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2019 Vesting Options

2019 Vesting Options Update

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Near the end of May, MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk provided readers with an update on all the known 2019 vesting options. As he mentioned at that time, some options of this kind go unreported, so we’ll examine the list below with the caveat that it could potentially be incomplete.

A vesting option is a clause in a player’s contract that can change the structure of the deal by guaranteeing him an additional year under contract; these are usually triggered when a player meets certain plate appearance thresholds and/or is healthy at season’s end.

Here’s where those six players stand…

Will Vest

Seunghwan Oh: The South Korea native is just one relief appearance away from triggering the clause in his contract that’ll turn his $2.5MM club option (with a $250K buyout) into a guarantee. Oh, 36, originally signed his contract with the Blue Jays, where he began the season strong and was ultimately flipped to the Rockies prior to July’s non-waiver trade deadline. On the whole, he’s whiffed 10.19 batters per nine while walking just 2.34 per nine en route to a tidy 2.76 ERA. With the Rockies in the midst of a pennant chase, Oh is sure to get his 70th appearance on the season at some point in the coming days.

Will Not Vest

Hanley Ramirez: HanRam started the season hot, but after posting a .874 OPS in April, he mustered just a .500 OPS the month following en route to being designated for assignment on May 24th (just four days after out last vesting options update). What was once an intriguing situation to watch had the mystery taken out of it abruptly, and Ramirez hasn’t played in the bigs since.

Cole Hamels: The resurgent lefty has been a welcome sight for a Cubs rotation that didn’t get any semblance of what they hoped for from Yu Darvish and Tyler Chatwood. Since being acquired from the Rangers at the trade deadline, he’s tossed 63 1/3 innings of 2.42 ERA ball. That brings him to just 177 2/3 IP on the season, however, which will fall well short of the towering 252 figure he needs for his vesting option to trigger. Per the terms of a deal he originally signed with the Phillies, Hamels’ $20MM club option ($6MM buyout) would have morphed into a one-year, $24MM pact if he managed to throw 200 innings this season and 400 total from 2017-2018, all while ending the season without any shoulder or elbow injuries requiring a DL placement. Hamels took the mound for just 148 innings last season, so while he’s been pretty good in Chicago, hopes of achieving his vesting option threshold were little more than a pipe dream to begin with.

Brian McCann: McCann was already fighting an uphill battle in his attempts to reach his 1,000th plate appearance across the 2017-2018 season (a threshold which would have triggered his vesting option). At the outset of 2018, he needed a career-high 601 PA, and after undergoing knee surgery that knocked him out of the lineup for all of July and August, his chances of achieving that lofty goal were squelched entirely.

Ervin Santana: We had already written off any chance of Santana’s option vesting all the way back in May, when he hadn’t yet taken the field due to finger injury issues. While he did manage to get back to the mound for five starts, he’d have needed 200 innings in order to qualify for a $14MM guarantee in 2019. That was never going to happen for a pitcher who made his season debut on July 25th.

Logan Morrison: After a promising 2017 season that saw Morrison launch a career-high 38 bombs, the lefty-hitting first baseman was unable to find a team willing to buy into his newfound success. The Twins, however, gave him a one-year pact with a $8MM club option for 2019 ($1MM buyout) that would vest if he took 600 trips to the plate. Unfortunately, Morrison’s performance has taken a considerable downturn this season; that dive can largely be attributed to nagging hip issues that ultimately necessitated season-ending surgery. During that procedure, he had a torn labrum repaired and a bone spur removed. That, of course, took the possibility of triggering his vesting option off the table, as his plate appearance total sits at just 359 on the year.

2019 Vesting Options Update

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With more than a quarter of the season in the books, it’s time to check in on some players whose status for the 2019 season could be determined by how they perform the rest of the way.  To recap, a vesting option is an option within a player’s contract that can alter the structure of the deal itself should a player stay healthy and/or achieve certain playing-time thresholds.

Though not all vesting options are reported, six players are known to have such options on their current deals.  The list…

  • Cole Hamels: The Rangers have a $20MM club option on the southpaw for 2019 (with a $6MM buyout).  The option vests into a $24MM guarantee if Hamels isn’t on the DL with a shoulder or elbow injury at the end of this season, if he tosses 200 IP this season, and has 400 total innings pitched in 2017-18.  The latter clause is the important one, as since Hamels only threw 148 innings in 2017, that essentially ended his chances at hitting the 400-inning plateau and locking in $18MM more in guaranteed money.
  • Brian McCann: The Astros have a $15MM club option on him for 2019 that vests into a player option if he doesn’t end 2018 on DL, starts at least 90 games at catcher in 2018, and has at least 1000 plate appearances in 2017-18.  With just 399 PA last season, McCann would need a career-best 601 PA this year to gain control over his 2019 status.  He does have 118 PA through 33 games, and he made his 30th start behind the plate tonight, so it’s not completely out of the question that McCann could hit both thresholds, if unlikely.  There’s also the possibility that McCann plays less down the stretch as the Astros rest him for the postseason.
  • Logan Morrison: If the first baseman gets 600 plate appearances this season, the Twins’ $8MM club option ($1MM buyout) for 2019 vests into a guaranteed year worth $9.5MM.  So far, Morrison has 154 PA through Minnesota’s first 42 games, putting him on pace to fall just short (596 PA) of the guarantee.  Morrison’s attempt could be hampered by his poor splits against left-handed pitching, though he held his own against southpaws in 2016-17 and should see more time at first base in the short term as Joe Mauer is on the DL dealing with concussion symptoms.  Morrison has also been hitting much better after an ice-cold three-week slump to open the year (.281/.385/.517 since April 20), so this one might go right down to the wire.
  • Seunghwan Oh: The Blue Jays have a $2.5MM club option ($250K buyout) for 2019 that vests into a guaranteed deal if Oh pitches in 70 games.  Oh is one of several workhorses to emerge in the heavily-used Toronto bullpen, as the former Cardinals closer has already made 21 appearances and is on pace for 72 games this season.  With the Jays struggling, however, one has to factor in the possibility that Oh could be a trade candidate at the deadline, so his role could change if he switches teams.
  • Hanley Ramirez: The priciest and most intriguing case on this list, Ramirez has a $22MM vesting option for 2019 that is guaranteed at 1050 plate appearances in 2017-18, and if he passes a physical at the end of the season.  After amassing 553 PA in 2017, HanRam only needs 314 more plate appearances this season (and good health) for his option to vest.  Ramirez has a .271/.328/.422 slash line, six homers, and a perfectly league-average 100 wRC+ this season, as an .876 OPS in March and April gave way to a slump (.567 OPS) in May.  Ramirez turns 35 in December and has been only a slightly above-average hitter during his three-plus years with the Red Sox, so Boston would likely prefer to not have him on the books for $22MM in 2019, especially with other available first base/DH options like J.D. Martinez, Mitch Moreland, Rafael Devers, or Sam Travis.  The Sox could justify benching Ramirez more often in the wake of his May struggles, though if he heats up again, the team will need his bat for the AL East pennant race.  This is definitely the vesting situation to watch as the season progresses, particularly since the Red Sox will face some further roster-juggling when Dustin Pedroia returns.
  • Ervin Santana: The Twins have a $14MM club option on Santana for 2019 that would have become guaranteed if he had passed a physical after this season, amassed 400 IP in 2017-18, and 200 IP this season.  The finger surgery that has sidelined him for all of the current season will prevent Santana from hitting the 200-inning requirement for 2018, so this vesting option can be written off already.
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