Rosenthal’s Latest: Thames, Konerko, Ellis, Atkins
Ken Rosenthal has a new column up; let’s take a look.
- Rosenthal dissects the outfield options for the Mets, many of the names we’ve been speculating. He notes that the Mets’ talks for Marcus Thames fizzled during the Winter Meetings.
- He says Paul Konerko "remains quietly available," and expresses the opinion that the Mets or Yankees could both use him. Rosenthal believes Chicago’s biggest need is starting pitching.
- Rosenthal speculates that six years at $18MM per might be the Rockies’ limit for Matt Holliday. Will the Scott Boras client demand full market value? Also, Colorado doesn’t seem to have any plans to lock up Garrett Atkins.
- Signing Mark Ellis to an extension rather than trading him is a possibility for the A’s. Three or four years at $5MM per would be the going rate.
- Though Dylan Hernandez wrote that the Dodgers "don’t appear to be interested in Brandon Inge," Rosenthal says they’re "indeed intrigued."
Atkins, Holliday Wait For Big Payday
With yesterday’s signing of Brad Hawpe the Rockies have now locked up five young players through at least 2010 over the past 14 months. Impressive. The Denver Post says Garrett Atkins would be "the next logical candidate" for a deal, but that his situation continues to be complicated by Ian Stewart, who the Rockies are attempting to move over to second to avoid a logjam.
Naturally Matt Holliday‘s name came up in light of the Hawpe signing, but owner Dick Monfort tried to keep that at bay, calling the situation "a different animal, not related to these contracts."
This spring training is Stewart’s third with the team. He started and played four innings at second today, but didn’t have anything hit his way. He’s battling Jeff Baker, Omar Quintanilla, Jayson Nix, Clint Barmes, and Marcus Giles for the starting job in what should be one of the more interesting position battles this spring. Nix may have the edge, but the team would love for Stewart to help them avoid the Atkins question altogether by making a smooth transition.
Aaron Shinsano writes for East Windup Chronicle.
Holliday Discusses Future
The Denver Post’s Troy E. Renck recently visited Matt Holliday at his home and discussed all sorts of things. Holliday is signed through the 2009 season, and his future beyond that was a theme.
The Rockies were said to be considering a four-year offer that would’ve bought out two years of free agency, before signing Holliday for 2008-09. Holliday said that it wouldn’t be fair for the Rockies to expect him to take a four-year deal.
As Renck points out, there is a huge gap between the Rockies buying out two years of free agency and the nine years they gave to Todd Helton. The length of the deal is the central issue, but Holliday is willing to make concessions if the Rockies do the same. My guess is that he’d be up for a six-year extension, possibly five. Holliday added that if Garrett Atkins were traded it would obviously influence his decision on whether to stay in Colorado.
Rosenthal’s Latest: Boras, Murton, Marquis, Clark
Ken Rosenthal is here to hopefully rescue what’s been a slow day for rumors.
- Rosenthal points out that it seems Scott Boras has been more flexible with his clients’ contracts this year, perhaps even as the result of his "failures" with Alex Rodriguez and Kenny Rogers. A new, gentler Boras? Wait til Mark Teixeira, Matt Holliday, and Prince Fielder reach free agency.
- The Padres are targeting Matt Murton for left field, a notion that gels with Kevin Towers’ stated quest to acquire a corner outfielder via trade. Plus, Towers gets along well with Cubs GM Jim Hendry. Not sure how the teams would match up, unless things expand to include Khalil Greene. The Cubs would have to be sure they don’t need Murton for other deals or because of other deals.
- Rosenthal agrees with the recent rumor that the Orioles will decide whether to trade Erik Bedard and Brian Roberts by month’s end. He notes that Cubs starter Jason Marquis actually does have trade value, and could be part of a package for Roberts. Other teams are interested in him too – go figure. Innings are innings I guess. Marquis, 29, is owed $16.25MM over the 2008-09 seasons.
- An MLBTR commenter questioned the other day why Troy Tulowitzki‘s deal was said to top Grady Sizemore‘s as the record holder for a player with less than two years service time. The commenter wondered why Brian McCann wasn’t part of the discussion – he signed for more than Sizemore ($26.8MM) in March of ’07 with about a season and a half under his belt. Anyone know why McCann’s name doesn’t come up in this discussion?
- One of Rosenthal’s sources believes progress has been made on a long-term pact with Holliday, and the recent two-year deal is a positive sign.
- Teams inquiring on Tony Clark: Mariners, Giants, and Red Sox. Clark has been mentioned as a Giants target before.
Rockies Sign Holliday For Two Years
As I mentioned earlier, I won’t post about every one-year deal reached for arbitration-eligible players since they are quite common. However many of the multiyear contracts reached deserve a mention.
Matt Holliday, a Scott Boras client, signed a two-year, $23MM deal today with the Rockies. When the deal is up after the 2009 season he’ll be a free agent. That Holliday required this amount for two years shows what a fine deal the Rays struck with Carlos Pena. I wonder if Boras recommended against the contract Pena signed.
Perhaps Holliday’s extension indicates that the two sides have similar enough thinking that a longer-term deal could be reached before he reaches free agency. Hard to say.
Rockies Not Making Progress With Holliday
Rockies star left fielder and Scott Boras client Matt Holliday is set to reach free agency after the 2009 season. Team owner Dick Monfort weighed in on the situation:
I don’t know if we will be able to sign him. It could always happen during the year, I guess, but that’s a distraction and we can’t have that. The chance of him becoming a free agent increases with each year that passes.
Boras’ thoughts on the topic:
Matt is happy in Colorado. If they want to offer a one-year contract, that’s fine. If they want to offer him a franchise contract, like they have done in the past, we would review it at that time.
My guess is that the four-year, $60MM proposal the Rockies considered wouldn’t be seen as a "franchise offer" by Boras. With the info we have now it looks like Holliday will get a free agent deal exceeding $100MM following the ’09 season.
One other Rockies note from Renck’s column – it sounds like the Rox might wait another year before seriously thinking about a long-term deal for Troy Tulowitzki.
Rockies May Head To Arbitration Hearings
According to Troy E. Renck, the Rockies have only had two arbitration hearings in franchise history. I dug around and found that they beat Sun-Woo Kim over a $200K difference in ’06 and lost to Dennys Reyes over a $200K difference in 2002.
This year, the Rockies will be prepared for the possibility of multiple hearings. They’ve got to deal with Matt Holliday, Brian Fuentes, Garrett Atkins, Brad Hawpe, and Willy Taveras. Renck notes that "significant gaps exist with Atkins and Fuentes." Since we saw the Rox go to their only two hearings over $200K, we know it doesn’t take much of a disagreement sometimes. If no contracts are reached by Friday each side must submit a salary for ’08 and an arbitrator will pick one later. Teams typically like to avoid hearings partially because they can create some hard feelings.
The Rockies’ 2008 payroll should rise more than $10MM just to accomodate the five mentioned above.
Rockies Rumors: Atkins, Holliday, Giles
Let’s see what’s going on with the Rockies this morning.
The Denver Post’s Troy E. Renck writes about the Rockies’ rising payroll. They’re going to have to cough up over $10MM extra in 2008 just to retain current arbitration-eligible players like Garrett Atkins, Matt Holliday, Brian Fuentes, and Brad Hawpe. Holliday might get the biggest bump, around a $5MM increase. As far as team control, the Rox have Atkins through 2010, Holliday through 2009, Fuentes through 2008, and Hawpe through 2010. There’s no rush but many of these guys might be trade considerations down the road.
Also, Tracy Ringolsby reports that the Rockies have agreed to a nonguaranteed deal with Marcus Giles. He’s just insurance though – Jayson Nix is the favorite to play second base. Nix’s Triple A performance in ’07 was equivalent to a .252/.290/.387 line in the bigs.
Rockies Rumors: Iguchi, Cook, Kip, Holliday
UPDATE, 12-6-07 at 12:57pm: According to Thomas Harding of MLB.com, David Eckstein is now a Rockies’ target for second base. They talked to Mark Loretta today, also. Harding adds that the holdup on the Cook deal is the amount of a fourth-year option.
FROM 12-6-07 at 12:21pm:
The Denver Post’s Troy E. Renck has a lunchtime Rockies update.
- Renck doesn’t see Tadahito Iguchi getting Kaz Matsui money, noting that only the Rockies are pursuing Iguchi at his preferred position of second base. That could change if the Orioles trade Brian Roberts.
- Though Aaron Cook‘s 3/30 extension isn’t final, GM Dan O’Dowd believes it will get done.
- Free agents on the radar: LaTroy Hawkins, Shawn Chacon, Octavio Dotel, Victor Zambrano, and Kip Wells. There was recent chatter about Wells trying to become a setup man.
- According to Scott Boras, he’s never received a contract offer from the Rox for Matt Holliday. The original rumor was that the Rockies were planning to offer a four-year, $60MM extension.
Holliday Wants More Than Four Years
The Denver Post’s Troy Renck noted two weeks ago that the Rockies planned to offer a four-year, $60MM extension to MVP candidate Matt Holliday. Holliday is on vacation in Hawaii and hadn’t heard those whispers. When informed, he said he was honored but that four years wouldn’t be enough.
The tough thing for the Rockies is that Coors Field inflates stats but doesn’t necessarily translate to a salary discount. Holliday should probably be a $13-14MM per year player, but don’t go telling that to Scott Boras. He’s going to be asking for at least $18-20MM to buy out additional years of free agency.