Ron Villone Signs With Cardinals
The Cardinals inked 38 year-old lefty reliever Ron Villone to a minor league deal today. Randy Flores and Tyler Johnson seem to have the lefty bullpen roles locked up, but maybe Villone can squeeze his way in.
Villone is typically pretty tough to hit, but his control is questionable and he’s a flyball pitcher.
Fogg Still Looking For Work
Every year some free agent unexpectedly finds himself without a job in late February. This year, that guy is Josh Fogg. To rejoin the Rockies, Fogg would have to take a pay cut from his ’07 salary of $3.625MM, and he’d have to be open to bullpen work.
Will anyone take Fogg in for $4MM and give him a rotation spot? The Nationals, Reds, Astros, and Cardinals seem like viable options. Viva El Birdos isn’t thrilled with the Cardinals’ portrayal of Matt Clement’s health. Since Clement won’t be ready for the start of the season, maybe St. Louis will add some depth with Fogg. However, John Mozeliak implied a couple of days ago that he wasn’t going to make anymore acquisitions.
Odds and Ends: Perez, Jones, Howard, Burnett
Let’s round up today’s linkage.
- No more long-term discussions with Oliver Perez and the Mets.
- Andruw Jones already wants to talk extension with the Dodgers.
- The Cardinals are not likely to make anymore acquisitions. In my view the team has question marks in right field, the middle infield, and the rotation. Here’s a look at their MLB.com depth chart. By the way, could Ryan Franklin be a league average starter? They could try it if the current options don’t pan out.
- Jim Salisbury thinks the Ryan Howard contract situation is a nonstory. I think this is partially because (and I hope this doesn’t sound condescending) most fans do not understand the arbitration process. Anyway Salisbury’s source says the Phillies would match Chase Utley‘s seven-year, $85MM deal and might approach $100MM. He says Howard may want "significantly more."
- Ivan Rodriguez would like to play beyond the 2008 season and retire a Tiger. If the Tigers can’t find a taker for Brandon Inge this year, he could be their starting catcher in ’09.
- Carl Pavano doesn’t seem too popular in the Yankees’ clubhouse.
- J.P. Ricciardi does not plan to do an extension during the season with A.J. Burnett. I think Burnett will stay healthy enough to top the two years, $24MM he could get if he does not opt out.
Stark: Howard Not Likely To Accept Deal Similar To Pujols
In a recent blog post, Jayson Stark notes that everybody should be paying close attention to the Ryan Howard arbitration case and speculates that Howard and the Phillies are much farther apart that the $3MM difference in their arbitration numbers. In fact, the distance between the two sides can be measured as the difference between Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez.
Stark says:
The Phillies renewed Howard at $900,000 last year–precisely the same amount Pujols got from the Cardinals the year before he was eligible for arbitration. Next up, the Phillies will no doubt offer Howard a long-term deal that mirrors the seven-year, $100 million contract Pujols signed with the Cardinals in his first year of arbitration eligibility.
That might sound reasonable from afar. But there is no chance –zero–that the reaction to that offer…is going to sound anything like: Where do we sign?
A-Rod is more what this particular family has in mind.
The $7MM arbitration figure offered by the Phillies is the same amount Pujols made in the first year of his contract extension (his first arbitration-eligible season). The biggest argument against the Pujols comparison is that the Cardinals signed their young record-breaking slugger to a 7-year, $100MM contract in 2004, and there has been an explosion in baseball revenue in the last four years. The Phillies would argue that Howard’s numbers, while historic, are not equal to what Pujols accomplished in his first three seasons. The Phillies appear to be trying to balance performance against inflation.
Stark does not go so far as to say that Howard is seeking $250MM, but does speculate that it would take seven years and at least $150MM. If Stark is right, and the two sides cannot work out an agreement prior to the arbitration hearing, this could get ugly.
By Cork Gaines
Odds and Ends: Howard, Cormier, Gerut
I am currently evaluating Phil Hughes‘ playlist. Some of it is solid. Let’s get on to the odds and ends…
- Bill Conlin thinks it’s a mistake for the Phillies to pay Ryan Howard at a rate commensurate with his service time. It’s a slippery slope – shouldn’t Cole Hamels be earning $15MM instead of $500K, then? The system may be broken but it doesn’t make sense for the Phillies to start ignoring service time.
- John Mozeliak is not done yet. Meanwhile, Albert Pujols continued to direct his ire at KTVI-TV of St. Louis.
- The Orioles agreed to a minor league deal with 27 year-old righty Lance Cormier worth around $450K. Cormier doesn’t have much to show for his 244 big league innings, whether starting or relieving. He has a decent groundball rate, at least.
- The Padres signed Jody Gerut to a minor league pact that could be worth as much as $910K. He’s 30 now; his best season was an .830 OPS for Cleveland at age 25. Since then he’s had all sorts of knee problems and even had a grievance with the Pirates.
Yadier Molina Signs Extension With Cards
The Cardinals signed catcher Yadier Molina to a four-year deal today. The 25 year-old defensive whiz hit .275/.340/.368 in ’07.
The specifics: the package is worth $15.5MM. The salaries are $1.75MM in ’08, $3.25MM in ’09, $4.25MM in ’10, and $5.25MM in ’11. The 2012 option is for $7MM. It’s hard (at least for me) to place a dollar value on catcher defense. But we know Molina is very good, and there are signs he could even become a plus with the bat. This seems a decent signing by John Mozeliak.
Rolen, Glaus Can Opt Out After ’08
As a player traded in the middle of a multiyear deal, new Blue Jays third baseman Scott Rolen has the right to opt for free agency or demand a trade after one year with Toronto. This right has since been eliminated but players who signed their deals before October ’06 are grandfathered in. Troy Glaus has the same right.
The stipulations make it less likely for players to opt for free agency or demand a trade. If the player chooses free agency he has to wait until mid-March to leave and also give up three years of free agent eligibility. If he chooses a trade he can only block six teams. That said, we have seen this happen before when a guy just wants out. The most recent example I can think of is Javier Vazquez in November of ’05.
It seems the Jays still expect to have Rolen through 2010, and he’d have to really hate it there to back out of his deal.
Odds and Ends: Gregg, Howard, Shingo, Valentin, Ankiel
Some loose ends and links from today…
- Closer Kevin Gregg is the highest-paid Marlin at $2.5MM. Quick! Trade him!
- Ryan Howard and the Phillies submitted salary figures: Howard wants $10MM, the Phillies want to pay him $7MM. If they can’t meet in the middle then an independent arbitrator will pick one of the two amounts next month. MLB.com has a handy table showing all the figures submitted today by players and teams.
- Fun fact, the Cubs signed Shingo Takatsu. He’s 39 now; he saved 19 games for the ’04 White Sox. He had a 6.17 ERA in 23 innings in Japan last year though. Mr. Zero is the all-time saves leader in Japan.
- Jose Valentin‘s minor league deal was announced today. The free agent market is pretty much barren of middle infielders now.
- The Cardinals and Rick Ankiel agreed on $900K plus another $100K in incentives for ’08. He was an oddball case without comparables given his career progression.
- The Royals appear to be done this offseason.
Cardinals Considering Juan Gonzalez
This one isn’t a prank…the Cardinals are considering signing Juan Gonzalez and inviting him to Spring Training. Every year there are rumors about comeback attempts. It would be surprising to see Gonzalez in the St. Louis outfield at any point in 2008, but you never know.
Juan-Gone is 38 now, and hasn’t been in the Majors since that infamous one at-bat in 2005 with the Tribe. He’s 66 home runs away from 500.
Glaus Asked For Trade
According to Buster Olney, Troy Glaus told J.P. Ricciardi several months ago that he’d like to be traded. Apparently he really wanted to get away from artificial turf.
Olney says Ricciardi made no promises, and set about finding good value for Glaus. Glaus had wanted to play for St. Louis for years, and Scott Rolen‘s rift with Tony La Russa created an opportunity.