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No More Personal Service Deals & Milestone Bonuses

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Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association have agreed to put an end to personal service deals and milestone bonus clauses, ESPN.com's Jayson Stark reports. Existing contracts with these deals or bonuses won’t be affected by the changes, which were agreed to this month.

Albert Pujols and Ryan Zimmerman recently signed long-term contracts which include personal services provisions and Alex Rodriguez has milestone bonuses associated with his contract. However, MLB and the union say these bonuses violate baseball’s collective bargaining agreement. The sides have agreed that the CBA doesn’t allow players to agree to deals that include obligations beyond their playing careers.

MLB is trying to prevent teams from finding loopholes that enable them to evade the luxury tax, Stark reports. Personal service deals and milestone bonuses aren’t considered guaranteed money and therefore don’t count against the luxury tax.

Quick Hits: Marlins, Galarraga, Rays, Rodriguez

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Here's the latest from around the majors as the Rangers and Tigers start a four-game set in Detroit..

Quick Hits: Lannan, Martin, Nationals, Orioles

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Giants closer Brian Wilson will undergo his second Tommy John surgery tomorrow. Over the weekend we heard that his season was over and that another elbow procedure was likely. Make sure you follow @CloserNews on Twitter for all your fantasy bullpen needs. Meanwhile, here's the latest from around the league…

  • Nationals southpaw John Lannan is still not drawing trade interest according to MLB.com's Bill Ladson. His $5MM salary continues to be a problem, with one executive saying "teams would rather use a low-paid Minor Leaguer for the fifth spot before dealing with Lannan's money."
  • The Yankees have no plans to talk to Russell Martin about a contract extension soon, reports Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (on Twitter). Martin will become a free agent after this season, and the two sides briefly discussed a multi-year deal this past offseason.
  • Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports that a panel of baseball officials will help resolve a local television revenue dispute between the Nationals and Orioles. The two clubs share ownership of MASN, but the O's hold a substantially larger stake. The current deal was hammered out when the Nats moved to Washington in 2005.

Nats Considering Extension For Jordan Zimmermann

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The Nationals have "dabbled in preliminary conversations" with SFX, the representatives for Jordan Zimmermann according to Adam Kilgore of The Washington Post. The team has not yet reached out to the right-hander about a long-term deal, but he would be open to one.

“I haven’t talked to the Nationals about it,” Zimmermann said. “I’d be interested. I’ll just play it out and see what happens. I’m just going to go out and pitch the way I can pitch. Everything will take care of itself.”

Zimmerman, 25, can not become a free agent until after the 2015 season. He was arbitration-eligible for the first time as a Super Two this offseason, and will make $2.3MM this year. Zimmerman missed most of 2010 with Tommy John surgery, but he returned to post a 3.18 ERA in 161 1/3 innings last season. Back in February I suggested that a four-year deal worth $22-25MM could work for both sides.

The Nationals signed Gio Gonzalez (five years, $42MM) and Ryan Zimmerman (eight years, $126MM) to long-term deals this winter.

Minor Moves: Fossum, Johnson, Wells, Buschmann

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We'll keep track of today's minor moves right here…

  • The Orioles released left-hander Casey Fossum and catcher Josh Johnson, tweets Steve Melewski of MASNsports.com.  Both players were at Baltimore's extended Spring Training camp on minor league contracts.
  • The White Sox have parted ways with Kip Wells, Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune tweets. The White Sox had signed the right-hander to a minor league deal ten days ago.
  • The Rays acquired right-hander Matt Buschmann from the Nationals for cash and assigned their new acquisition to Double-A, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets. The 28-year-old posted a 6.16 ERA with 6.2 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 in 134 1/3 innings with the Padres' top affiliates last year. Buschmann has started 116 minor league games in six pro seasons.

Quick Hits: Twins, Thomas, Damon, Nationals, Rays

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Saturday afternoon linkage..

  • Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (via Twitter) notes that the Twins finally got Clete Thomas, years after they drafted him but were unable to sign him.  Minnesota claimed Thomas off of waivers from the Tigers earlier today. 
  • Matt Klaassen of Fangraphs examines whether Johnny Damon is worth it for the Indians.
  • Nationals manager Davey Johnson pushed for major changes to the bench this year and is happy with the outcome, writes MLB.com's Bill Ladson.  This year's bench is clicking so far with the likes of Chad Tracy, Xavier Nady, and Mark DeRosa.
  • The Rays signed Dominican shortstop Christian Toribio for $65K, according to a press release from the Dominican Prospect League.  The DPL categorizes Toribio as an above average runner and a solid defender with enough arm strength and range to stick at the position.

Rosenthal On Lannan, Greinke, Cardinals, McCann

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Highlights from the latest edition of Full Count from Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports..

  • The Nationals continue to look for a taker for John Lannan but his $5MM salary is only part of the problem.  A rival exec points out that any team that gets Lannan might prefer to let him go this offseason rather than go to arbitration with him, further diminishing his value.
  • A rival executive says that Joey Votto's ten-year, $225MM contract with the Reds could affect Zack Greinke's talks with the Brewers.  In the past, a team like Milwaukee could claim that a small market team could never afford such a deal, but that no longer seems like a fair argument.
  • The Cardinals talked about trading Kyle Lohse or Jake Westbrook to free up space for Albert Pujols but it now looks like they made the right decision to hang on to both.  While the two pitchers will earn a combined $20MM+ this season, both reported in excellent condition this season and are off to strong early starts.
  • The Braves are locked into their local TV deal for the next 20 years – a deal that could soon become the worst in the sport.  Meanwhile, their payroll is stagnant and while the farm system is deep in pitchers and shortstops, it's not terribly deep in other areas.  Rosenthal can't imagine that the future looks promising for catcher Brian McCann as he is two years away from free agency.

Nationals Designate Brett Carroll For Assignment

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The Nationals have designated Brett Carroll for assignment in order to make room for Rick Ankiel, according to Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post (via Twitter).  The outfielder made just one plate appearance for Washington this season.

Carroll, 29, appeared in 173 games for the Marlins from 2007 through 2010 but has seen limited action in the big leagues since then.  The right-handed hitter has put up strong numbers in Triple-A for his career, posting a .277/.343/.500 slash line in parts of five seasons. 

The veteran was signed by Washington in December to help bridge the gap between Opening Day and Bryce Harper’s eventual promotion.

Lerner On Kasten, Rizzo, Gonzalez

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Nationals principal owner Mark Lerner told Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post that ticket sales are up this year and that he’s hoping “all the hype turns into reality.” Lerner weighed in on an assortment of Nationals-related topics; here are the details:

  • Lerner said he doesn’t know or care how valuable the Nationals are. “It’s not something we’re ever going to get rid of,” he said.
  • Though Stan Kasten isn’t prohibited from hiring Nationals employees, Lerner doesn’t expect the new Dodgers executive to lure Washington’s front office staff to Los Angeles. “Stan is an honorable man,” Lerner said. “He wouldn’t do that.”
  • People close to GM Mike Rizzo say it’s doubtful he’d be willing to work under Kasten again. It’s unlikely that Rizzo would have as much autonomy working under his former boss.
  • Rizzo signed a five-year extension following the 2010 season and Lerner said he hasn’t considered discussing another extension just yet. However, he praised his GM’s work and suggested a new deal will occur eventually. “When the time comes, I’m sure we’ll have discussions with Mike.”
  • Lerner called the Gio Gonzalez trade a bold move that the Nationals couldn’t have made a year ago.

Minor Moves: Anderson, Stetter, Greer

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We'll track the latest minor moves right here…

  • The Rockies signed right-handed reliever Brian Anderson, Matt Eddy of Baseball America tweets. The converted outfielder had been in camp with the Dodgers earlier this year.
  • The Brewers re-signed Mitch Stetter to a minor league deal and he reported to extended Spring Training, according to MLB.com's Adam McCalvy (on Twitter). The 31-year-old left-hander has appeared with the Brewers in each of the past five seasons, including 16 games a year ago. The Rangers had signed Stetter to a minor league deal this offseason.
  • The Nationals signed shortstop Brent Greer, according to MLB.com's transactions page. The 24-year-old spent the 2011 season at Class A, where he posted a .247/.306/.359 line in 246 plate appearances. The Diamondbacks selected Greer in the 14th round of the 2009 draft.
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