Major League clubs have until 11pm CT tonight to tender contracts to players for the 2016 season. Remember that you can track all of the action using MLBTR’s Non-Tender tracker, and we offer a full list of non-tender candidates (in the estimation of MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes). Also important for reference is the set of arbitration salary projections from MLBTR and contributor Matt Swartz.
We’ll run down the list of National League non-tenders here, and update it as reports come in.
- Pre-arb outfielder Eury Perez was non-tendered last night by the Braves, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman reports on Twitter. The 25-year-old could, in theory, have served as Michael Bourn’s backup in center, but it appears that Atlanta will look for an alternative.
- The Rockies won’t tender contracts to left-handers Yohan Flande or Jason Gurka for the 2016 season, per a club announcement. The team also announced that outfielder Rosell Herrera will be non-tendered. Flande, 29, is the most experienced arm of the bunch, having soaked up 127 1/3 innings for Colorado over the past two seasons, albeit with a 4.95 ERA.
- The Dodgers announced that they’ve non-tendered righties Juan Nicasio and Lisalverto Bonilla. Nicasio is a mild surprise considering the fact that he logged a 3.86 ERA with a robust 10.0 K/9 rate and a 2.83 FIP in 2015. However, he also averaged 4.9 walks per nine innings and had what was almost certainly unsustainable luck in terms of home runs, yielding just one big fly in 58 1/3 innings. The hard-throwing righty should garner some interest on the free-agent market.
- The Marlins announced that they’ve non-tendered Aaron Crow, who missed the 2015 season due to Tommy John surgery. The team also formally announced its previously reported decision to non-tender Henderson Alvarez (more on that controversial decision here).
- The Nationals will not tender right-hander Craig Stammen a contract for the 2016 season, per a club announcement. He missed nearly the entire season due to a pair of torn tendons in his right forearm that required surgery.
Earlier Updates
- The Cubs announced that right-hander Ryan Cook has been non-tendered. An offseason waiver claim, Cook never suited up for Chicago. The former All-Star setup man yielded an astounding 18 earned runs in just 8 2/3 innings this season between Oakland and Boston.
- The Giants have also non-tendered backup catcher Hector Sanchez, per a club announcement, which additionally confirmed Petit’s non-tender.
- The Giants will non-tender right-hander Yusmeiro Petit, MLBTR’s Steve Adams reports (Twitter link). The right-hander has recorded a solid 3.66 ERA with 8.8 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9 across 245 2/3 innings for the Giants over the past four seasons while spending time in both the rotation and the bullpen. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweeted that Petit was offered to at least one other club in a trade, but clearly nothing materialized, as he’ll now hit the open market in search of new club.
- The Brewers announced that they’ve non-tendered utilityman Elian Herrera. The 30-year-old was not yet arbitration eligible, but Milwaukee clearly preferred to keep the rosters spot open. Herrera hit .242/.290/.395 last season in a career-high 277 PAs, and GM David Stearns has interest in retaining him on a new minor league deal, tweets Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
- The Reds will not tender contracts to righty Ryan Mattheus, outfielder Ryan LaMarre, or righty Pedro Villarreal, C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports on Twitter and the club has since announced. Of those players, only Mattheus was eligible for arbitration. The 32-year-old, who threw 55 innings and posted a 4.09 ERA last year, projected for a $1.3MM salary. LaMarre, 27, just cracked the MLB roster last year but spent most of the year at Triple-A. Villareal, also 27, notched a solid 3.42 ERA in his fifty frames in 2015, but his strikeout rates fell and ERA estimators did not smile upon the quality of his contribution.
As a Reds fan I’m shocked that the Reds kept LaMarre and Villarreal for so long and NOT tender them contracts. They cut many comparable players off the roster in October and November. I thought LaMarre was a top candidate to be DFA’d this winter, but keeping him until December just to nontender him? Yeah, I didn’t see that coming.
Most Reds fans expected Villarreal to return for 2016, but I doubt anybody will be too surprised by his departure.
Good luck to Ryan Mattheus, he deserves another chance in another team’s bullpen, while the Reds try to go younger.
They may have been trying to work out trades, etc. for these players prior to non-tendering. They didn’t need to clear any more roster spots at that time, so there was no rush to do so.
There’s a reason for it happening now. If a team non-tenders a player now, they may be more ‘agreeable’ to coming back on a minor league deal. I expect the Cubs to non-tender three prospects with no options remaining today. All three of them may well come back on ‘team-friendly’ deals, off the 40 Man. Lots of inter-related moving parts today.
3 prospects? None on the list that they need to tender
I look at the frontier of the fringes. Travis Wood is a coin-flip, but Szczur, Villanueva, and Medina seem easy subtractions. Especially, if they agree to sign a contract off the 40.
What would be really cool is a list tomorrow of the 30 teams and how many 40 Man spots they have used/available. Of course, it will change by the hour, but around now, it would be helpful.
So, Chris Heston as the long man? Maybe Timmy if he proves not to be terrible in his showcase?
Depends if Giants sign one or two starters. I think Long relief would be good for him.
Yusmeiro was MONEY against the Nats in the 18 inning NLCS game! Glad he got his well deserved ring.
Really disappointed Petit was non-tendered. Unfortunately they probably have designs of giving Lincecum that role..
Agree about the disappointment, but I think Lincecum has pitched his last game for the Giants.
The Giants should had kept Yusmeiro Petit in the team, he pitched so well in 2014 and I believe he pitched okay last year.
The Giants have been really bad about paying players for what they did in Championship years in the following years and then getting burned. Not that Petit’s sum would break the bank, but their track record in that department isn’t good. I think they feel that they have adequate arms in-house to fill that swing role already. I also think they’re cutting periphery salary as much as possible to go after top level starters and a left fielder instead.
The Petit non tender is a shocker for sure. It’s really more about making sure the Giants gather all available resources to make a splash for starter and everyday OF
Aaron crow could make a nice pickup for someone, could be this year’s Ryan Madson
Why they non-tender Perez? He was better than Bourn
The actual deadline for tendering contracts to arbitration eligible players for 2016 passed last night, Wednesday, December 3th, at 11 pm CT.
Rockies need to go after Pedro Alvarez or Chris carter, coors could help with avg and just imagine the amount Of home runs that would be hit.