The Twins’ recently reported two-year offer to Lance Lynn was for a total of $20MM, reports Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Lynn’s camp considered that offer a “non-starter,” however, according to Berardino. Minnesota remains open to adding a starter on an affordable and relatively short-term pact, Berardino continues, noting that outside of the team’s $100MM+ offer to Yu Darvish, all of their offseason free-agent dealings have been at one- or two-year terms. He adds that the Twins aren’t aggressively pursuing Alex Cobb, and given Lynn’s apparent unwillingness to consider a two-year term, it seems unlikely that Minnesota will ultimately be a landing spot for any of the top three remaining starters. There are still a few intriguing names on the market who could sign shorter-term deals, including John Lackey and Trevor Cahill, though the Twins haven’t been strongly tied to any of them.
More from the division…
- The UCL sprain that landed Jesse Hahn on the 60-day disabled list may not wind up requiring surgery, reports MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan. Hahn, acquired by the Royals in the trade that sent Brandon Moss and Ryan Buchter to Oakland, felt a “twinge” in his arm during his last Cactus League outing and will be shut down for “several” weeks. Rather, Hahn will be re-evaluated after his shutdown and could then begin a throwing program. Hahn says he’s actually encountered a similar issue in the past but tried to pitch through it for five to six starts and wound up missing significant time. This time around, he raised the issue immediately.
- Newly signed Royals outfielder Jon Jay spoke with reporters following the announcement of his one-year deal, voicing a willingness to play all over the outfield and, a bit more surprisingly, in the infield as well (link via Maria Torres and Pete Grahoff of the Kansas City Star). “I’m prepared to play all three outfield spots,” said Jay. “And you can sprinkle me in at first base if you need to. For me it’s simple: I’ll be ready to work.” Jay has exactly four innings of professional experience at first base and hasn’t played there since a two-inning appearance with the Cardinals’ Triple-A club back in 2010. With Lucas Duda on board, Jay certainly wouldn’t be viewed as any kind of regular option there, but his willingness to do so is at least of mild interest. Torres and Grahoff note that Jay could log some occasional innings at DH as well to get Jorge Soler and Jorge Bonifacio additional reps in the outfield.
- Indians right-hander Julian Merryweather is also dealing with a sprained UCL in his pitching elbow, reports MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian (via Twitter). He’s been shut down from throwing for the time being and is getting a second opinion from renowned surgeon Dr. Keith Meister. Merryweather, 26, made 16 starts and totaled 78 innings for Cleveland’s Triple-A affiliate in Columbus last season, though he struggled to an ERA north of 6.00 (thanks in large part to a near-.400 BABIP). That rocky performance notwithstanding, he ranks 16th among Indians prospects, per MLB.com. Merryweather is on the 40-man roster, so if he’s expected to miss significant time, he could eventually land on the 60-day DL and free up a 40-man spot in Cleveland.
Man lance Lynn didn’t even get offered Tyler chatwood money by the Twins. That’s tough.
lance lynn, LL, little league
Some one is missing out on a workhorse by not signing Lance Lynn. The Cardinals are going to miss that consistent starter being there, ready to go, every fifth game.
Absolutely agree!!
Not really sure why Lynn isn’t considered a starter. He won’t post eye popping numbers, but he’s a solid 4 or 5 in the rotation.
Lynn’s agents considered a $20MM offer a non-starter — no one’s suggesting they don’t view Lynn as a starting pitcher.
Apparently you haven’t seen Lynn eat up 200+ innings a year. Ground ball pitcher who could easily be a #3 starter. 2 yrs 20 million, well worth it
Apparently you cant read. Reading comprehension, well worth it.
Backend rotation guys on the wrong side of 30 aren’t worth committing 7-10% of your payroll…
3/42 would be a good figure for Lynn. And well worth it.
He is a starter ! They meant that amount of money won’t even start a conversation about a contract!
I misread lol. My bad
Lmao. Lynn is a starter. The 2 year 20 million offer is a nonstarter as in that will not even start negotiations.
Man with how slow the market has gone idk why Lynn did not take that 2yrs 20MM. I mean he would have been there number 3 or 4 starter probably and he could have put an option after this year so then he could sign a big contract. If he does get a bigger contract then good for him but I bet he won’t get much bigger
Kid must not have much faith in his ability to repeat/improve on last year’s numbers. You’d think there’d be some appeal in a short term deal when it means you’ve got ample starts against Det/KC/ChW, and the Twins outfield behind you…
The Twins OF is one hell of a selling point.
30 plus, pay me now or I may not get another opportunity, that’s why
Happy to hear the Twins FO isn’t going past 1-2 years. They’ve got alot of young talent that’ll be getting into arb years before too long here, and they’ll certainly want money available to extend some of those guys rather than locked up in declining mid-30’s vets.
Lynn is 30! Not mid 30’s!
I agree, why pay a guy in his late 30s that much? He’ll be 40 before we know it. Glad the twins don’t get saddled with him.
Yeah really, twins lucked out not signing a guy in his late 30s. Who knows how much he’ll slide in his later years. Sometimes old players gotta face the facts they don’t have that spring in their step anymore.
I’m looking at the backend of the deal. Nobody wants to be on the hook for a 4-5 year deal that will be paying a 34-35 backend rotation guy an AAV of $15M.
Twins need look no further than Phil Hughes and Ricky Nolasco – both got deals in that neighborhood & imposed way more dead-money than a mid-market team can sustain.
If you’re Lynn, exactly where is your market right now? At age 30 and two years removed from a major surgery, in this FA market culture, I don’t foresee ANY team giving him more than $10 mil annually or more than 2 years. Teams are hesitant to pay good money past age 32=33 if your profile looks a bit risky. Lynn posted solid numbers in 2017 but he did have an FIP close to 5 and that is not going to be overlooked.
Is spraing really a word?
it is now
He should just take the 2 year, $20 million dollar offer. His market isn’t that large, and he’ll likely not receive anything much larger.
I understand Lynn’s reason for declining the offer but given how the market is at the moment I dont know who, if anyone at all, will offer him what he wants. I think this off-season is completely unfair to the players. Players are settling for deals that are kind of eye popping. But we know Now that this is how it’s going to be. Lynn is coming off a decent year that was preceded by TJ. He’s at a higher risk to re-injure that elbow again. Plus teams are showing a willingness to give younger guys a shot. Unless a team like the Yankees or the Mariners really don’t trust their rotations, Or a team has an injury, I don’t see him making much more. Certainly not something in the 50+ mil range. Nobody wants to be paying 13-16 mil a year fora 34/35 year old tier 2 (at his best) pitcher
Why is it unfair to the players? The players have been offered market rate deals
So unfair! lol
Lynn is 30! Not 34/35!
We’re talking about the backend of a 5-yr deal. Its pretty clear Lynn wants the kind of deal that would lock in >10m for his age 34-35 seasons. Teams are justifiably wary of that kind of commitment for a backend starter with red flags in his peripherals and health.
Lynn should be able to get a 3 year deal. If he can’t get a 3 year deal he should command more than 10 mil a year. 3/38 is probably a fair offer for Lynn. Chatwood got that much and has shown little in the MLB. I can understand the upside on chatwood but Lynn has produced.
If Lynn holds out til June he no longer costs a draft pick.
How likely is it that he ends up doing that?
At this point it’s about 50/50. The only thing that will change Lynn’s situation is a serious injury to an established 2 or 3 SP in a contender’s rotation. If that doesn’t happen he’ll sit until June and still get offers in this neighborhood.
I don’t really see a team ponying up 40+ mil in June for a guy who missed ST and most likely will need a fairly signinificant minor league tuneup to get ready. Some team will come in with a reasonable 3 year offer soon enough. I think the odds of Lynn waiting until June to sign are minuscule.
Do you have millions? If you do you could probably hold out as long as you want. . Lynn.was projected 20miil aav, what’s the risk to offer shorter term, less aav, and incentives.
I’m surprised more teams aren’t in on Lynn. He may not be an ace, but I’d happily sign a guy that makes 33 starts every single year and gives you 180-200 innings of sub 4.00 ERA pitching.
4 years/$50 mil with an opt out after year 2 seems reasonable given Lynn’s track record and consistency.
It’s a head scratcher since there are teams with CLEAR rotation needs and money to spend – PHI, MIN, BAL, SEA, MIL off the top of my head. I see either Lynn or Cobb landing in OAK on a short term (2 or 3 years) deal with the clear intent of the A’s to flip him at the deadline this year or next.
I had the angels or phillies getting lynn or cobb
Why are you giving an opt out on top of it!
I think that’s a reasonable figure for Lynn too.
Lynn better take the 2/$20M. And Cobb is worth even less than that.
By now Cobb should be subject to the MLB’s concussion protocol from banging his head against the wall for not accepting the Cubs’ offer. He’ll be lucky to sniff half that money at this point.
Oh yea Cobb is the biggest fool of them all. He wanted to be a Cub. The Cubs wanted him. The Cubs offered him more then anyone and the dummy turned it down for nothing but pure greed! Nice agents too. They should be fired. ASAP
Lynn is worth more that the 2/$20. Whether he gets more depends on a team’s need for a consistent #3 starter that you can count on pitching every 5th day. If a team needs a solid #3, Lance Lynn is their man!
For 40 years, all the players and the union talked about was “getting market value”.
Now that the market is (for basically the first time in those 40 years) undergoing a correction, they no longer want market value but want to paid based upon precedent.
It isn’t undergoing a correction though. The players are getting one of the smallest percentages of revenue since free agency began. That is going to come to a head at some point.
Am I the only one who finds the comments here crazy? I think Cobb and Lynn both deserve more money then that and on 3-4 year contracts. Look at what Vagas and Cashner got this year. Lynn and Cobb are far better bets. I think they end up with deals in the 3 years 39 million-42 millian range.
He put up $20mil worth of value last year alone. And even more than that 2 of the 3 years prior. A shame teams are lowballing so badly.
This year is a new year (aka 2018 ‘market value’ is 2018 market value). As a result, comparing to other deals in other years isn’t so easy..
I am a bit surprised that Lynn’s camp wouldn’t have countered with a 2/22 ($12mm year 1, $10mm year 2) kind of deal with an opt out after year 1…
Pretty gutsy for players/agents to hold out much longer ‘waiting for injuries’ to raise their market value.. we will see, what is going on with FA this year has never happened before (in baseball)
That’s a pretty poor counter offer. The twins would’ve accepted that offer immediately. Guess you don’t like to negotiate.
Oh so who has to pay him that Mr Bruin? The Twins are not going to bud against themselves. Lynn could have countered but he decided to be a jerk with the Mr Cool “non starter” statement. Well sit out the season then. Who cares about Lynn
He turned down a 17.5 million dollar qualifying offer. How are you going to stomach getting offered 20 million over 2? I’d have to decline that as well.
How are they bidding against themselves? Lynn could legit help teams like the Angels, Brewers, Yankees, Cardinals, O’s, Mainiers,Etc. His QO was almost for 20 million in one year. It was a lousy offer by a team that has gotten some good bargins this year and should be trying to win by adding a starter.
Lynn could have had $17.4 million for 1 year and the Twins offered him $20/2… oof. Maybe he should have accepted the Qualify Offer.
Agree, no one saw this market correcting as it did this year.. Lynn was hoping for 20 aav, as he could’ve expected,
How could a back end guy expect $20 mil a year? He was probably hoping for less over a long term. The thing no one is addressing is the NL is weak compared to a league with the DH. There will be a usual slide downward which makes him worthless on AL teams.
He wanted $20m AAV, though prior to the start of FA I think $13m-$15m AAV over 3 yr with a 4yr likely being added (or team option) to get it over $50m. Now…wow, he may have to settle for a 2 for $24m.
No one wants to give up picks. No matter how low they are. Both Lynn n Cobb both have them attached. Someone was right turning down the QO was a mistake. He be lucky to get 32 for 3 years with an opt out after 2. Front loaded.
I hope that’s not right, but at this state, you know he won’t get his true value!!!
Longer term maybe what the market is saying to pitchers like Lynn is take the QO as the pillow contract, have a solid season, then make your best deal after that. Whether this is a market correction, whether it’s tacit pricing among the GMs. or an after-effect of a greater emphasis on advanced metrics really doesn’t matter. Lynn will pitch at 31 this year. If the best offer he’s going to get is 2/$20, 1/$18 and re-entering the market without the drag of the pick looks really nice.
I think the Cardinals should consider bringing Lynn back on a 3 year deal on much less than if the parties had negotiated an extension a year ago. They need a guy who is going to eat up 200 innings during the regular season. Move Wainwright to the bullpen in a run prevention scenario. Not for a long time does the StLouis rotation have so many question marks.
If you can get lance Lynn for 3/35-38 million dollar range I don’t know why you don’t add him. Any number of teams could use a decent arm to add to the rotation.
Jon Jay has always been willing to do whatever it takes to play ball! To bad all of today’s athletes are not more like him!