Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. told Jon Heyman of SI.com that you could make the case for Cole Hamels as the team’s 2010 MVP. Roy Halladay might have something to say about that, but more importantly, the Phillies are red-hot. Here are the rest of Heyman’s rumors:
- The Yankees don’t let executives under multi-year deals interview for jobs in other organizations, which is why scouting director Damon Oppenheimer won't interview for the D’Backs GM job. The policy means Oppenheimer won’t be a candidate for other GM openings this winter.
- Triple A manager Tim Wallach remains the favorite to become the Dodgers’ next skipper if Joe Torre doesn’t return, as many of Heyman’s sources expect.
- Some “Red Sox people” say they won’t be surprised if Adrian Beltre looks to match the $64MM deal he signed after the 2004 season. They say the team won’t offer close to $64MM.
Thats pretty ridiclous rule the Yankees have. I wonder if they monitor Oppenheimer when he’s eating a ham sandwich is his office.
People know going into it that this is the rule. If they don’t like it they don’t have to sign the contract.
Agreed. I’m never one to shy away from a cheap shot at the Yankees, but I don’t see this policy as any different from most US employers. What percentage of folks here go telling their employer that they’re taking the afternoon off to go interview elsewhere. I know it happens, but most people would get themselves fired for that.
Unless it is in a contract I don’t think that an employer can just fire someone for using their personal time to interview for another job. Otherwise I can see a wrongful termination suit coming their way.
If you have at-will employment, you can get fired for pretty much any reason barring unlawful discrimination.
Someone beat me to it. A lot of people don’t seem to realize how most employers could honestly fire you without much of any good reason.
Maybe Opp should just get fired so that he can apply for the job
get babe ruths jersey dirty with juicy strawberries, and drive around the parking lot with the world series trophy tied to the back of his car.
And kick Ramon Perez in the shins.
I’m guessing you missed the seinfeld reference?
Maybe. But do you know who Ramon Perez is? And what did you think of Drabek tonight moony?
Nope… but on a seinfeld episode, George is approached by the mets front office to take a head scouting job, only catch is he has to be fired in order to be considered..
So he wears babe ruth’s uniform out of a case to a meeting and gets it all dirty, then drive around the parking lot with the world series trophy tied to his car.. I figure it fit in rather perfectly with this story..
As for Drabek. I think its a good first outing, I like the way he kept his composure when everything was going wrong in the first. I mean 2-3 no body out, many players would have panicked.. I didn’t like the 4 pitch walks, and i felt as if sometimes he was guiding his pitches too much. You could tell because his velocity was fluctuating too much.. but all in all the kid is 22, no one is expecting him to come in and do what strasburg did, i do think he has the potential to be a very good starter though, he’s aggressive, has good, hard stuff and great mound presence. All in all i was impressed, i just wished the offence would have rose to the occasion and got him a W
Yeah I agree with everything you said. It was a good first outing as well. The thing that I’ve noticed from AA is that if he throws a 96 MPH strike, he keeps thowing it and starts walking batters, he’s still learning how to pitch but sky’s the limit. I also love Kyle wearing #4!
Ramon Perez is the head of security at Yankee stadium and he is not a very nice guy at All.
I wouldn’t come close to the $64MM contract that Beltre got after ’04, but the Braves could be a nice destination for him if Chipper decides early on that he won’t be returning.
I don’t trust Beltre enough to think that this year he was not simply playing for a contract.
I wouldn’t expect him to do what he’s doing this year either. However, I would expect him to match his career line of .275/.329/.462 – .791 with 25HR and play All-World defense at the hot corner. An infield of Beltre-Gonzalez-Prado-Freeman would be very strong defensively and would have some nice pop.
the brave’s stadium would not suite beltre well and I do not think he would be worth over 45 million for them.
He’s not worth $45MM to anyone, to be fair.
thats true and justified by the deal the mariners gave him after a contract year
Yankees executives under multi-year deals are limited to a strict diet of peanut butter and jelly with the occasional cheese sandwich on Fridays. Ham sandwiches are not allowed.
Cheese? Only Cheese?
And no Miracle Whip, only Mayo.
Mayo is awesome. Ever have a Nathans burger? Meat, Green Leaf, two tomatoes, ketchup, onions, bread, and Mayo! love it!
Don’t sign multi-year deals if you’re going to be discontent part of the way through. This doesn’t even say you can’t interview for your next job in your walk year, it just says multi-year deals. And they have every right to enforce this rule, or else there would always be a risk of a lack of structure.
So this is off topic but I was listening to a Phillies radio station today because thats all they have in my area…according to those people the Phillies have 3 aces and they were actually discussing who would start a game 7 championship game. I found that quite stupid considering Halladay is the clear choice…He is a top 3 pitcher in baseball imo and Hamels and Oswalt are definitely not.
Hamels and Oswalt are also having great seasons, even taking into account several pitchers are having great seasons. I’d agree that Halladay is the best of the group, but it isn’t as clear as you’re trying to make it seem.
That said, looking at the front 3 for the Phillies, I gotta think they’re the favorites for the World Series right now.
Harry LeRoy Halladay the third was born to pitch in game 7 of the world series.
Is that his real name?? lol
Yes, and with a name like that, I don’t understand why he doesn’t wear a top hat and monocle everyday.
At this point, Oswalt is pitching like a top 3 in baseball. He is a true number 2, and his numbers reflect that from that spot in the rotation. I remember Cliff Lee putting up identical numbers and people were all over his jock. Why not for Roy O? The guy is a wizard. Be happy you don’t have Lee at this point.
The beauty of the Phils rotation is that the guys are pitching out of their true spot and thriving at it.
Who the are the top 3? CC, Halladay, Wainwright? All true number 1’s i think we would agree.
And Yes, at this point, Halladay is the clear choice by naked eye standards, but if the Rangers were playing Baltimore in the playoffs, would Lee be the clear choice?
Despite his record Hernandez is pitching much better than CC.
touche’
I could win 20 games if I played for the Yankees.
No you could not. In fact, could you actually play for anybody other than your local beer league softball with corked aluminum bats? Not a chance, but I applaud your enthusiasm.
I’m Roger Clemens?
Then have fun playing for a penal league somewhere.
I’m ron burgundy?
Yes even in a post where Cy voting isn’t even mentioned and no comparisons are being made you have to mention that for no apparent reason… we get King Felix is the better pitcher
hes a #1 how many #2’s have sub 3 eras?
NYY, I hate to bust your bubble but he has been pitching out of the #1 for Houston because they had no other options. Roy O had two 20 win seasons pitching out of the number 2 spot (behind Clemens). Your stats are a bit skewed (currently he is below 2 era, 1.89 last I checked). I agree, he has ace-like stuff, but he is best out of #2 spot. I am an Astros fan and long time Roy O fan and even Houston fans know this. Is Hamels a true ace? 3.01 era? No. He has ace-like stuff and is excelling out of the number 3 spot. As a number 2, his era was north of 4 for the majority of the season.
Clay Buchholz?
I hate the yankees but that is a great rule!
Wallach should get the gig in LA no matter what Torre decides, his time here is up. Time to get out of town, and take your Bigelow tea with ya.
They say you can’t blame a manager for what happens on the field, but i’ll be damned if he’s not to blame for the arms falling off in that bullpen of ours.
Sorry Joe, you’re outta here!
I guess when your team scores 2 runs a game you do not have a ton of options. I guess we will see what will be left of the Dodgers after they get done circling the drain.
Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt aren’t anywhere near Halladay’s level.
Re: Tim Wallach
I think he has certainly earned his way up the ladder and deserves a shot at managing in the Majors with the Dodgers. It would be fitting to have him manage many of the young upcoming players that he already knows…
Where the Dodgers will be headed by next season is the mystery. If the team is sold to a new responsible owner with the clout to make LA competitive again, I beleive that would be the best scenario. Another year with the McCourts dragging the lawsuit out may lead to a disasterous oblivion. Hopefully it will end soon, and the Dodgers can get back to being respectful. The McCourts brought the Dodgers back to the playoffs and did many good things in Los Angeles, however, I remember how disappointed Frank was when he heard about Manny Ramirez being caught in the PED scandal. They should know exactly how the fans of Los Angeles feel now about them. Sell the team McCourts, and do it now.
Beltre has been great, but 64 mil? ill pass
just bec hamels and oswalt aren’t at doc’s level doesn’t mean they aren’t great pitchers. any team would kill to have those three.
H2O!
Ok, thought of another reason why the Sox should sign Beltre. Only player I’ve seen who’ll go down on one knee to hit a home run… he’s done it 4 or 5 times this year and it gets more amusing each time.
Something about it just screams potential injury in the making, but it IS amusing to watch.
As you said, seriously amusing.
The only reason he goes to his knee is because he is ahead of the pitch, no different than a normal swing. Only way he could get hurt by doing that is being the unluckiest person in baseball.
I hope NOBODY offers Beltre more than 3 years and nothing above $12M per year. He is an (offensively) inconsistent player who is obviously having a good year, but this year should not be the basis for a new contract. This is why players’ salaries have skyrocketed in recent years, thus further separating the gap between the rich (ie Yankees) who can afford players like this and teams who have to wait years for their elite prospects to come up to the majors and finally contend (ie Pirates), only to see them leave when they hit free agency, making them wait another long period of time until they can contend again. Its really sad to see this, only about 10 or so teams who start the season in april have a real chance to reach the playoffs.
Keep in mind that teams like your Pirates CHOOSE this route and suck off of the tit which is profit sharing. TB and the Marlins have been doing it their entire existence. It is no secret, so lets not act like the Yanks are some indestructible monetary force in baseball when the Marlins have 2 rings to show for their tiny budget.
Players salaries have skyrocketed due to simple supply and demand economics, nothing more.
I think the proper phrasing would be, Only ten teams or so who start the season in April actually want to see the playoffs.
All you say is true, but the salary some players receive are not in the equilibrium point of the supply and demand curve. GMs often choose to pay above the equilibrium price (there is plenty of supply) based on one-year performances, which I believe is wrong and thus negatively affects the demand curve (it increases for the wrong reasons). This does relegate teams with low payrolls to the bottom of the demand curve and it does have some impact on how they manage their teams. I agree, it is their decision and they CHOOSE the aforementioned route, but tell me, who wouldn’t want Beltre at $1M per year? I assure you, every team on baseball would be in on that.
Easy fix for that.. Always go back to 24, even 20 teams and get rid of the ones that cannot afford to compete like you just described above and a few others can name. Pittsburgh may be one of the long standing teams in the league, but also one that can’t seem to draw anybody to watch them and can’t seem to win for what? 17 years straight now? Dump 6-10 of these teams, send dozens/hundreds of players around the league that have no business being on a MLB roster either back to the minors, or into retirement and the rest onto another MLB team’s roster and you have better competition amongst the other more viable teams and a stronger and better sport all the way around. of course would need a commissioner with guts, strong willed owners that put the will of the game ahead and could force thit upon the unions and over tools like Boras etc..
Few too many problems with your post..
Firstly baseball, although a sport is still at the end of the day a business.. So eliminateing 6-10 teams is eliminating 800-1600 games which is a major source of revenue, not to mention the lack of merchandise, tv ratings, concessions etc…
Secondly dispersing 6-10 teams through the league would in fact increase the competition for some teams, who can add payroll of star players that were on bad teams, but what about the good low budget teams who can’t afford to take on more payroll? essentially it will just become a 4 team super league with a bunch of other barely competitive teams.. aka the EPL
it’s not profitable is the reason unless some of these teams are supported by the other teams and some of these teams are supposedly in the “red” anyway, operating with lousy TV contracts, nearly empty stadiums and expecting tax payers to fund new stadiums as a fix-all for an excuse to fix the problem that is never it for the long term.
Fewer teams leaving the better talent on the remaining teams will leave a better and stronger league overall and not having owners being forced to give people like Luria massive amounts of money each and every year, plus tax payers funding stadiums every where for stadiums in places that 5 years will still remain half empty.
Still wouldn’t change the fact that you’d probably see 3-4 teams with payrolls over 250-300
while certain teams stayed around 80-100.
I understand what you are saying all the way to Beltre for 1m per year. I am trying to understand how this relates to the supply and demand salary discussion? Beltre is worth more than 1m, we can agree? So if we pay him what he is worth (approx 10-12mm per) then would the same teams be in on him? No. Because they refuse to actively compete and invest in wins or do not have a place for him to play. Would TB invest in him? Not likely because 3b is locked up, cheap, with a top tier 3b already. Even STL is spending real money these days and historically they have been in the 70-85mm range. MIN went big on Mauer, and has money tied up in Morneau (approx 40m between the two). Why? because their fans demand a competitive team. PITT, sorry, but your fans have not shown that they are fed up yet and ownership knows it. You will only get what you demandd. Look at BOS, sellouts every night=top tier talent and budget. NYY, sellouts, priciest tix, biggest MLB fanbase, TV and marketing contracts=top tier talent and budget. And by doing that, they commit something like 40% of the entire profit share out of their own pockets.
Sorry, I should have explained myself better. What I was trying to convey is that because GMs often pay above the equilibrium price year after year, the new ‘equilibrium price’ is somewhat inflated by past decisions. Today, using Beltre as an example, his equilibrium price stands around $12M, where if it was the year 2000 his equilibrium price might be at $3M (just to say a price). If such inflation had not occurred, maybe more teams would bid for free agents (unlike today) because the price is more accessible. This is what I think makes teams choose to take other routes and just wait and not spend that extra cash, having an impact on baseball and on the season. And the issue I wanted to point out is that this ‘inflation’ isn’t based on the right reasons, such as in Beltre’s case, where players demand more because of one good season.
Good discussion sir.
Sorry, double-post
The talk of $64MM for Beltre is ridiculous. I think his top end offer is going to be at $15MM per season for 3 years, with a 4th year option. I’d be OK with the BoSox extending a $45MM offer like that, but certainly wouldn’t want them to go any further. And I don’t think any GM out there, with the resources to make him such an offer, really would go past that kind of package.
The $64MM contract he signed was that large because of the length, not the amount he was making. Beltre isn’t worth $15MM a year, because he’s not going to repeat what he’s doing this year. $10MM is reasonable, and $12MM is the highest I’d go if my team had some disposable payroll.
Jake, my point was that $15MM is the max and that is based on comparing his career numbers to the career numbers of others making at or near $15MM, such as your Chipper Jones (hometown discount at $14MM), Aramis Ramirez (in hard decline at $15MM) and Todd Helton ($15.7MM). Beltre’s career offense numbers are not as good as any of these comparables, but he has returned almost as much value as Jones, and more value than Ramirez and Helton, over the span of his career. A major part of his value is in his defense (Avg. UZR/150 +15.7), where none of these comparables can even compete with Beltre. So somewhere between $10-$15MM per season is the right range for Beltre, and I’d be willing to see the BoSox give him the max of that range on a 3 year deal, with a 4th year option.
12 might even be too little if you are in a hitters park. He will always provide top teir defense at third. That alone is worth atleast 12mil with a guy who can hit even .270 with 25 hrs. Even last season when his OBP was at .304 and his average was .265 his war was at 2.4 (worth about 10.2mil) because of his defense.
Good Points. With Scott Boras as his agent, and with all the money Beltre should have in the bank by now, he will probably play the waiting game and string out the negotiation process until March 2011. I think the Angels could really use him at the hot corner, and so could the Giants among many others. I really doubt we will know anything definite until March though. Jake makes a good point too about the contract length. Beltre’s next multi year deal may be his last, so I could see this taking a while.
There isn’t going to be any teams going offer Beltre that money, or a four year contract. Beltre is having a great year, but he is on the wrong side of 30, and his hitting numbers are helped by playing at Fenway.
I don’t know what teams are in a need of a third baseman, but Boston isn’t going to bid against themselves for Beltre’s services. The most they will offer is a three year contract, as they did with Lowell, and probably $40 million or so deal to him, which is still pretty good. There will probably be more of a bidding war for Victor Martinez than for Beltre, given Beltre’s time in Seattle still very much there during contract negotiations.
Now, this isn’t to say that I think Beltre will hit .330ish again, but I will repeat this one more time:
Beltre has hit BETTER on the road that at Fenway. Yes, hitting at Fenway as opposed to Safeco has helped because Safeco is death to RH hitters, but he is NOT hitting well because of Fenway, he is simply hitting well. His road OPS is almost 100 points higher than his Fenway OPS.
It could be an outlier year playing for a contract, but it’s certainly not a result of playing at Fenway. Humorously enough, the AL park he’s hitting best in is Oakland (His Philadelphia numbers are beastly too).
any teams going offer Beltre that money”
———
Have you seen the FA list? Not very impressive. I’d pay Beltre if I was convinced he wouldn’t break down (which is not unheard of for those who have dabbled).
The thing is Boras thinks the RS got the better of him last year and he probably wants to make up for that in this contract. I think the RS will have to pay more–not less– than anyone else. It won’t matter that he seemed to enjoy success (both in Fen and road) while a member of the ’10 team.
I think it will be a long offseason for Beltre because of that. Long because Boras will wait for the best deal. As we have seen over many years, the initial asking price shouldn’t surprise us coming from this agent – regardless of what we in the blogesphere think he worth. I agree that Boras will be looking to set the bar very high, for what may be Beltre’s last multi year deal.
Hadn’t crossed my mind before, but Beltre’s had a better season than A-Rod in almost every measurable category (Short of BB% and RBI, Beltre tops him everywhere). Anyone going to be surprised if Boras opens the bidding at 5 years, $125 million based off that comparrison?
(No, I’m not saying he deserves it and yes, I realize the biggest reason he outdid A-Rod is because A-Rod had a terrible year by his standards, but this is Scott Boras)
“The thing is Boras thinks the RS got the better of him last year and he probably wants to make up for that in this contract. I think the RS will have to pay more–not less– than anyone else.”
How did they get “the better of him?”
EVERYONE won on that deal. Beltre was getting lowball offers from other clubs, the Sox were Boras’ perfect venue to rebuild Beltre’s value. Beltre looks like an elite third baseman in the eyes of the league and he’s at the highest value he’s had since 2004. Boras got EXACTLY what he wanted, don’t kid yourself. He WAS being offered like 3/$24MM. Now he’ll probably swing at least $40MM on the market, potentially $50 if someone gets desperate.
probaly , and Ilitch will not be able to write the cheque fast enough.