possible that the common thread here is age and defense rather than race? Luis Gonzalez and Jim Edmonds couldn't find anything after the '08 season either.
- Passan names three white players who did get paid this winter: Aubrey Huff, Garrett Atkins, and Xavier Nady. Presumably Passan is implying that if these three got $3-4.5MM, Dye should've too. However, Huff and Atkins were both named by team execs are two of the worst signings of the offseason. It's very possible that the Giants and Orioles just made bad signings. One exec told me he preferred Hank Blalock, who signed a $925K minor league deal, to Huff. And the Cubs made similar offers to both Dye and Nady. Nady was coming off a lost season, but he's younger and had more first base experience.
- Dye has been picky; he said yesterday that to move his family to Washington, D.C. he'd require "a little bit more." When the Rangers were interested, there was word that Dye did not want a full-time DH job. Dye appears unwilling to settle for the $1.5-2MM players like Jim Thome and Russell Branyan received.
- Hudson referred to players who missed a year and got $5-6MM. Presumably he's talking about Ben Sheets, but the situation isn't comparable to Dye. Coco Crisp snagged $5.5MM (also from the A's) coming off a 49-game season cut short by surgeries on both shoulders. The pair of moves was about the A's making injury upside plays. Unlike the older free agents forced out of the game, Crisp is known for his defense.
- Hudson's point deserves consideration, but he has to acknowledge the shift toward defense and youth as well.
Ryan Langerhans Clears Waivers
MONDAY, 2:52pm: Ryan Divish of The Tacoma News Tribune tweets that Langerhans has cleared waivers and will report to Triple-A Tacoma.
THURSDAY, 2:14pm: The Mariners designated outfielder Ryan Langerhans for assignment to make room for reliever Jesus Colome, tweets ESPN's Shannon Drayer. This ends the Mariners' six-man bullpen experiment. U.S.S. Mariner's Dave Cameron wrote yesterday that while he feels a six-man pen can work, he's not sure the Mariners are presently built for one. Talking to Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times, Ms GM Jack Zduriencik explained why Langerhans was cut instead of Mike Sweeney.
Langerhans, 30, hit .218/.311/.386 in 122 big league plate appearances last year. He hit .278/.371/.488 at Triple A. Langerhans was non-tendered by the Mariners in December but re-signed a week later.
Rosenthal On Bullpens, Marcum, Crawford
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports has a few hot stove offerings…
- Rosenthal names the Cubs, Cardinals, Rays, Phillies, and Marlins as teams with bullpen question marks. I'm thinking the Blue Jays might be able to extract something useful for their veteran relievers in a few months.
- Rosenthal speculates that Blue Jays starter Shaun Marcum would be attractive on the trade market. Marcum is under team control through 2012. It's not known whether the Jays would entertain trading Marcum for even younger and cheaper players.
- Carl Crawford should command at least $12-14MM per year and at least a seven-year contract as free agent, opines Rosenthal.
Ricketts: Cubs Have Payroll Flexibility For 2010
New Cubs owner Tom Ricketts joined WSCR's Mully and Hanley show this morning; listen to the audio here. Asked about payroll flexibility, Ricketts replied:
With respect to this season, there's still some flexibility in the payroll should there be something that comes up down the line that looks like a fit or a need.
The Cubs' payroll is already north of $140MM, but it appears that family ownership will allow for added flexibility. Over the offseason the Cubs added $26.7MM total for four free agents ($9.9MM in 2010 salaries). Raises for current players exceeded $14MM, led by Ryan Dempster's $4.5MM increase. On the flip side, money was saved by the departures of Milton Bradley, Aaron Miles, Neal Cotts, Kevin Gregg, Rich Harden, Aaron Heilman, and Reed Johnson.
It wouldn't be surprising to see the Cubs add a reliever this summer. The offense could be tricky to augment, as the Cubs are locked in with sizeable contracts aside from catcher and the middle infield.
Free Agent Contracts Gone Sour
Imagine the amount of number-crunching, scouting reports, and intangible assessments that must occur before a team signs a free agent to a multi-million dollar contract. Presumably, team execs dissect every angle and feel completely justified before making one of these huge commitments. Why, then, have so many free agent contracts from the 2008-09 offseason already gone sour? Check it out…
- The Braves, feeling light on starting pitching, committed $60MM to Derek Lowe and $23MM to Kenshin Kawakami. A year later neither contract could be moved, and the Braves had to part with Javier Vazquez after an ace-like performance.
- Manny Ramirez finally signed a two-year, $45MM deal in March of '09. He started off raking, but his PED suspension came down on May 7th. Manny hit .269/.389/.492 after the suspension, which was considered by many as a disappointment. He declined the chance to opt out of $20MM for 2010.
- Francisco Rodriguez signed for less than expected, getting three years and $37MM from the Mets. He showed the worst control of his career in '09, and now the concern has to be that he'll meet the criteria to get his $17.5MM option for 2012 guaranteed.
- Oliver Perez signed for three years and $36MM, which Scott Boras actually preferred to the Mets' idea of four years and $44MM. Perez was a disaster in the first year of the contract.
- The Cubs have already dumped Milton Bradley; they were happy to save $5MM on his $30MM contract.
- Kerry Wood makes little sense for the Indians now, not that they could move his contract. He's begun the season on the DL with an upper back strain.
- That's just the $20MM and up contracts; commitments to Brian Fuentes, Pat Burrell, Jamie Moyer, Damaso Marte, Koji Uehara, Kyle Farnsworth, Nick Punto, Willy Taveras, and Juan Cruz are also viewed as unfavorable. Which 2009-10 signings will make this list after one season? It may be a smaller group, as teams are shying away from multiyear commitments.
2011 Contract Issues: St. Louis Cardinals
The Cardinals have a pair of contract options due after the season:
- Albert Pujols has a $16MM club option with a $5MM buyout. This will easily be exercised, but the real story will be the progress of extension talks.
- Lefty reliever Trever Miller has one of nine vesting options to follow this season. His $2MM becomes guaranteed with 45 games in 2010, a plateau that has not been a problem anytime recently. DL time due to a left arm or shoulder injury would cause this to become a club option.
The Cards will have four key free agents: Brad Penny, Dennys Reyes, Felipe Lopez, and Jason LaRue. They're guaranteed a total of $11.45MM in 2010.
Raises to players under contract total $7.05MM, with Kyle Lohse, Adam Wainwright, Yadier Molina, Skip Schumaker, and Chris Carpenter getting bumps.
The arbitration group is light. Kyle McClellan, Brendan Ryan, and Jaime Garcia are projected first-timers, while Ryan Ludwick is due for his third time.
Thanks to Cot's Baseball Contracts for the info.
Interest In Washburn Heating Up?
9:45pm: Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports tweets that Cleveland and Arizona are possibilities for Washburn but Seattle is becoming a bit of a long shot.
3:27pm: Tom Krasovic of AOL FanHouse provides a few quotes from Scott Boras on his free agent client Jarrod Washburn:
"As many as five clubs are after him. A lot of teams are interested. The reality has struck."
Of course, Boras has never been known to exaggerate. The superagent says the lefty would need three weeks to be Major League ready.
Washburn reportedly turned down a small offer from the Mariners, his preferred destination. The Royals may also be in the mix. MLBTR's Mike Axisa attempted to help Washburn find work with this March 29th post, in case Boras has his hands full with Joe Crede or his draft advisees. One could name a half-dozen teams that'd make sense in the $2MM range, but it'd have to be a city that works for Washburn and his family.
Odds & Ends: Britton, Beckett, Crawford, Blue Jays
Links for Friday…
- If you play fantasy baseball, follow @closernews on Twitter as your guide to all things saves-related.
- Righty reliever Chris Britton has signed with the Lincoln Salt Dogs of the independent American Association according to a team press release. The 27-year-old last appeared in the big leagues with the Yankees in 2008, and spent last season in the Padres' minor league system.
- WEEI.com's Ethan Landy provides a transcript of Peter Gammons' appearance on The Big Show earlier today. Among other topics, he discussed how quickly the Josh Beckett deal came together.
- Satchel Price at Beyond The Box Score looks at some players making big money who are candidates to be released. MLBTR covered the same topic about a month ago.
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports considers possible suitors for Carl Crawford once he reaches free agency.
- Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos comments on his hire of stat expert Tom Tango, in this article by Colby Cosh of Maclean's.
- MLB.com's Peter Gammons analyzes Jason Heyward's impact on the city of Atlanta.
- Yahoo's Alex Remington presents the Tommy John All-Stars, comprised of pitchers who had success after the elbow surgery.
Rays Sign Logan Kensing
The Rays signed righty Logan Kensing to a minor league deal, reports Joe Smith of the St. Petersburg Times. Kensing was designated for assignment twice during the '09 season, by the Marlins and Nationals. He re-signed on a minor league deal with Washington in December, but was released in March.
Kensing, 27, posted an 8.92 ERA, 4.8 K/9, and 4.3 BB/9 in 35.3 innings for the Nats and Marlins last year but was impressive in 33.3 minor league frames. Five years ago, Baseball America praised Kensing's makeup and described his repertoire as "a 91-94 mph fastball, solid-average slider, and developing changeup." Last year as a reliever, he averaged 93.4 mph on his fastball.
Discussion: Kurt Suzuki Extension
A month ago, CSNBayArea.com's Mychael Urban wrote that prelimary talks on an extension for Athletics catcher Kurt Suzuki are underway. However, Susan Slusser and John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle heard differently from the catcher's agent. Suzuki, 26, is eligible for arbitration for the first time after the season. Let's look at possible comparables for an extension. (Arb means arbitration, FA means free agent year).
- Yadier Molina, Cardinals: Four-year, $15.5MM deal covers arb 1-3 and FA 1, with a club option on FA 2. Received $9.25MM for three arb years. Signed in January of '08.
- Chris Snyder, Diamondbacks. Three-year, $14.25MM deal covers arb 2-3 and FA 1, with a club option on FA 2. Though deal did not cover all three arb years, Snyder received $9.6MM for them. Signed in December of '08.
- Ryan Doumit, Pirates. Three-year, $11.5MM deal covers arb 1-3 with club options on FA 1-2. Receives $10.7MM for three arb years. Signed in December of '08.
- Carlos Ruiz, Phillies. Three-year, $8.85MM deal covers arb 1-3 with a club option on FA 1. Received $8.35MM for three arb years. Signed in Janunary of '10.
- Kelly Shoppach, Rays. Two-year, $5.55MM deal covers arb 2-3 with a club option on FA 1. Will receive $7.2MM for three arb years, though arb 1 wasn't covered in the deal. Signed in January of '10.
- Chris Iannetta, Rockies. Three-year, $8.35MM deal covers arb 1-3 with a club option on FA 1. Will receive $7.85MM for three arb years.
- Doumit, Ruiz, and Iannetta are the best comparables, in that they signed before their first arbitration seasons and relatively recently. But unlike these three, Suzuki will have about 500 games under his belt when he reaches arbitration. Even though they're all being compared as 3+ service time players, Suzuki will have a full season's worth of games (and the accompanying counting stats) more than the others.
- Although Doumit was overpaid, Suzuki has a strong case to top his arbitration year salaries. Suzuki's first free agent year could be in the $6-8MM range, whether it's guaranteed or a club option. If Suzuki allows for a club option, he should seek a deal worth at least $12MM. The option would be convenient for the A's, as top catching prospect Max Stassi may be ready by 2014. From Suzuki's point of view, he'd get a buyout if the option is declined and reach free agency as a 30-year-old.