White Sox Release Bartolo Colon
The White Sox released pitcher Bartolo Colon today, according to VP of communications Scott Reifert (via Twitter). The big righty signed for $1MM in January and debuted late due to offseason surgery for bone chips in his elbow. A knee injury popped up in June, and Colon disappeared for a while instead of rehabbing in Charlotte. He was activated in July, but the elbow starting barking soon after.
Colon's make-good one-year deals with the White Sox and Red Sox were disappointments, so the 36-year-old will have to settle for a minor league contract next year. He didn't pitch all that badly when he was out there, with a 4.09 ERA in those 19 starts.
Heyman’s Free Agent Predictions
SI's Jon Heyman, an agent, and a GM predicted contracts of the top 24 free agents.
- The agent's predictions seem to run high, except in the cases of Bobby Abreu and Billy Wagner. I'm guessing the agent isn't Peter Greenberg or Bean Stringfellow.
- On the flip side the GM seems light on several predictions – $80MM over five years for Matt Holliday, and $60MM over four years for John Lackey. He found Rich Harden too unpredictable to even hazard a guess.
- The agent predicted identical seven-year, $147MM contracts for Jason Bay and Holliday. The agent thinks Bay will get $21MM a year, but the GM guesses $15MM.
- I have to disagree with Heyman's three-year, $36MM suggestion for Jarrod Washburn. The other two suggest $18MM over two years for the Scott Boras client.
- All three see Manny Ramirez picking up his $20MM player option.
- The agent and the GM see one-year deals for Erik Bedard, Brett Myers, Adrian Beltre, and Rick Ankiel. Could be some nice value there.
Odds & Ends: Chipper, Ordonez, Schultz
Links for Wednesday…
- Chipper Jones explained his stance toward retirement to Tim Gunter of 790 The Zone.
- Braves manager Bobby Cox was noncommittal on 2010, talking to Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
- Amelia Rayno of the Detroit News notes that Magglio Ordonez's $15MM option for 2011 will vest with 1080 plate appearances between 2009 and 2010. Meanwhile Cot's Baseball Contracts reveals that 135 starts or 540 PAs in '10 will do the trick.
- ESPN's Buster Olney informed us yesterday about a potentially interesting free agent reliever named Mike Schultz. The former D'Backs minor leaguer has been tearing it up in Japan the last two years.
- Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes that a top five Cy Young finish for Adam Wainwright in 2010 or 2011 would cause his 2012 and 2013 options to vest. This year, his maximum bonus is $250K if he wins the award.
- Derrick Goold of the P-D has a discussion going about the Cardinals' third base plans for next year.
- Conor Glassey of Baseball America looks at next year's draft class, which is of course led by Bryce Harper.
- Murray Chass has posted several interesting columns since his website's inception. His latest on the Pirates is not one of them. It's a simplistic view of Neal Huntington's plan, with the Nyjer Morgan trade as Chass' main beef. And is he suggesting the organization would've been better off re-signing Freddy Sanchez and Jack Wilson instead of trading them? Plus, Chass uses the opinion of one anonymous "baseball official" in advancing the notion that the Pirates will have explaining to do to MLB regarding their revenue-sharing money. Wouldn't a consensus assessment of execs have been more useful?
- According to Maury Brown of The Biz of Baseball, minor league attendance dropped by only 2.9% this year.
Cubs Rumors: Piniella, Grabow, Johnson
A few 2010 Cubs notes…
- ESPN's Buster Olney says Cubs manager Lou Piniella "has told others that one way or the other, 2010 will be his last season managing." Olney wonders if Piniella may have just been speaking out of frustration.
- Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times says Piniella wants a "top-of-the-order speed guy" as well as a "middle-of-the-order run producer." However, the Cubs' 2010 payroll under new owner Tom Ricketts is not yet known. Wittenmyer says Piniella and GM Jim Hendry will be back next year. Which players would you like them to target?
- Wittenmyer says the Cubs want potential free agents John Grabow and Reed Johnson back on the right terms, but may be less inclined to retain pitchers Rich Harden and Kevin Gregg. Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune has a headline saying Johnson wants to return next year, but doesn't address it in the body of his article.
- Wittenmyer and Sullivan both reject the report from ESPN's Bruce Levine yesterday saying the Cubs have begun extension talks with Grabow. Pet peeve: Wittenmyer and Sullivan elected not to cite Levine's report specifically. Anyway, Sullivan says the Cubs "are expected to re-sign the left-hander to a two- or three-year deal" even if they're not talking yet.
Josh Johnson Extension Talk
WEDNESDAY: The Marlins will have to offer a "market deal" to retain Johnson, according to his agent Matt Sosnick (Juan C. Rodriguez of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reporting). Sosnick says Johnson is "absolutely unaffected by the economy" and notes that paying full-price isn't typically a Marlins strategy.
MONDAY: Yesterday the Miami Herald's Barry Jackson wrote about "some sentiment inside the Marlins toward making a long-term offer to Josh Johnson this offseason." The big righty turns 26 in January. He's having the best year of his career, with a 3.06 ERA and 166 strikeouts in 188.3 innings.
Noting that Johnson is under team control for 2010 and 2011 anyway, ESPN's Keith Law opined today Zack Greinke's four-year, $38MM extension signed in January would serve as a "realistic guideline." Both have developed into nasty pitchers, but with bumps along the way. For Johnson, it was Tommy John surgery in August of 2007.
What do you think - will the Marlins make a serious attempt to buy out Johnson's last two arbitration years and first two years of free agency? Is Greinke the right comparable? How about Jon Lester, who signed with less service time and gave more concessions to the team?
The D’Backs And Brandon Webb’s Option
WEDNESDAY: The D'Backs are likely to take their time on the Webb option decision, says Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. Piecoro adds:
But for now, the organization seems to be operating under the assumption that Webb will be back in the fold next year, whether it's with the club picking up his $8.5MM option or negotiating some other type of deal.
MONDAY: The Diamondbacks "don't plan to pick up Brandon Webb's $8.5MM club option," according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter). Nightengale says they will instead try to negotiate a one-year deal. Webb hopes to be ready for Spring Training after a recent shoulder cleanup. Doug Haller of the Arizona Republic notes that the D'Backs have until five days after the World Series to decide between Webb's $8.5MM option and the $2MM buyout.
Despite the report, I'd be surprised to see the D'Backs decline the option. After all, it is a one-year deal already, and a net of $6.5MM is quite reasonable for a pitcher of Webb's stature. For the team to try to reduce the guarantee further would be unreasonable, and the D'Backs aren't high on incentive-based contracts. Plus, GM Josh Byrnes had this to say a month ago about the option: "If it's close, he'll probably get the benefit of the doubt."
Pedro Feliciano Wants An Extension
Mets lefty reliever Pedro Feliciano craves a multiyear extension with the Mets, according to Adam Rubin of the New York Daily News (hat tip to MetsBlog). The reliever is currently aiming to break his own team record for appearances in a season. He's held lefties to a .232/.259/.377 line this year. Rubin notes:
Feliciano, 33, is arbitration-eligible and under the Mets' control for the 2010 season. After that, he will be eligible for free agency. But both Mets officials and Feliciano expect to speak about a multi-year deal this winter. Either way, Feliciano is due a raise from the $1.6MM he's earning this season.
Feliciano told Rubin he'd like a two or three-year deal. I imagine Feliciano will seek $2MM+ for 2010, plus $3MM a year thereafter. The high-water marks from last year's free agent class: Jeremy Affeldt's two-year, $8MM deal and Damaso Marte's three-year, $12MM pact. Both were signed in November.
The lefty reliever market dropped when Trever Miller (one year, $500K in December), Alan Embree (one year, $2.25MM in December), Arthur Rhodes (two years, $4MM in December), Brian Shouse (one year, $1.55MM in February), Eddie Guardado (one year, $1MM minor league deal in February), Dennys Reyes (two years, $3MM in March), Joe Beimel (one year, $2MM in March), and Will Ohman (one year, $1.55MM minor league deal in March) signed.
This year's crop of lefty relievers includes those on one-year deals above, plus Mike Gonzalez, John Grabow, Ron Mahay, Darren Oliver, Scott Schoeneweis, and Ron Villone. Grabow's already talking extension with the Cubs (or not), while Gonzalez may see himself as a closer.
Joel Pineiro Hopes To Stay With Cardinals
Starting pitcher Joel Pineiro, a free agent after the season, would like to remain with the Cardinals according to MLB.com's B.J. Rains. Cardinals GM John Mozeliak prefers to wait until after the season to discuss an extension. The righty, 31 this month, thrived this year after following pitching coach Dave Duncan's suggestion to throw a sinker. Among those with 150 innings, Pineiro ranks first with 1.04 walks per nine innings, 0.33 home runs per nine, and a 61.3% groundball rate. The result: a 3.21 ERA in 190.6 innings.
Pineiro's two-year, $13MM extension seemed reasonable when signed in October of '07. He struggled last year, battling a groin injury and getting bumped from the rotation in August.
Eddie Bajek's latest Elias ranking projections placed Pineiro as a Type B free agent with 69.071 points. At the time, the lowest Type A among NL starters had 74.840 points.
Maggs, Millwood Inching Toward Vesting Options
7:07pm: For what it's worth, manager Jim Leyland said "He's going to get it," referring to Ordonez's option. "He's swinging the bat good. I need him in the lineup. I'm hoping he can be more of a force for us down the stretch. That would really be a boost to our offense." The quote comes courtesy of MLive.com's Chris Iott. Magglio is in the Tigers' lineup tonight, and has already come to the plate twice.
2:08pm: Big-money vesting options are at stake this month for a pair of Scott Boras clients. Right fielder Magglio Ordonez's $18MM option for 2010 vests with just eight more plate appearances. And pitcher Kevin Millwood is just 13 outs away from locking in a $12MM salary for next year.
The Ordonez situation is simple. He's been hitting well since the beginning of August, and the Tigers are not inclined to mess around trying to avoid the vesting option. Maggs figures to be removed from the potential 2010 free agents list Tuesday night against the Royals.
Millwood is more complicated. Evan Grant of D Magazine questions the pitcher's health and declining velocity, and suggests benching him may be the Rangers' best chance at winning. If so, the Rangers would have to play it off as a coincidence that the option came remarkably close to vesting. To be fair, Millwood has been knocked around in four of his last five starts. Perhaps Boras' grievance would point out that Millwood remained in the rotation after posting a 6.75 ERA in July, and how there hasn't been talk of him switching to a mop-up relief role for the rest of the season.
MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan grilled Rangers president Nolan Ryan and GM Jon Daniels about Millwood on Thursday (before the pitcher's Saturday stinker), and both execs insisted the vesting option is not a factor in the manager's decision-making. Ryan went as far to say, "I would never do that to him."
Braves Have Interest In Tim Hudson Extension
2:15pm: MLB.com's Mark Bowman talked to Braves GM Frank Wren, who said he'd like to have Hudson pitching in Atlanta for a long time. Hudson's thoughts:
"I would be glad if they picked up the option. But it's one of those things if they want to discuss not picking it up and maybe going a few years out at some kind of whatever hometown discount, that's something I'd obviously be willing to discuss with them."
9:49am: According to ESPN's Buster Olney:
The Braves are interested in discussing a contract extension with Tim Hudson, and if they can make that work, they presumably will somehow fold the $12MM 2010 option into that deal. This, of course, would free up a starting pitcher for Atlanta to trade.
As MLBTR readers learned in January, Hudson has the right to void the option if the Braves exercise it. Dave O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote at the time that the Braves "fully intend to exercise it, barring some unexpected turn of events." Hudson had Tommy John surgery in August of '08, and he's been solid in two of his three starts this year. However, he wouldn't get $12MM guaranteed for one year on the open market, and nine months later O'Brien's assertion seems less certain. Hudson, as you might expect, would like the option picked up.
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports addressed the Hudson situation on Wednesday. Rosenthal also believed that he might prefer to just re-sign with the Braves. He wondered if the Braves would then shop Javier Vazquez for a hitter. Olney believes Atlanta would be more likely to trade another starter, Kenshin Kawakami for example.
I'm thinking something like two years, $15MM (plus incentives) would make sense for a Hudson extension. I don't agree that the Braves should shop a starter if they re-sign him. We have seen countless examples where a team had a starting pitching surplus on paper heading into the season, only to see it turn into a need within months.