We'll kick off the first weekend of 2014 with a few quick AL East notes …
- The Orioles have had trade discussions with the Mets involving not only Ike Davis, but also Daniel Murphy and Lucas Duda, reports Educardo Encina of the Baltimore Sun. But, as we learned already with regard to Davis, the talks never gained much traction given the Mets' focus on picking up a top young arm from the Orioles' system.
- Baltimore's first priority is adding starting pitching, writes Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com, taking precedence over the search for a DH and the possibility of adding a reliever. The O's are not shopping at the top end of that market, however. Meanwhile, the club's interest in Kendrys Morales is "waning," Kubatko senses. When asked whether the Baltimore roster was good enough to challenge for the post-season as presently constructed, executive VP Dan Duquette walked cautiously: "I think we have more work to do to accomplish that, but we're making progress. We added a couple left-handed hitters and there are some opportunities to help our pitching staff."
- Looking forward, the Yankees have six deals on the books that are likely to prove a burden, opines Brendan Kuty of NJ.com. The list (with remaining guaranteed years and money): Alex Rodriguez (four years, $90MM), Mark Teixeira (three years, $69.375MM), Ichiro Suzuki (1 year, $6.5MM), C.C. Sabathia (three years, $71MM), Jacoby Ellsbury (7 years, $153MM), and Derek Jeter (1 year, $12MM). Of course, each of these contract situations carries different kinds of concerns. Three are somewhat unsurprisingly problematic back-ends of long-term deals, though there is still some hope that the Yanks will get some value out of the remainder of those contracts. Two appear to be fairly substantial short-term drains for an organization that hoped to get under the luxury tax threshhold, but otherwise will not impact finances past 2014. And one is a freshly-inked long-term contract that could become a problem in the future — much in the way the earlier Rodriguez, Teixeira, and Sabathia contracts have shaken out of late — but which was presumably necessary to lure a top-tier talent to the Bronx.
All things considered it seems harsh to list Jeter’s one year deal or to immediately assume Ellsbury’s deal will be a bust. Though Ellsbury will def. not live up to $22MM a season, he will be productive, always worth at least half that salary, IMO. In today’s bloated contract market, I’d put that down as a win, sadly. As for the others: A-Rod’ been an albatross since day one, so there’s nothing new there. Sabathia’s extension looked like a godsend when it was announced, but now? Oy…at the very least he’s a work horse who will give 120%. Suzuki is a toss up. Tex seems like his productive days are behind him. He’s now the new Ruben Sierra, but paid way too much.
Bottom line, IMO: Though they’re all CRIMINALLY overpaid, as long as they stay on the field, I don’t think it’s as bad as the article is making it out to be.
That’s that thing though, isn’t it?
Pretty much all of those guys aside from Ichiro and CC are what you might call “injury prone”, and Ichiro is now 40 and CC’s a 33-year-old pitcher with almost 2800 innings on his arm and 3/75 guaranteed on his contract.
I can’t imagine the pain he must be going through. I’m 26 and have been lifting since I was 18. I can feel the 8 years of wear and tear in my shoulders just from basic weight lifting. Not much time put into organized sports. Maybe some from bowling, but again all very casual.
Now…Sabathia has thrown 43,390 pitches in regulation major league games alone, not to mention probably thrice that in practices, then double all that from when he was a little kid. So we’re looking at between 260,000 to 300,000 throws over his lifetime thus far, not to mention any other working out, playing basketball pick up games and the like…Wow.
Well since you’re a lifter, can you lift the Yankee Goggles off your nose? You’re previous post was hilarious in the sense that you admit it’s criminal, but ultimately not that bad. I’m glad the Yankees are what they are, I always turn my head at the car crash on the freeway like everybody else.
SMH Duquette
Wonder if the Pirates would consider trading with the Yankees again? Mark Teixiera would be a risk, but the reward could be huge. If the Yankees ate some of the money like they did with Burnett, could it be worth it?
Yes! As a Pirate fan I would totally do that. He would fit perfectly batting 5th behind Pedro.
I don’t see the Yankees trading Tex. Right now they don’t even have a backup 1B unless you count Kelly Johnson who has played 3 career games at 1B (all in 2013)
He has a NTC as well, However, if they could trade him they could then go out and sign Morales. Not going to happen though, Tex likes that park just fine.
Why would the Yankees do that?
I threw out the question because the writer of this article talked about all the albatross contracts the Yankees have. They ditched Burnett and ate part of his deal. The Pirates’ need of all of those contracts is a 1B. I was curious what it might take to get Tex. Taillon and Polanco are off limits, but I’d put together a nice three or four player deal to help their farm system, Heck, I might even throw in Gaby.
It’s a moot point anyway since I doubt the Yankees would do that as well as the fact that Teixeira has a full no-trade clause. I would like the Pirates to get better though so they can make that division even more interesting.
Yankees can’t trade Tex after he basically helped recruit all their new players. That’d be so messed up lol
But that’d be kinda dumb for the Yankees, considering they don’t have another 1B capable of playing adequately.
Tex has a full NTC and has expressed his desire to finish the current contract in NY, doubt he gets traded.
What would you give up?
As a retired physician with a longtime interest in sports medicine, I just cannot fathom the long term contract; they never pan out and are essentially a cover up to up front luring of players from one team to another.
That’s what the market is though. Insurance helps mitigate some of the risk, and salary inflation also helps. Teams actually benefit since the best players take discounts in the early years of these long term deals when money is worth more in return for more years when the money they earn is devalued due to salary inflation.
Also, owners get to subsidize the cost of the long term deal with young cost controlled players like Trout who makes the league minimum while putting up 10 WAR
Well, it’s not exactly like Mike Trout’s grow on trees.
Duquette has to know it’s not going to be a pleasant Fan Fest come February 1, 2014. I mean he just as to know!
Also, I wonder if Peter Angelos wakes up every morning and checking his front door to see if some “Martin Luther” like fan posted his or her 95 thesis to his Front Door! Conveying their thoughts on how the Orioles should be run! What Angelos, Duquette, and Showalter are doing just simply is not working! Unless, you consider alienating “True Fans” as part of the plan!
PS Is Grant Balfour going to file a grievance or not?
In fairness, Duquette and Showalter are hamstrung by Angelos. They brought the team to the cusp of relevancy, Angelos just had to spend some money to fill a couple of holes. He did not and now the team is back sliding.
I’m not so sure about the Yankees contracts being a burden. If Alex is going to be suspended, they would save 31 million there for the upcoming season. if he plays, they would be getting something out of it. I was never a fan of the long term deals because of injuries, but if a player is healthy, how is that a burden? As long as they produce, its not a loss.
Ichiro and Jeter will be gone after this season, (Ichiro may be gone before the spring.) The only deal I am worried about would be Sabathia’s because of his loss in velocity. If that continues, they would be paying him 20million + per season as a 4th or 5th starter.
The possibility that A-Rod is suspended and that may be helpful to NY’s current payroll speaks volumes as to how bad that really contract is.
Sawks, I agree, but would point out your Sawks were awfully lucky in finding new Dodger ownership eager to rescue you from a similar situation. Kudos to Ben for seizing the opportunity,
When you look at it both the Dodgers and Red Sox owners owe Bud Selig for getting their teams. What are the odds one bails out the other. I sometimes wonder if Bud called in a favor there. World Series ratings are not so hot without either the Red Sox or Yankees in it, and now Bud is trying to get the Yankees salary relief with the Yankees.
I won’t argue that the Gonzo and Crawford deals were atrocious and Ben C. was a genius to pull it off. However my point was that it the appeal of having A-Rod not play in 2014 seems greater than the appeal of having him play, which is mind boggling.
Its only a problem because the Yankees have chosen to reduce payroll to 2002 levels despite a brand new stadium and much larger revenues.
If George Steinbrenner was alive he would sneer at 189 and blow right by it w/o remorse so long as it meant a chance at another ring.
Its only a problem because the Yankees have chosen to reduce payroll to 2002 levels despite a brand new stadium and much larger revenues.
If George Steinbrenner was alive he would sneer at 189 and blow right by it w/o remorse so long as it meant a chance at another ring.
If the O’s want to take out ALL of the Mets’ trash, I’m all for it! Duda, Davis AND Murphy? Where do I sign?
Do the O’s REALLY want to compete this year?
I’d rather keep Murphy but maybe at the right deal I’d be ok with it. They can have Duda and Davis though. Maybe they can pry away Hardy! 😀
If the Mets are really going to trade Murphy, I’d like them to put together a deal with the Yankees. Murphy goes to the Yankees and coming back is Ichiro/2 mil and Jose Pirela. Murphy would be a better option at 2nd than what the Yankees have gotten and Ichiro at a lower annual salary becomes a good bench player. I understand he’s 40 but there is a lot to like about how he plays the game and with the Mets young players that can only be a good thing.
extra, extra: long-term contracts get worse as time moves on!
The only reason the interest in Morales is “waning” is because another team, KC, has shown legitimate interest. Just like every winter with the Orioles, “Move along, nothing to see here!”
Probably also because Morales is a 30-year-old DH only, a Boras client looking for far too many years and too much money, and costs a first round pick in addition to said bloated contract.
I’d love for the Birds to sign him, but not for more than one year with an option.
Rather see them sign Morales for 2 than A.J. Burnett for 1. I know we need a starting pitcher, but I see A.J. getting tattoed in Camden Yards on regular basis, much like he got abused in Yankee Stadium.
Burnett is pretty talented, on a 1 year deal he could either be a bust or an absolute steal. I watched him for way too long on the Yankees.
I’m seeing highlights of Morales on TV, he’s gotta be the least athletic looking player in all of MLB, and that’s saying something!
It depends on how you look at it, the Yanks are the biggest of the big market teams who will spend the max every year. Proportionally they are not spending any more than some of the small market teams, they have a much bigger revenue. Plus they try and win every year with success which most teams won’t do. Teams like Tampa have never won the World Series and they don’t draw any fans, they will never go that extra yard to win. Now they are talking about trading Price, while the Marlins of all teams has won 2 world championships. You play the game to win, which is exactly what the Yanks do.
I’m a Yankees fan who loves what Tampa does. They draft, groom, and trade very well. Great management. They just don’t have the revenue base and that’s mostly because they don’t have the fan base. But the team does the absolute maximum to maximize its resources. Compare that to several other lower revenue teams who seem happy to just cash the revenue sharing checks with little concern for what they put out of the field.
If I’m a young baseball executive, I want to join the Rays organization. This is a highly efficient organization- out of necessity, of course. It’s sadly obvious the Tampa-St Pete area will never fully support them. But if they went somewhere else (ie, northern VA, etc) this would be a terribly dangerous ballclub. As for the Yankees, how can you knock them for spending extra money to bring in top ballplayers? The Yankees are a total money-making machine. Geez, if they DIDN’T outspend everybody else we’d accuse them of being greedy. I only wish they’d do better in developing their own ballplayers.
This has been said before on this site by several smart commenters- if you want that particular free agent now, you accept the fact that you have to give the long term contract, and also accept that the end of it will be ugly. This is what the players play for, to get there. If you want to change that, change how they get compensated in the early part of their career. Tex said it himself- he was a bargain in the beginning, and later, no way he can play up to the big contract.
The thing with long contracts is teams generally do well in the first few years since the player takes a discount in those years in return for more years. So while Cano may be a burden at the end of his deal (adjusting for salary inflation the NPV is 16 million AAV in year 10), his 6 WAR at 24 million is a bargain today.
In Ellsbury’s last year at age 36 all the other deals will be off the books and the NPV of his last year will be worth about 15 million. Hard to imagine that being a burden especially when he will be younger than Beltran, Jeter, Arod, Ichiro, Kuroda and not all of them were listed as burdens.
I mean, how could Ellsbury be on this list and Beltran not. Beltran will make 15 million at age 39 at a time when Arod will still be on the books.
I think the yanks need to trade Gardner and two prospects to the Phillies for Cliff Lee