Interest has been heavy in free agent lefty C.J. Wilson, reports Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports, despite his disappointing postseason. The Yankees, Angels, Blue Jays, Marlins, Nationals, and Rangers have already expressed interest, reports Morosi. All six clubs had been expected to be in the mix.
An official with an involved club expects at least five years with a sixth-year option for Wilson, while another official believes six years guaranteed is possible. Could a sixth year push Wilson to $100MM? In an August 30th poll, 78% of nearly 7,000 MLBTR readers polled felt Wilson would fall short of nine figures.
Rangers GM Jon Daniels recently commented on Wilson to MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan, saying, "We would like to have him back. We know he's in a great position. He'll explore his options. We'll prepare for both possibilities." At the least, the Rangers are expected to offer arbitration to the Type A free agent nine days from now. If Wilson does leave the Rangers, they could end up with a top 20 draft pick as compensation if the Nationals, Jays, or Angels sign him and the current system remains in place for 2012. Out of Morosi's five competing suitors, only the Marlins have a protected first-round pick.
At this point it’ll actually be a big disappointment if the Marlins don’t sign a major free agent. They seem to be bidding on all of them.
a lot of people think it’s just cheap pr, but you’re right, the backlash may be strong if they don’t sign one of them.
I don’t know whether or not this is just a PR move but it will stink like that without a signing.
I have to admit that I like the way the new look Marlins are playing this offseason. I actually want them to become a contender at this point. I love their agressive attitude and its just the kind of message they should be sending out with Ozzie as their skipper
I think Reyes has a good chance of going to the Marlins!
so, what you’re saying is, the blue jays checked in on someone?!
Haha Jays have done that with all players. Now it’s time to wait for what AA does next.
He has to wait until after the new CBA is done to see if it’s worth his time to sign a bunch of relievers again.
said in jest…but….true
AA will pick up another player who hits below the Mendosa line!
Yet another retarded comment!!
The Blue Jay’s check in on EVERYONE!!
If a GM isn’t checking in on everyone he’s not doing his job.
That was MY point!!
You didn’t dumb it up enough for the majority of users on this site. Just trying to help.
LMAO!! True enough!!
Well you’re excited enough anyway.
YUP!!
4th place again with a worse record than last year, keep up the good work!
And you’re a fan of which team? Obviously you have no knowledge of baseball!!
I really hope he doesn’t like the Yankees. It’s embarrassing as hell to be a fan when they do this.
They should they only have a few players that are any good.
your answers pretty vague. Sounds like you really have a clue????
There is so little available this year on the free agent market for starting pitchers, that I would not be surprised if Wilson gets nine figures, at least with potential options.
For my money, Buehrle is the better bargain.
I agree about Buehrle completely.
TD! you’re so different here than you are on BYB… you seem to be missing a certain digit. I hardly recognized ya.
Wilson at 5/6 years 80 to 100 mil…yeah not buying that one…Would much rather Buehrle at 3 years/40 mil as well
I get the feeling CJ Wilson could benefit from joining the Marlins.
He’s gonna benefit to the tune of $80M-$100M from joining any of them, but I see no benefit other than that from joining the Marlins.
Some nice beaches there. Plus a favorable tax environment.
He doesn’t have to pay state income tax in Texas. But the beaches in Dallas do suck!! LOL
Not White Rock Lake!
Heh. Hey man, don’t knock it. Ever been out to party cove at Lake Lewisville? B****es everywhere.
Not White Rock Lake!
Would love to see my Rockies make a bid for CJ. Not that it’ll happen, though.
Personally I think it wouldn’t be worth it for the Rockies. They’d be better off waiting for the nice FA market next year.
Seems like the Nats and Marlins are mentioned in every rumor. Could you imagine a day where the Nats and MArlins are fighting the last day of the season for the division?!
i honestly do not give the nats much longer until they are competing. they have no issues in beating philly or atlanta, as they do beat up on them every year and keep the season series close. its their lack of beating out teams with .500 or worst records or actually finishing games that hurt them. aside from clippard they really dont have a reliable RP in the bullpen. Storen is young so its kind of understandable for him as a closer but at the same time hes a profesional get over the big league jitters and pitch like your suppose to. Jordan Zimmerman is coming along and with strasburg back they could very well have a 1-2 punch in that rotationa and with an addition of a SP (someone like CJ, or Oswalt maybe Edwin Jackson) that rotation could be really good. so really all they would need is a big bat to go with Werth,Zimmerman and Morse, wich is where bryce harper comes in. i said it this past season and last year by 2012 or 2013 they can be good enough to fight for the division. Philly’s days are numbered as their team is just old and they only get older with the guys their signing and keeping around. Nats are a very talented young team, and if they really needed to make a big trade whether for pitching or a bat to make tht final push to the playoffs they have the farm system to do it with.
You mean 2013?
Wilson just seems like another A.J. Burnett in training. A streaky pitcher who’s overall record won’t be worth his contract but who will put together starts from time to time that will make people say “SEE? HE’S TOTALLY WORTH $16-20MM A SEASON!” but then he’ll generally be mediocre to just above average. I mean, who knows. I could be wrong. In my personal opinion I was always against the Yankees signing Burnett and I never viewed him as being worth more than the $11MM Toronto was paying him, so the idea that Wilson is worth nearly twice that much a season boggles my mind.
4 years/$56MM with a 5th year club option for a total potential value of $70MM seems like the most reasonable contract for him and that’s still a slight overpay of about $1.5MM a season, in my opinion.
I was very happy when he walked from the Jays for a big payday with the Yanks!!
However, I don’t see Wilson streaky like Burnett. Burnett’s head was too big and he never reached his potential cause of it.
Even so, with only 2 years of starting experience and being 31, I feel like 4 years/$60MM should really be his ceiling price, but for some reason they’re all viewing him as a guy worth at least 5 years/$100MM. It boggles the mind.
the only reason their selling him that high is because the rangers have made it to the series two years in a row. guarentee it if the rangers didnt make it there at all he would only be priced at about 30 million. rangers have a problem with wanting to develop closers or RP into a SP. they did it with wilson, then ogando (ogando fell apart the second half) and now their talking about putting feliz in the rotation. it will only hurt them in the future when they kill these kids arms.
I think it’s more because Wilson’s been a 4.5-5.0 WAR player for the past two years rather than anything the Rangers have accomplished as a team. If you subscribe to the theory that a win above replacement is worth $4.5M then Wilson would have been worth $22.5M last year and $19.8M in 2010.
The Rangers are killing their “kid’s” arms? I don’t get why you would say that.
We are moving guys from the bullpen to SP because of the immense talent they have…we don’t want all of that talent to be used for merely 1 or 2 innings.
Although, I will say that I want Feliz to stay the closer. Then again, he is one of our most talented pitchers.
I’d rather have Wilson for 80 over Papelbon for 60 any day.
So would everyone
But the Phillies..
Anything more than 4/60 is an overpay. Why doesn’t the market admit its lcak of depth? Just because a player is the best available player, doesn’t mean they are elite talent. Its like there’s always going to be $100MM players just because there’s always going to be a team willing to spend that much, but how far will it go? Its pretty ridiculous that Aaron Hill is younger & has more career WAR than Wilson, but Wilson might get up to 10x the money?
Dear all MLB owners, calm the hell down. You dont HAVE to spend all the money you have.
The guy has been a starter for two years, and is 31 I wouldn’t even want to give him 5 years let alone 6.
ANGELS NEED OFFENSE! NOT PITCHING! SIGN PRINCE FIELDER
I hope the Angels take him! It would show all the Non – Believers of Dipoto that we were right! Oh and Guthrie for Dan Haren!
When you sign a FA you are almost never getting fair value. By nature, you are getting the player because your bid was the highest. CJ may only be “worth” $12 million, but some team will bid more to get the player they want. Unless he outperforms expectations, he will be overpaid, which is exactly what happens with most FA’s. Teams are, in essence, agreeing to overpay to get a guy they want.
this is going to be the shocker of the winter if he really does get a contract that long and for the money they r talking about. I love the emphases on heavy interests. Of course people are interested but not at that price. An offer of 4 years is fine after that its a little ridiculous. I would go as far as 4/52 mil but someone is going to over pay..i hope the yanks stay away
as a yankee fan i dont see them staying away. some reason cashman likes CJ over buehrle. maybe its an age thing as buehrle is a couple years older but he would come much cheaper then what CJ wants. but to be honest i dont think the yankees will make a big push for him unless the sox are trying. but something must be stirring in the yankees from office because they have been awfuly quiet in the rumor mill. alittle to quiet for comfort actually.
Just say no to Wilson, AA.
That’s what she said.
The Yankees should absolutely not sign Wilson. He’s just another bad contract waiting to happen. I’d rather they offer Buhrle a 2 yr contract, or just go for a solid 2-3 arm via trade. Darvish is another possibility, but there is all sorts of risk when venturing overseas, and the Yankees know that only too well, so I dont see them seriously pursuing him
Replace “Yankees” with almost any team and I think you reflect the sentiments of almost any educated baseball fan. He’s simply not worth the money based on postseason stats alone. As a Rangers fan, I dreaded any postseason game he started because I knew the offense would have an uphill battle at some point in the game.
there is also no guarentee darvish will come to the states. he hasnt decided yet. although it would be better for him to do it now to save about 500 innings on his arm, and earn a bigger paycheck. but the big risk is the 2000+ innings he has already throwin at the age of 24. i dont see that arm holding up but maybe another 2 or 3 years. MLB pitchers dont hit that mark in that quick of a time frame. figure average MLB pitcher throws what? 200 innings a year? it takes them 10 years to hit that mark. as for darvish he did it in 5. kids arm will be dead by 28 or 29 when hes close to hitting 4000 innings
You may be right, none of these pitchers are worth that kind of money but sometimes teams view a signing differently. If the Rangers lost Wilson to a rival, that is 16 wins and 220 innings they would have to make up just to make the post season. He might pitch differently if he was slotted #2 or #3 starter.
As far as his post season stats are concerned, Sabathia had a 7.92 ERA in 25 post season innings prior to 2009. Since then he’s won 5 games with a 3.5 ERA.
What changed in 2009? That’s right, he went to the YANKEES. Far better offensive team than Milwaukee or Cleveland.
I can agree with your #’s but he would be replaced by someone not currently in the rotation or a player not yet signed. I would think Mark Buehrle would make sense being he is a work horse and a vet which I think is needed amongst all the young arms the Rangers currently have and will be looking to.
I may be in the minority here, but I like the idea of the Rangers pursuing Roy Oswalt. While he’s injury prone, that may actually work to their advantage. He’s a solid veteran that can help out with the young rotation and, when healthy, is a solid workhorse.
CJ Wilson is going to get a John Lackey-type deal.
As a Ranger fan I will not be sad to see C J go for that kind of money, he is simply not worth it… he is not an Ace.
Completely agreed. I like CJ in the regular season, but in 2 years of postseason appearances, he’s 1-5 with a 4.82 ERA. Hardly an elite pitcher. What good is having him if he completely folds in the postseason? If the Rangers sign him, I hope it’s something like 4 years for 60 TOPS. Possibly a club option for a 5th year. They have too much depth in the farm system at pitching to overpay for a headcase like him.
The good is getting to the playoffs, as it boosts a team’s ticket sales the follow season. Greg Maddux was 11-14 in the post season for his career, but I would rather have had him on my team in order to MAKE the playoffs than not get there at all.
Greg Maddox also has a career 3.27 ERA in the postseason. I’d take 1-5 with 3.27, but the fact of the matter is that CJ isn’t the same once the calendar changes to October. Maddox also got a ring in his first World Series. CJ has been to two and came up short both times. I understand it’s a team sport, but 2 losses in the World Series by your “ace” doesn’t help. To compare Greg Maddox and CJ Wilson seems flawed.
If you look at Maddux’s ERA in the years he was with the Braves (as opposed to his career ERA when it started to suck at the end) then his postseason ERA was like a run higher. And you are comparing a much smaller sample size with Wilson’s career postseason numbers to date.
All I’m saying is Wilson has been a 4.4 and 5.0 WAR player as a starter. There is obviously no guarantee those numbers will hold up, but neither is there any reason to believe he will always get shelled in the postseason. As a GM I would take the players that give me the best chance to GET to the postseason and worry about how they do IN the postseason once I’m there. And while I certainly think Wilson will be overpaid, I do believe he is the best option available to a team looking to ad starting pitching.
I don’t disagree with the last statement. To me, that’s not even the issue. I feel that the Rangers, or any other team, entering a bidding war for him will end up biting them in the behind. As a Rangers fan, I have seen many free agent pitchers come here and barely be worth one year of their multi-year deals. I’m more emotionally involved in the issue than most, I suppose. I’ve seen CJ throughout his career with the Rangers, and I don’t deny that he has been brilliant, but the bad taste of the World Series is still in my mouth. It wasn’t just CJ, but, in Arlington, he has become the scapegoat.
CJ is arrogant and does not own up to his own mistakes many times. Even Ron Washington once said he wish CJ would own up like a man and not blame BS for his wild nature.
My all-time favorite was that the All Star game used different balls. But, Ben, you’re absolutely right about that. He’s more into making excuses rather than saying “That loss is on me and I let my team down tonight.” I think if he said that more, I’d be more excited to see him come back.
Good to see somebody agrees with me. Apart from Wilson folding under pressure like in the All-Star game and postseason, he has his moments when he lets things get to him way too much and disintegrates during games. 4 years is the most the Rangers should commit to Wilson. Anything more, let him to go and let that other team regret it down the road while the Rangers plug somebody else into Wilson’s spot like they did with Cliff Lee.
I do not like how he tends to throw others under the bus and not own up for his shortcomings. I think he is a fake and I really would not be upset if he walked. I have never been a fan of his. While I can appreciate the work he has put into being a pretty solid SP, I am not convinced he is an Ace and worthy of a hefty pay day. Atleast not from Texas. Allow NY to overpay for him and we can see how things go for him up there.
I wouldn’t mind the Nationals getting Wilson for 5 years and around the 80 million mark, 6th year I would prefer to be a team option
i like the direction the nats are going. my father is a nats fan as he is from virginia and was mad when the senitors came to texas. but me personaly have been saying the last two years they will be a contending team by 2012,2013. if they can find a pitcher (wilson could be a possible solution or maybe even oswalt) to go with zimmerman and strasburg the rotation would look good at their 1,2 and 3 spots. and with the surge that harper is putting on in the arizona league and how he performed in the minors, if the nats are close behind philly and atlanta by june or before AS Break they will bring him up to go with Morse,ryan zimmerman and werth and if espinosa can repeat last years performance at the plate but with a better average that line-up will be alot better then most teams in the NL. to be honest it would look better then hte phillies line up. sorry philly fans but to many injury prone guys on that team especially out of your power guys in howard and utley. so 2013 the latest, the nats will be the next team to watch out for.
CJ is going to be over paid like most free agent starters who are the best pitcher on the market. That to me knocks the Jays out of the running. It will come down to who wants to over pay more for a good #2 pitcher. I might also depend on where CJ wants to play. With the Yanks, Angels, Nats, and Marlins in the mix the price could be 5/90-100.
How does that knock the Jays out of the running???? With the riches owership in baseball and no salary limit the Jays are not out of any players they bid on.
AA seems very hesitant to pay top dollar for any players. That is not his MO. Maybe their afraid of past mistakes. Lerner of the Nats is worth 4.2 billion, and he stepped up to the plate to sign worth last year. The Yanks always step up as do the Angels. The Marlins seem ready to spend, but AA is shocked.
Rogers Communication is worth over 15 Billion.
Thats not to say they’ve committed it to the Jays but they’ve said many times since AA took over that when he’s ready to buy the money is available.
Any fan that follows the Jays knows that the Blue Jays front office assigns a dollar value to 700 players in the majors. If they fall within that value system, the team acquires them. If they are paid two or three times their real value, Toronto has no interest in them at all, which is how baseball should run for all 30 teams. It would provide stability to the market, but unfortunately, there are teams that throw caution to the wind and that has led to the insane contracts everyone sees now.
Thanks for the insight. I’ve actually heard that before about the dollar value. I think you meant ‘they attempt to aquire them’ though. But point is made.
The only way that Wilson gets what he wants is if some team panics and overpays him. The Rangers won’t be the team. More than likely, it would be a team like the Yankees, Marlins or the Angels…especially the Angels as they can’t risk not bringing somebody in this go around after how they got pummeled during the last free agent shopping spree.
Hipster CJ is going to sign with the Athletics for $18,000 per season.
at best CJ Wilson is worth 60 million. I will gladly take a top 20 compensation pick for him also. I think Holland is primed to take his spot much like Wilson was ready to make the leap to our so called Ace spot. I am not calling either an ace but he has the top dog role as of now until we get a legeit ace or someone like Holland makes that leap. I think our best pitcher has yet to pitch in the bigs and will get an opportunity sometime next season, one Martin Perez.
Martin needs to cut down on the walks.
OMG WHY? ya Cj aint going anywhere else but Angels…and i don’t like the sound of it.. Are you serious Dipoto? Angels had 1 of the worst OFFENSE IN BASEBALL and one of the best PITCHING IN BASEBALL.. and you want MORE PITCHING ARE YOU KIDDING ME DIPOTO!!!!!!!!!????????? 2012=Angels keep race tighter win 90 games but Texas still takes the crown IF ANGELS SIGN MORE PITCHING!!!! WE NEED OFFENSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!