Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Yankees Rumors

Cashman Takes Firm Stance On A-Rod

By | at

When we last heard from him eight days ago, Brian Cashman left himself some wiggle room to negotiate with Alex Rodriguez even if he opts out in November and the Yankees lose the Texas money.  The implication then was that higher-ranking club officials could overrule Cashman’s recommendation.

Yesterday, after the Yankees’ meeting of the minds in Tampa, Cashman took a firmer stance:

If Alex Rodriguez opts out of his contract then we will not participate in free agency.  That is accurate and that is definitive.

Why this is being aired out in public I’m not sure, but at this point the Yankees will seem kind of stupid if they do negotiate with Rodriguez after he opts out.  It really seems that they’re not kidding about not wanting to lose the Texas money or enter a bidding war.  Meanwhile Scott Boras just spent three full days convincing A-Rod to opt out.  However, Ken Davidoff believes that rather than opt out, A-Rod will sign an extension amounting to $297MM over nine seasons.

George King also revealed that Bobby Abreu’s $16MM option is at the bottom of the queue.  The Yanks will make decisions on Joe Torre, A-Rod, Mariano Rivera, and Jorge Posada first.

Odds and Ends: A-Rod, Boras, Pettitte

By | at

Early Monday morning reading material…

  • Interesting article in the New York Daily News regarding Scott Boras and Alex Rodriguez.  Boras insists that many of his clients have not taken the largest deal offered to them, giving examples.  The article also touches upon recent Boras clients connected to performance-enhancing drugs (Rick Ankiel and Scott Schoeneweis).  Boras’ agency is known for its obsessive attention to detail for all of its clients, and seeing a few of them busted raises some questions.
  • Last winter, we discussed the possibility of Hiroki Kuroda coming over from Japan.  Well, he’s a free agent again, and Nick Cafardo is wondering if 2008 will be the year.  Cafardo also noted that Daisuke Matsuzaka did not earn the Red Sox nearly as much marketing revenue as Scott Boras suggested.
  • Newsday’s Ken Davidoff says Andy Pettitte intends to exercise his $16MM player option for 2008.  Davidoff points out that Pettitte has the same deadline for this decision as A-Rod has for his opt-out.  Davidoff also mentions that Roger Clemens’ most likely destination for 2008 appears to be back in Houston, if he plays.
  • You’ve probably heard by now that Hank and Hal Steinbrenner will have final say on baseball decisions (especially Hank).  Hank will insist Joba Chamberlain be used as a starter in ’08, heightening the need to re-sign Mariano Rivera.
  • The Hardball Times tries to place dollar values on some top free agents, plus Adam Dunn.

Gammons: Yanks Inquired On Santana

By | at

Peter Gammons reported back on Tuesday that the Yankees have already made a Johan Santana inquiry.  The tidbit mentioned a cellphone conversation where apparently a Yankee exec asked who the team would need to part with aside from Chien-Ming Wang to acquire the Twins’ ace.

Makes sense that the Yanks would place a call on this; Santana’s the best pitcher in baseball and they’re the Yankees.  And the general vibe seems to be that the Twins are at least listening on Santana.  Wang or Cano plus another premium prospect seems a reasonable bounty.  The acquiring team may require a negotiating window.  And technically, Santana could have the Yankees on his 12-team no trade list. 

A-Rod Through 2019?

By | at

Could Alex Rodriguez’s next contract be a twelve-year pact, running through 2019?  Scott Boras won’t deny it, as he’s talking about taking his superstar through the end of his career.  A 12-year, $380MM deal doesn’t seem out of the question.  Has a baseball player ever signed for more than a decade?

Of course, Boras is a master negotiator.  So over the coming weeks, he’ll probably casually talk about A-Rod as a $35-40MM player getting 13 years.  Unless some team loses its mind entirely, he should settle at 10-11 years and the low $30MM range annually. 

Even teams flush with free cash are going to have to wonder whether they should aim for two $15-16MM players instead.  Doesn’t it make sense to spread the risk a little bit?  You might be able to get a 10 win gain in ’08 from Curt Schilling and Torii Hunter, at a much smaller total commitment. 

What if an aging A-Rod settles in as a 6-8 win player, as he was in 2004 and 2006?  What if he has to move to first base halfway through the deal?  What if he misses one entire season due to injury?  What if he’s connected to steroids?  Any team entertaining the landmark contract has to consider all of these things.

Random Rumors

By | at

Some random rumors to help you get through your Thursday morning…

  • As you might imagine, the Rangers are keenly watching and hoping Alex Rodriguez opts out of his contract.  That would free up $7MM for them in each of the next three years.  Rangers’ manager Ron Washington’s wish list includes a center fielder, corner outfielder, and first baseman.  The Rangers have been connected to Torii Hunter quite a bit, but they’ll have plenty of competition.
  • Will the exchange rate free up a bunch of money for the Blue Jays?  Perhaps even enough to make a pass at A-Rod?  Hey, fans can dream.  Mine!
  • Something I didn’t mention yesterday – Elijah Dukes is playing winter ball.  The Rays still don’t seem to have any room for him in the outfield or at DH.  Maybe the Marlins will get involved again?  Would Kevin Gregg work?    
  • Gordon Wittenmyer thinks the Cubs should keep Jacque Jones for 2008, which makes sense.  Wittenmyer also believes 22 year-old Felix Pie with 194 big league plate appearances, has proven conclusively that he can’t hit Major League pitching.  His suggestion is to trade Pie now.
  • Larry Borowsky wants the Cardinals to sign Milton Bradley.   
  • Jeff Sackmann recommends against Geoff Jenkins’ $9MM option for ’08, but the decision was tougher than you think.

Torre’s Status Will Influence Rivera

By | at

Mariano Rivera isn’t a sure thing to return to the Yankees in 2008.  He’s not happy about Joe Torre’s unknown status, and he doesn’t seem thrilled that the Yanks passed on their opportunity to re-sign him earlier this year.

Jon Heyman’s best guess yesterday: the Yanks re-sign Rivera for two years and $26MM, plus an option year for 2010.  That seems fairly reasonable to me; it’s still hard to picture a closer earning more than $13MM.  But Rivera may listen to offers, and it wouldn’t be a shock to see a team offer him three years guaranteed.

One stopper who could average such a salary in his next deal is Joe Nathan.  Nathan will be well underpaid at $6MM next year; he’s arguably the game’s best closer.  From 2004-07, Nathan has a 1.94 ERA and 11.3 K/9 in 282.3 innings.  He’s also got 160 saves over that four-year span.  If given an extension window, would the Yankees part with a Robinson Cano this winter to get Nathan?

Catcher Salaries

By | at

Dan Graziano noted in his column today that Ivan Rodriguez may have set the market for Jorge Posada when his option was exercised.  Posada was the game’s second-highest paid catcher in 2007, with his $12MM salary behind only Jason Kendall’s $13MM.  Posada is coming off a .338/.426/.543 season, so he’s going to break the bank.  Some team is probably going to offer $15MM per year over four years. 

Now that Pudge is locked in at $13MM for ’08, he’s jumped to that top of the list.  Behind him, Jason Varitek makes $9MM and Ramon Hernandez earns $7.5MM next year.  Ramon Castro should prepare for a huge raise – he made $850K in ’07 but could be around $4MM in ’08.

Many catchers will definitely have to take a pay cut.  Kendall won’t get $13MM again, of course.  Paul Lo Duca probably won’t pull $6.25MM.  Jason LaRue will come down from this year’s $5.2MM.  Michael Barrett at $4.6MM?  Probably not.  Brad Ausmus at $3.5MM?  No way.

If you’re interested, Download catcher_salaries.xls.  It’s an Excel spreadsheet with all the 2007 and 2008 catcher salaries.

Time To Talk A-Rod

By | at

Alex Rodriguez has exactly one month to decide whether to opt out of his contract.  This is going to be a hot topic for the next thirty days, and of course the top offseason story if he does opt out.  Let’s sum up the latest.  The info comes from six similar articles, which I’ll just link to at the bottom.

  • Any major event deserves an acronym, and Scott Boras has coined one for Alex Rodriguez as he heads toward free agency.  Boras’ term is IPN – Icon, Performance, Network.  In other words, A-Rod is famous, he’s an awesome hitter, and he boosts the Yankees’ TV revenue.  We needed a new acronym for that?
  • Reminder: Texas is on the hook for $21.3MM of the $91MM owed to Rodriguez for the 2008-10 seasons.  This obligation disappears if he opts out.
  • Brian Cashman again said that not negotiating with A-Rod if he opts out would be his "strong recommendation," but hinted that others have a say in the decision (read: The Boss).  This is the first public crack in Cashman’s stance.
  • Boras will obviously push hard for Rodriguez to opt out and sign a landmark free agent deal. 
  • We’ve seen the ten-year, $300MM estimate thrown around quite a bit.  Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News ups the ante, suggesting Boras could find a team to pay $400MM over eleven years.  Screw it – someone should just pay him one billion dollars over 29 years and get it over with.

References:  Newark Star-Ledger, New York Times, Hartford Courant, New York Post, Newsday, New York Daily News

Odds and Ends: Aramis, La Russa, A-Rod

By | at

A random smattering of links this morning…

  • I wrote a postmortem on why the D’Backs beat the Cubs over at The Hardball Times.
  • Just a whisper at the moment, but I’m hearing that the Angels could pursue Aramis Ramirez if the Cubs make him available.  They were in hard on him last year when he was briefly a free agent.
  • Seems that Joe Torre is done as Yankees manager, but Tony La Russa is not interested.
  • Another important date to mark down: November 10th.  That’s when Alex Rodriguez decides whether to opt out of his contract.  Right after the GM meetings.
  • The Tigers will stick with Brandon Inge at third base next year, perhaps feeling that his defense justified his .236/.312/.376 line.  There is hope for a rebound, since he slugged .463 the previous year.  Plus Inge is locked in for $6.2MM in ’08, $6.3MM in ’09, and $6.6MM in ’10.
  • The Mariners had a $2.7MM option on Chris Reitsma with a $0.7MM buyout and apparently some kind of option on Arthur Rhodes.  Both were declined.  Reitsma, coming off ulnar nerve transposition surgery in ’06, was supposed to be Seattle’s setup man.  He tried to pitch this year but the elbow wasn’t fully healed.  Rhodes had similar problems in ’06 and went under the knife for TJ in April.
  • You may have noticed some of the in-post ads are showing as ugly blank white space or "This page cannot be found" errors…please bear with me as I try to get it back to normal. 

Sunday Morning Santana

By | at

Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe discusses the names being thrown around for Johan Santana.  As well as the Kemp/Kershaw for Santana, Cafardo quotes an AL Executive:

One AL executive theorized, "There are a few teams who could match up with the Twins. Would the Yankees deal Melky Cabrera and an Ian Kennedy for Santana? How about Boston? Would they send a Clay Buchholz and a Jacoby Ellsbury for him? The Mets? There are few teams who could handle the paycheck you’d have to give Santana and also be able to part with key prospects."

If that logic is correct, it narrows the list of suitors considerably.

MLBTR readers made the astute point in the Kemp/Kershaw comments that if a team is going to give up two Major League-ready prospects, the deal would be contingent on a re-signing of Santana.  A one year rental is most likely not going to appeal to any GM handing over otherwise untouchable commodities such as a Buchholz/Ellsbury or a Kennedy/Cabrera or a Kemp/Kershaw.

Which teams, therefore, can afford the likes of baseball’s best starting pitcher?

Here’s an intriguing twist.  As most already know, it’s safe to assume Santana will not finish in the top 3 in Cy Young voting this year and therefore will not be gaining his no-trade clause for 2008.  However, he still gets to choose up to 12 teams to which he can’t be traded.  If for some reason he didn’t want to leave the Twins next season, could he strategically choose every team capable of dealing for him? 

Despite not having a no-trade clause, it’s safe to note Santana will have considerable say in any deal.

 

Posted by: Nat Boyle

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top