Coco Crisp

Coco Crisp, Bill Mueller To Join Nationals’ Player Development Staff

By Anthony Franco | January 17, 2022 at 10:23pm CDT

Former big leaguers Coco Crisp and Bill Mueller are taking on roles in the Nationals player development department, reports Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post (on Twitter). Crisp is joining the organization as an outfield/baserunning coordinator, while Mueller will serve as the club’s quality control coordinator.

It’ll be the first affiliated ball post-playing gig for the 42-year-old Crisp. A switch-hitting outfielder, he suited up for the Indians, Red Sox, Royals and A’s over the course of a 15-year MLB playing career. He last appeared in the bigs with Cleveland during their 2016 pennant-winning season. The following July, Crisp signed on to coach high school baseball in Southern California, a role he’d hold for two seasons. He later worked on the A’s radio broadcast and managed in the inaugural season of the MLB draft league last year.

Mueller, meanwhile, played 11 seasons in the big leagues. He suited up with the Giants, Cubs, Red Sox and Dodgers between 1996-2006, claiming a Silver Slugger award and winning the American League batting title with Boston in 2003. In his post-playing days, he spent some time as a scout, hitting coach and front office assistant with a few organizations — most recently working as the Cardinals’ assistant hitting coach between 2015-18.

In the wake of last summer’s sell-off, Nationals’ brass has spoken about their desire to bolster the scouting and player development realms amidst an organizational reset. (Dougherty covered the situation in a full piece last month). To further that effort, general manager Mike Rizzo and his staff are bringing aboard a pair of well-known longtime major leaguers to work with the club’s prospects.

Coco Crisp Reportedly Takes High School Coaching Job

By Jeff Todd | July 11, 2017 at 8:43am CDT

Veteran outfielder Coco Crisp has evidently decided upon a new career path. He has signed on to be the head coach at Shadow Hills High School in Indio, California, according to a report from Blake Arthur and Jesus Reyes of KESQ News.

The high school’s athletic director confirmed that an agreement is in place to bring aboard Crisp to run the school’s baseball program. Crisp’s connection to the school isn’t immediately apparent, but the report does note that the Los Angeles native has lived in the area — in the desert east of L.A. — for quite some time.

Last we checked in, Crisp was still holding out hope of finding a big league job for the current season. Clearly, that had not occurred. While there has yet to be any formal announcement regarding his playing future, the 37-year-old seems to be on the way to hanging up his spikes for good.

Crisp turned in an underwhelming 2016 season, slashing .231/.302/.397 over 498 plate appearances. He hit 13 home runs but stole just ten bags (well below his typical output), while defensive metrics graded him an acceptable performer in left but panned his glovework in center.

Still, Crisp was valued highly enough for the Indians to acquire and rely upon him rather heavily in the postseason. In 32 total plate appearances from the ALDS through the World Series, Crisp recorded seven hits (four for extra bases) and as many walks as strikeouts (three apiece).

Looking more broadly at Crisp’s 15-year career, he delivered plenty of value to the teams that employed him. He racked up 29.1 rWAR and 30.0 fWAR in over 1,500 games played, representing an excellent output for the $70MM+ salary he took home over that span. Crisp enjoyed notable runs with the Athletics, Indians, and Red Sox while also spending a somewhat less memorable year with the Royals back in 2009.

Quick Hits: Cutch, Nats, Pirates, Crisp, Dodgers, Soler, Rangers

By Connor Byrne | April 22, 2017 at 10:37pm CDT

Financial reasons played a key role in the Nationals’ offseason decision to trade for then-White Sox center fielder Adam Eaton instead of the Pirates’ Andrew McCutchen, reports FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal (video link). With his $4MM salary this year, Eaton is much cheaper than McCutchen ($14MM), and acquiring the latter would have forced the Nationals to jettison left-hander Gio Gonzalez and his $12MM price tag in a separate deal, says Rosenthal. In addition to having concerns over how their payroll would have looked with McCutchen, the Nationals had no interest in meeting Pittsburgh’s lofty demands for the five-time All-Star. Washington bought high on Eaton, whose excellent 2016 helped convinced the club to give up high-end pitching prospects Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez and Dane Dunning for him. McCutchen, on the other hand, had a career-worst season last year, yet the Pirates wanted an even more impressive package for him than the Nationals sent the White Sox, according to Rosenthal. Pittsburgh held out for both pitching prospects and major leaguers, leading the Nats to go in another direction.

Free Agent Rumors: Hammel, Crisp, Carter, Moss, Fuld, Niese

By Steve Adams and Jeff Todd | February 9, 2017 at 5:37pm CDT

An unanticipated series of factors led starter Jason Hammel to sign with the Royals, as Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star writes. That included not only the fact that Hammel surprisingly reached and then remained on the open market, but also the untimely death of young Royals righty Yordano Ventura. First and foremost a human tragedy, Ventura’s passing also left the organization in need of another starter for the coming season — an uncomfortable situation which Hammel thoughtfully acknowledged in his introductory remarks. “I feel like I need to express my condolences to, first of all, Royals Nation and the Ventura family,” he said. “Just because, I truly feel that if that unfortunate passing doesn’t happen, you guys aren’t talking to me.”

Here are a few more notes on the free-agent market…

Coco Crisp doesn’t have a job for the 2017 season yet, but he tells John Hickey of the San Jose Mercury News that he isn’t ready to retire and hopes to latch on with a club. “Physically, I’m good,” says Crisp. “There’s nothing that would keep my from playing. My neck feels better, my body feels good.” Crisp’s agent, Steve Comte, tells Hickey that he has spoken to multiple clubs and continues to do so in hopes of securing a new contract for the 37-year-old outfielder. Crisp hit .231/.302/.397 with 13 home runs (plus two in the playoffs) last season and could conceivably help a club as a fourth outfielder and veteran influence. He has struggled against lefties in recent years but has logged a respectable .236/.324/.368 slash against righties (96 wRC+).
The Yankees discussed a potential Chris Carter trade with the Brewers before the slugger was non-tendered by Milwaukee, according to ESPN’s Buster Olney. Had that deal come to fruition, the Yankees would likely have been on the hook for an arbitration salary near $8MM for Carter, who instead agreed to a one-year, $3.5MM free-agent deal with the Yanks earlier this week. Certainly, that could’ve had a trickle-down effect on the Yankees’ offseason, as those talks would’ve occurred prior to the Yankees’ signing of Matt Holliday to a one-year deal. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times spoke to Carter’s agent, Dave Stewart, who wouldn’t directly comment on how the Rays’ bid compared that of the Yankees (Twitter link), though Stewart did note that Carter “felt the opportunity was the same.”
Topkin also tweets that the Rays are among the teams keeping tabs on free-agent outfielder Sam Fuld. The 35-year-old Fuld missed the 2016 season due to shoulder surgery and had a poor year at the plate in 2015 with the A’s, but he provided Oakland with solid defense and baserunning that season. Fuld can almost certainly be had on a minor league deal and would give Tampa Bay some depth behind current starters Colby Rasmus, Kevin Kiermaier and Steven Souza. Corey Dickerson figures to see some time in the outfield as well, and non-roster invitee could make the Rays’ roster as a right-handed-hitting complement to Rasmus. Utilityman Nick Franklin, too, could see some time in the outfield. None of those alternatives can play center field, though, so adding Fuld would give the Rays a veteran fourth outfielder while Mallex Smith gets some more work at Triple-A.
The Nationals “checked in on” first baseman/outfielder Brandon Moss before he signed with the Royals, reports Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post. Moss would at least have represented a quality bench piece for the Nationals, whose depth is an issue, as FanGraphs’ Dave Cameron wrote last week. The lefty swinging Moss could theoretically have shared time (and provided insurance) for right-handed-hitting first baseman Ryan Zimmerman and left fielder Jayson Werth — a possibility that led MLBTR to guess that Moss would land in D.C. at the outset of the offseason.
Thirteen teams attended the workout hosted by free agent lefty Jon Niese earlier today, reports ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick (Twitter link). The 30-year-old Niese, hoping to demonstrate his health for interested parties, threw a 40-pitch bullpen session for the scouts in attendance. Niese struggled through the worst season of his career in 2016 but was a solid fourth/fifth starter for the Mets for several years prior to the down season. He underwent arthroscopic knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus late in the year.

Indians Decline Option On Coco Crisp

By Steve Adams | November 6, 2016 at 8:29am CDT

SUNDAY: The Indians have officially declined Crisp’s option.

FRIDAY: The Indians have informed outfielder Coco Crisp that they will be declining his $13MM option for the 2017 season, tweets Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. He’ll instead receive a $750K buyout and hit the open market in search of a new contract this winter.

Crisp, who turned 37 three days ago, returned to the Indians in an August trade with the Athletics. While he struggled for Cleveland in a reserve capacity down the stretch, Crisp did deliver a pair of important postseason home runs for the Tribe. Overall on the regular season, the switch-hitter recorded a .231/.302/.397 slash line that’s a bit better than it would appear on the surface due to the fact that so many of his at-bats came in Oakland’s cavernous Coliseum. Nonetheless, that line did check in below the league average, as did his defensive ratings in center field (though his left field work still received solid reviews from Defensive Runs Saved).

It’s worth noting that Crisp, though, did still tally 13 homers and 10 stolen bases, thereby demonstrating that he still has the blend of pop and speed that have made him such a solid contributor over the course of his 15-year Major League career. He also fared considerably better as a left-handed hitter than he did as a right-handed bat, so it certainly seems that he could still contribute to a big league club in the corner outfield in a part-time capacity at the very least.

Coco Crisp’s 2017 Option Won’t Vest

By Steve Adams | August 31, 2016 at 8:37pm CDT

Indians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti tells Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer that he had an honest, upfront discussion with Coco Crisp prior to yesterday’s trade to explain that he wouldn’t receive enough playing time in Cleveland for his option to vest if the deal went through.

“We were pretty candid with Coco about that,” said Antonetti. “…The way he’ll likely be used here and the way he’ll integrate into our team, he won’t get enough plate appearances or games to have that vest. Coco was good with that, he understood.”

Crisp would’ve needed to appear in a hefty 28 of the Indians’ 31 remaining games or to tally another 116 plate appearances (3.74 per game) for the option to vest, so it never seemed all that likely that he’d see next year’s $13MM salary automatically trigger. But, Crisp had publicly expressed some displeasure over the fact that he was losing playing time in Oakland, likely to prevent the option from triggering, so Antonetti’s candor was probably appreciated by the veteran outfielder.

Cleveland, of course, could technically still pick up the $13MM option, but it seems far likelier that they’ll elect to pay Crisp a $750K buyout instead. The 36-year-old switch-hitter was a plus contributor at the plate with Oakland from 2010-14, batting .261/.329/.406 in 558 games. However, he’s struggled over the past two seasons, missing the majority of the 2015 campaign with a neck injury and hitting .234/.299/.399 in 434 plate appearances this season. He’s still performing fairly well as a left-handed hitter, though, as he’s batted .239/.307/.419 from that side of the dish. That type of production will come in handy should the Indians hold onto their division lead and make it to the postseason, as Abraham Almonte will not be eligible for the playoffs due the 80-game suspension he served for a failed PED test earlier this year. That, according to Antonetti, was a significant factor in the team’s thinking when deciding to make the trade.

Crisp, then, will have occasional at-bats in the month of August and what both he and the Indians will hope to be a substantial number of postseason at-bats that he can use to boost some of his free agent stock. He figures to enter into a left-field market that is headlined by Yoenis Cespedes and also features Michael Saunders, Ian Desmond (depending on how he markets himself this winter) and Angel Pagan, among others.

Indians Acquire Coco Crisp

By Jeff Todd | August 31, 2016 at 2:25pm CDT

2:43pm: In total, the Indians will pay around $500K of the tab for Crisp, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag tweets.

2:15pm: Cleveland will receive $1,673,497 in cash from Oakland in the deal, per Tom Withers of the Associated Press (via Twitter). By my count, Crisp has just under $2MM remaining in salary the rest of the way, so clearly the bulk will be retained by the A’s. It isn’t clear who is on the hook for a $750K buyout of next year’s $13MM option.

10:33am: The Indians and Athletics have announced a deal that sends veteran outfielder Coco Crisp to Cleveland in exchange for lefty Colt Hynes. MLBTR’s Steve Adams first reported that a deal was nearing and that Crisp had waived his no-trade protection (Twitter links), and John Hickey of the Bay Area News Group reported that the swap was finalized.

Crisp is a 36-year-old, switch-hitting outfielder who is set to hit the open market after the season — assuming that he doesn’t reach the 550 plate appearances or 130 games played that he’d need for his $13MM option to vest. Odds are, that won’t occur at this stage, particularly since Crisp is likely ticketed for part-time duty in his new home.

Though he understandably isn’t playing at his career-best levels, Crisp has managed to put up just-below-average overall offensive production with a .234/.299/.399 slash and 11 home runs over 434 plate appearances. Defensive metrics no longer view him as a plausible option in center, but Defensive Runs Saved credited him with average glovework in left this season.

As has long been the case, and as a glance at Cleveland’s current depth chart shows, the organization has made do thus far with a somewhat surprising mix of players in the outfield. Lonnie Chisenhall, Tyler Naquin, Abraham Almonte, Rajai Davis, Brandon Guyer, and Michael Martinez are all on hand as options, though one wonders whether the switch-hitting Martinez would lose his roster spot if Crisp is brought in.

Covering for the loss of Michael Brantley hasn’t been easy, but that group has rather remarkably combined to post the third-highest fWAR tally of any outfield in the game. Crisp will deepen the mix down the stretch and potentially provide another bat in the postseason.

For the A’s, facilitating a playoff run for a veteran while freeing up playing time for younger players appear to have been the primary considerations. The 31-year-old Hynes has been a popular waiver wire target at times, but still has only limited time in the majors. He is carrying 9.9 K/9 against just 1.7 BB/9 this year over 47 1/3 minor league frames, but he didn’t impress enough to receive a call-up from either the Blue Jays or the Indians.

The move represents something of a homecoming for Crisp, who began his major league career in Cleveland way back in 2002. From there, he moved on to the Red Sox, where he played under current Indians skipper Terry Francona, and stopped with the Royals before moving on to Oakland, where he has been since 2010. He is currently playing out the tail end of an extension he signed with the A’s in the spring of 2014.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

West Notes: Crisp, Sardinas, Dickerson, Padres, Paxton

By Jeff Todd | August 16, 2016 at 12:48am CDT

Veteran Athletics outfielder Coco Crisp says that he believes the team is artificially holding down his playing time to prevent his option from vesting, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Crisp says that he’s “extremely hurt” by the team’s “shady” handling of the situation. While GM David Forst and manager Bob Melvin have stated that Crisp is sitting against lefties to afford younger players more exposure, he sees more to it — particularly since he is not being used much off the bench. Crisp’s $13MM option vests at 130 games played; entering today’s action, he had appeared in 93 contests, meaning he’d need to take the field for most of the club’s remaining 43 games to reach the threshold. “I’m healthy, I’m playing hard and this has surprised me,” said Crisp, who noted that he has loved playing in Oakland. “This calls their integrity into question, it’s very sad.” The 36-year-old, who owns a .239/.307/.410 slash on the year, indicated that he may not be interested in playing after this season, adding: “The business side sure makes it hard to love the game, and I’ve loved the game since I was six years old.”

Here’s more from out west:

The Padres seemingly intend to give just-acquired infielder Luis Sardinas a good run late this year, as Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune tweets. Though he hasn’t hit much at Triple-A or the majors thus far in 2016, Sardinas has a solid pedigree — as club GM A.J. Preller well knows having signed him as an amateur. “I don’t think we [acquired] him to relegate him to Triple-A the rest of the year,” said manager Andy Green.
One Padres player who has thrived upon receiving an opportunity is 26-year-old outfielder Alex Dickerson, who entered the day with a .280/.319/.528 slash and seven home runs over 135 plate appearances. Lin writes that there’s more concern over Dickerson’s glove than his bat, though Green also suggests he has been better than the defensive metrics might suggest. Still, the exciting element of Dickerson’s game is his work on offense. “The way he sees the ball, his plate discipline, he’s a guy that could easily have a 10 percent walk rate to go along with the way he hits, the power numbers he puts up,” said Green. “I’m very pleased with what he’s shown early in his major league career and have every expectation he’ll keep improving.”
It was reported recently that Major League Baseball is looking into the Padres’ provision of medical information in a pair of recent trades. The initial review, at least, is expected to wrap up this week, Lin tweets. It remains largely unclear whether there’s any possibility of punitive measures being taken against the team, or whether the review is focused more on arriving at a standard approach to swapping health documents for all teams.
Mariners lefty James Paxton has been scratched from his next scheduled start, as Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune reports, and could be headed to the DL. Though Paxton wants to pitch, and the team no doubt wants to give him the ball, manager Scott Servais says that the prudent course is further rest. Forearm soreness is almost always scary, but in this case it resulted not from a throwing injury but a line drive. Regardless, Seattle will hope to get the southpaw back in action as soon as reasonably possible. The 27-year-old appears to be harnessing his talent at an opportune time for a Mariners team that is trying to make a run at a Wild Card, if not the AL West title. Over his 81 2/3 innings on the year, Paxton owns a 3.53 ERA with 8.0 K/9 against 2.0 BB/9, and he has been even better of late.

2017 Vesting Options Update

By Steve Adams | June 20, 2016 at 5:25pm CDT

It’s been a little more than a month since we last checked in on the vesting options from around the league. Here’s where this year’s collection of players with vesting options for the following season stand…

Coco Crisp ($13MM option vests at 550 plate appearances or 130 games played in 2016): Crisp was hitting .234/.304/.405 at the time of my initial look at this group of players, but his bat has gone in the tank since that time. The 36-year-old switch-hitter has batted just .212/.235/.343 in 102 plate appearances since that time, but he’s continued to see playing time in part due to injuries elsewhere on the roster (Josh Reddick, Mark Canha). Crisp is still on pace to come in a bit shy of that 550 PA mark, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a reduced role upon Reddick’s return to health, as the A’s probably don’t love the idea of paying him $13MM for his age-37 campaign when he’s struggling to this level in 2016.
Matt Holliday ($17MM option vests with Top 10 finish in MVP voting): Holliday is having a strong season, as he’s proven that the power outage he experienced last season was more anomaly than a portent for significant decline. However, he’s hitting .257/.332/.478 — numbers that help the Cardinals but won’t make him a factor in MVP voting barring a mammoth finish to the 2016 season.
Chris Iannetta ($6MM option vests with 100 games started in 2016): Iannetta has already started 55 games for the Mariners this season, making it seem very likely that he’ll be around in Seattle for the 2017 campaign as well. He hasn’t set the world on fire in his first year with the Mariners, but he’s hitting .237/.337/.395, which translates to an OPS+ of 104 and a wRC+ of 105. (Put another way: he’s been about four to five percent above the league-average hitter after adjusting for his pitcher-friendly home park.)
Yusmeiro Petit ($3MM option vests with 80 innings pitched in 2016): At last check, Petit was on pace to see his option vest, but he’s been used very sparingly in the month of June, totaling just six innings thus far after combining for 26 innings in April and May. Given his status as a multi-inning reliever, he could pick up some additional innings in a hurry, but as it stands, he’s behind pace to see that payday locked in automatically. Of course, he’s also posted a 2.81 ERA in those 32 innings, so the Nats may simply pick up his option even if it doesn’t automatically trigger. To this point, he’s pitched well enough that it seems like a fairly easy call.
CC Sabathia ($25MM option vests if he does not end season on DL with shoulder injury or miss 45+ games in 2016 due to shoulder injury): Sabathia’s option seems likely to vest, as his shoulder has remained healthy this season. However, what once looked like an egregious overpay can perhaps be seen in a different light for the time being. While few would argue that the Yankees shouldn’t mind paying Sabathia that sum in 2017, his contract looks considerably better than it did last year. The former Cy Young winner has made 11 starts this season and has posted a resurgent 2.20 ERA with 7.7 K/9 against 3.7 BB/9. Sabathia has benefited from some good fortune in terms of homer-to-flyball ratio and strand rate, but this is the best he’s looked since 2012.
Kurt Suzuki ($6MM option vests with 485 plate appearances in 2016): Suzuki’s overall production this season has been well below average, but since the last of these updates he’s batting a considerably improved .268/.297/.394 with a pair of homers in 74 PAs. That’s a bit better than the league-average catcher, but the Twins still don’t seem inclined to allow his option to vest. Suzuki has totaled just 158 plate appearances this season even with John Ryan Murphy, his projected replacement, floundering in the Majors and getting optioned to Triple-A (where his struggles have continued). Journeyman Juan Centeno is getting some time behind the dish as well (61 PAs) for the Twins as well. It seems unlikely that Minnesota will allow Suzuki to average 3.5 PAs per game over the final 93 contests after he’s averaged just 2.3 per game thus far.

As noted in the original update, both Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn had vesting options for the 2017 season as well, but those options were negated when each was released from the four-year contracts they initially signed with the Indians.

2017 Vesting Options Update

By Steve Adams | May 19, 2016 at 11:08am CDT

Each year, the free-agent class is impacted by the performance of players with vesting options (as is the financial future of players with said provisions in their contract). For those unfamiliar with the option, a vesting option is typically a club option that can automatically trigger based on the player’s health and/or performance. Meeting pre-determined criteria for games played, innings pitched, plate appearances, etc. are the most common means of triggering vesting options, though as you’ll see below, there have been some more creative approaches to vesting options in the past as well.

We’ll check in on these players periodically throughout the season, and here’s the first look…

Chris Iannetta: The Mariners hold a $4.25MM club option over Iannetta for the 2017 season, but that option can also vest at $6MM if Iannetta starts 100 games in 2016 and does not finish the season on the disabled list due to an injured hip, back or right elbow. Having started 30 of the Mariners’ first 39 games, Iannetta is on pace to clear the 100 start threshold with ease, and if he can continue to post an OPS in the mid-.700s, the Mariners probably won’t mind having him back for another season at that price. One factor that could throw a wrench into his playing time: Mike Zunino is demolishing Triple-A pitching thus far, batting .305/.357/.580, though the former first-round pick has cooled off considerably in the past two weeks.
Kurt Suzuki: Another backstop with a $6MM vesting option, Suzuki needs to reach 485 plate appearances in 2016 for that option to trigger. The big 2014 first-half that earned Suzuki that extension never seemed sustainable, and he has batted just .242/.294/.330 since signing the deal. The Twins probably don’t want to see this one vest, as evidenced by the fact that he’s on pace for 349 plate appearances, which would be his lowest total since signing in Minnesota.
Matt Holliday: The 36-year-old Holliday has a $17MM club option for the 2017 season that automatically vests if he places within the Top 10 of this season’s NL MVP voting. Holliday isn’t the hitter he once was, and even in his best years with the Cardinals, he (somewhat surprisingly) never landed inside the Top 10 in NL MVP voting. At 36 years of age and off to a good but unspectacular .250/.325/.485 start to the season, it seems safe to assume that his option won’t vest. The club will have the choice of exercising the option or paying Holliday a buyout of $1MM.
Coco Crisp: Crisp, also 36, has a more complicated vesting option tacked onto his two-year, $22MM deal. The option is valued at $13MM and will automatically kick in if Crisp receives 550 plate appearances or appears in 130 games this season. The option initially could also have vested based on combined playing time from 2015-16 (1100 PAs from 2015-16 or 260 games from 2015-16), but Crisp spent most of the 2015 campaign on the DL, so he’ll have to hope to trigger the option based solely on his 2016 health. He’s appeared in 31 of Oakland’s 41 games and picked up 126 plate appearances, so he’s a bit shy of the pace for either threshold. Clearly, though, there’s still plenty of time to make up ground. He’s batting .234/.304/.405.
Yusmeiro Petit: The one-year, $3MM contract signed by Petit this winter came with a $3MM club option ($500K buyout) that vests if Petit reaches 80 innings pitched. Petit has occupied a role similar to the one in which he thrived for a few years as a member of the Giants’ bullpen, and he’s picked up 21 innings through the Nationals’ first 40 games. If that pace holds, he’ll indeed clear 80 innings and see that salary lock in. With a 1.71 ERA and 3.28 FIP through his first 21 frames, the Nats probably wouldn’t mind that at all.
CC Sabathia: The 35-year-old Sabathia’s vesting option is tied to the health of his shoulder. He’ll lock in a $25MM salary for the 2017 campaign if he doesn’t end the 2016 season on the DL due to a shoulder injury or spend 45+ days on the DL this year due to a shoulder injury. Sabathia is currently on the disabled list, but it’s due to a groin injury, so it doesn’t impact the option’s status. While he’s certainly no longer an ace, Sabathia did have a 3.81 ERA through his first five starts of the season, though his strikeout and walk numbers weren’t particularly encouraging.

It’s perhaps worth noting, as well, that both Michael Bourn and Nick Swisher had vesting options for the 2017 season worked into the four-year deals they originally signed with the Indians. However, with each player having been released from that contract and signing new deals (with the D-backs and Yankees, respectively), those options are no longer in play. (The lack of playing time for each player this season would’ve made them a non-issue anyhow.)

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