The arbitration news is too overwhelming to include with anything else, so I am doing a separate article this week for just the arbitration. Some of this news is just pure boredom, how much did player A get? How much did player B get? There are just too many players signing to properly analyze most of them. Arbitration means the team has the player’s rights this coming year, no matter what, so the player will be getting paid from that team, no matter what. It’s just a matter of exactly how much. Here are some of the tastier arbitration moves made over the past week:
Arbitration news:
Tim Lincecum, the two time Cy Young award winner, filed a request for $21.5 million in arbitration. His team, the San Francisco Giants filed a counter offer of $17 million (Which is a new record for a team). The Giants would obviously like to lock up their 27 year old Ace to a long-term contract (instead of going through the arbitration process), but the two sides reportedly can’t agree on the length. There are rumors that Lincecum’s agent is asking for an 8 year, $200 million dollar deal! Can the Giants actually afford that amount for just one player, especially a pitcher? I highly doubt it.
It would seem the Boston Red Sox and slugger David Ortiz are destined to end up in arbitration as the two sides are far apart in their contract talks. Ortiz filed for $16.5 mil for the upcoming season, while the Red Sox have only offered a two year deal believed to be in the neighborhood of $9 or $10 mil a season. The 36 year old Ortiz has been the face of the Boston franchise the past decade and had a strong 2011 season. (.309 Avg, .398 OBP, 29 HR and 96 RBI)
Signing to avoid arbitration, Part I:
Gio Gonzalez and his new team, the Washington Nationals, signed a 5 year deal with 2 additional option years. This contract bypasses all the arbitration years for Gonzalez. The amount of the 5 guaranteed years is for $42 million. The 26 year old Gonzalez was traded to the Nats, from the Oakland A’s, in December for a truckload of prospects. The Nats priority since trading for him was to wrap him up for the long term, which they have nicely succeeded in doing, since they now have him for at least through the 2016 season.
Colby Rasmus and the Toronto Blue Jays agreed to a 1 year deal to avoid arbitration. The 25 year old outfielder will receive $2.7 mil. Rasmus is coming off of a disappointing season, batting .253 with 14 homeruns and 53 runs batted in. The Blue Jays are still expecting great things from the young Rasmus, but time is running out for him.
Seth Smith and the Colorado Rockies signed a 1 year contract avoiding arbitration. The deal is worth over $2.4 million total. The corner outfielder has been shopped this off-season by the Rockies with no takers so far. (Note: he was since traded to the Oakland Athletics!) The Rockies are trying to move him since he will probably only be a 4th OF for them. The 29 year old Smith hit .284 last season with 15 homeruns and 59 runs batted in.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia and the Boston Red Sox agree to a 1 year deal for $2.5 mil, avoiding arbitration. Salty, as he is affectionately known, caught 101 games for the Red Sox last year, throwing out 31 percent of would be base stealers. The 26 year old will probably catch just as many games in 2012, while sharing catching duties with the rookie Ryan Lavarnway. Salty batted .235 with 16 homeruns and 56 runs batted in last year.
Pablo Sandoval and the San Francisco Giants agreed to a three year deal worth $17.15 million total. This deal avoids his 3 years of arbitration. Panda, as Sandoval is playfully called, impressed the Giants by losing some 40 pounds of weight last off-season after the team demanded it. Even though he did get hurt last year, the 25 year old produced at an All-Star level (he did make the All-Star team). In 117 games last year, he hit .315 with 23 homeruns and 70 RBI’s. Very smart move by the Giants in my opinion.
Michael Morse signed a two year contract with the Washington Nationals avoiding arbitration. The deal is worth a reported $10.5 mil (a bargain!). The 29 year old Morse had a great year for the Nats leading them in the triple crown categories; .303 Avg, 31 HR and 95 RBI. Morse was also 4th in the NL with a strong .550 SLG. He split his time in 2011 between first base and the outfield, making it easier for the Nationals if they wanted to splurge on Prince Fielder.
Signing to avoid arbitration, Part II:
Every year, after the deadline for players and teams to submit their salaries, there is a wave of pre-arbitration signings (the deadline was last week). Once the team and player know what figures they are officially dealing with, many times it is easier to split the difference and sign a deal. This helps bypass any possible hard feelings that may develop by going through the arbitration process, which can get very heated to say the least. Here is a list of players (it’s huge!) who signed this week to avoid going through arbitration. I may have missed a few players, please forgive me! Also, many different sites list the salaries slightly different, so some of these salaries may be off by a smidge. In general, salaries are a very boring part of baseball to me, I am much more concerned with who signed for what team, but for completeness I looked up as many salaries as I could. Enjoy…
2012 signings to avoid arbitration this week:
Cole Hamels (SP) – Philadelphia Phillies - $15 mil
Andre Ethier (OF) – Los Angeles Dodgers - $10.95 mil
Jacoby Ellsbury (OF) – Boston Red Sox - $8.05 mil
Francisco (K-Rod) Rodriguez (RP) – Milwaukee Brewers - $8 mil
Carlos Quentin (OF) – San Diego Padres - $7.03 mil
BJ Upton (OF) – Tampa Bay Rays - $7 mil
Michael Bourn (OF) – Atlanta Braves - $6.85 mil
Delmon Young (OF) – Detroit Tigers - $6.75 mil
James Loney (1B) – Los Angeles Dodgers - $6.38 mil
Kelly Johnson (2B/OF) – Toronto Blue Jays - $6.38 mil
Melky Cabrera (OF) – San Francisco Giants - $6 mil
Joe Saunders (SP) – Arizona Diamondbacks - $6 mil
Juan Oviedo (Leo Nunez) (RP) – Miami Marlins - $6 mil
Mike Pelfrey (SP) – New York Mets - $5.68 mil
Jonathan Sanchez (SP) – Kansas City Royals - $5.6 mil
Jair Jurrjens (SP) – Atlanta Braves - $5.5 mil
Francisco Liriano (SP) – Minnesota Twins - $5.5 mil
Eric Aybar (SS) – Los Angeles Angels - $5.08 mil
Brandon League (CL) – Seattle Mariners - $5 mil
Shin-Soo Choo (OF) – Cleveland Indians - $4.9 mil
Angel Pagan (OF) – San Francisco Giants - $4.85 mil
Jason Vargas (SP) – Seattle Mariners - $4.85 mil
Chris Perez (CL) – Cleveland Indians - $4.5 mil
Mike Adams (RP) – Texas Rangers - $4.4 mil
David Price (SP) – Tampa Bay Rays - $4.35 mil
Geovany Soto (C) – Chicago Cubs - $4.3 mil
Brandon McCarthy (SP) – Oakland Athletics - $4.28 mil
Joel Hanrahan (RP) – Pittsburgh Pirates - $4.1 mil
Justin Masterson (SP) – Cleveland Indians - $3.83 mil
Max Scherzer (SP) – Detroit Tigers - $3.75 mil
David Murphy (OF) – Texas Rangers - $3.63 mil
Luke Hochevar (SP) – Kansas City Royals - $3.51 mil
Chase Headley (3B/OF) – San Diego Padres - $3.48 mil
Phil Hughes (SP) – New York Yankees - $3.2 mil
Rick Porcello (SP) – Detroit Tigers - $3.1 mil
Tom Gorzelanny (SP/RP) – Washington Nationals - $3 mil
Matt Harrison (SP) – Texas Rangers - $2.95 mil
Brett Gardner (OF) – New York Yankees - $2.8 mil
Andres Torres (OF) – New York Mets - $2.7 mil
Chris Volstad (SP) – Chicago Cubs - $2.66 mil
Jim Johnson (SP) – Baltimore Orioles - $2.63 mil
Kyle McClellan (SP/RP) – St Louis Cardinals - $2.5 mil
Eric O’Flaherty (RP) – Atlanta Braves - $2.49 mil
Charlie Morton (SP) – Pittsburgh Pirates - $2.45 mil
Homer Bailey (SP) – Cincinnati Reds - $2.425 mil
Dexter Fowler (OF) – Colorado Rockies - $2.35 mil
JA Happ (RP) – Houston Astros - $2.35 mil
Nyger Morgan (OF) – Milwaukee Brewers - $2.35 mil
Jordan Zimmermann (SP) – Washington Nationals - $2.3 mil
Edison Volquez (SP) – San Diego Padres - $2.24 mil
Ian Stewart (Inf) – Chicago Cubs - $2.24 mil
Nick Hundley (C) – San Diego Padres - $2 mil
Joba Chamberlain (RP) – New York Yankees - $1.68 mil
Tyler Clippard (RP) – Washington Nationals - $1.65 mil
Daniel Bard (SP) – Boston Red Sox - $1.61 mil
David Robertson (RP) – New York Yankees - $1.6 mil
Sergio Romo (RP) – San Francisco Giants - $1.575 mil
Glen Perkins (RP) – Minnesota Twins - $1.55 mil
Ben Francisco (OF) – Toronto Blue Jays - $1.54 mil
Will Venable (OF) – San Diego Padres - $1.48 mil
Jeff Baker (Inf) – Chicago Cubs - $1.38 mil
Darren O’Day (RP) – Baltimore Orioles - $1.35 mil
Nate Schierholtz (OF) – San Francisco Giants - $1.3 mil
Mike Aviles (Inf) – Boston Red Sox - $1.2 mil
Phil Coke (RP) – Detroit Tigers - $1.1 mil
Chris Getz (Inf) – Kansas City Royals - $0.968 mil
Wilson Valdez (Inf) – Philadelphia Phillies - $0.93 mil
Manny Acosta (RP) – New York Mets - $0.875 mil
Paul Janish (Inf) – Cincinnati Reds - $0.85 mil
Jesus Flores (C) – Washington Nationals - $0.815 mil
As you can plainly see, it turns out this was a very crazy week for player signings. I hope there aren’t as many next week so I won’t have to go through this again (LOL!)… See you guys for next week’s edition of ROUNDING THE BASES!
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