by: pageian
Keith Law makes a good argument (subscription content) for offering type A free agents arbitration. Here's the takeaway:
"The lesson here for clubs wavering on offering arbitration to a Type A free agent is that having the player accept against your wishes is not the end of the world. If the player is good and his market was hurt by the Type A designation, you should still be able to dump the salary, at the least, if not actually trade him for something of value. Atlanta's decision to offer might not look like the right one because Soriano accepted, but it was the right call, and I'd rather take the risk of having a good player accept than throw away the chance for two high draft picks the way Dodgers did by not offering a deal to Randy Wolf."
He could add the Chicago Cubs to the list for not offering arbitration to Rich Harden and missing out on a draft pick (Harden was a type B free agent so he would have netted the Cubs one pick). Type B free agents don't cost the signing team a pick like type A's do so that wouldn't have depressed the market for Harden. The worst case scenario would have been Harden accepting arbitration from the Cubs and then they not be able to trade him and his salary. So, even in the worst case scenario they'd end up with a very talented pitcher on their staff who would have been earning roughly $7-9 million dollars. I realize payroll is tight but you have to acquire talent every chance you get. Letting good players like Harden go without any compensation is simply a waste. Remember, the Cubs traded some marginally talented players to Oakland halfway through the 2008 season for him, guys like Sean Gallagher and Eric Patterson. They may never pan out as good big league players but they basically bought the Cubs a little over a years worth of starts from Harden and now the Cubs have passed on a chance to recoup some of that value with a draft pick.
Large market teams like the Cubs shouldn't be in a position where they have to pass up offering arbitration to players like Harden for fear that they'll hamper payroll. That's the reality though and Jim Hendry doesn't seem to be willing to take a chance, it seems he'd rather forfeit talent and play it "safe" by spending every penny he can on free agents rather than risking paying an extra million more than he want's to on an arbitration case. Congrats to Frank Wren and the Braves for taking a chance by offering arbitration to Rafael Soriano and getting a useful piece back in Jesse Chavez.
Showing posts with label Oakland A's. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oakland A's. Show all posts
Sunday, December 13, 2009
The Reds non-tender Johnny Gomes.
by: pageian
On Saturday, December 12th the Cincinnati Reds non-tendered outfielder Johnny Gomes, meaning there is a good chance he won't be back with the team in 2010. Gomes is eligibile for arbitration and would have likely gotten a hefty raise from his 2009 major league salary of $700,000 plus $100,000 in incentives that he reached. His 2010 salary will likely end up in the $3 million a year range.
Normally non-tendered players aren't all that interesting simply because the team that's letting them go knows the most about the player and have usually deemed him not worthy of the salary he's about to get by going to arbitration. Gomes is a bit of a special case though because he will likely be worth what he's going to earn in 2010 if his performance in 2009 is any guide. He finished the season with 20 home runs in only 314 at bats. On the season he had a very good OPS of .879 and an OPS+ of 127. Those are the numbers of a productive player, and the Reds can use all the productive players they can get. They were expected by some to contend in 2009 after their pitching staff shined in 2008. They had a lot of young talent either in the majors or on the way. Things didn't work out that way though. Some of the young pitchers got hurt while some of the veteran starters struggled. The offense wasn't much help either, scoring only 36 more runs that the Pirates who finished last in the National League in runs scored.
At the trade deadline last summer General Manager Walt Jocketty traded erstwhile third baseman Edwin Encarnacion and two young power arms to the Toronto Blue Jays for aging, oft injured third baseman Scott Rollen. The Jays picked up the remaining $4 million dollars of Rolens salary in 2009 but don't appear to be liable for any of the approximately $11 million he's owed in 2010. Essentially the Reds traded three young, cost controlled players for the right to pay Rolen $11 million in 2010. They may have marginally improved themselves at third base provided that Rolen can give them 120+ games in the coming year. He's a better defender and a better hitter than Encarnacion but in most years he's not much more than a payroll liability due to his health. It wouldn't be any surprise if the Reds get nearly nothing from Rolen and then let him walk via free agency or possibly retire. For their $11 million dollar investment that also cost a younger third baseman with power and two power bullpen arms the Reds could end up getting essentially nothing in return.
When you look at that deal and the amount of money it's costing Cincinnati you come to realize why they couldn't afford to take a chance on Gomes. They've maneuvered themselves into a spot where adding an additional $3 million dollars or so to payroll can't be done and it's cost them a productive hitter. Add Gomes to the cost of acquiring Rolen and that trade starts looking even worse than before.
The Reds just don't seem to be a very well run franchise. They don't seem to have a plan or direction that they're going in, no organizational philosophy a la Billy Beane in Oakland or Andrew Friedman in Tampa Bay. The Reds appear to try to do things on the cheap, a quick fix here and a big name there. $11 million for Rolen who's likely to spend a large chunk of time on the DL and doesn't have nearly the power he once had. $12.5 million for a closer who, while he's good, is largely unnecessary for a team with a limited budget and no realistic chance of contending.
Teams around the majors like the Kansas City Royals and Pittsburgh Pirates need to be taking notes and trying to grok what's going on in Cincinnati if they want to someday break away from their losing ways. When Dusty Baker loses his job eventually, and here's guessing it's going to be sooner rather than later, if anyone else gives him a managing job we'll know whether they were paying attention or not. Some people just never seem to get it.
Johnny Gomes had a .338 on-base percentage in 2009, not great but apparently it was too high for Baker who, as we know, doesn't like it when men get on base for fear that they're going to "clog up the bases". Perhaps Gomes will hook on with a team that appreciates stats like OPS and they'll give him a shot to see if he's found a new level of production or if 2009 ends up being an out lier.
On Saturday, December 12th the Cincinnati Reds non-tendered outfielder Johnny Gomes, meaning there is a good chance he won't be back with the team in 2010. Gomes is eligibile for arbitration and would have likely gotten a hefty raise from his 2009 major league salary of $700,000 plus $100,000 in incentives that he reached. His 2010 salary will likely end up in the $3 million a year range.
Normally non-tendered players aren't all that interesting simply because the team that's letting them go knows the most about the player and have usually deemed him not worthy of the salary he's about to get by going to arbitration. Gomes is a bit of a special case though because he will likely be worth what he's going to earn in 2010 if his performance in 2009 is any guide. He finished the season with 20 home runs in only 314 at bats. On the season he had a very good OPS of .879 and an OPS+ of 127. Those are the numbers of a productive player, and the Reds can use all the productive players they can get. They were expected by some to contend in 2009 after their pitching staff shined in 2008. They had a lot of young talent either in the majors or on the way. Things didn't work out that way though. Some of the young pitchers got hurt while some of the veteran starters struggled. The offense wasn't much help either, scoring only 36 more runs that the Pirates who finished last in the National League in runs scored.
At the trade deadline last summer General Manager Walt Jocketty traded erstwhile third baseman Edwin Encarnacion and two young power arms to the Toronto Blue Jays for aging, oft injured third baseman Scott Rollen. The Jays picked up the remaining $4 million dollars of Rolens salary in 2009 but don't appear to be liable for any of the approximately $11 million he's owed in 2010. Essentially the Reds traded three young, cost controlled players for the right to pay Rolen $11 million in 2010. They may have marginally improved themselves at third base provided that Rolen can give them 120+ games in the coming year. He's a better defender and a better hitter than Encarnacion but in most years he's not much more than a payroll liability due to his health. It wouldn't be any surprise if the Reds get nearly nothing from Rolen and then let him walk via free agency or possibly retire. For their $11 million dollar investment that also cost a younger third baseman with power and two power bullpen arms the Reds could end up getting essentially nothing in return.
When you look at that deal and the amount of money it's costing Cincinnati you come to realize why they couldn't afford to take a chance on Gomes. They've maneuvered themselves into a spot where adding an additional $3 million dollars or so to payroll can't be done and it's cost them a productive hitter. Add Gomes to the cost of acquiring Rolen and that trade starts looking even worse than before.
The Reds just don't seem to be a very well run franchise. They don't seem to have a plan or direction that they're going in, no organizational philosophy a la Billy Beane in Oakland or Andrew Friedman in Tampa Bay. The Reds appear to try to do things on the cheap, a quick fix here and a big name there. $11 million for Rolen who's likely to spend a large chunk of time on the DL and doesn't have nearly the power he once had. $12.5 million for a closer who, while he's good, is largely unnecessary for a team with a limited budget and no realistic chance of contending.
Teams around the majors like the Kansas City Royals and Pittsburgh Pirates need to be taking notes and trying to grok what's going on in Cincinnati if they want to someday break away from their losing ways. When Dusty Baker loses his job eventually, and here's guessing it's going to be sooner rather than later, if anyone else gives him a managing job we'll know whether they were paying attention or not. Some people just never seem to get it.
Johnny Gomes had a .338 on-base percentage in 2009, not great but apparently it was too high for Baker who, as we know, doesn't like it when men get on base for fear that they're going to "clog up the bases". Perhaps Gomes will hook on with a team that appreciates stats like OPS and they'll give him a shot to see if he's found a new level of production or if 2009 ends up being an out lier.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
