Heyman On Lincecum, Cano, Votto, Weaver, Dodgers
Ryan Braun's $105MM, five-year contract extension through 2020 seemed like it came out of nowhere, but a ton of other young stars also appear to be in line for new deals, writes Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated. Heyman runs down the 20-somethings that could get hefty contract extensions and touches on a few other things in today's column..
- Giants ace Tim Lincecum won't be a free agent until after the 2013 season, but San Francisco would be wise to lock him up before his arbitration numbers get out of hand. A third Cy Young season could potentially bring Lincecum from $14MM into the $25MM range and possibly to $30MM in '13. Heyman expects a deal to get done, even if it costs the club a fortune. MLBTR's Tim Dierkes touched on the Lincecum situation here and here, and will have much more on the topic next week.
- Similarly, there's no reason to think the Yankees would let Robinson Cano leave in the prime of his career. The Bombers have options for 2012 and '13 at $14MM and $15MM, respectively, and will obviously exercise them. Look for the Yanks to get a deal done with the second baseman, but only after the Scott Boras client files for free agency.
- Reds slugger Joey Votto will hit the open market after 2013 and it would be wise for the club to lock him up as the youngster continues to improve. This winter he signed a three-year, $38MM to take care of his arbitration years, but his rate will presumably rise after that deal is up. Heyman believes that the Reds will lock up Votto, just as they did with Jay Bruce. This winter, Cincinnati signed the right fielder to a six-year, $51MM deal.
- Even though the Marlins' poor attendance would seem to indicate that the club doesn't have the funds to sign Josh Johnson to a new deal, they are on their way to a brand-new facility in the near future. Putting that aside, they're still in the black. His $39MM, four-year deal goes through 2013 but his next contract should easily top that.
- If you're a Halos fan looking to purchase a Jered Weaver jersey, you may want to reconsider. Heyman writes that the right-hander is all but a goner in two years. Agent Scott Boras is talking his client up and the Angels don't have a history of keeping their top free agents anyway. It's possible that the next Dodgers owner, assuming there is one, could talk the Simi Valley product into a homecoming.
- It may come as a surprise to some, but Heyman predicts that Andre Ethier will remain with the Dodgers beyond 2012. GM Ned Colletti is believed to want to lock up Ethier along with Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw. Even though the Dodgers' situation is probably too messy for anything to get done right away, they have to act fast to keep the 29-year-old.
- You can also expect the Dodgers to work something out with Kemp, who is also a free agent after 2012.
- Of the 33 players that Heyman profiles, he expects most to get new deals done with their respective clubs. Some of the players that we may see elsewhere: John Danks, Shin Soo-Choo, Jonathan Sanchez, Justin Morneau, Grady Sizemore, and Shaun Marcum.
- TV magnate Burt Sugarman is one name believed to be in the mix among potential buyers of the Dodgers. Investment banker Jason Reese and billionaire Ron Burkle are also in the mix. Burkle is teaming with former Dodgers great Steve Garvey.
Marlins Considering Run At Mark DeRosa
THURSDAY, 2:25pm: The Marlins have had internal discussions about third base options, but never discussed possible deals with the Giants, according to Danny Knobler of CBS Sports.com.
WEDNESDAY, 3:59pm: DeRosa is headed to the DL, according to Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News (on Twitter). Though the repaired tendon in his wrist is fine, the area around it is inflamed. If the Marlins are going to make a run at DeRosa, it probably won't happen for a few weeks at least.
12:44pm: The Marlins "have begun weighing the merits of making a run at" Giants infielder Mark DeRosa, reports Juan C. Rodriguez of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. DeRosa could be a solution for the Fish at third base for the remainder of the season, after which his contract is up.
DeRosa, 36, is hitting well in a small 20 plate appearance sample this season. With a crowded outfield and no openings at second base or the infield corners, the Giants may consider DeRosa expendable. Not only could they get a useful player back, but they could also clear a portion of DeRosa's $6MM salary. An extra $2-3MM would be helpful to the Giants, who may have limited payroll flexibility in the 2011-12 offseason unless they move some salary.
The Marlins considered giving the third base job to top prospect Matt Dominguez out of Spring Training, but instead sent him to Triple-A on March 24th. Eight days later Dominguez fractured his elbow. As a whole, Greg Dobbs, Donnie Murphy, Emilio Bonifacio, and Wes Helms are hitting .286/.353/.416 on the season while manning third base for the Marlins.
NL West Notes: Stewart, McCourt, Belt
The latest from the NL West, where the Rockies have built a 4.5 game lead over the Dodgers, the defending World Champions, the D'Backs and the last-place Padres…
- Steve Foster of Inside the Rockies wonders which position player the Rockies will call on when they decide 13 pitchers are no longer a necessity. Ian Stewart, Chris Nelson, Eric Young Jr. and a number of other former big leaguers are among the candidates to join the Rockies.
- Dodgers owner Frank McCourt is essentially facing "the prospect of his second divorce in 18 months," Yahoo's Tim Brown says of MLB's takeover of the club's financial operations. "And the guy who fought his way in will fight more ferociously on his way out, you can be sure of that." Brown hears from a friend of McCourt's that he is a "street fighter" at heart.
- Giants GM Brian Sabean told Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle that his team isn't left-handed enough. Brandon Belt, who swings from the left side, is playing left and right field in the minors and he'll almost certainly stay in the outfield when he returns to the majors, according to Schulman.
2012 Contract Issues: San Francisco Giants
The Giants are next in our 2012 Contract Issues series. Here's what the team faces after the 2011 season:
Eligible For Free Agency (6)
- Veteran position players Miguel Tejada, Cody Ross, Mark DeRosa, and Pat Burrell will be eligible for free agency after the season. Tejada, Ross, and DeRosa are making $6MM+ this year, and it probably won't make sense to keep them around at similar salaries.
- Relievers Javier Lopez and Guillermo Mota are both off to good starts in the early going.
Contract Options (1)
- Jeremy Affeldt: $5MM club option with a $500K buyout. I'm not sure this is a good investment given Affeldt's control issues. I'm leaning toward this being declined right now.
Arbitration Eligible (11)
- First time: Pablo Sandoval, Sergio Romo, Nate Schierholtz, Eli Whiteside
- Second time: Andres Torres, Santiago Casilla, Ryan Vogelsong
- Third time: Tim Lincecum, Jonathan Sanchez, Ramon Ramirez, Mike Fontenot
Lincecum is the arbitration case everyone will be watching. He was aiming for a first-time record before settling on a two-year deal in February of last year. Lincecum is in a class by himself and could seek close to $20MM for 2012. The Giants could try for another multiyear extension instead of working to prevent their ace from shattering arbitration records for his '12 and '13 salaries.
Sandoval and Sanchez deserve consideration for extensions as well. Otherwise, I could see the pair earning around $12MM in total for '12. Torres, Romo, and Ramirez would also make sense to retain at the least. It's a very rough estimate, but the Giants' arbitration eligibles could get around $40MM for next year.
2012 Payroll Obligation
The Giants' 2012 payroll obligation, according to Cot's, is $72.933MM including Affeldt's buyout. Arbitration eligible players could put them in the $113MM range, $5MM shy of this year's $118MM payroll. It's difficult to see the Giants taking payroll much higher, so barring trades or money-saving extensions GM Brian Sabean will have to go cheap at shortstop and in the outfield.
Giants Make Nate Schierholtz Available
The Giants are letting teams know outfielder Nate Schierholtz is available, tweets ESPN's Jerry Crasnick. Andres Torres might come off the DL soon after recovering from a sore Achilles tendon, perhaps leaving the out of options Schierholtz without a spot.
In Schierholtz, Pat Burrell, Darren Ford, Cody Ross, and Aaron Rowand, the Giants currently have five outfielders on the active roster. The Giants could retain Schierholtz by just sending down Darren Ford, who was recalled when Torres went on the DL.
There's also the question of whether Rowand has more value to the Giants than Schierholtz. The 33-year-old Rowand is off to a tolerable start in 69 plate appearances after his ugly 2010, and is owed $22.3MM through the 2012 season. Schierholtz has only 31 plate appearances, and has not produced.
Schierholtz, 27, was known to be on the bubble in March, but the Giants ended up outrighting Travis Ishikawa instead. Schierholtz appears to have defensive value, and has shown promise offensively at Triple-A.
Rosenthal On Fielder, Marlins, Yankees, Giants
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports brings us another edition of Full Count. Here are some highlights..
- Prince Fielder is off to a great start and one GM predicts that he'll be one of the most interesting free agents of all-time. The GM says that Fielder runs hard and is more athletic than most people think. He's about to turn 27 years old which means that he's about four-and-a-half years younger than Ryan Howard and Albert Pujols. A team like the Cubs could use Fielder against Pujols, saying that if he doesn't meet their price, they could sign Fielder instead.
- The Marlins are second in the National League in ERA and first in bullpen ERA by a wide margin. Theyr'e going to have to keep winning with pitching as Hanley Ramirez is off to a slow start, Logan Morrison is out with an injured foot and Mike Stanton still hasn't found his form since coming back from a hamstring strain. Last week, Rosenthal pointed out the potential availability of Mark DeRosa and this week he says that the veteran would be a perfect fit in Florida.
- The Yankees will soon face some decisions regarding their rotation. Kevin Millwood has an out in his contract if he's not in the majors by May 1st. The club might have better options such as Adam Warren and possibly Hector Noesi or David Phelps. In addition to those prospects, Carlos Silva is working his way back into shape and Phil Hughes is about to start a rehab assignment this week.
- Miguel Tejada is off to a rough start in 2011 as he looks less-than-sharp in the field and is hitting just .209/.239/.328. The Giants don't have any great internal options at shortstop, so Rosenthal says to keep an eye on Jose Reyes, Marco Scutaro, J.J. Hardy as possible trade targets.
Offseason In Review: San Francisco Giants
The World Champion Giants conclude our Offseason In Review series.
Major League Signings
- Aubrey Huff, 1B/RF: two years, $22MM. Includes $10MM club option for 2013 with a $2MM buyout.
- Miguel Tejada, SS: one year, $6.5MM.
- Pat Burrell, LF: one year, $1MM.
- Total spend: $29.5MM.
International Signings
- Simon Mercedes, Adalberto Mejia
Notable Minor League Signings
Extensions
- Freddy Sanchez, 2B: one year, $6MM.
Trades and Claims: None
Notable Losses
Summary
Brian Sabean, the longest-tenured GM in the game, bought himself some offseason leeway by winning the World Series. It's harder to question the guy who put together the team that won it all, but I'll give it a shot.
In Sabean's defense, the Dodgers seemingly offered Huff something close to the two-year, $22MM deal he ultimately signed. That doesn't make it a good signing though. This was a risky move, with concerns about Huff's defense and uncertainty trying to project his next two seasons. There's also the presence of top prospect Brandon Belt, who might be able to approximate Huff's offensive production at four percent of his salary. The Braves took a different approach, installing Freddie Freeman at first base and ignoring the free agent market.
The Dodgers did steal away Uribe, though I don't blame Sabean for not offering that magnitude of a contract. Sabean had to put someone at shortstop, though, so he signed Tejada for $6.5MM. I would have estimated a contract about half that size for Tejada. Pursuing J.J. Hardy would have been preferable, but failing that I can understand adding a stopgap - just not a $6.5MM one. Hopefully the Giants will be in the mix for Jose Reyes this summer, as he'd represent a significant upgrade.
It's hard not to like the Burrell signing, as the veteran signed for a million bucks despite being the only free agent left fielder to hit 20 home runs. This was similar to the Kerry Wood deal, where a player dictated his team by taking a pay cut. The Sanchez extension, on the other hand, was acceptable but didn't represent a bargain.
Sabean's offseason was very quiet otherwise; I think he was the only GM not to make a trade or claim. The Giants did have quite a few arbitration cases, and I can't fault them for tendering contracts to everyone but Ray. Cody Ross was a borderline case, but the decision had to be made before Burrell was signed or Mark DeRosa's health was fully assessed. If DeRosa bounces back to his 2007-08 levels for a few months, Sabean might be able to shed his salary midseason and gain extra payroll flexibility.
The Giants' offense should be a little better this year, and they've got the same excellent rotation. That doesn't necessarily put them in the playoffs again, so hopefully Sabean will be active this summer in seeking an upgrade at shortstop.
Photo courtesy of Icon SMI.
Giants Option Brandon Belt
Giants first baseman Brandon Belt has been optioned to the Triple-A Fresno, tweets CSNBayArea.com's Mychael Urban. The move opens a spot on the 25-man roster for Cody Ross.
The demotion is justified based on Belt's performance; he hit .192/.300/.269 in 60 plate appearances and the Giants can't afford to give him on-the-job training. He's still considered one of the best 20 or so prospects in the game.
There is another benefit to optioning Belt, as MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith explained yesterday. If he stays in the minors for 20 days or more, which seems likely barring an injury at the big league level, Belt's free agency will be delayed until after the 2017 season at the earliest. Had he remained in the Majors all year, Belt would have been eligible for free agency after '16.
Rosenthal On DeRosa, Rangers, Gonzalez, Garcia
Let's dive into the latest edition of Full Count from Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports..
- It's early in the season, but it already seems like the Giants' Mark DeRosa could be the odd man out in San Francisco. DeRosa is obviously versatile, but the club seems to be set at shortstop, second base, third, and in the outfield. The veteran is earning $6MM and he seems like a prime candidate to be traded.
- The Rangers are off to a hot start but the club is concerned about their lack of a dominant right-handed set-up man. Alexi Ogando was supposed to fill that role but instead, he's flourishing as a starter. Darren O'Day is coming off two strong seasons but he's viewed as more of a "seventh inning guy". Because of that, look for Texas to target a strong right-handed reliever before the deadline.
- The next young starters in line for contract extensions might be the A's Gio Gonzalez and the Cardinals' Jaime Garcia following the deals given to Trevor Cahill and Clay Buchholz. However, Gonzalez is a Super Two player, meaning that the A's might have to guarantee him another year to cover his first year of free agency.
NL West Notes: D’Backs, Mota, Padres
Let's check out the latest from the NL West…
- The Diamondbacks are putting some serious money into upgrading their player development system, writes Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. "We spend more now on scouting and player development than we ever have," said Jerry Dipoto, Arizona's senior VP of scouting & player development. "We made that an internal focus, that these are areas where we can create an advantage in the industry. I don't think it's short-term. I think it's something we're going to do over and over for many years."
- In another piece, Piecoro looks at "the interconnectedness" of the Snakes' coaching and development process throughout the organization, using 2009 third-round draft pick Keon Broxton as an example.
- Guillermo Mota tells Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle that the Giants' World Series victory last year was a major reason he chose to re-sign with San Francisco rather than accept one of the other four offers he received in the winter.
- In his latest mailbag for CSNBayArea.com, Mychael Urban looks at such Giants-related topics as how the team will shuffle its roster when Cody Ross is healthy. Urban shot down a reader suggestion that San Francisco could release Mark DeRosa to make room.
- Anthony Rizzo, Casey Kelly and Reymond Fuentes (the three prospects the Padres acquired from the Red Sox in the Adrian Gonzalez trade) are off to good starts in the minors, reports Gordon Edes of ESPNBoston.com. Rizzo is at Triple-A, Kelly at Double-A and Fuentes is at Class A Lake Elsinore.