Verlander, Tigers Working To Avoid Arbitration
Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski said Monday that he’s hopeful the club can reach agreement with right-hander Justin Verlander before a February 13 arbitration hearing.
"We’re really still hopeful that we can get a deal negotiated and not go to arbitration," Dombrowski said. "We continue to have conversations."
Verlander asked for $4.15MM while the Tigers submitted a $3.2MM bid. Dombrowski hasn’t required an arbitration hearing since he took over as general manager in 2002.
Odds and Ends: Hearings, Anderson, Selig
Links for Monday…
- MLB.com’s Tom Singer looks at the effects of arbitration hearings on players. He found that most players don’t experience a post-hearing performance decline, but they do change teams at the first opportunity.
- MLB.com’s Lyle Spencer says the Angels and Ervin Santana are $725K apart with a hearing scheduled for later this month and "no progress" according to GM Tony Reagins.
- The Tigers are hopeful about bridging the $950K gap with Justin Verlander.
- Athletics Nation’s conversation with MLB.com’s Mychael Urban, Part 2.
- Scot Gregor of the Daily Herald wouldn’t be surprised to see the White Sox trade Brian Anderson.
- Murray Chass reflects on the Homestead camp for unsigned players heading into the 1995 season.
- Commissioner Bud Selig earned $18.35MM in the last fiscal year, according to Eric Fisher of Sports Business Journal.
- The latest minor league transactions from Baseball America, including the Nationals’ signing of Alex Cintron and the Rockies’ addition of Scott Munter.
- Even with a new stadium, the Marlins will continue to prefer going year-to-year with most players.
Tigers Could Deal Pitching?
According to Lynn Henning of the Detroit News, the Tigers could trade a starting pitcher. Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski listed off seven Tigers starters and said "trade possibilities come up" involving the team’s pitching.
This doesn’t mean Dombrowski seriously considered dealing pitching. The Tigers go to Spring Training with Justin Verlander, Jeremy Bonderman, Armando Galarraga, Edwin Jackson, Nate Robertson, Dontrelle Willis and Zach Miner. They have more arms than rotation spots, but this is by no means a deep rotation.
Odds and Ends: Lohse, Reyes, Greinke, Howard
Links for Tuesday…
- Chat today, 2pm CST.
- Rangers president Nolan Ryan called the Winter Meetings "a big waste of money and time."
- Nationals GM Jim Bowden implied that a Tom Glavine signing is unlikely.
- Kyle Lohse feels the pain of all the unsigned free agents; he didn’t sign until March 14th last year. Lohse said he "put a lot of pressure on all parties" to get his four-year, $41MM extension done on September 29th. Given that it wasn’t on the open market, Scott Boras did well for Lohse.
- The Dodgers prefer Dennys Reyes over Luis Ayala, says Ken Gurnick.
- Joe Posnanski loves the Zack Greinke signing. Sam Mellinger says the Royals and fans are no longer allowed to complain about baseball’s financial structure.
- Maury Brown leans slightly toward Ryan Howard winning his arbitration case. I think the Phillies will prevail.
- Brandon Lyon turned down more lucrative offers for a chance to close in Detroit. ESPN’s Keith Law likes the Tigers’ signing, in part due to Jim Leyland’s track record with relievers.
- The Marlins seem to prefer the trade market, if they are to add a catcher.
- Joe Nathan knows his $47MM extension signed in March of ’08 is looking pretty good right now.
Tigers Sign Timo Perez
According to the AP, the Tigers signed outfielder Timo Perez to a minor league deal. Perez, 32 in April, spent all of ’08 with the Tigers’ Triple A club. He hit .302/.374/.473 in 112 games.
Polanco Enters Contract Year
Jon Paul Morosi of the Detroit Free Press takes a look at the Placido Polanco situation. The Tigers second baseman is entering the last year of a four-year deal, and GM Dave Dombrowski does not seem in a hurry to lock up the 33 year-old. Morosi says much remains to be seen – Polanco’s ’09 performance, the Tigers’ projected payroll, and the possible emergence of second base prospects.
Polanco hit .307/.350/.417 in 629 plate appearances last year while playing excellent defense. He earned $4.6MM; FanGraphs valued him at $10MM more than that. Other prominent free agent second basemen for the 2009-10 offseason: Mark DeRosa, Felipe Lopez, Brian Roberts, and Freddy Sanchez.
Kenny Rogers May Retire
44 year-old southpaw Kenny Rogers posted a 5.70 ERA in 173.6 innings last year while earning $8MM. What’s the plan for 2009?
We touched on it briefly Saturday – Tigers pitching coach Rick Knapp said Rogers is retired, based on a November conversation. Knapp backed off a bit in other comments, while GM Dave Dombrowski doesn’t believe Rogers is close to signing with any club.
Odds And Ends: Rogers, Dodgers, Pettitte, Sheets
A few links for Saturday night…
- Kenny Rogers may be leaning toward retirement.
- Sarah D. Morris shares her thoughts on the Dodgers’ offseason thus far.
- SI.com’s Jon Heyman comments on the Yankees’ interest in Andy Pettitte and Ben Sheets.
Brandon Lyon To Sign With Tigers
12:34pm: The AP reports that the deal pays Lyon $4.25MM in guaranteed money, but could be worth up to $500K more.
11:09am: The AP reports the Tigers announced the deal at TigerFest.
SATURDAY, 8:44am: MLB.com’s Jason Beck also hears from an industry source that Lyon’s nearing a one year deal with the Tigers. Beck expects an official announcement this morning at TigerFest.
FRIDAY, 8:30am: Lyon’s agent Barry Meister says, "We continue to work through it. Everything is moving forward." Lyon is at home in Utah currently.
THURSDAY, 9:04pm: Ken Rosenthal heard from a major league source that Lyon’s close to a one year deal worth just under $5MM with the Tigers. The deal includes incentives.
3:47pm: Jon Paul Morosi takes it a step further, saying the Tigers are "nearing an agreement on a multiyear contract" with Lyon. The 29 year-old righty started strong with a 1.64 ERA through May, but posted a 6.51 mark thereafter. He lost the D’Backs’ closer job to Chad Qualls in September.
3:27pm: According to MLB.com’s Jason Beck, Brandon Lyon is down to two teams and may reach an agreement by Friday. Beck says the Tigers are one of the two and appear to be in the lead. According to Ken Rosenthal, the Cardinals are the other contender. I guess that means the Twins are out.
Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Pirates, Rays, Pettitte, Cubs, Dodgers, Gomes, Mauer, Cruz
On this date 28 years ago, the Red Sox traded Fred Lynn to the California Angels for Frank Tanana and Joe Rudi. After six seasons that included an MVP and six all-star appearances, the Red Sox were forced to trade Lynn when the front office failed to mail a new contract to Lynn by the mandated deadline. Without the new contract, Boston was faced with the possibility that Lynn would be declared a free agent (Carlton Fisk was declared a free agent for the same reason). The player’s association dropped their case when Lynn agreed to a contract extension with the Angels. With many of this year’s free agent class still waiting for contracts to be mailed, let’s take a look at what is being written in the Blogosphere…
- Bucco Blog sees an Adam LaRoche-Jonathan Sanchez trade as a "win-win deal."
- DRays Bay would like to see the Tigers take either Troy Percival or Dan Wheeler off the Rays’ hands.
- Mets Geek makes a case for the Mets signing Andy Pettitte.
- Goat Riders of the Apocalypse are not worried that the Cubs have traded away yet another former top prospect.
- Center Field isn’t buying that Jason Varitek didn’t know about the draft pick compensation as a result of his refusing arbitration.
- Her Rays isn’t taking the loss of Rocco Baldelli well at all.
- Dodger Thoughts doesn’t understand why the Dodgers keep spending money on veteran, offensively-challenged backup catchers that will never play.
- Anaheim Angels all the way says the Reds replaced "90% of Adam Dunn" with Jonny Gomes and a very favorable contract. On Baseball and the Reds is not sure Gomes’ offense will offset his horrible defense and sees him as a decent platoon option.
- UmpBump grades the Rays offseason favorably.
- El Lefty Malo laments the contract of Dave Roberts and feels he is the type of player that would be forced to retire if he were a free agent this off-season.
- Twins Geek speculates on what it would take to sign Joe Mauer to a long-term deal.
- Bullpen Call sees only the Mets and Yankees as options for Juan Cruz.
Cork Gaines writes for RaysIndex.com. If you have a suggestion for this feature, Cork can be reached here.