AL West Links: Beane, Athletics, Andrus
Four years ago today, the Mariners acquired Erik Bedard from the Orioles in exchange for five players: Adam Jones, George Sherrill, Chris Tillman, Kameron Mickolio, and Tony Butler. The deal was one of our Trades of the Decade. Here's the latest from the AL West…
- Athletics GM Billy Beane recently signed a lengthy contract extension, though ESPN's Buster Olney (Insider req'd) opines that losing may wear on him if the team doesn't get back into contention. He wonders if a potential new Dodgers owners could come calling in the near future.
- If the Athletics do move to San Jose, owner Lew Wolff says they would be labeled the San Jose A's, reports Joe Stiglich of The Bay Area News (on Twitter).
- The Rangers bought out Elvis Andrus' three arbitration years, but assistant GM Thad Levine told Richard Durrett of ESPN Texas that the club does want to keep him beyond that.
Rangers, Elvis Andrus Sign Extension
The Rangers and shortstop Elvis Andrus have officially signed a three-year extension. The deal, which doesn't include any options, is worth $14.4MM, Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reports on Twitter. The Boras Corporation represents Andrus, who was arbitration eligible for the first time this offseason and had a hearing scheduled for Thursday. Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports first reported the agreement.
Andrus had filed for $3.6MM in arbitration, while the Rangers had countered with a $2.65MM submission, as MLBTR's Arbitration Tracker shows. The 23-year-old Venezuela native is under team control through 2014, so the deal buys out all of his arbitration seasons and no free agent years.
Andrus owns a .271/.340/.343 line with 102 stolen bases (135 attempts) as a Major Leaguer. He has appeared in at least 145 regular games in each of the past three seasons and contributed in the postseason in 2010 and 2011. Andrus is an above-average defender at short, according to UZR.
Photo courtesy Icon SMI.
Rangers, Nelson Cruz Nearing Two-Year Deal
THURSDAY: The deal would likely be worth $15MM-plus, Grant tweets. Cruz appears to have avoided arbitration, though nothing's official at this point.
WEDNESDAY: The Rangers are nearing a two-year deal with Nelson Cruz, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports. Cruz filed for $7.5MM in arbitration, while the Rangers countered with a $5.5MM offer. The sides have an arbitration hearing scheduled February 17th.
Cruz hit .263/.312/.509 with 29 home runs in the regular season before clubbing eight postseason homers and being named the 2011 ALCS MVP. The 31-year-old ACES client is arbitration eligible for the second time after earning $3.65MM in 2011. A two-year deal would buy out both of his remaining arbitration seasons, but no free agent years. MLBTR's Tim Dierkes examined the cases for Cruz, Adam Jones and Alex Gordon earlier today.
This post was first published on February 8th, 2012.
Rangers, Nelson Cruz Avoid Arbitration
The Rangers avoided arbitration with outfielder Nelson Cruz, Andy Slater of 640-AM Sports in South Florida tweets (hat tip Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com via Twitter). Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reported last night that the sides were nearing a two-year deal.
Cruz filed for $7.5MM in arbitration, while the Rangers countered with a $5.5MM offer. It's unclear whether they settled on a one-year deal or agreed to a multiyear contract. The sides had an arbitration hearing scheduled February 17th.
Cruz hit .263/.312/.509 with 29 home runs in the regular season before hitting eight postseason homers and being named the 2011 ALCS MVP. The 31-year-old ACES client is arbitration eligible for the second time after earning $3.65MM in 2011. A two-year deal would buy out both of his remaining arbitration seasons, but no free agent years. MLBTR's Tim Dierkes examined the cases for Cruz, Adam Jones and Alex Gordon yesterday.
This post was first published on February 9th, 2012.
Was Elvis Andrus’ Extension Necessary?
The Rangers recently extended 23-year-old shortstop Elvis Andrus for three years and $14.4MM. The contract covers Andrus' three arbitration years. As we'd expect for a Boras Corporation client, the Rangers were not able to secure any free agent seasons. Does this contract extension offer value to the Rangers as opposed to just going year-to-year?
I talked to a couple of agency employees who estimated Andrus' year-to-year arbitration earnings in the range of $15.3-15.5MM, with salaries around $3MM, $4.8MM, $7.5MM if his offense holds steady. Andrus brings runs and steals to the table and might win some Gold Gloves, but arbitration doesn't pay this skillset handsomely. The Rangers didn't get much cost savings here, unless Andrus takes his offensive game to another level.
As with any extension, the Rangers got cost certainty, in that they don't have to haggle with the Boras Corporation three times to determine Andrus' salaries. There is also the benefit of pleasing Major League Baseball, as the contract might help keep future shortstop salaries down.
The downside for the Rangers is that Andrus' earnings for 2012-14 are now guaranteed, even if his offense suffers a downturn or he endures a significant injury. Such events would have limited his arbitration salaries. J.J. Hardy's 2009 season is a good example: his performance and playing time plummeted, so he settled with the Brewers for just a $750K raise. The Rangers no longer have that protection, and all they received in return was a million or two in savings and some cost certainty.
Comparing Cruz, Jones, Gordon In Arbitration
Arbitration eligible outfielders Nelson Cruz, Adam Jones, and Alex Gordon all remain unsigned. As outfielders with at least four years of big league service and less than five, their cases are tied together. Let's take a closer look.
Cruz and Jones submitted near-identical salaries of $7.5MM and $7.4MM, respectively. The Orioles value Jones less than the Rangers value Cruz, submitting a figure $500K below Cruz's $5.5MM. It's no coincidence MLB scheduled the players' arbitration hearings for the same day, as that way a win by one can't benefit another. Should one of the two reach an agreement soon, the salary figure might be kept under wraps until the other's is determined. Gordon's hearing is scheduled one day earlier, but they're reportedly close to an agreement. The Cruz-Jones argument can be tailored either way — Cruz has more career power, but Jones is more durable and plays a premium position.
Gordon is valued below Cruz and Jones by all parties, as he submitted $5.45MM and the Royals $4.15MM. All things considered Gordon had the best platform year, topping Cruz and Jones easily in batting average, on-base percentage, runs, and stolen bases while posting similar home run and RBI totals. He's further boosted by a Gold Glove, so one separator here has to be the players' career numbers and related previous year earnings. Though Gordon wins in career OBP, his home run and RBI totals lag well behind the other two players.
Looking at past precedent, how strong are the cases of Cruz, Jones, and Gordon?
- Cruz wants a $3.85MM raise, while the Rangers are trying for the same $1.85MM one Carlos Quentin received after the 2010 season. Using Quentin's numbers through 2010, Cruz has better career numbers and a similar platform year. Ryan Ludwick and Josh Willingham received $1.75MM and $1.65MM raises in similar situations, though Cruz trumps all in career power numbers. However, Cruz does not have an advantage over where Luke Scott was after 2010, and Scott received a $2.35MM bump. Scott seems to push the argument in the Rangers' favor, except that Scott spent much of 2010 at designated hitter. Another point in Cruz's favor, MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith mentioned to me, is his fantastic postseason production.
- Jones wants a $4.15MM increase. He's short on career home runs compared to his arbitration peers, so maybe his argument will be based on his ability to play center field regularly and a better platform year than B.J. Upton's 2010.
- Gordon seeks a $4.05MM raise. Given his batting average, run total, and Gold Glove award, he had the best platform year of his peers. He also has the worst career power numbers, plus the Royals filed a million bucks higher than the Rangers and Orioles did for their guys.
- We always hear that arbitration hearings are a crapshoot, and perhaps none of these players will end up going to one. However, the arguments seem to favor the teams in the cases of Cruz, Jones, and Gordon, who are seeking to top Hunter Pence's $3.5MM raise despite inferior numbers. Additionally, Matt Swartz's arbitration projections came in below the midpoint for all three players.
Quick Hits: Mets, Phillips, Brewers
Here are some notes from around MLB to cap off a day that saw Billy Beane, Clayton Kershaw and Elvis Andrus agree to extensions with their respective clubs…
- The Mets have “pretty much stopped pursuing” left-handed hitting outfielders, Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets. The Mets had been linked to free agents such as Raul Ibanez, Kosuke Fukudome and Johnny Damon, but it now appears that they’ll take a wait-and-see approach.
- Reds GM Walt Jocketty told Mark Sheldon of MLB.com that the team isn’t any closer to an extension with Brandon Phillips. The GM said the sides haven’t had the chance to talk and hope to discuss a deal within a few weeks.
- Brewers GM Doug Melvin told ESPN.com’s Buster Olney that he is committed to giving Mat Gamel a shot at developing into a Major League regular in 2012.
- Assistant GM Thad Levine acknowledged the Rangers could go to a hearing with one or more of their arbitration eligible players, ESPNDallas’ Richard Durrett reports. Andrus recently agreed to terms on a three-year extension, but Mike Napoli and Nelson Cruz remain unsigned, as MLBTR’s Arbitration Tracker shows.
- Nationals media relations manager Bill Gluvna resigned and took a marketing and public relations job with the Boras Corporation, Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post reports.
- Dave Cameron of FanGraphs presented ten of the best offseason moves, and Hiroki Kuroda, Edwin Jackson and Carlos Beltran all made appearances on the list.
- Dodgers assistant GM Logan White discussed Zach Lee, Kershaw, Nathan Eovaldi and drafting young pitchers with David Laurila of FanGraphs.
Rangers Sign Conor Jackson, Joe Beimel
The Rangers signed outfielder/first baseman Conor Jackson and left-handed reliever Joe Beimel to minor league contracts, MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan tweets. The deals include invitations to big league Spring Training.
Jackson posted a .244/.310/.341 line in 390 plate appearances with the Athletics and Red Sox in 2011. The 29-year-old SFX client played all four corner positions last year. Jackson, a right-handed hitter, owns a .283/.381/.436 career line against left-handed pitching, so he could spell left-handed hitters such as Mitch Moreland, Josh Hamilton and David Murphy if he makes the MLB roster.
Beimel, 34, posted a 5.33 ERA with 6.0 K/9, 3.2 BB/9 and a 41.2% ground ball rate in 25 1/3 innings in 2011. The Pirates signed the Joe Sroba client to a minor league deal last January and released him in August. The Rangers don't have much in the way of experienced left-handed relief after losing Darren Oliver and Mike Gonzalez via free agency.
Athletics Pursuing Koji Uehara
The Athletics are among the teams pursuing the Rangers' Koji Uehara, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. The Orioles also remain interested in the right-handed reliever.
Last week, Rosenthal wrote that Texas might be looking to move the 36-year-old to sign a lefty reliever like Mike Gonzalez. Uehara recently used his limited no-trade clause to block a trade that would have sent him to the Blue Jays and is said to be seeking a return to Baltimore.
Rangers, Hamilton Put Extension Talks On Hold
The Rangers have been discussing long-term contract extensions with several core players this offseason, but talks with one of them have been put on hold indefinitely. Josh Hamilton and GM Jon Daniels confirmed to reporters today that talks about a new deal have been tabled for the time being.
"We'll put that on the back-burner for now," said the outfielder while Daniels noted there are "more important things to deal with." The quotes come courtesy of CBSSports.com's Danny Knobler and The Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Jeff Wilson (Twitter links).
The "more important things" Daniels referred to would be Hamilton's admitted relapse from his drug and alcohol addiction recovery earlier this week, which Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports says could cost him millions. The club was already eyeing a conservative contract while Hamilton's side reportedly had Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder money in mind. Hamilton has said he will not discuss a new contract once Spring Training begins, and he can become a free agent after this coming season.
This is the second time the two sides have tabled extension talks this offseason. Negotiations were put on hold while the club worked out new deals with their arbitation-eligible players and Yu Darvish a few weeks ago.