Padres formulating ‘long-term’ offer for Headley

The previously highest paid player in franchise history was Carmelo Martinez, who made $490,000 back in 1989.

Chase Headley said he “didn‘t know how to respond” Wednesday afternoon after learning that the Padres are planning to offer their star third baseman a multi-year contract that would make him the highest-paid player in franchise history.

“To be honest, this is not something we’ve discussed,” Headley said at Wrigley Field.

Earlier Wednesday, Ron Fowler, the executive chairman of the Padres, told U-T San Diego that a “multi-year” deal will be offered to the reigning RBI champion of the National League “before midseason” that would make Headley the highest-paid player in franchise history.

“Will it be 10 years? No,” said Fowler. “We’re not going to do something like that. But we will do an offer that will be the largest offer we’ve ever made to a player in San Diego history and think it will be very close to some of the numbers I read in the press.”

Agent Scott Boras believes free-agent process is corrupt - MLB News | FOX Sports on MSN

This is one part of the CBA which needs addressing next time around.

Ultimately, if amateur spending caps are deemed necessary by Major League Baseball and the players’ union, Boras would propose a hybrid solution – applying those limits only after the second round. That way, a team losing its top pick could apply its first-round budget to a second-round selection. Part of the reason to do that, Boras said, is to ensure that teams maintain or strengthen their current amateur scouting staffs. His point: Could teams justify investing substantial sums in scouts’ salaries and travel expenses if they aren’t going to actually sign the players those evaluators are watching?

“These clubs are investing $2 million to $3 million per year preparing for the draft,” Boras said. “There needs to be utility for that investment.”

ESPN/AP: No arbitration cases this year for first time ever

NEW YORK—Baseball is set to finish its first arbitration shutout.

Cincinnati Reds pitcher Homer Bailey and San Diego Padres left-hander Clayton Richard agreed to one-year contracts Saturday, making it all but certain there will be no salary arbitration hearings this year for the first time since the process began in 1974—arbitration was suspended for 1976 and 1977 while free agency was put in place.

I think I saw Shyam Das begging for change outside of Walgreens the other day.

Passan: Scott Boras’ title of ‘Mr. January’ faces stiff challenge from MLB’s new rules on free agency

Mr. January is a nickname bestowed on Boras by owners flabbergasted by his propensity to snag large free-agent deals after New Year’s Day. Boras, long the sport’s villain, is the protagonist in this tussle, because baseball’s new rules governing the draft have destroyed the free-agent market for Adam LaRoche, Kyle Lohse, Michael Bourn and Rafael Soriano – the latter three of whom are Boras clients…

The new draft format included fixed bonus pools for teams based on the previous year’s record; the worst teams would get the most money. A separate rule transformed compensation for free agents who left. Teams would have to offer a player a one-year deal worth the average of the highest-paid 125 players in the major leagues the previous season – about $13.3 million this year. If another team chose to sign one of those players, it would forfeit its first-round draft choice and the bonus-pool money that came with it – unless it was a top 10 pick, in which case it would lose its second-rounder and the accompanying bonus value…

The pool system limits flexibility and creativity, leaving teams even more reticent to plunge into an already-inflated free-agent market when it’s tied to the draft.

“We’d love any of them if we didn’t have to give up our pick and pool money,” one GM said this week, and others have echoed his sentiment, frustrated that two disparate entities commingle in such fashion. Players are even angrier, and agents say they’ve had trouble explaining how stars in the future could be hindered by a rule that MLB promises it did not implement to create a false market…

When Zack Greinke and Anibal Sanchez got get-out-of-jail-free cards because they were traded midseason – only players who spend the whole season with one team are subject to compensation rules – and the interest in Edwin Jackson dwarfs that of Lohse, the system is broken. There’s a chance Mr. January weasels out of it like he has so many other problems. There’s also a chance some of the best players out there have to pull a Ryan Madson and take a one-year deal, and we saw how well that worked out.

Four players flap in the middle of this hurricane, which seems to spin with no end. Per usual, MLB and Scott Boras, the provoked and the provocateur, are in its ugly eye.

MacPherson: What is the value of a draft pick in major-league baseball?

Drafting and developing talented players already was a challenge. A team that yielded just one impact player out of each draft was doing about as well as could be expected.

But severe new spending limits restrict teams from being able to pay draftees what they once could, effectively restricting the number of elite draft picks they can sign. In addition, in contrast to previous years, while a team still must forfeit a draft pick to sign a compensation free agent, the team losing the free agent doesn’t inherit that draft pick. The pick instead vanishes into nothingness—and, with it, the $1 million or more the team would have been able to add to its newly restricted signing-bonus allotment.

(Had that rule been in place two years ago, the Red Sox wouldn’t have had a first-round pick, let alone two, and wouldn’t have been able to draft either Matt Barnes or Blake Swihart.)

One might gauge how much a team values a draft pick by the size of his signing bonus—in other words, its investment in him. In the first 10 rounds of the 2011 draft, Boston handed out 10 signing bonuses worth more than $100,000 in the first 10 rounds, eight of which were worth more than $500,000.

In 2012, the first year of the new spending system, the Red Sox handed out just seven signing bonuses worth more than $100,000, five of them worth more than $500,000. Of the players Boston drafted in rounds 6-10, all but one received a bonus of $25,000 or less, an indication that those players were selected more to allow them to allot money elsewhere than for their potential impact as prospects.

What does that mean? Rather than bringing 10 or 11 players who realistically could be viewed as prospects, the Red Sox brought in just seven. The challenge of producing one impact player from the draft class grew steeper accordingly.

USA Today: Anibal Sanchez to Cubs for 5/75

Theo’s first big purchase…

NOTE: The story has been removed from USA Today. Somebody jumped the gun. Jim.9:57 PM.

red sox - Reassessing risk: How many years is too many for Josh Hamilton? - WEEI | Alex Speier

Three years and no more.

All of that being the case, it’s not only Hamilton who represents a cautionary tale for a deal of more than three years at his age. It’s virtually anyone with his track record, regardless of background, who reaches the point of potentially precipitous decline in value by the time he turns 35.

The Sox in recent years have received some brutal lessons in the payroll-choking impact of having high-salaried players who were unable to stay on the field. The team was unable to maneuver in response to needs last offseason in no small part because it had so much money tied up in players who weren’t going to be on the field (Carl Crawford, John Lackey, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Bobby Jenks, among others) for significant stretches of 2012.

If the team hopes to avoid a repeat of such scenarios, and to remain true to the mantra of fiscal discipline, then it is difficult to see how pursuing Hamilton for more than three years makes sense.

Clubhouse Confidential | Network on shorter contracts

In a recent discussion on the site about Josh Hamilton, there was a discussion about the length of contract he will receive. In this segment Brian Kenny provides some information about the on-going trend in MLB free agent market, shorter contracts. Teams are getting smarter.

Perry: Report: Andruw Jones headed to Japan

Andruw Jones has signed a one-year contract worth roughly $3.5 million to play in Japan next season, reports Nikkan Sports (via NPBTracker.com). According to the report, the Rakuten Golden Eagles of the Japanese Pacific League have inked Jones…

The 35-year-old Jones has to his credit 434 career home runs and one of the best defensive peaks ever at his position, so he’ll one day be in the Hall-of-Fame discussion (even if he’s something of a long shot to make it)...

If nothing else, he’s one of the biggest names ever to cross the Pacific and play in NPB.

Winter Meetings Over, But Josh Hamilton Market Ongoing - Over the Monster

I keep reading that the Red Sox would have to trade Ellsbury if they signed Hamilton. Why? With Hamilton in left, Ellsbury in center, and Victorino in right, there would still be plenty of ABs available for Gomes as a 4th outfielder/DH.

I still don’t think it’s likely Hamilton will end up in Boston. But, if he’s available at 3-4 years, it’s possible. The move would make the Sox wild card contenders while not restricting their long-term plans.

Boston signed Shane Victorino at the winter meetings, in a move that presumably locked up their outfield for 2013. However, thanks to Victorino’s ability to play center field, Jacoby Ellsbury—who has just one year remaining with the Red Sox—could be traded, opening up right field once more. The Red Sox seem to only want to do this in a deal that brings them controllable starting pitching, but their desire to do that very thing could be increased if they’re able to bring in another outfielder. Say, Josh Hamilton.

Red Sox Still Have Money to Burn

ESTIMATED 2013 TOTAL COMMITMENTS: $138 MILLION (AS MEASURED FOR LUXURY TAX PURPOSES)

That still leaves more than $40 million for the Red Sox to spend without reaching the luxury tax threshold. If the team trades the arbitration-eligible Jacoby Ellsbury, then that freedom would grow to something more like $50 million.

That, in turn, means the Sox can still consider anyone on the market. In the unlikely event, for instance, that Anibal Sanchez might be open to a four-year deal, the Sox could outbid anyone for him. If a starter loses the game of musical chairs and is left to look for the best one-year deal at the end of the winter, the Sox can outbid anyone. Indeed, the Sox could still add a starter and, if he’s available on a one-year deal, someone like Stephen Drew without reaching the luxury tax threshold.

Moreover, the team has yet to give up any prospects or sacrifice any draft picks this offseason. All of that underscores the notion that, to date, the Sox haven’t done anything to impede any other moves they want to make.

Alex Speier with what looks like a pretty thorough update on where the Sox are financially right now.  Long story short, the money is there for another significant signing. (I still hate the Victorino deal though)

Red Sox land Shane Victorino to patrol right field at Fenway | MLB.com: News

They still need a left-handed bat for left field.

The Winter Meetings continue to be a productive exercise for the Red Sox. A day after they got the slugger they coveted in Mike Napoli, Boston has agreed to a three-year, $37.5 million deal for outfielder Shane Victorino, a source confirmed to MLB.com.

Brian Wilson headlines list of non-tenders - CBSSports.com

Click the link to see the whole list.

In the list to follow, you’ll find a number of recognizable names, but the most notable of these is convalescing closer Brian Wilson, formerly of the Giants. Wilson is on the mend from Tommy John surgery, which he underwent in April. That likely means he won’t be ready by opening day but should be able to pitch the majority of the 2013 season.

Besides having a very marketable (and ubiquitous) personality, Wilson is also a damn fine reliever when healthy. Wilson was at his best during the Giants’ 2010 championship season, when he posted an ERA of 1.81 across 74 2/3 innings and finished seventh in the NL Cy Young balloting. He also turned in strong seasons in 2009 and 2011. Andrew Baggarly of CSN Bay Area reports that the Giants have interest in bringing Wilson back on an incentive-laden deal.

Other notable non-tenders include Jair Jurrjens, Mark Reynolds, John Lannan, Mike Pelfrey, Tom Gorzelanny, Geovany Soto, Nate Schierholtz, Daniel Schlereth.

B.J. Upton Signs With Braves

Free agent B.J. Upton has agreed to a with the Atlanta Braves, according to multiple reports. USA Today reports that it is a five-year deal for at least $70 million

Crashburn Alley » Blog Archive » Greinke, Hamilton, Mental Health, Masculinity and Dignity

A different slant on signing Josh Hamilton and Zack Greinke.