The Reds have non-tendered Kevin Gausman, reports Mark Sheldon of MLB.com (via Twtter). The righty’s $10.6MM arbitration projection apparently proved too lofty.
Cincinnati grabbed Gausman off waivers from Atlanta in August and let him work out of the bullpen down the stretch. While he did some solid work for the Reds, he never seemed especially likely to return at that price. Gausman struggled mightily to keep runs off the board as a starter with the Braves over the season’s first four months.
That said, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the veteran draw strong interest as a free agent. He’ll presumably attract teams in need of starting and relief depth. He is coming off a career-best strikeout rate (25.3%), although some of that was a reflection of his quality work in shorter stints.
With five-plus years of service, Gausman would’ve been ticketed for free agency at the end of next season. He’ll hit the open market a year earlier than expected, entering his age-29 season.
Yankees Fans will say they are getting him
Um, no. We don’t need another back of the rotation arm.
Yankees need an ace they don’t have one
The Yankees can’t afford an ace. They are already $7 million above the luxury tax. That means that is they want to sign Cole or Stras they will likely have to pay a 75% penalty on that. Cole is great and projected to get around $250 million. If the Yanks sign him they will have to pay over $400 million. Even Mike Trout only got $360 million for ten years. Does anyone actually think that Cole is worth $40 million more than Trout for 2 years less than what Trout will be under contract for?
Someone doesnt understand how the luxury tax system works.
And they should. At least if the price is right.
man I thought this guy just needed to get out of Baltimore. turns out he really was just overrated from the start.
I still think he’ll be a serviceable player. But peeps need to commit him to the bullpen
His 925 innings of experience at this point day otherwise. He’s not a prospect anymore. This is who he is. He’s a 6th starter type – you’d like to have him in AAA or the back of the pen for a million bucks, but if you’re handing him a starting spot out of spring training somethings gone wrong.
Dude… Darkside is right. Gausman has been milking the arbitration system for years. Trade candidate after contender candidate after release candidate. He makes $10+ mill a year and he was a top 4 overall first round draft pick. I’ll say that again. He was the 4th OVERALL pick in the draft and has made bank on it ever since even though none of the teams he has played on have had any desire to keep him. WHY?!
He’s never made $10mil in a season.
He’s worked in Camden, Sun trust and the Great American Small Park…yikes
I really like him as a reliever. He could turn around his career like Drew Pomeranz (no one knows if Drew’s really that good) and become a pretty solid bullpen piece.
Thank you. Everyone’s calling Pom a sure thing next year and he’s just one broken nail away from obscurity.
Lol
pure reliever
I think the Padres take a shot at him for their rotation. The organization brought in 3 of Manny’s former coaches with Baltimore who have ties to Gausman as well. Could see his stuff play up at Petco. Wouldn’t mind rolling the dice on him. He would be a solid 4/5 type.
Lucchesi/Lamet/Quantrill aren’t guarantees for the rotation as one if not two could be dealt for an OF upgrade or a TOR arm via trade.
The thing is, every year, one of these reclamation projects pays off handsomely and some GM looks like a genius. Most fail and the GM looks like an idiot for not picking the guy who worked.
He’ll either get a split contract with a team like the Angels or maybe a chance to actually start on a rebuilder.
This seems pretty much like a no-brainer. I mean the guys obviously not worth $10M as a SP or RP — but he could be an interesting player next year if he commits full time to a RP role – he did show some solid potential in the role down the stretch last year.
If someone gets him for 3/15 or 2/10 and try to develop him as a reliever they might end up with a nice find. He has a very live arm, that probably SHOULD play up really well in short stints.
But he just doesn’t have the control or secondaries to be a reliable starter and $5 a yr for a reliever not guaranteed to be a back end guy isn’t chump change. But, like Pomeranz, you could imagine getting a good return on that investment if everything clicks and you get an extra couple years of control of a solid back end arm.
OFC hes probably got less upside than Pom, but he will be cheaper too.
Swingman with upside in the right situation
A bargain at half the price.
Could be a very worthwhile reclamation project. Theo, whip out the change purse.
With the Reds he has shown some improvement, hopefully they can sign him for little money w/ incentives on the back end as a RP, he liked Reds an with their win now attitude he might b all in