7:15pm: Cruz is at the GM Meetings with his representatives, and had a meeting today with Baltimore, according to a tweet from Ken Rosenthal. It seems likely that he will meet with other clubs while in town, Rosenthal suggests.
6:27pm: Cruz is seeking a five-year contract, and the Orioles have no interest in that length of commitment, tweets Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. I’d assume that if Cruz is indeed asking teams for five right now, it’s likely just a bargaining ploy to get clubs to come up to four years as a compromise of sorts.
4:12pm: The Orioles made Nelson Cruz a three-year offer to remain in Baltimore before the 2014 MLB home run leader officially hit the open market, reports Buster Olney of ESPN (Twitter link). The Orioles now feel positioned to wait as Cruz explores his options with other teams, Olney adds.
Olney also reports that Baltimore remains in contact with Nick Markakis’ camp about a new multi-year deal, though one of the unresolved issues for the two sides is deferred money. Earlier today, executive vice president/GM Dan Duquette told reporters that the O’s have enough financial flexibility to retain both Cruz and Markakis.
Baltimore figures to be one of the primary suitors for Cruz, though he’s also been connected to the Mariners in the early stages of the offseason. Cruz struggled to find a multi-year deal on last year’s open market when he entered free agency with what were then considered to be extremely lofty expectations. Now he’s coming off a .271/.333/.525 season with 40 homers and about 15-16 months between him and his 50-game suspension for PED usage, giving him a considerably stronger case. MLBTR’s Zach Links recently profiled Cruz and projected that he would indeed be able to find a fourth year.
The Mariners are desperate for a bat after just missing the postseason, they are going to overpay for one of Cruz/Martinez/Ramirez.
Wasn’t there a MLBTR article recently that said the the Ms didn’t make a run at Cruz because of his connection to Biogenesis? I wonder if that previous position will deter them from making a run at him this year?
There was a report that ownership veto a Cruz deal last year because “The primary concern was how Cruz, then 33, would respond after being caught and suspended as part of the Biogenesis drug scandal.” I dont know if that means ownership opposed it on ideological grounds or if they just weren’t sure if he could hit without the juice. Either way that would still leave them with Martinez/Ramirez to overpay for.
I believe I remember reading it was from the ideological standpoint, and that they don’t want to get involved with PED users.
Cruz will crash and burn at that ballpark. he needs Camden Yards.
Cruz will get paid this year, he lead the league in home runs. I would think he gets 3/50.
Any smart GM is going to look at his home road splits on HR/FB. Cruz has spent his whole career in a HR hitting paradise, both in Texas and Baltimore. For his career Cruz has a 20% HR/FB rate at home and 15% HR/FB rate on the road. If you put Cruz in less hitter friendly park his HR production is going to drop by about 25%.
That can be said about a lot of hitters
True but Cruz doesn’t have any skills other than power, other players do.
You should check the stats. In 2014 Cruz hit .252/.320/.463 with 15 HR at home and .289/.346/.584 with 25 HR away from Camden Yards.
I used his career stats because HR/FB is a stat with a very high standard deviation. You need a really big sample size for it to be predictive.
I’ll agree with you that he definitely enjoyed and benefited from hitting in Arlington.
There really aren’t that many pitcher friendly parks left in the AL, KC, Seattle, maybe Detroit, that’s about it.
Cruz, for his career, has hit 107 HRs at home, and 90 on the road. Not exactly a huge difference.
That could be a fluke since he normally had lobs used splits as a Ranger heavily favoring his home park. On the road he was more like a Trumbo/Cespedes type OBP.
*lob sided
Other then Tropicana Field, the entire AL East is a power hitters haven.
Plus, Cruz hit MOST of his home-runs in 2014 during away games.
Look, if the O’s get him back fine, if not fine.
Same for Markakis. I think the O’s should look at all available options to tweak this ball club. They aren’t very far away from competing and winning the division title again. Well, although April 2015 is still a bit aways’ away.
Career NOT 2014, there is more than one season that makes up a career!!!!! If you’re going off 2014 alone you need to factor in playing in the AL east, a division with 4 HR hitting paradises.
“Cruz has spent his whole career in a HR hitting paradise, both in Texas and Baltimore.”
You may be saying career, but your statement indicates that his HR #s were likely driven by the parks he played in INCLUDING BALTIMORE. It’s completely fair game for people to point out that it was likely not the case in Baltimore.
Baltimore is included in his career numbers too. Also I would point out Lefty was only looking at the total number’s of HR hit in Baltimore not the rate stat, HR/FB. I used his career stats because HR/FB is a stat with a very high standard deviation. You need a really big sample size for it to be predictive.
You seem to be just twisting to avoid admitting that you were off.
Well, the thing is I am at a loss as to why Cruz didn’t take the 3 year deal. He loves hitting at Fenway. His numbers were pretty good at OPACY. The Orioles have a chance at a ring and they were willing to give him a 3 year deal. What more does he want? The same for Markakis.
Camden Yards was ranked #20 in HR Park Factor in 2014… so not a HR paradise. And both Tropicana and Fenway ranked lower than them, so basically you have 3/5 parks ranking in the bottom third of stadiums for HRs.
Nelson Cruz hit the most HR in the MLB but was ranked 102 in average flyball ball distance. That to me at least proves he got very very lucky with his FB’s.
Well then don’t sign him.
Isn’t that what I was advocating all along?
No, I meant you personally.
OK but only if you personally sign him…
I don’t even have the money to sign a replacement player.
lol… come on if you work for a decade you can afford one player at league minimum and still eat.
You do realize that he hit 25 home runs on the road, and only 15 at home right?
I still like the idea that I’ve seen kicked around on here multiple times that players getting caught using PED’s are only allowed to receive 1 year deals for the remainder of their careers. Maybe even some kind of limitation on the dollar amount too based on the QO value of that year’s market or something.
That would never make it past the players union, Big Papi would smash that idea faster than a dugout phone.
Oh I definitely know, just a pipe dream.
Did he ever reimburse the Orioles for that phone?
I believe that I have the same chance of getting a 5 year contract as Cruz does.
Still looking for a five year deal, I guess Cruz didn’t learn his lesson last year
I’d blame it on his agent but he just switched to a new one…
Like the story said, assume it’s a bargaining position this early in the game.
Nori Aoki would be a fine replacement for Markakis. And cheaper.
For maybe another year, but Aoki’s lows are much lower than Markakis’, and he’s rocketing toward them now.
Five years? Wow, but I suppose if he thinks he can get it. I’d be really wary of someone looking for years 34-38, coming off a career year, can’t really play the field, and isn’t even a high OBA guy for a slugger. He will get a lot of money, but….
Rangers should get in there with a big 3 year + 1-2 option years type deal. We need to bring the Cruz Missile back to town. Rotating him and Smolinski at RF/DH would be good.