Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Howard, Prince, Konerko
On this date five years ago, Roger Clemens and Greg Maddux faced off in the first matchup of 300-game winners since Don Sutton and Steve Carlton in 1987. Maddux's Cubs topped Clemens' Astros by the score of 3-2.
Let's look at what's being written around the blogosphere, with a heavy dose of Ryan Howard contract reactions…
- Crashburn Alley breaks down the massive contract the Phillies gave their first baseman.
- More Hardball comes up with a few reasons to dislike the deal.
- Sports Are Involved… takes a look at the price of greatness.
- Disciples of Uecker examines what Howard's deal means for Prince Fielder.
- The Pale Hose Pariah wonders if the White Sox should look to sign Paul Konerko to an extension.
- 1 Blue Jays Way interviewed Jays' prospect Zach Stewart, part of last summer's Scott Rolen trade.
- The Baseball Opinion reviews the trade that sent Ben Zobrist from the Astros to Tampa Bay.
- Camden Depot looks at the trade value of draft picks, not that MLB allows such things.
If you have a suggestion for this feature, Mike can be reached here.
What Does The Howard Extension Mean For Other Players?
The early verdict on Ryan Howard's five-year, $125MM contract extension isn't pretty from the point of view of several pundits, but the deal has to be great news for other slugging first basemen who may soon be hitting the free agent market. Here are some opinions on how Howard's contract will impact other major players…
- Fanhouse's Tom Krasovic spoke to John Boggs, who represents Adrian Gonzalez. Boggs feels that "[Howard's deal] bodes well for Adrian Gonzalez, because it validates the fact that he's worth that kind of money or more." Boggs noted that there have been no talks of an extension with the Padres, who have a $5.5MM club option on Gonzalez for the 2011 season that they're sure to exercise. Given Gonzalez's youth (he will be 29 when he hits free agency), great away splits (his lifetime line of .264/.365/.443 at PETCO Park is well below his .282/.364/.510 career line) and steadily improving glove (he has posted positive UZR/150 numbers over the last two years), he looks to be a strong bet to get a contract larger than Howard's from a team other than San Diego.
- Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch looks at Howard's place in largest-contract history, and notes that Albert Pujols "figures to zoom by" the Phillies' slugger. Indeed, if the Cardinals had signed Pujols to a five-year, $125MM extension, they would be doing jumping jacks in St. Louis right now. The Cardinals have a no-brainer $16MM option on Pujols for 2011, and no matter if Pujols re-signs in St. Louis or goes elsewhere, he'll be looking at a contract with an average annual value of over $30MM. Braves manager Bobby Cox told Goold Pujols is worth $50MM a year in light of Howard's deal.
- Prince Fielder is eliglble for arbitration this winter and can also be a free agent after the 2011 season. We've already heard whispers about the size of the deal that Fielder is looking for, and he will be just 27 when he hits the free agent market. Fielder, however, has to deal with question marks about his long-term fitness and his fielding ability (a -6.2 career UZR/150), but agent Scott Boras will no doubt have his best counter-argument prepared to rebut those concerns. With Boras at the negotiating table, it's very unlikely the Brewers will get a hometown discount.
- Pablo Sandoval is under San Francisco's control through 2014, but Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News points out that Howard's extension is a "great lesson" to Sandoval that getting in better shape can lead to bigger money in the future.
GM Initiation: Neal Huntington
Neal Huntington took over as GM of the Pirates on September 25th, 2007. He was active on the waiver wire out of the gate, but his first trade didn't come until December 7th. Huntington struck a deal with the Brewers, sending reliever Salomon Torres to Milwaukee for pitching prospects Marino Salas and Kevin Roberts.
Huntington kindly answered a few questions for MLBTR about his first trade.
MLB Trade Rumors: Torres dropped his grievance before you took over as Pirates GM. Did his request to be traded still stand? If so, did it limit your leverage?
Neal Huntington: The reality was that we had very little to no leverage because we had a disgruntled 36-year-old relief pitcher coming off an injury-plagued and disappointing performance season that was due to make over $3MM. Despite acknowledging the lack of leverage and lack of quality market, we made the decision it was time to move beyond the player, work to re-allocate the dollars and get the best return we could for him. Obviously we dealt from weakness and it did not turn out the way we would have preferred.
MLBTR: What kind of relationship did you have with Brewers GM Doug Melvin prior to the deal?
Huntington: I knew Doug through baseball circles but did not have much of a relationship with him beyond a cursory level.
MLBTR: Torres considered retirement after learning he was traded to the Brewers. Had he retired, would you have considered reversing the trade or compensating the Brewers somehow?
Huntington: Fortunately we did not have to work through an alternative scenario, but ethically we would have been compelled to consider alternatives.
MLBTR: What did you see in Salas and Roberts, the two relief prospects acquired for Torres? In hindsight, were better players available?
Huntington: The scouting reports indicated both pitchers had good arms with potential major league caliber breaking balls but both were on the small side of ideal and had some command issues. A quick review of the list of players available at the time confirms that despite our efforts to ask for more, it was a limited selection pool due to the issues surrounding the player and our lack of leverage.
MLBTR: In your two full seasons as Pirates' GM, the team's relief ERAs have been at or near the bottom of the NL. Revamping the pen by bringing in veteran free agents Octavio Dotel, Brendan Donnelly, D.J. Carrasco, Javier Lopez, and others this winter – did that represent a change in bullpen-building philosophy for you?
Huntington: The philosophy remained the basically the same but we had fewer internal options with which to build the 2010 bullpen. We believe building a bullpen is the most unpredictable and the most difficult part of a ball club to put in place. The inconsistency in the year to year performance of the large percentage of major league relievers makes it difficult to for a club with our resources to invest significant dollars or years into relievers. As a result, we look for subjective and objective indicators of potential bounce-back candidates and/or look to provide ourselves with different complimentary attributes (power arm (K’s) / ground ball guys / arm slots / etc.) to provide numerous options for our manager to utilize in the various leverage situations.
In 2008 we had a solid back end with Capps, Grabow, Marte and Yates but our middle relievers really struggled. In 2009 we had a few solid pieces but we had our struggles throughout all portions of the game. As we prepared for 2010 we wanted to add depth and complimentary options. We felt that Dotel could give us similar performance level for similar dollars and contractual control as Capps (despite the age difference). We liked what each of the free agents brought to the table as we constructed our bullpen and we felt that the addition of some veterans in the bullpen would help our young relievers mature into reliable high leverage relievers as well as provide us with much needed depth.
Thanks to Neal Huntington for his time. Be sure to check out the other entries on the GM Initiation series: Jon Daniels and Josh Byrnes.
Odds & Ends: Fields, Contracts, Suppan, Silva
Links for Sunday….
- Injuries have really soured the Royals' half of the Mark Teahen trade so far. Both Chris Getz and Josh Fields are on the disabled list, and the Associated Press reported today that Fields will undergo hip surgery that will likely end his season.
- Ethan Trex has an interesting article up on CNN.com that highlights some unusual contractual clauses over the years, including George Brett becoming partial owner of a Memphis apartment complex back in 1984 and Charlie Kerfeld receiving 37 boxes of orange Jell-O in 1987. Seriously.
- It looks like a trend is developing in the NL Central. A few days after the Cubs moved Carlos Zambrano to the bullpen, Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reports that the Brewers will do the same thing with Jeff Suppan and his $12.5MM salary. As for Zambrano, the Cubs won't use him on back-to-back days for now, tweets MLB.com's Carrie Muskat.
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post tries to play matchmaker and work out a Carlos Silva–George Sherrill/Jamey Carroll trade between the Cubs and Dodgers. I'm not sure such a swap necessarily makes sense for either team, given the Cubs' lefty surplus and Silva's price tag next year.
- Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal writes that Victor Martinez is working overtime to improve his throwing, presumably hoping to silence the constant rumblings about the Red Sox shopping for a catcher.
- The latest mailbag from Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer includes a Carlos Santana update and an assessment of the Indians' free agent prospects following the 2010 season.
Largest Contracts In Team History
We've already looked at the largest contracts by service time and position, so let's now dig up the largest contracts ever given out by each of the 30 teams. These are in terms of guaranteed money only, but some could end up being even larger because of incentives and option years.
- Angels: Torii Hunter, five years, $90MM
- Astros: Carlos Lee, six years, $100MM
- Athletics: Eric Chavez, six years, $66MM
- Blue Jays: Vernon Wells, seven years, $126MM
- Braves: Chipper Jones, six years, $90MM
- Brewers: Ryan Braun, eight years, $45MM
- Cardinals: Matt Holliday, seven years, $120MM
- Cubs: Alfonso Soriano, eight years, $136MM
- Diamondbacks: Randy Johnson, four years, $53.4MM
- Dodgers: Kevin Brown, seven years, $105MM
- Giants: Barry Zito, seven years, $126MM
- Indians: Travis Hafner, four years, $57MM
- Mariners: Ichiro Suzuki, five years, $90MM
- Marlins: Hanley Ramirez, six years, $70MM
- Mets: Johan Santana, six years, $137.5MM
- Nationals: Ryan Zimmerman, five years, $45MM
- Orioles: Miguel Tejada, six years, $72MM
- Padres: Jake Peavy, three years, $52MM
- Phillies: Chase Utley, seven years, $85MM
- Pirates: Jason Kendall, six years, $60MM
- Rangers: Alex Rodriguez, ten years, $252MM
- Rays: Wilson Alvarez, five years, $35MM
- Reds: Ken Griffey Jr., nine years, $116.5MM
- Red Sox: Manny Ramirez, eight years, $160MM
- Rockies: Todd Helton, nine years, $141.5MM
- Royals: Gil Meche & Mike Sweeney, both five years, $55MM
- Tigers: Miguel Cabrera, eight years, $152.3MM
- Twins: Joe Mauer, eight years, $184MM
- White Sox: Frank Thomas, seven years, $64.4MM
- Yankees: Alex Rodriguez, ten years, $275MM
Thanks to Cot's Baseball Contracts for the info.
Fielder Looking For Mauer & Teixeira Money?
A person familiar with the talks between the Brewers and Prince Fielder suggests that the eight year, $180MM+ contracts signed by Joe Mauer and Mark Teixeira are viewed as just a starting point by the first baseman's people, says SI.com's Jon Heyman. Another suggested that Fielder is seeking to join Alex Rodriguez in the $200MM club.
Owner Mark Attanasio remains hopefully that they'll be able to keep their star first baseman, but he and Scott Boras "appear to have taken a vow of silence regarding the most important player negotiations in the Brewers' history." One player told Heyman that he thinks the team's chances of retaining Fielder are "very slim," and a team official conceded that even though he enjoys Milwaukee, the team doesn't sense that he'll take a discount to remain there.
"When you evaluate players at the major league level, those who have done certain things by age 25 are extraordinary, and two of those things are 40 home runs and 125 RBIs. You certainly can count the number of players who have done that,'' said Boras. "Extraordinary performance at a young age gives you totally different career indices."
There's no denying that Fielder has been immensely productive in his young career, but such production at first base isn't the same as getting from a catcher or shortstop/third baseman. Teixeira, another Boras client and first baseman, is viewed as a better bet to remain productive into his 30's because there are no concerns about his size going forward.
Fielder, 26 in May, has hit .288/.393/.575 over the last three seasons, averaging 43 homers per year. He'll make $10.5MM this season, and will be eligible for arbitration in 2011 before becoming a free agent after that season. Ryan Howard, Albert Pujols, and Adrian Gonzalez can all potentially be part of the same free agent class, so if a team doesn't want to meet Fielder's demands, they'll have plenty of alternatives.
Rosenthal’s Latest: Fielder, Wells, Harden
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports has a new Full Count video up, with a few tidbits to check out:
- A potentially otherworldly class of free agent first basemen after the 2011 season won't affect Scott Boras' handling of Prince Fielder. It's possible that Fielder could sign a long-term extension with the Brewers before then, but Rosenthal notes that Boras "rarely shows fear" when it comes to testing the open market.
- Despite a hot start and a possible willingness to waive his no-trade clause, Vernon Wells and his massive contract are unlikely to be moved. It also seems doubtful that he'd exercise his opt-out clause following the 2011 campaign. Even if he'd prefer to play for a contender, seeing him walk away from the final $63MM of his deal would be a huge shock.
- One scout thinks that Rich Harden, one of the prizes of the Rangers' offseason, looks awful, and would be very surprised if Harden had a strong year in Texas. The Rangers are, of course, more optimistic. They believe the Canadian right-hander will be fine if he throws strikes, given his ability to miss bats.
Top Trade Chips: NL Central
Let's continue our series looking at each team's top trade chips with the NL Central…
- Astros: Teams can ask for Hunter Pence, but it's just not happening. 26-year-old catcher J.R. Towles and his five years of team control could be shopped with top prospect Jason Castro coming up behind him. If Houston falls way out of it, Roy Oswalt could be made available, but it would be a massive PR hit. He's owed $31MM through 2011 with a $16MM option ($2MM buyout) for 2012, and would have to approve any trade. Dealing him would signify the start of a full rebuilding effort.
- Brewers: Yovani Gallardo was never going to be moved in the first place, but his new contract extension all but guarantees it. Manny Parra seems to have fallen out of favor, but a lefty who can dial it up to the mid-90's will always have value on the trade market. He still has three years of arbitration eligibility ahead of him.
- Cardinals: The Cards dealt away most of their top prospects for Matt Holliday and Mark DeRosa last year, so there's not much left to move. Triple-A catcher Bryan Anderson and Double-A outfielder Daryl Jones could be used in a trade since the big league team is pretty well set at those positions. Jones is more highly regarded of the two. Colby Rasmus is untouchable, obviously.
- Cubs: Josh Vitters, the third overall pick in 2007, watched his name pop up in trade rumors involving Jake Peavy last year. If Chicago is willing to eat some of the $26.5MM left on his contract, there would be interest in Kosuke Fukudome.
- Pirates: Neal Huntington has completely turned over the team's roster since taking over in September 2007, dealing away every notable veteran player. He did, however, build up a nice inventory of veteran relievers this offseason. Octavio Dotel, D.J. Carrasco, Brendan Donnelly, and Javier Lopez could all be used as trade fodder this summer.
- Reds: Cincinnati is clearly a team on the rise, but one young player they could make available is the blocked Yonder Alonso. The power hitting first baseman masquerading as a left fielder in Double-A has all six years of team control left, and is the best trade chip in the division.
Could The Brewers Look To Extend Weeks Next?
Now that ace Yovani Gallardo is locked up for the next five years, Brewers' GM Doug Melvin can begin to focus on getting another one of his good young players signed long-term. MLB.com's Adam McCalvy notes that while Prince Fielder remains the priority, it might also make sense for the team to explore locking up second baseman Rickie Weeks.
"If it happens, it happens. If it doesn't, it doesn't," Weeks said. "You don't want to leave too much on the table, but then there's security."
Weeks wouldn't confirm if his representatives and the team have discussed a deal. The 27-year-old is productive when he's on the field, hitting .272/.340/.517 in 162 plate appearances last year before a torn tendon sheath in his wrist ended his season in May. Weeks will earn $2.75MM this year, and has one more year of arbitration eligibility remaining.
Melvin, meanwhile, wouldn't discuss negotiations with Fielder, if there are any.
2010 Contract Issues: Milwaukee Brewers
The Brewers' option situations after the season:
- Jeff Suppan has a $12.75MM club option with a $2MM buyout. This is a lock to be declined.
- Trevor Hoffman has a $7MM mutual option with a $500K buyout, though both numbers increase based on games finished. This might be a rare case where both sides exercise a mutual option.
- David Riske has a $4.75MM club option with a $250K buyout. He's still recovering from Tommy John surgery; this will be declined.
- Doug Davis has a $6.5MM mutual option with a $1MM buyout.
- Gregg Zaun faces a $2.25MM club option with a $250K buyout; this could be exercised.
Eligible for free agency: Dave Bush, Craig Counsell, Jody Gerut, Claudio Vargas, and Jim Edmonds. That's about $10MM more freed up, plus Bill Hall's $7.15MM and a couple of buyouts will be off the books. Increases to players under contract total $7MM. That's not bad, considering Ryan Braun and Yovani Gallardo will enter what would've been their first arbitration years.
Manny Parra and Joe Inglett project to be eligible for arbitration for the first time. Carlos Gomez and Carlos Villanueva are second-year guys. The big names are third-year arbitration players: Prince Fielder, Rickie Weeks, Corey Hart, and Todd Coffey. Hart stands a good chance of being non-tendered, while Fielder could approach $20MM if he's not signed long-term.