Cabrera Helped Tigers Sign Victor Martinez
Miguel Cabrera knew the Tigers had some financial flexibility this winter, so he told GM Dave Dombrowski he’d be happy to help the team recruit free agents. Dombrowski took his first baseman up on the offer and told him to call up Victor Martinez. Just three weeks into the offseason, Cabrera and the Tigers accomplished their goal, luring Martinez to Detroit with some persuasive words and a four-year, $50MM contract.
Martinez drew strong interest from "at least six teams," agent Scott Pucino said on a conference call with reporters. Martinez says Cabrera’s recruiting was "a good part" of his decision to sign in Detroit, but it wasn't the primary reason he turned down other offers.
"Bottom line, I just want to win," Martinez said. "I came here because I want to win. Anything that I can do to make this team better [and] win, man. I want to do it. I’m just really excited and I just want to win bad."
Martinez made it clear that he'll play any position the Tigers ask him to. Dombrowski says the 31-year-old will be the team's regular DH, catch two or three times a week and back up at first base. Alex Avila will remain the team's primary catcher; Dombrowski expects the precise breakdown to take care of itself.
The Tigers lose their 2011 first rounder for signing Martinez, a Type A free agent. Dombrowski said the Tigers were willing to surrender their top pick for Martinez because it's difficult to acquire All-Star caliber major leaguers.
"For example if we had a straight trade for him, would I be willing to give up a number one type of talent in return for him? The question would depend upon who you’re talking about in any case, but the generality of it would be yes,” Dombrowski said.
The Tigers, who surrendered their first round draft pick last year after they signed Type A free agent Jose Valverde, say they can overcome the lost picks by signing top international free agents and drafting aggressively.
“Last year we supplemented it by drafting somebody in the sandwich pick, Nick Castellanos, that we thought was a legitimate high number one pick, so we were able to fill that role,” Dombrowski said.
The Tigers have not shied away from talented, but expensive amateur players in recent years and they have Rick Porcello, Jacob Turner and, more recently, Castellanos to show for it.
This offseason the Tigers have been exceptionally aggressive on the free agent market, signing Brandon Inge, Jhonny Peralta and Joaquin Benoit. They're settled in the infield, behind the plate and at DH and they like outfielders Austin Jackson and Ryan Raburn, but they aren't necessarily done their offseason shopping yet. Dombrowski acknowledged that the team may add another outfielder.
Stark On Tigers, Angels, Werth, Rangers
Teams have money to spend this offseason and ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark explains which clubs will spend more than others and what they’re going to devote their resources to. Here are the details:
- The Tigers, who announced the Victor Martinez signing today, are still “prowling” for a right-handed corner outfielder. Scott Boras clients Jayson Werth and Magglio Ordonez could be options for Detroit.
- One AL executive predicts that the Angels will “spend their butts off."
- Teams will be surprised if Carl Crawford doesn’t end up with the Angels, who could add Adrian Beltre, too.
- The Red Sox appear to be the favorites to sign Werth.
- Other clubs expect the Rangers to pursue Crawford or Zack Greinke if they can’t sign Cliff Lee.
- The Orioles, Nationals, A’s, Brewers and Pirates are also looking to spend this offseason.
Odds & Ends: Upton, Blue Jays, Miner, Pirates
A round of Thanksgiving links…
- Justin Upton is not on the Blue Jays' radar anymore, according to Shi Davidi of The Canadian Press. The Diamondbacks simply want too much for the outfielder.
- Meanwhile, Toronto GM Alex Anthopoulos told Ken Fidlin of The Toronto Sun that he's not necessarily afraid of players with bad reputations, but it "depends how significant the baggage." Manny Ramirez's name has been linked to the Jays, and he certainly brings some baggage.
- John Lowe of The Detroit Free Press explains that Tigers reliever Zach Miner is a non-tender candidate, joining Joel Zumaya.
- Remember Dinesh Patel, the reality show contestant who signed with the Pirates? Pittsburgh released him and eight other minor leaguers, according to MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch.
- Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News argues that the Yankees' offseason checklist is still incomplete. The Bronx Bombers have not signed Cliff Lee and there's a lot of uncertainty surrounding their two biggest free agents, so it's hard to argue with Feinsand here.
- Paul White of USA Today explains why the Brewers may trade Prince Fielder: they'd "have to be quite creative with their future finances to offer [the first baseman] a competitive deal."
- There's a "miniscule" chance that the Dodgers bring George Sherrill back in 2011, according to Steve Dilbeck of the LA Times. The lefty specialist is sure to be non-tendered after a disappointing season in which he earned $4.5MM.
Matching The Team To The Stadium
Fenway Park has the Green Monster, Coors Field has the humidor, and Minute Maid Park has the Crawford Boxes. Lots of stadiums have quirks or tendencies that favor certain kinds of players and big league executives are well aware of it. MLB GMs say they prefer to have players whose skill sets match their parks, but that's just one consideration when constructing a roster.
The Tigers, for example, play 81 games per season in spacious Comerica Park, so GM Dave Dombrowski says he looks for outfielders who can cover lots of ground whenever possible.
"Fortunately we have an outstanding defensive center fielder now in Austin Jackson," Dombrowski told MLBTR last week in Orlando. "But you know you have to have an outstanding center fielder in Comerica Park who can really go get the ball or it’ll hurt you a great deal."
Jackson, Brennan Boesch and Ryan Raburn will be in the Tigers organization in 2011, but longtime right fielder Magglio Ordonez is a free agent, so the Tigers may look to acquire a corner outfielder via trade or free agency. If they do, Comerica Park will be a factor.
"Even your corner outfielders, it’s hard to get just a guy who is a stationary type guy because our outfield’s big, so we take it into consideration quite a bit,” Dombrowski said.
Like Comerica Park, San Diego's Petco Park has a larger than average outfield. And Padres GM Jed Hoyer acquired former Tigers prospect Cameron Maybin partly because his athleticism should make the club better defensively.
"Having a big station to station team that plays poor defense doesn’t seem like a recipe for success given the ballparks we play in,” Hoyer said.
No team adds or subtracts players purely because of their ballpark and the Padres are no exception. But because of the unbalanced schedule, Hoyer is intent on fielding a team that can cover lots of ground at Petco.
"We play 81 games there, we play nine in AT&T Park, we play nine in Dodger Stadium, the outfield in Coors Field is huge so you start adding it up and the number of games we play in big fields is a lot and we need to be fast," Hoyer said.
Similarly, some teams in homer-friendly ballparks are inclined to acquire pitchers who keep the ball on the ground. Camden Yards has been one of baseball's five friendliest home run environments for four years running, according to ESPN's park factors, and the Orioles front office knows how their home stadium plays. As president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail points out, you can't hit a ground ball out of the park.
"We do pay attention to [ground ball rate], we definitely factor it in," MacPhail said. "All things being equal it’s a positive, but it’s not a sole driver in terms of what we do."
If the O's really did make decisions completely based on ground ball rate, they would not have signed Koji Uehara, who was effective in 2010 despite allowing 2.5 times as many fly balls as ground balls. Instead, park factors are one element of the team's decision-making process.
"If we think we can find the right guy even if he doesn’t have that [ground ball] number that would be ideal, we’ll [consider him],” MacPhail said.
Minor League Transactions
Here's a look at some notable names involved in minor transactions between November 16-21, as compiled by Baseball America's Matt Eddy…
- Left-hander Scott Rice signed with the Cubs. Rice was picked 44th overall by Baltimore in the 1999 amateur draft, but has yet to get a cup of coffee in the majors after appearing in 377 minor league games.
- Right-hander Jon Huber re-signed with the Dodgers. Huber last pitched in the majors in 2007 with Seattle.
- Veteran right-hander Scott Patterson re-signed with the Mariners. Patterson has four major league games to his name, with the Padres and Yankees in 2008.
- The Marlins re-signed Vinny Rottino, and also signed relievers Victor Garate and Frank Mata. The Fish also removed right-hander Brett Sinkbeil from their 40-man roster. Sinkbeil was Florida's first-round pick (19th overall) in the 2006 draft, drafted ahead of such notables as Daniel Bard, Joba Chamberlain and Chris Perez.
- Former Tigers outfielder Jeff Frazier signed with the Nationals. Frazier made his major league debut with Detroit last season, posting a .511 OPS in 24 plate appearances.
- The Orioles removed right-hander Armando Gabino and first baseman Rhyne Hughes from their 40-man roster, and Gabino elected free agency. Gabino has a 15.12 ERA in 8 1/3 major league innings with Baltimore and Minnesota. Hughes posted a .530 OPS in 51 plate appearances for the O's last season.
- Pittsburgh released a number of minor leaguers, including a few notable international players. Taiwanese prospects Sheng-Cin Hong and Chih-Wei Hsu, both signed by the Pirates at the start of the 2009 international signing period, have been let go by the club. Also released was Dinesh Patel, signed by Pittsburgh in 2008 after being a finalist on the Indian reality show "Million Dollar Arm." Patel, a cricket player, had never pitched or even picked up a baseball before appearing on the show.
- The Rangers reinstated Nathan Haynes from the inactive list and released the outfielder. Haynes hasn't actually played since 2008. Drafted 32nd overall by Oakland in the 1997 amateur draft, Haynes never caught on in the bigs, managing 95 career plate appearances with the Angels and Rays in 2007-08.
- Right-hander Chad Reineke, best known for being traded straight-up for Randy Wolf in 2008, has re-signed with the Reds.
- The Tigers outrighted Fu-Te Ni to Triple-A and removed the Taiwanese southpaw from their 40-man roster. Ni had an impressive 2.61 ERA in 36 outings in his 2009 rookie season, but his ERA ballooned to 6.65 in 22 games with Detroit last year.
Reaction To The Victor Martinez Signing
Victor Martinez's four-year, $50MM contract with the Tigers was finalized today. Now that the offseason's first major free agent has left the market, there is no shortage of commentary about how this move impacts Martinez's former club in Boston. A sampling…
- "The Tigers are paying Martinez with the expectation that he’ll be able to replicate the career of [Jorge] Posada," writes The Providence Journal's Brian MacPherson, while the Red Sox saw Martinez as another Mike Lieberthal.
- CSNNE.com's Sean McAdam points out that if Boston had to lose Martinez, Detroit was the best possible team to lose him to since the Tigers have the highest unprotected pick (19th overall) in the 2011 amateur draft. WEEI.com's Alex Speier, however, points out that Boston's compensatory pick will fall into the second round if the Tigers sign a higher-ranked free agent than Martinez — namely, Carl Crawford or Jayson Werth.
- In a separate story from Speier, multiple Red Sox sources say they doubt Martinez will remain a viable catcher for more than two seasons. As Speier points out, handing lots of responsibility to Jarrod Saltalamacchia is risky, but signing Martinez long-term would have been risky, too. Speier says "the decision bore striking parallels" to when Johnny Damon signed with New York after the 2005 season.
- Writing for WEEI.com, former Boston utilityman Lou Merloni thinks the Red Sox made a mistake by not re-signing Martinez.
- Tony Massarotti of the Boston Globe thinks Theo Epstein may be putting too much emphasis on stockpiling draft picks.
MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith contributed to this post
Odds & Ends: Bigbie, Jeter, Hoffman, Tigers
Five years ago today, the Red Sox acquired Mike Lowell and Josh Beckett in the blockbuster trade that sent Hanley Ramirez to Florida. As I explained a year ago, that deal worked out pretty well for both clubs. Here are today's links…
- Seven American League teams watched Larry Bigbie work out recently, MLBTR has learned. The teams have interest in the 33-year-old as a corner outfielder/DH.
- Jon Heyman of SI.com weighs in on the Derek Jeter contract talks and says the Yankees can't take the chance that Jeter walks out on them, even if it costs them an extra year or a few more million.
- ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick compares the GM-manager relationships for Chicago's two teams.
- Some baseball people people are convinced that Trevor Hoffman will return to San Diego, according to ESPN.com’s Buster Olney. The expectation among GMs is that the Padres will trade Heath Bell by next year’s trade deadline.
- The Tigers are still seen as serious bidders for outfielders, according to Olney.
Tigers Sign Victor Martinez
The Tigers officially added a middle of the order bat, signing catcher Victor Martinez to a four-year, $50MM contract. Martinez was widely regarded as the best offensive catcher available, though he may see significant time as Detroit's designated hitter. He'll earn $12MM in 2011, $13MM in 2012-13 and $12MM in 2014.
Martinez, 32 next month, hit .302/.351/.493 in 538 plate appearances for the Red Sox this year, earning his fourth All-Star nod. As a switch-hitter, Martinez provides the left side protection the Tigers craved. He also logged 904 innings behind the plate, a number that should decrease in Detroit due to the presence of Alex Avila.
Though the Red Sox hoped to re-sign Martinez, reportedly offering him a choice of three years and $36MM or four years and $42MM. They can take solace in receiving the best available draft pick as part of their compensation. The Tigers must surrender their #19 draft pick next year to the Red Sox, unless Detroit also signs Jayson Werth later. In that case the Red Sox would get the Tigers' second-round pick. Regardless, the Red Sox will also receive a supplemental draft pick.
According to Ignacio Serrano of El Nacional, who broke the story, Martinez turned down a four-year, $48MM offer from the Orioles and a three-year, $48MM contract from the White Sox. MLBTR has learned that the White Sox in fact offered $48MM over four years. Martinez is represented by Octagon.
The Tigers have been baseball's most aggressive team this offseason. Prior to the Martinez agreement, they committed $39.25MM to Brandon Inge, Jhonny Peralta, and Joaquin Benoit. In a November 10th poll, three of five MLBTR writers correctly predicted Martinez would sign with the Tigers.
Serrano broke the story, Sean McAdam of CSNNE.com reported that an agreement was in place and Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes reported on Twitter that the deal was official and added contract details.
American League Free Agent Arbitration Offers
10 American League teams have free agent arbitration offer decisions to make, and we'll group them in this post. For a fantastic customizable chart with all 65 Type A/B free agents and their decisions in real-time, click here.
- The Blue Jays offered arbitration to Scott Downs (A) Jason Frasor (A) Kevin Gregg (B) Miguel Olivo (B), according to MLB.com's Gregor Chisolm (on Twitter).
- The Twins offered arbitration to Carl Pavano (A), Jesse Crain (B) and Orlando Hudson (B) and declined to offer arbitration to Matt Guerrier (A), Brian Fuentes (B) and Jon Rauch (B), according to Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune (on Twitter).
- The Rays offered arbitration to Grant Balfour (A), Carl Crawford (A), Rafael Soriano (A), Randy Choate (B), Brad Hawpe (B) and Chad Qualls (B), according to Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times. They did not offer Dan Wheeler (A) or Carlos Pena (B) arbitration. It seems possible that Hawpe has agreed in advance to turn down arbitration.
- The Orioles won't offer arbitration to Koji Uehara (B) or Kevin Millwood (B), according to Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun (Twitter links).
- The Angels declined to offer Hideki Matsui (B) arbitration, the team announced.
- The Rangers offered arbitration to Cliff Lee (A) and Frank Francisco (A), but not to Vladimir Guerrero (A) and Bengie Molina (A), according to MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan.
- The Yankees will offer arbitration to Javier Vazquez (B), but not to any of their other free agents, according to Ken Davidoff of Newsday on Twitter. Andy Pettitte (A), Derek Jeter (A), Mariano Rivera (A), Lance Berkman (B) and Kerry Wood (B) were the team's other ranked free agents. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first reported that the Yankees would offer Vazquez arbitration and noted that the right-hander has agreed to reject the offer, a common gentleman's agreement that can take place with Type B free agents. Marc Carig of the Newark Star-Ledger first reported on Twitter that the Yankees would not offer Jeter arbitration.
- The Red Sox offered arbitration to Adrian Beltre (A), Victor Martinez (A) and Felipe Lopez (B), but not to Mike Lowell (B) or Jason Varitek (B), according to the team.
- The White Sox offered arbitration to Paul Konerko (A) and J.J. Putz (B), but not to A.J. Pierzynski (A) or Manny Ramirez (A) according to the team (on Twitter).
- As expected, the Tigers announced that they will not offer arbitration to any of their free agents, including Scott Boras clients Magglio Ordonez (A), Johnny Damon (B), and Gerald Laird (B).
Red Sox Rumors: V-Mart, Varitek, Crawford
The latest on the Red Sox, including details on the team's final offers to the Tigers' newest free agent signing:
- The Red Sox offered Victor Martinez a three-year, $36MM deal and a four-year $42MM deal before he signed in Detroit, according to MLB.com's Ian Browne.
- As Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald points out, the Red Sox could bring Jason Varitek back in 2011, even though they declined to offer him arbitration. Click here for all the updates on which ranked free agents were offered arbitration.
- Wondering how the Red Sox have handled ranked free agents under Theo Epstein? Alex Speier of WEEI.com has all the details.
- Red Sox manager Terry Francona told the Dale & Holley Show on WEEI that he's confident the team will be strong by Spring Training, even though Epstein and the rest of the front office have some needs to address now.
- Francona called Carl Crawford a "game changer," not unlike Johnny Damon.
- The skipper also suggested that reports about Marco Scutaro's availability don't mean "anything."
- Francona was careful not to say much about Justin Upton, but he did repeat that the Red Sox value their own young players highly.