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Players Who Cannot Be Offered Arbitration

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Being designated a Type A free agent can be a detriment if the team offers arbitration.  If the player accepts, he's off the market on a one-year deal and has a limited salary range.  If he declines, his new team must surrender a draft pick upon signing him.  Carrying around the added draft pick cost, Juan Cruz and Orlando Cabrera were among those with fewer opportunities as free agents after the '08 season.

As a result, a contractual clause prohibiting the team from offering arbitration if a player receives Type A status has been gaining in popularity.  During the 2009-10 offseason, at least four players had this clause added:

  • Orlando Hudson, Legacy Sports.  Hudson was offered and turned down arbitration from the Diamondbacks after the '08 season, and was surprised he could only find a one-year deal from the Dodgers guaranteeing $3.38MM.  The Dodgers were willing to give up the #17 overall pick to get Hudson at the reduced rate.  Hudson avoided the problem when the Dodgers chose not to offer arbitration after the '09 season.  His agent made sure it would not surface again after '10 by having a clause included in his Twins contract prohibiting the team from offering arbitration if he's a Type A.  Hudson is a Type B right now anyway.
  • Brad Penny, Legacy Sports.  Penny was well-paid by the Cardinals given his 2009 stats, but he also had the "no arbitration offer" clause included.  That might've been optimistic, since right now he's not even a Type B.
  • Justin Duchscherer, Lapa/Leventhal.  The A's offered arbitration to Duchscherer, a Type B, after the '09 season.  He declined and re-signed, and this time made sure the team cannot offer if he's a Type A.  The point is moot, as Duchscherer is below Type B and may miss the rest of the season with hip surgery.
  • Ben Sheets, CAA.  Not only did Sheets snag a huge $10MM guarantee after missing all of '09, he got this clause added just in case he has a season awesome enough to vault him to Type A status.  I'm not sure that's even possible.  Though he's been better recently, he'd need to quadruple his current Elias points (15.175) to reach Type B. 
  • Scott Boras may have been out front on this trend.  He had the clause included in Ivan Rodriguez's one-year, $10MM deal with the Marlins in '03 as well as Carlos Beltran's seven-year, $119MM deal signed in '05.  Beltran is a Type A at this time, but the Mets might not have offered arbitration after '11 anyway.

Top Trade Chips: AL West

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We've completed the National League, so now it's time to jump over to the so-called junior circuit…

  • Angels: They moved three pretty good young players to get Scott Kazmir last season, so they might prefer to hold onto the rest of their top prospects. Their best chip is someone you may not have heard of, out of options catcher Bobby Wilson. He's on the 25-man roster but has barely played as the third stringer, yet how many teams would love to have a 27-year old catcher with a very good defensive rep, a .290/.345/.425 batting line in 820 Triple-A plate appearances, and six years of team control left? Pretty much all of them. He'll never clear waivers if the Halos try to send him back to the minors.
  • Athletics: Oakland has plenty of young pitching, but Billy Beane likes to hang on to those kind of guys, and for good reason. With ten infielders on the 40-man roster, someone like Jake Fox or Eric Patterson could be moved, as could outfielders Travis Buck or Gabe Gross since Michael Taylor is coming fast. Plus there's always Ben Sheets.
  • Mariners: Jack Zduriencik surrendered a good amount of prospect depth this offseason by acquiring Cliff Lee, but no one will argue with that move. Dustin Ackley, the second overall pick in 2009, will make Jose Lopez expendable in short order, and they could choose to make one of two minor league outfielders – Michael Saunders or Greg Halman – available. Seattle's best trade chip might be their potential ability to absorb some money.
  • Rangers: Texas is absolutely loaded with young players, so they have plenty of pieces to offer. They can move Chris Davis because Justin Smoak is knocking on the door, or they could move Derek Holland because Martin Perez isn't too far away. They dangled Max Ramirez this winter, and outfielder David Murphy is about to get expensive through arbitration, so he could find himself on the block. Bottom line: the Rangers have the pieces to go out and get anything they need or want.

Odds & Ends: AL East, Mauer, D’Backs, Sheets

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Some links to read with Opening Day just a month away…

Odds & Ends: Ramirez, Sheets, Cardinals, Reds

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Sunday night linkage..

  • Dave Cameron of U.S.S. Mariner tweets that it'll be interesting to see which sabermetric-friendly team will ink recently-DFA'd pitcher Edwar Ramirez.  Cameron's bet is on Tampa Bay.
  • Jason Churchill of ESPN (Insider subscription required) explains why second basemen aren't often selected in the first round of the amateur draft.  He writes that the best athletes usually play center field and shortstop in high school and college.  The second basemen typically come from the shortstops who cannot keep up with the position defensively.
  • Ben Sheets threw live batting practice for the first time with the A's and impressed the coaching staff with his velocity, according to the Associated Press.  Sheets inked a one-year deal with Oakland worth $10MM plus performance bonuses in late January.
  • Felipe Lopez's arrival may mean less at-bats for Julio Lugo, writes Matthew Leach of MLB.com.  Lugo sounds less-than-thrilled about a reduced role but said that his agents have not approached the Cards about a move.
  • Dusty Baker isn't worried about his contract situation, writes Mark Sheldon of MLB.com.  The Reds skipper is entering the final season of a three-year pact.
  • Todd Zolecki of MLB.com writes that despite trading away several highly-rated prospects in the last 19 months, the Phillies still have talent in their farm system.

Odds & Ends: Munson, Ranaudo, Sheets

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Links for Thursday…

Odds & Ends: Athletics, Padres, Astros

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So much to get to as Thursday winds down:

Cafardo’s Latest: Beckett, Red Sox, Twins, Lowry

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The Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo has plenty of rumors from around the league for us this morning, so let's round them all up…

  • The Red Sox are likely to use Roy Halladay's three-year, $60MM deal "minus $6 million-$8 million" as a guideline for a potential Josh Beckett extension rather than John Lackey's five-year, $82.5MM deal. The reason being that they have some concern about the long-term health of his shoulder.
  • If another team comes offering Beckett big money after the season, the Sox will move on just as they did with Jason Bay. They could then look into free agents like Cliff Lee, who they pursued at the trade deadline, or even Ben Sheets and Brandon Webb if they bounce back from injury problems of their own.
  • With all of their additions this offseason, the Twins' payroll will jump from $65M to about $96M as they move into Target Field this year. GM Bill Smith said it will be up to manager Ron Gardenhire to determine how they use Jim Thome, and that they did their homework on Orlando Hudson's left wrist, which has given him trouble the last few seasons.
  • Minnesota's payroll will be larger than the Dodgers' this year.
  • The Red Sox watched Noah Lowry's recent workout, but "don't appear interested in signing him."
  • Dodgers' third base coach Larry Bowa said he knows that Manny Ramirez still wants to play another three or four years.
  • Two big league executives feel that the Giants and Tim Lincecum will settle on a contract before an arbitration hearing.
  • One reason the Cubs signed Kevin Millar was to loosen up the clubhouse after the Milton Bradley fiasco last season.
  • Drayton McLane is reportedly seeking $700MM to part with the Astros, but it's tough to see someone coming up with that when the Rangers sold for approximately $575MM.

Kris Benson Is “100 Percent,” Has Thrown For Two Teams

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Gregg Clifton, the agent for right-hander Kris Benson, tells Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports that Benson is recovered from the arm injuries that has plagued him for the last three years and should be signed "within the next few weeks."  Benson has had throwing sessions for two clubs, though Clifton didn't identify who the two interested teams were.

Benson spent the 2007 season recovering from rotator cuff surgery on his throwing arm.  He spent 2008 pitching in the Phillies' minor league system (making it as high as Triple-A) and then joined the Rangers in 2009.  The veteran righty battled elbow tendinitis and pitched in just eight games for Texas last season, posting an 8.46 ERA.

Even at full strength, don't expect a whole lot from Benson; his career ERA+ is exactly 100 and his last standout season came all the way back in 2000 (3.85 ERA, 2.14 K/BB ratio).  Morosi speculates that Benson could be a target for teams who missed out on Ben Sheets, naming the Cubs, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Mariners, Nationals and Reds as possible suitors.  Wherever Benson goes, look for him to sign a minor-league contract that would top out at around $1MM including incentives.

Stark On Damon, Bedard, Phillies, Smoltz, Gregg

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Jayson Stark of ESPN.com points out that teams aren't handing out long-term contracts as liberally as they were a few years ago. We've seen just eight contracts of three-plus years this offseason, after seeing 13 such contracts in each of the previous two winters. The offseason before that? Players signed 29 contracts of three years or more. Here are Stark's rumors:

  • Detroit doesn't seem that interested in Johnny Damon and the Braves haven't spoken with Damon's agent, Scott Boras, in a month and a half. The Rays have checked in, but they have little to spend.
  • Erik Bedard and the Orioles have mutual interest in a reunion, Stark hears. 
  • The Phillies would like to add a veteran left-handed reliever on a minor league deal, but Alan Embree and Ron Mahay are holding out for big league deals at this point, despite the Phillies' interest. 
  • Kevin Gregg is high on the Rockies' shopping list. They're looking at infield options and hoping to save enough money to shore up their bullpen, too. 
  • The Blue Jays have told clubs that Scott Downs and Jason Frasor are available. The Cubs have checked in on the pair of relievers. 
  • The Royals have told teams they're "open minded" about moving Gil Meche or Brian Bannister. 
  • John Smoltz is in no rush to sign. He's open to waiting for a few months, since he'd like a starting job and some execs question his ability to start for an entire season. 
  • Ben Sheets will be the first A's pitcher to make $10MM (though some believe Sheets will be traded before the end of the year).
  • Mark Prior is throwing off a mound and would like to make a comeback. 

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Mets, Damon, Burrell, Lopez

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On this date two years ago, the Mets and Twins agreed to a five player deal sending two-time Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana to New York. The Mets and Santana had a 72-hour window to finalize a contract extension, and the two sides eventually agreed to a six-year, $137.5MM contract to make the trade official. Santana has given the Mets over 400 innings of 2.78 ERA ball, while just one of the four players the Twins received in the deal is still with the organization.

Here's some links from around the baseball blogosphere…

  • Blogging Mets isn't sure where the Mets can turn for pitching help now that Jon Garland and Ben Sheets are off the market.
  • The Baseball Opinion wonders if the Sheets and Justin Duchscherer signings were calculated moves by Billy Beane made with the intention of flipping both at the trade deadline.
  • Royals Authority takes a look a Kansas City's crowded outfield.
  • Camden Crazies goes through some different roster permutations for the Orioles.
  • The Sports Banter comes up with some possible destinations for Johnny Damon.
  • Meanwhile, U.S.S. Mariner thinks Damon would be a cost effective way to upgrade Seattle's roster.
  • Rays Index takes the latest Rays' rumors as a sign that they're still trying to trade Pat Burrell.
  • Pro Ball NW gives us five reasons why the Mariners should trade Jose Lopez.
  • TAUNTR chimes in on some of the latest hot stove news.

If you have a suggestion for this feature, Mike can be reached here.

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