Phillies Avoid Arbitration With Kyle Kendrick
The Phillies have avoided arbitration with right-hander Kyle Kendrick by agreeing to a one-year deal worth $7.675MM, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post (on Twitter). Kendrick is a client of Relativity Baseball (formerly known as SFX).
Kendrick, 29, looked to be on his way to another strong season at the All-Star break in 2013 when he had an ERA of 3.68. That would've marked his third straight sub-4.00 ERA campaign, but a disastrous second half saw him post a 6.81 ERA, causing his overall mark to ballon to 4.70. Kendrick ultimately finished the season on the 60-day disabled list for shoulder inflammation, which likely contributed to his second-half struggles.
Over the past three seasons, Kendrick has established himself as a solid arm, posting a 4.05 ERA with 5.6 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 in 456 innings of work. His agents at Relativity did well to secure a $7.675MM guarantee, as MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz had projected Kendrick to earn $6.6MM.
With Kendrick now settled, the Phillies have taken care of their most expensive arbitration case. Their remaining cases — Antonio Bastardo, Ben Revere and John Mayberry — all project to earn $2MM or less, per Swartz.
Quick Hits: Phils, O’Flaherty, Maine, Guerrier, Cotts
Somewhat remarkably, both of the Phillies' last two GMs and last two managers are still employed by the organization, observes Justin Klugh of Philly.com. Meanwhile, the club only recently hired an analytical employee, and it remains unclear how much pull that position holds. While keeping the old guard around is a nice touch, says Klugh, the club should make a stronger commitment to progress. Here are more notes from around the league:
- There is now only a "slim chance" that southpaw reliever Eric O'Flaherty will return to the Braves, reports Mark Bowman of MLB.com. The issue, Bowman indicates, is that Atlanta is not as interested in working O'Flaherty into their plans as other clubs. Specifically, Bowman names the Orioles as a contender for the lefty.
- The Braves may have found yet another diamond in the rough with minor league free agent signees Luis Vasquez and Lay Batista, writes Bill Ballew of Baseball America. "We identified Vasquez and Batista as potential high-octane arms who could contribute in Atlanta as soon as 2014," said assistant GM John Coppolella.
- Lefty Scott Maine is reportedly throwing well in Puerto Rico and beginning to draw interest from clubs, reports MLBTR's Zach Links (via Twitter). He could sign with a club as soon as this week, Links adds. Maine has a 5.59 career ERA in 46 2/3 big league innings. He spent time in the Marlins' system last year.
- Another right-handed reliever, Matt Guerrier, is expected to audition for MLB clubs in the next ten days or so, Links further tweets. Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN recently reported that the Twins could be interested in a reunion.
- The $2.2MM contract agreed upon yesterday between the Rangers and reliever Neal Cotts is fully guaranteed, Links tweets. As Links observes, Cotts' representatives at Pro Star Management did well to get their client a guarantee given his injury history.
Charlie Manuel To Join Phillies’ Front Office
Former manager Charlie Manuel has reached an agreement with the Phillies to accept a position in their front office, according to Brian Startare of ESPN Radio 97.5 (Twitter link). Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com reports (also via Twitter) that Manuel will serve as a senior advisor to general manager Ruben Amaro Jr.
The Phillies fired Manuel back in August and named Ryne Sandberg the interim manager (Sandberg would eventually go on to shed the "interim" label by signing a three-year deal). At the time of the managerial change, Amaro told reporters that Manuel had been asked to remain with the organization in a new role. After taking roughly five months off, Manuel looks to have decided that he does indeed wish to return to the organization for which he served as manager for nearly nine years.
Manuel led the Phillies to a 780-636 record in his time as their skipper. From 2007-11, the Phils won five straight division titles under Manuel, and in 2008 they captured a World Series title. The Phillies returned to the Fall Classic in 2009, though they were denied a repeat championship by the Yankees. Manuel has managed for parts of 12 big league seasons and also has experience as a Major League hitting coach. In his illustrious managerial career, Manuel tallied exactly 1,000 victories.
NL Notes: Amaro, Nationals, Cordier
Wondering what your team still can or should do to improve before the start of the 2014 season? ESPN.com's Jim Bowden lays out the "missing links" he sees for each of the National League's clubs. On the free agent side of things, he thinks that the Reds (Nelson Cruz), Pirates (Kendrys Morales), and Mets (Stephen Drew) could all stand to add an impact bat. Elsewhere around the NL …
- In an interesting piece on Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr., Bob Ford of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes that the Phils' top baseball man will continue to "take swings" at arguably risky acquisitions. "There are only so many chances to be a champion, and I will never stop believing that if you have a chance, you take the opportunity," Amaro says. "if you don't take a chance on Adam Eaton, then maybe you don't take a chance on Jayson Werth." (Of course, Amaro was referring to Eaton the retired pitcher, not the young outfielder by the same name.)
- Amaro discussed his philosophies in relation to some of the club's recent moves, He acknowledged that the signing of Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez was a risk, but called him "a guy with a tremendous ceiling." And while Marlon Byrd will earn $16MM over two years to be "a decent role player" for Philadelphia, in Amaro's words, the GM explained that he had to balance the team's needs. "If I go get Carlos Beltran," said Amaro, "then I can't take a chance on Roberto Hernandez. We've got a lot of holes to fill, and our job is to try to make the right decision 70 percent of the time, not the wrong decision 70 percent of the time."
- The Nationals recently added another bench piece in Jamey Carroll, and Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post expects that the veteran will make the club out of Spring Training. But that does not mean that GM Mike Rizzo is done fiddling with his reserves, says Kilgore. Possible additions include a catcher, a left-handed bat such as Lyle Overbay, or a right-handed corner option like Mark Reynolds. Likewise, another southpaw reliever could still be added.
- The powerful right arm of reliever Erik Cordier earned him a guaranteed deal with the Giants even though he's never thrown a big league pitch. MLBTR's Tim Dierkes has learned that Cordier's new club had good reason to offer him a MLB deal, as two other clubs were likewise willing to use a 40-man roster spot on the 27-year-old. (Twitter link.)
Phillies Considering Additional Depth Signings
After signing Ronny Cedeno to a minor league deal earlier today, the Phillies are weighing several other depth signings, reports Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com. An outfielder, left-handed bat, and starting and relief pitching are all being eyed by GM Ruben Amaro Jr., according to the report.
The club has considered bringing in veteran Lyle Overbay to add left-handed power, says Salisbury. In 486 plate appearances last season for the Yankees, appearing mostly at first, Overbay registered a .240/.295/.393 line and knocked 14 home runs, though he also struck out 111 times.
The Phils are also keen to add arms. "We're looking to add pitching depth in the bullpen and rotation, still trolling," said Amaro. "They'd likely be non-roster guys." Salisbury reports that Philadelphia has "kept tabs" on former closer Ryan Madson, and may decide to give him a look this spring. Madson has yet to throw a big league inning for another franchise due to elbow issues, though he has earned over $9MM from other clubs during the last two seasons.
Another name that could be under consideration, according to Salisbury, is Chad Gaudin. The well-traveled 30-year-old, who has appeared for nine MLB teams over eleven seasons, put up a 3.06 ERA in 97 innings last year for the Giants. His primary attractieness to Philly would be his ability to work as a starter or out of the pen.
Phillies To Sign Ronny Cedeno
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports that the Phillies have agreed to sign shortstop Ronny Cedeno to a minor league deal with an invitation to Spring Training (Twitter link). Cedeno is a client of Eric Goldschmidt.
Cedeno, who turns 31 next month, batted .242/.287/.330 with three homers and five steals in 288 plate appearances with the Astros and Padres in 2013. His strikeout rate jumped to a career-worst 25.3 percent last season, and his 4.9 percent walk rate was the second-lowest of his career.
In parts of nine Major League seasons with the Cubs, Pirates, Mets, Padres, Mariners and Astros, Cedeno is a career .246/.289/.354 hitter. He has extensive Major League experience at shortstop and second base, and he's also appeared at third base, first base and in the outfield.
Quick Hits: Twins, O’s, Pirates, Phillies, CarGo
Robinson Cano is the latest to join baseball's $20MM-man club, Doug Miller of MLB.com writes, noting that the list of players making an average of $20MM or more annually has swelled dramatically in recent years. "It goes to the fact that these teams are anticipating revenue from regional television networks, and the new cable agreements are an accelerant to the spending," David Carter of the University of Southern California's Sports Business Institute comments. "The owners feel as though they're going to get that money back." Here's more from around the majors:
- The Twins are up next in Yahoo Sports' rundown of each club's offseason. Jeff Passan argues that while Minnesota's additions to the rotation should help, Twins fans will spend much of 2014 waiting for the arrivals of heralded prospects like Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano. Passan also likes the decision to move Joe Mauer to first base.
- Eduardo A. Encina of The Baltimore Sun lists five factors to monitor as the Orioles prepare to hold a four-day offseason minicamp next week.
- The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's Rob Biertemfepfel spoke with Pirates reliever Duke Welker, who was traded to Minnesota in October but was flipped back to Pittsburgh 44 days later. Welker is expected to compete for one of the Pirates' bullpen spots this spring.
- Scott Boras believes the Phillies' new TV deal is worth about $200MM annually when factors such as the club's equity stake in the network are considered, Matt Gelb of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes. Having an ownership stake in the entity allows a team to avoid exposure to revenue-sharing rules, according to Boras, who says the loophole "hurts other teams in the league from receiving the true payment."
- Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez had his appendix removed on Friday night in an emergency surgery. Troy Renck of The Denver Post reports that Gonzalez didn't undergo a standard appendectomy, and could require nearly two months to recover, instead of the usual four weeks. However, that should still allow the All-Star plenty of time to recover and prepare for Opening Day.
Quick Hits: Boras, Drew, Red Sox, Orioles
In an interview with Peter Gammons, Scott Boras expressed his confidence that Stephen Drew and Kendrys Morales will find good contracts with teams that will put more value on their contributions than the value of (possibly second- or third-round) draft picks. With that said, Boras also believes the free agent system needs to be changed to give players more freedom and to encourage teams to spend. “We should be doing everything possible to try to get smaller market teams the necessary veteran leadership to contend,” Boras said. His suggestions include banning qualifying offers for players over 30 years old, and a monetary compensation system for teams who lose free agents under age-30 that the clubs can re-invest in signings or draft spending.
Here's some more from around the baseball world…
- An executive on a team that explored signing Stephen Drew told Andy Martino of the New York Daily News yesterday that Drew's medicals were raising some concerns. Another source tells WEEI.com's Rob Bradford today (Twitter link) that Drew is "perfectly healthy. No physical issues."
- The Red Sox are looking to add outfield depth, Jason Mastrodonato of MassLive.com reports, and Scott Podsednik is one name on Boston's current long list of external candidates. Ryan Gleichowski, Podsednik's agent, recently told Mastrodonato that Podsednik was in shape and eager to continue his career after sitting out the 2013 season. We also recently heard that the Sox have some interest in Padres outfielder Chris Denorfia.
- The Red Sox will have an estimated $96MM coming off the books following the 2014 seasons, WEEI.com's Alex Speier writes, leaving the team with lots of flexibility to re-sign David Ortiz and/or Jon Lester, as well as explore new player acquisitions.
- The Orioles seem to be using a "stars and scrubs" strategy in building their team, Fangraphs' Dave Cameron writes, and the tactic doesn't seem to be working given the clear holes on the roster and their relatively limited payroll space.
- Liz Mullen of Sports Business Journal reports (subscription required) that Dan Lozano's MVP Sports Group has hired former Dodgers director of Asian operations Acey Kohrogi to serve as the firm's head of Asian operations. Kohrogi spent 18 years with the Dodgers and helped them attract the likes of Hideo Nomo, Takashi Saito, Hiroki Kuroda, Chan Ho Park and Hong-Chih Kuo to the Major Leagues.
- The Phillies' new 25-year, $2.5 billion TV contract will theoretically pay them an average of $100MM per year, though David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily News crunches the numbers to explain how that $100MM average will actually work out to a much smaller annual payout. MLBTR's Jeff Todd also recently examined the Phillies' TV deal and noted that the contract could just help the team continue its high-spending ways, rather than allow them to raise payroll even more.
- The Giants' bullpen and the Blue Jays' second base platoon project as the worst positions on contending teams, according to Fangraphs' Jeff Sullivan. The Giants' pen projects as below-replacement level as a group thanks to several pitchers that could be declining, while the Jays' Maicer Izturis/Ryan Goins platoon stands out as a weak spot. The Dodgers' second base spot also technically makes Sullivan's list, though he says that's only due to a lack of information about the newly-signed Alexander Guerrero.
Assessing The Impact Of The Phillies’ New TV Deal
We learned recently that the Phillies had reached agreement with Comcast SportsNet on a 25-year, $2.5 billion TV deal that also grants the club an equity stake and rights to ad revenue. (Though the advertising split is not yet known, that is a somewhat unusual provision that could add significant value, note Matt Gelb and Bob Fernandez of the Philadelphia Inquirer.) The deal, which kicks in for the 2016 season, had long been rumored to be in the works.
The new, $100MM average annual revenue stream certainly promises to provide a boost over the $35MM average the club enjoyed under its previous deal. But the cash flow will not jump to nine figures overnight: by my calculations, with somewhere between a 3 and 4% annual bump built into the deal, the Phils will start out drawing something in the realm of $65MM for 2016. (And, of course, the future revenue streams must be discounted in assessing their present value, though that fact is equally true of other teams' deals.)
Comparing the $100MM average across the league, Philadelphia's deal seemingly places it in roughly the position that was expected for the size of its market. (Click here for an earlier update from Wendy Thurm of Fangraphs on league-wide TV deals.) When factoring in revenue, equity, and other components, the Philadelphia pact falls in the realm of the Rangers' and Angels' recent deals, according to Maury Brown of Forbes. Thurm tweets that the terms are "in line" with expectations given the market size, while noting that the MLB franchises in Los Angeles, New York, and Boston all have greater packages when network equity is accounted for. (Twitter links.) Gelb and Fernandez call the deal "commensurate with recent packages across baseball."
Ultimately, however, the deal does not appear to provide a basis for a serious leap in the club's current or future payroll as against the rest of the league's well-off franchises. As Ryan Lawrence of the Philadelphia Daily News wrote just over two months ago, it seemed possible that the new deal would boost the previous $35MM annual revenue figure to over $200MM per year, with an annual figure above $150MM "highly probable." Those kinds of numbers would have outpaced other recent TV contracts.
Though Lawrence acknowledged that predicting deals based on recent comparables constituted "guesswork," his earlier discussion indicates that the Phils did not ultimately break new ground with their deal. In other words, it does not appear that Philadelphia landed the "Dodgers-esque" deal that some observers thought possible — at least in terms of impact on relative spending capacity. With the club's ratings dropping a remarkable 40% in each of the last two seasons, going from first in the game to seventh in the process, one can't help but wonder what impact the team's on-field downturn may have had on negotiations.
Depending upon one's perspective, then, the deal could be seen as something of a disappointment. But there is value in holding serve, especially with some predicting a looming bubble. It could be that the run-up in the TV deal market is at an end, and at a minimum the Phillies appear to have secured their market position as one of the league's top spenders.
As Lawrence reports, the team seems to be characterizing the deal as a continuation of its current trajectory. According to team president David Montgomery:
"[The new contract] might not represent quite a significant change as what occurred in other markets. But we continue to believe, thanks to the tremendous fan support, that we'll continue to be one of the top five clubs in payroll each year. … But, as we proved last year, payroll alone doesn't guarantee success. We want to focus on making the best player decisions possible."
Montgomery echoed those comments in explaining that the club's payroll was not expected to undergo major changes, as Gelb reports:
"I don't see us going any higher than where we've been. For us, the secret is to spend it well, not necessarily tied to how much. Since we moved in here, we have been able to be a club that is substantial in its payroll. I assume we will continue to be in the top four or five of the game. Hopefully we'll make some good decisions and people will see an improved club in 2014. That's what we believe."
Indeed, as those comments would indicate, Philly has pursued a strategy of fairly measured offseason spending. While time will tell how the new TV deal impacts the Phillies and the broader market, the early indication is that it will not provide a dramatic new infusion of cash into the marketplace, but will allow Philadelphia to retain its foothold amongst the more financially flexible MLB clubs.
Phillies Agree To New TV Contract
SATURDAY, 9:54am: The Phillies' ownership stake in CSN Philadelphia will stand at 25% under the new deal, report John Ourand and Eric Fisher of Sports Business Daily, though it is not known what the team's previous position was. The rights fee will be paid out on a schedule that increases about 3 to 4% per year, averaging out to $100MM per season over the 25-year term.
FRIDAY, 1:38pm: The Phillies' new deal with Comcast SportsNet is for 25 years, according to MLB.com's Todd Zolecki. The contract is worth $2.5 billion in addition to an equity stake and ad revenue, tweets Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
THURSDAY, 9:26pm: The Phillies have agreed to a new local TV contract with Comcast SportsNet, David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily News reports. A CSN spokesperson confirmed the deal in an e-mail to Murphy. Terms of the deal weren't announced, but Kevin Cooney of the Bucks County Courier Times reports that the contract is between 20-25 years in length and is worth a "massive" amount of money, according to a source. The Phillies were already getting roughly $35MM per year in their current deal with CSN, and the new contract will begin once the current deal expires following the 2015 season.
Given the length of the new deal, the Phillies seem set to be the latest team to earn over $1 billion from their TV rights. As Murphy notes, however, it's too soon to know how the extra revenue will impact the club's player payroll, as the Phils have (if anything) seemingly been looking to trim payroll though they knew this TV windfall was in the offing.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/sports/phillies/Phillies-television-partnership-with-Comcast-SportsNet.html#0s2s5OYjX8tSjLg1.99