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Jamie Moyer

Odds & Ends: Ankiel, Moyer, Griffey, Jays

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Another round of links, expertly prepared…

  • Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch believes the Reds might have interest in soon-to-be free agent outfielder Rick Ankiel.  The Pirates are also thought to have some level of interest in the former pitcher, who's hit 36 home runs in the past two years and boasts one of the best outfield arms in baseball.  (That's looking on the bright side of things, of course).
  • As ESPN.com's Jayson Stark notes, Jamie Moyer's season-ending groin injury locks in his 2010 salary at $8MM.  $6.5MM of that is base pay, and the other $1.5MM is available through performance-based incentives.
  • Ken Griffey Jr. side-stepped another retirement question when the San Francisco Chronicle's Susan Slusser spoke with him Wednesday. "It's not really up to me," he said. "Well, some of it is."  Stay tuned this offseason for more on Junior's future plans.
  • According to Jordan Bastian of MLB.com, the Blue Jays have laid off nearly two dozen employees from the business side of their organization.  Cost-cutting in the front office doesn't bode well for any kind of free agency exploits this winter.

Stark On Wagner, Padres, Crawford

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ESPN.com's Jayson Stark shows that a number of contenders have vulnerable-looking closers. The Cubs and Phillies two of many teams with shaky arms at the back of the 'pen. Here are the details and the rest of Stark's rumors:

  • At least one scout believes John Smoltz would have been the perfect arm for the Marlins to add to their 'pen.
  • However, clubs pursuing Smoltz heard that he wanted to start, at least for now.    
  • A scout who watched Billy Wagner throw has "no doubt" that Wagner could help a team win. The Rays and Marlins are thought to have interest in Wagner, but neither team would be likely to give up much of a prospect unless the Mets picked up salary.  
  • Stark hears that the Padres pulled Heath Bell and Adrian Gonzalez back off waivers after multiple teams claimed them.
  • Mark Hendrickson cleared waivers, and can now be traded to any team. The Rockies were interested before the deadline, but they may decide to see where the Billy Wagner bidding goes before pursuing Hendrickson again.
  • One rival GM considers the Cards "the best team in the league right now."  
  • The Royals don't seem interested in trading their top pitchers. They pulled Brian Bannister back from waivers and though Joakim Soria and Gil Meche are on waivers now, they aren't likely to be dealt.
  • Clubs eyeing Carl Crawford believe the Rays are becoming less likely to deal him. Desmond Jennings could become the Rays' left fielder, but they'd probably have to be overwhelmed to part with Crawford.
  • It's possible that Jamie Moyer could draw interest as a trade candidate after the season. 
  • One AL exec isn't sure Bryce Harper's the guarantee people perceive him to be.  
  • Stark points out that the Astros traded Ivan Rodriguez just as his incentives were about to start kicking in.
  • An official of a team that inquired about Stephen Strasburg before the draft says that Scott Boras invoked Daisuke Matsuzaka's name without specifically saying he wanted $50MM for his client.

Odds & Ends: Draft, Moyer, Cubs

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Links for Thursday…

Odds & Ends: D’Backs, Hall, Moyer

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I can't even begin to describe the hyper-ness of these links:

Jamie Moyer’s Contract Incentives

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The Phillies' decision to bump Jamie Moyer to the bullpen for Pedro Martinez may be the right baseball decision, but as Nick Kapur pointed out last month at UmpBump.com, the move has major financial implications. Moyer's contract incentives are based on innings pitched and games started so they'll be much harder to reach out of the 'pen. Moyer has started 22 games and pitched 123.3 innings, so he would have started about 30 games and pitched about 180 innings if he'd stayed in the rotation all year. Here are some incentives in his contract:

  • $250k for 150, 160, 170, 180 and 190 innings.

And a few ways he could boost his 2010 salary:

  • Moyer adds $250k to his salary when he starts his next game and again if he reaches 150 IP.
  • His salary rises by $500k when he starts his 25th, 27th, 29th and 31st games. 
  • It increases by the same amount when he reaches 160, 170, 180 and 190 innings. 

Had Moyer stayed in the rotation long enough to make 30 starts and pitch 180 innings, he would have received $1MM more this year and $3.5MM more next year. He could still reach some of these marks, but it's no wonder he's disappointed.

All contract info comes from Cot's Baseball Contracts. 

Odds & Ends: Zambrano, Royals, Phils

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Game time? It's time for some more links, me thinks:

  • Anthony Castrovince at MLB.com pays tribute to Hall-of-Fame reporter Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News, who will soon be out of a job.
  • Dick Kaegel at MLB.com says that the Royals are still negotiating with their top picks, despite reports they had come to terms with their second- and fourth-round selections.
  • David Kaplan at ChicagoNow stakes the claim that Carlos Zambrano is the most overpaid player in baseball. Jorge Says No! says, well… no.
  • Jame Moyer has been sent to the bullpen in favor of Pedro Martinez, and he isn't happy. The ageless Moyer claims he was assured by GM Ruben Amaro before he signed a two-year deal that this "type of situation would not happen," reports Andy Martino at the Philadelphia Inquirer.
  • Henry Schulman at the San Francisco Chronicle asks fans if they'd let Barry Zito go on a waiver claim. Easy call, right? Schulman offers up some bullet points to consider before you answer.

Rosenthal’s Full Count Video: Rios, Mulder, Moyer, Masterson

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Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com has a new Full Count video up. Let's dive in…

  • Whatever the Blue Jays do with Alex Rios will tell us everything we need to know about the team's financial state and their opinion of Rios. Toronto could shed more than $60MM in obligation by letting the claiming team have him.
  • Some executives believe Rios still has some trade value, and if the Jays wait until the offseason they'd be able to negotiate with all 29 other clubs. The problem is that the free agent market will again be flooded with outfielders.
  • Free agent southpaw Mark Mulder could be throwing for teams within 7-10 days. Mulder is working with Rick Peterson, his former pitching coach, in New Jersey this weekend, The pair recently corrected a "minor mechanical flaw," and Peterson told Mulder's agent Greg Clifton that he was shocked the pitcher was in such good shape.
  • Teams are looking at Mulder for September, with the Yankees, Brewers, Dodgers and Rangers are among the cubs that have expressed interest. Just as a reminder, if Mulder joins a big league team after August 31st, he would be ineligible for the playoff roster.
  • Forget about all that talk from Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. about going with a six-man rotation, Jamie Moyer will "almost certainly" head to the bullpen once Pedro Martinez is ready. The team just hasn't figured out how to break the news yet.
  • Justin Masterson was throwing 93-97 in his first appearance with Cleveland, causing some club officials to wonder if he should be a closer down the line. Short term, the Indians need him in the rotation and he has the everything needed to become a third or fourth starter.

Why Are So Many Pitchers Still Unsigned?

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We are nearing Memorial Day, and many pitchers whose resumes would normally have landed them at least a minor-league deal by now remain unsigned.

  • Pedro Martinez is still homeless. While the complication may be in part due to Pedro's salary demands, it is surprising that nobody has signed him. Yes, his ERA was an unsightly 5.61 in 2008, but his 2007 stint was far better-2.57 ERA in 28 innings. His 87 strikeouts against 44 walks in 109 innings also suggests a pitcher who can help a team on the back end of a rotation. Given that it is Pedro Martinez, there is upside well beyond that, of course.
  • Odalis Perez remains strangely unsigned after his even stranger signing that wasn't with Washington this spring. Perez turns 32 on June 7, and had a perfectly average 2008, with a 4.34 ERA in 159 2/3 innings. Obviously, those numbers could help any number of teams.
  • Paul Byrd did what he always does in 2008-posted an ERA in the mid 4s (4.60 to be exact), struck out around four per nine innings, and kept his team in the game. Yet Byrd has yet to sign with anyone, either.

The lack of movement on these pitchers can't be due to overwhelming performances by all the starters currently employed. After all, there's Jamie Moyer and his 8.15 ERA, Carlos Silva and his 8.48 ERA, Oliver Perez and his 9.97 ERA… plenty of others at sixes and sevens, from Scott Olsen to Scott Kazmir. (Even as I type this, Moyer is giving up another home run. No, really.)

My suspicion is that teams view Martinez, Perez or Byrd as band-aid solutions. And that would be fine, normally. After all, band-aids have a rich tradition of stopping people from bleeding.

But the trade market for pitchers has the most top targets it's had in years. The Padres are already 10 games out, and Jake Peavy will likely hit the market. If Cincinnati fades, Aaron Harang could be available. If Toronto falls back to earth- and the smart money still has them finishing fourth- Roy Halladay could be someone else's ace by August. And Cleveland's Cliff Lee will be a prominent target as well.

There are even second-tier options that can help teams now and in the future, from Baltimore's Jeremy Guthrie to Seattle's Erik Bedard.  And in the current economic climate, teams that fall out of the race may have even greater incentive to shed salary as soon as possible.

So it may well be that for veteran free agents, the market will only pick up once the trade deadline has come and gone. And with so many targets out there, once the deadline deals are made July 31, there may not be any place for Martinez, Perez or Byrd to land.

Phillies Re-Sign Jamie Moyer

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4:02pm: Larry LaRue says Moyer’s two-year deal is worth $16MM.  Scott Lauber says there’s $13MM guaranteed.

3:25pm: Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com believes the Phillies are done with their winter shopping now that they’ve added Moyer, Raul Ibanez, Chan Ho Park, Ronny Paulino, and John Mayberry, Jr.

1:25pm: According to Howard Eskin of WIP 610 in Philadelphia, the Phillies re-signed Jamie Moyer to a two-year deal.  It’s since been verified by a press release from the Phillies; a conference is scheduled.

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