Here are a few notes out of the National League East:
- Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy says that he would be open to extension talk, but that none have taken place to date, reports MLB.com's Anthony DiComo. Explaining that he would leave his contract situation to his agent, Murphy said that he already feels lucky for his situation. "What is comfort? Is it money?" asked Murphy. "I've made an ungodly amount of money. That's the only way to describe it. … You see an organization heading in the direction that we're heading, it's an exciting time. So you always want to be a part of that. However that looks — one-year deals or whatever that looks like — other than playing well, that is a little bit out of my control as well. But I do want to be a part of the solution."
- The Braves' extension strategy has drawn plenty of recent attention, and the presence of senior advisor John Hart — the former Indians GM who authored the advent of the extension era decades ago — surely played a role. Ben Lindbergh of Baseball Prospectus recently engaged Hart in a fascinating interview on the topic of extensions. Hart continued to discuss the moves of his current club with MLB.com's Mark Bowman, focusing in particular on the situation of Jason Heyward, whose two-year deal did not buy out any free agent campaigns. "I never did deals with guys who were arbitration eligible unless I got something back," said Hart. "I didn't want to just take a guy through his arbitration years. But I think in the case of Heyward, it was a phenomenal strategy, and the message was clearly delivered that they really like this guy and they want to keep this guy. Nobody knows where his ceiling is, it hasn't been defined yet because he has had a lot of injuries coming along."
- The Nationals chose to give second baseman Danny Espinosa a raise to $540K (during time spent on the MLB roster) in spite of his tough 2013, reports Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post. Though Espinosa had been on track to qualify for arbitration this year, his demotion (and lack of a September call-up) left him short. That bought the team an extra year of control and another season at just above the league minimum rate. The 26-year-old has drawn significant trade interest from teams looking for a cheap opportunity to return him to form, but the Nationals appear likely to use him as a bench piece and keep his upside in house.
If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a thousand times. Heyward’s deal was perfect. I would think that if he pulls off 20/20 and a solid .260 average with gold glove nomination he’s got an extension in his future.
Agreed. I like his deal. Anything they could do to take any stress from performance-based salaries for any time would do Heyward good. They just need to go ahead and slot him in the leadoff spot and not spend half the season figuring out how to utilize his 5-tool abilities.
I think Hart’s quote about liking him is useless. All they did was avoid arbitration, and it’s more telling that they gave out a bunch of extensions and Heyward wasn’t included. If he manages to have a good, healthy season, he should be set up to get paid a lot more than what the Braves can afford.
They have tried to extend him in the past, but couldn’t come to an agreement. He probably wants too much money, that as of right now, he’s not deserving of.
Agreed with the other person, and to avoid repetition, Hart was on point at saying that his ceiling hasn’t been reached. Braves would jump at the chance at offering him money based on his current totals (that have been hindered by nagging/freak injuries), but JHey’s agents (Freeman’s agents) want the time to really see what he can do. It’s really out of anyone’s control but Heyward’s now. He determines his cost. And if you’ve been reading recent ESPN articles, you’ll see ATL isn’t done spending and there’s more money where that came from for Jason. They know and love the guy, even if it means not being able to re-sign Justin Upton (which is fine by me, even if these next 2 years are great).
Agreed with the other person, and to avoid repetition, Hart was on point at saying that his ceiling hasn’t been reached. Braves would jump at the chance at offering him money based on his current totals (that have been hindered by nagging/freak injuries), but JHey’s agents (Freeman’s agents) want the time to really see what he can do. It’s really out of anyone’s control but Heyward’s now. He determines his cost. And if you’ve been reading recent ESPN articles, you’ll see ATL isn’t done spending and there’s more money where that came from for Jason. They know and love the guy, even if it means not being able to re-sign Justin Upton (which is fine by me, even if these next 2 years are great).
You’d be happy with 20/20 and .260 from Heyward? That’s something you’d reward w/ an extension?
We’re talking Jason Heyward, not Dan Uggla.
Anything less than .320 from Heyward is a letdown.
In his four seasons, the highest Heyward has hit is .269. So. . .anything less than 51 points higher than his career high is a letdown? What???
The two of you highlighted my point. His career best is .269 – so why should we throw him millions and millions, and extend him, for average stats.
He strikes out a lot as well.
I love having him on our team, but I want better production before we throw him lots of dollars.
C’mon guys, Heyward puts up those stats in MLB: The Show every year, but only if I’m the one hitting for him.
-C
C’mon guys, Heyward puts up those stats in MLB: The Show every year, but only if I’m the one hitting for him.
-C
Heyward isn’t going to hit .320…are you kidding me? I would think something around a .380 obp, a .500 slug% which would equate to a .880 OPS would be consider to be a reasonable ceiling on him.
Murphy thinks his 10MM career salary is ungodly? A-Rod is losing like 27MM this year alone right?
Anyone could live comfortably the rest of their life with $10 million. It is an “ungodly” amount of money to a lot of people.
Murphy has only made $4,679,198 to date.. and I think that is an ungodly amount of money too
That’s pre-tax. The number is probably closer to $2.5mil after taxes and fees. Two million nowadays is really not much, better than average? Yes but he isn’t going to be driving a Ferrari and living in a penthouse in Midtown Manhattan.
Um, if he was smart he could.
You failed to add in 2014, which is 5.7MM.
He hasn’t collected that yet
Except he avoided arb. and his contract is guaranteed.
Yes but he hasn’t been paid yet
It’s okay to admit you’re wrong.
It’s refreshing to me that he said it, really.
It sounds like he thankful to make millions to play baseball. I think that’s refreshing.
Plus a 30MM bonus for 6 more HR
Gotta love Murph. He seems to have a hard-nosed attitude on the field and seems to be a favorite in the clubhouse. He’s great with the fans and has a lot of perspective off the field as well. Rightly calling millions of dollars an ‘ungodly’ amount of money is refreshing, especially this offseason.
Agreed and he has not even hit the really absurd numbers of FA. I don’t begrudge these players getting what they can even if it is monopoly money numbers but his humility is just (as you said) refreshing and only wish more would follow his mindset and sincerity. If I were a GM I would attempt to make a trade for him simply based on what he said. You cannot buy Character.
I like Murphy but I think the Mets would be better off putting Flores at second and trading Murphy while his stock is high. The Yankees are a great fit for him and the only question would be what would come back.