Bill Plaschke says Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti was the big winner, "correctly reading the market and holding firm despite a winter's worth of criticism.''I guess it's not just the paper that has the cynical view of the deal being between enemy combatants "The Dodgers" and "Manny Ramirez." Jeff Passan obviously sees it that way, too, that the Dodgers and Ramirez were at war over the contract, and there's obviously a winner and a loser between the two.
You can follow Plaschke, by the way, at twitter.com/latbillplaschke.
Jeff Passan of YahooSports! writes that all the stalling still didn't give the Dodgers enough time to recognize "the gravity of their mistake.''
As for Ramirez, he reportedly will appear at a news conference tomorrow in Arizona, but he spoke to T.J. Simers last night and revealed that he was close to returning to Mannywood.
Among notable signings are...Certainly Volquez is hurt by his youth in this case.
Garrett Olson ($420,000), Texas' Jarrod Saltalamacchia ($410,890) and Cincinnati's Edinson Volquez ($440,000).
Perez has expressed his dissatisfaction with his contract since he gave his agent the OK to sign a non-guaranteed minor league deal with Washington on Feb. 5 that would pay him $850,000 if he makes the team, the same stipulation he faced last year.I'm surprised to learn Perez doesn't make millions considering he's been in the league for a number of years now as a starting pitcher.
General manager Jim Bowden hasn't yet spoken with Perez, and doesn't know if he'll show.
"He's not returned my calls, he's not returned (manager) Manny's (Acta) calls and he hasn't returned his agent's calls, so we're waiting to hear back from him," Bowden said. "We're looking at all of our options. We're taking the position that we have an agreement with the player and we're expecting the player to honor the agreement. But we'd like to talk to him first, so we're going to wait until he calls us back and then address the other options at that point."
Roberts had a very limited no-trade clause for the final year of his previous contract, allowing him to designate four teams to which he could not be traded. That was carried forward when the final year of the old deal was rolled into what essentially is a new five-year contract.He's certainly an attractive candidate to any contending team needing a leadoff hitting second baseman.
The no-trade protection graduates through the next three years of the contract. He will be allowed to designate eight teams he doesn't want to play for next year and 12 teams the following season. The no-trade clause becomes blanket protection a couple of months before Roberts would get it anyway as a 10-5 player.
"The whole thing is wrong," sports agent Paul Kinzer said of El Caribe's claim that the A's have offered Furcal a four-year, $48 million deal. A well-placed A's source called the report "untrue" without elaborating further.Sounds like Furcal's options are limited, and the Giants are the best possibilit at this time. Then again, this comes from a Bay Area newspaper, so the questions my be stilted.
El Caribe also reported that the Mets have made Furcal an offer to play second base, and Kinzer said, "We haven't even had any discussions with the Mets, if that gives you an idea how inaccurate this is."
Kinzer said Furcal hopes to narrow his choice of clubs down to two in the next few days. Furcal is talking with the Giants and his former club, the Dodgers. Both the A's and Giants have seen Furcal's medical reports; the 31-year-old missed much of last season following back surgery. Considering this is a holiday week, there's a good chance that negotiations would continue into December.
"If you saw the bid, it's nothing that we're embarrassed by," Colletti said at the GM meetings. "Manny was close to that number, anyway — closer to that area than the last place he's been."The Dodgers would be smart to tie up a slugger for the next two seasons. Ramirez is something they haven't had in a long time (he hit .520 in the playoffs!), and even if he does decline the Dodgers would only be on the hook for a couple of seasons. That's nothing.
Most likely, the Dodgers offered Ramirez a two-year contract worth just over $50 million. Colletti said the Dodgers also offered an option year, but declined to specify the exact length of contract.
"We said, 'Think about it for a while. It's not going to be there forever,"' Colletti said. "Things are always subject to change, and it depends on what else we do, to some extent. I've been asked a few times here if we're going to wait to see what happens with this before we do anything else. But I'm not sure we're going to have the luxury to do that. If there's something else that comes about that we feel we need to do, and the timeliness is there to do it, we'll have to do it."
"I don't think anyone is surprised (that Burnett opted out)," said Blue Jay general manager J.P. Ricciardi by phone from Dana Point, Calif., where baseball's 30 GMs are meeting this week.That market will be a lot more attractive to Burnett and his agent south of the border. If Burnett isn't a Yankee by Christmas, I'll be shocked.
"Now he can gauge what the interest is.
"We have not yet made a formal offer, as to financial terms or length of contract. He's played his bargaining chip and now he's going to see if it's worthwhile. When he finds out what's out there, we'll let that get under the bridge before we get specific (about an offer)."
That the Jays have not yet made an offer should not be seen as indifference. Just as Burnett must learn what the market will bear so, too, must the Jays before they make their move.
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