Josh Hamilton and the Angels are in talks to resolve their dispute, although no agreement is close at this time, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports writes (Twitter links). The Angels could trade Hamilton or buy out the rest of his deal for an amount less than the $83MM they currently owe him, although the union likely would disapprove of the latter option.
Rosenthal further notes (again via Twitter) that Sidney Ponson and Denny Neagle, former players whose teams felt they had personal-conduct issues, agreed to settlements for 75 to 90 percent of the remainders of their deals. Jason Bay also agreed to a buyout of his deal with the Mets following the 2012 season (although not for personal conduct-related reasons, and Bay still received the entire amount he was owed, only with some of it deferred).
MLB announced in early April that Hamilton would not be suspended for a self-reported relapse into drug use. Later reports indicated that the Angels would try to enforce provisions in Hamilton’s contract pertaining to the use of alcohol and drugs, although the union made a statement denying that the team had the right to do so. Such actions could only affect Hamilton’s 2016 and 2017 salaries, since his $23MM 2015 salary became guaranteed on Opening Day. Hamilton is currently recovering from shoulder surgery, although several Angels players recently met with him and say he’s ready to play, according to the Orange County Register’s Jeff Fletcher.
I would guess included in that option about trading Hamilton. Is that the Angels would eat about 50% of the $83MM he’s owed in any trade deal. That still saves them about $40MM +/-. Face it the Angels don’t want him, he probably doesn’t want to be there. So a trade would be a win, win. I’m just not sure what team would want him at a cost of about $40MM plus over the next 2 plus year, closer to 3 years.
I agree if the angels tried to trade him, I am not sure what team will take on his contract.
It would be VERY optimistic to think that they would be able to get another team to assume half of Hamilton’s contract.
Hamilton is almost as untradeable as Ryan Howard, if that’s even imaginable. Maybe the Angels can swap him to the Phillies for Howard straight up. I’m not sure which team would win that trade.
Could they do something like the Mets did with Jason Bay? It surely cost the Mets a bunch of money but accomplished the goal of just getting rid of him.
Honestly, how Hamilton didn’t suffer and discipline for his admitted drug relapse is mind-boggling.
self confessed relapse with a drug of addiction. Not a PED, not a failed test but further evidence of an illness
Odd, PED’s are drugs. What if someone is addicted to PED’s?
Avoidance of consequence is what Drug Addicts feed on, and a large part of the reason why a cycle continues.
I want Josh back on the field playing awesome baseball, and him to get his life back together. However, he doesn’t seem to be on a better path after this relapse, than the relapse before that, and the relapse before that one. This time, he’s richer.
Because the union argued for the letter of the CBA agreement, which is that a player can only be suspended/punished for a failed drug test, which apparently didn’t happen. It’s a stupid loophole, and the union doesn’t care about right or wrong, only about beating the owners in every possible way.
Actually they believe in the enforcement of signed contracts and the CBA. Certainly a reasonable position
If we’re being real, pretty sad that the Angels are trying to leverage something like this into saving money on a bad contract. Don’t kid yourself, there’s nobody in the front office that’s even remotely concerned about Josh and his drug problems and certainly not how this situation affects his play going forward.
While sad and true, it’s not their responsibility. They’re jobs are to do what’s best for the Angels, and getting rid of that contract is what’s best for the Angels.
what was best for the angels was not to sign him, they should of re-signed torii hunter and greinke instead.
That’s in the past. Not an option anymore. What is an option, however, is cutting ties with Hamilton.
Maybe but what if they trade him and he goes on a tear and putting up good numbers, just a thought. I know it’s in the past but it’s what they should of done but Arte wanted hamilton and now he has to live with it.
He’s not going to get out of if. He’s trying to trade or release a player.
even if they release him, they are still going to be paying him. I think when they signed him, It messed with the team chemistry.
Of course they’ll have to pay him, but I’ve seen no evidence that he’s messing with team chemistry.
right now I am pissed off with carlos beltran that I trade him for josh and have the angel pay some of that contrat
There is not much chance the Angels void a penny of the contract and instead spent public relations and free agent credibility while now trading Hamilton minus any leverage.
The organization made a stupid decision while piling on a guy who self reported.
Self reporting does not excuse his actions. He is a public figure, making 23MM/year. The stupid decision was Hamilton’s.
Maybe they are concerned with what the message to the rest of the company would be if they did nothing: Go ahead and abuse drugs, we will pay you anyway! No matter how many times you do it!
The Orioles are probably the best fit. I could also see the Indians being a really dark horse candidate, if they could find payroll space.
What about the tigers? If they lose out on cespedes, he can play left.
That wouldn’t make sense for them financially.
No one is taking on Hamilton’s contract. If they work out a buy-out, Hamikton will be a free agent and sign cheaply.
Steven Moya is the planned LF for next year. The Tigers seem to go out of their way to not be associated with violators of the JDA.
I think he would fit the A’s profile, which would cause Angels fans to have fits.
Considering how poorly the Angels handled the entire situation, I don’t blame Hamilton for working with them in this case if it means getting out of there as soon as possible. All of that money is going to make it awfully difficult though, so both sides will likely need to make sacrifices for anything to substantiate.
What about a bad contract swap? Howard for Hamilton and a B level prospect/cash?
Hamilton still has more value than Howard IMO when you factor in the Angels’ needs. It would have to be straight up, one-for-one deal I would think.
Never going to happen. Howard is owed $60M minus 2015 pay to date. Hamilton is owed $90M minus pay to date.
While I agree that Hamilton has more value than Howard, it’s not $30M more.
Howard would be hard pressed to draw even a B level prospect right now, let alone a Hamilton/prospect/cash package, seems a little wishful thinking.
the Hamilton situation is one that has to be resolved.
The idea is Howard for Hamilton as both are bad situations with their current teams. The cash/prospect part was to even out the money. Howards owed 58M for the rest of his deal, as Hamilton is owed 83M.
The cash/prospect would even it out.
Hamilton holds more value than Howard though, even with all of this going on. I understand balancing the costs and bad situations, but the value wouldn’t be there for the Angels. If I were LA, I’d eat money to make a better deal than give up anything close to a projected MLB contributing prospect for Howard. The rebuilding Phillies with RAJ continuing to make un-necessary comments about talents probably wouldn’t do Hamilton any better anyways honestly. Ideally, no trade is necessary and both sides work out a buy-out.
That could work out but the phillies are trying to rebuild, why put hamilton with the phillies on a rebuilding team.
For the same reason they haven’t released Ryan Howard yet.
Less pressure for Hamilton to succeed + veteran leadership for the Phils. A rebuilding team still needs some older players.
Howard is a better influence on younger players than a drug addict would be.
It depends. I think Josh Hamilton could be a nice walking cautionary tale. Ryan Howard lost a lot mainly due to injury, but can you imagine the impact of showing your rookies close up how easy it is to lose your ability by your own hand? Fear can be a very positive influence on younger minds.
Don’t need him up close to learn that lesson. Seeing him outside the sport, when he could be playing, strengthens the lesson.
I disagree. It’s a lot easier to reinforce the lesson if he is up close and personal. As the old saying goes, out of sight, out of mind.
They would have to sign him to do that, which shows that all of the lack of discipline he showed will not prevent some dumb GM from giving you unlimited chances to screw up.
With the Phils shortage of premium young talent right now, I have no problem with vets playing on ST low money deals to rebuild value and possibly become trade acquisition candidates. Whether Hamilton can be had this way remains to be seen.
The Phillies can’t just trade Howard to anyone they want as a 10/5 player Howard can veto any trade he doesn’t like.
He doesn’t get 10/5 rights for another month or so.
Actually May 2nd is the exact date.
I think he’d prefer to be traded, and play out his contract away from Philly. He changed all of his non-trade list to AL teams possibly needing a DH, so it might be a moot point.
Not sure why the Phillies would want to trade bad contracts. They are looking to dump salary not just trade it.
The Phillies aren’t looking to dump salary. They are looking to acquire young talent because Amaro traded away all of the Phillies talent in the upper minors while doing nothing to replace said talent.
Fine line between dumping salary and getting out of bad contracts.
True for the most part. In the offseason I was hoping something could have been done with Baltimore and Ubaldo Jimenez. Seemed like having Ubaldo every 5th day would be more tolerable.
He seemed to regret leaving the Rangers not sure if the Rangers are in a position of needing him back though. It would be nice to see them reunited though Rangers fans really loved him it looked like from the outside looking in.
The Rangers fans hated him near the end. They booed him like crazy for the last month or so that he was there. I doubt they want him back and I doubt he wants to go back.
The Yankee fans booed A-rod and now he’s hit a few homeruns he is a god again. I dont think TX would ever take him back but if they did all it would take is a few homeruns and all love would be restored
Have you seen what they have been trotting out to LF in Texas?! They shouldn’t have cut Nate Sherholtz.
He completely burned every bridge leading back into Arlington, both on the field and off the field. He got booed off the field with terrible play, including the widespread perception that he gave up on the team and he made a lackadaisical error that kept the team out of the playoffs. Then he lied to the GM about getting a chance to match an offer and signed with the most hated rival in the franchise’s history. And then he smeared the fans on the way out of town. There is 0% chance anyone would welcome him back.
However, there are 27 other teams that would probably welcome him. Hope he lands on his feet.
Just give Hamilton the money and release, it’d be wrong to take the money away from him. Dude never did PED’s, just has a bad issue that needs resolved and he needs help. He earned that money and is owed it. Just release him and give him the chance to go to another team for a fresh start and a better way to get help. Because the Angels are providing him with a toxic environment that is probably not helping him at all.
He never did PEDs, just heroin. That’s much better.
Gee, a drug addict being in a toxic environment. how unusual.
How has he earned money from future seasons?
Once again, a team is going to cave in, and work out something. It would be refreshing to see a team go all in when a player violates their contract, and sue them for breach of contract. It would also be refreshing to see a player stand up like a man, and say,” yes, the language was in the contract, and I signed it. Regardless of whether it is allowed by the Union, my word is my word.” Hamilton needs to take responsibility. He should never have promised to play for the Angels, if he was not in a position to honor his end of the contract. He should take the time he needs to get himself clean, and only then, sign to play again. He needs to say 23MM is enough to get by on while I get myself healthy, and as I cannot guarantee at this time that I can remain sober, I will walk away from this contract, because my first responsibility is to myself and my family.
Well, there’s an argument to be made that (especially considering his disease) Hamilton took care of his family well by signing the contract.
I’m sure his family would rather have him, whole, than the money.
The Angels need to pay Hamilton every…single…penny that they owe him. He had one relapse. He isn’t Steve Howe. The only reason Arte won’t support Josh is strictly “buyers remorse” because Josh isn’t batting .300.
He had one with the Angels and 3 that have been made public overall.
So, Hamilton has absolutely no responsibility as a player to uphold his end of the contract? On top of sabotaging himself by doing drugs, his problems with motivation on the field are also well noted. Maybe Arte’s not supporting Josh because of his attitude both on and off the field.
If the Angels were to trade Hamilton, they probably have to eat all or close to all of the remaining money on his contract to get anything in return. It’s better than just releasing him and getting nothing.
With his baggage, he is probably untradeable.
I can’t imagine who would take him in a trade right now. If Josh is serious about rebuilding his career, I would think his best (and maybe only) chance would be to negotiate a buyout with the Angels and sign somewhere for minimum, with performance incentives. That way, his natural ability would provide value to a team, and the incentives might help coax Josh to stay clean; “if you don’t play, you can’t earn.”
The Angels put in language to do the same thing, but that didn’t seem to have any effect on his behavior.
The baseball union is way too strong..if any normal person was a repeat offender for drug use at out 9-5, we would be unemployed..
The Angels are at fault. They leaked it to the media that Hamilton was going to NY to discuss a possible violation. Under the terms of the drug policy, his meeting should have been confidential.
He’s ready to play but he doesn’t come to play.
Here’s a thought chase utley for Hamilton and 30 million.
I think the numbers will wash. However I don’t think the phils will have a support staff needed for Hamilton and his issues in place.
Another caveat to a Phillies Angels deal could be cole hammels.