MLB execs asked: "How much would you sign Drew and Morales for right now"

[G-Snarls]

http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/buster-olney/post/_/id/5692

 

Will post article in a moment

[G-Snarls]

Reliever Vin Mazzaro could be a useful reliever for a lot of teams, but he cleared waivers Tuesday, and a couple of executives speculated that part of the reason for that is Mazzaro makes more than minimum wage -- $950,000.

 

"Once you go to spring training, you’ve spent almost all the money you’re going to spend," said one GM. "There aren’t many teams with a lot of extra money lying around."

 

Maybe the Dodgers have a big budget, or the Yankees. But most teams have little wriggle room in their budget. Which brings us to Stephen Drew and Kendrys Morales, two veteran free agents who remain unemployed.

 

To review: Both players -- represented by agent Scott Boras -- rejected $14.1 million qualifying offers from the Boston Red Sox and Seattle Mariners, respectively, and continue to wait. And wait. And wait.

 

There might be one small upside to waiting this long: Now that the season has started, neither can be given another qualifying offer by the next team they sign with, which means they could be free agents without restriction after the 2014 season. And if they don't sign until after the draft (June 5), the team that signs them won't have to forfeit a draft pick.

 

On the other hand, a qualifying offer would bring far more money than either player figures to get whenever they sign in the days or weeks ahead. The overwhelming sentiment within the industry is that both players made enormous mistakes in rejecting the qualifying offers -- mistakes that will cost each millions of dollars. Based on the estimates presented by club officials Tuesday -- what they would offer Drew or Morales -- both players will have to settle for a lot less than $14.1 million annually.

 

The questions presented to the club executives:

 

1. If your team had a need for Drew or Morales, what would you offer them?

 

2. Would the fact that they haven’t had a spring training and would need time to get game-ready factor into your offer?

 

Executive No. 1, from the NL: "For Morales, I’d offer between $6 million to $8 million, and for Drew, $7 million to $8 million. At this point, why would you give them more? The whole market passed on them during the winter, and at some point, there has to be some kind of a discount for a player who has held out and sat out.

 

"With those guys missing so much time, when they’re trying to get ready, there’s a pretty good chance they’re going to get hurt. They’ve got to get 50 at-bats or so to get ready, and they’ll try to speed up the timetable to get back in the majors and get paid, and they’ll be at greater risk."

 

The NL executive said that because of how the negotiations have played out with both players, there would be question about their emotional investment.

 

"Let’s say Drew waits until after the draft to sign, so that he isn’t tied to draft-pick compensation for this year," the executive explained, "and let’s say he signed a one-year deal. Would he be playing for you at that point, for the team, or would he be playing for himself? If he had a minor injury late in the season, would he push through it for you, or would he sit out (to protect his free agency). That would be a factor for me.

 

"For me, at some point, it comes down to, 'Do you want to play [or not]?’ At some point, you swallow your pride and say [rejecting the qualifying offer] didn’t work, and you get back on the field and get back to work."

 

Another NL official: "I think most teams would still view the draft as the most relevant date. As with many scenarios, teams [in this age of parity] are hesitant to forfeit talent and money in transactions. There is a reason [David] Price and [Jeff] Samardzija were not traded."

 

(In other words: A team would not to give up a draft pick and dollars for Drew or Morales.)

 

He continued: "If a team viewed either player as a mid-season acquisition, they might value the player on a longer horizon (maybe a contract through 2016 for Drew and through

2015 for Morales). I would probably value Drew as a $10-12 million player on a multi-year deal and Morales in the $8-10 million range. Time of year affects many teams with respect to budgets.

 

"The layoff and need for a modified spring training is a real issue. If a team signed the player in early June, there would still be a 10-14 day period to prepare him for activation."

 

An AL executive: "You are definitely concerned how long they’ve been away. You’d have to get them their 50 plate appearances in the minors before calling them up. You’d have to get these guys under contract and give them three weeks of preparation. For Drew, I’d go $8 million to $12 million, maybe on a multi-year deal -- you wouldn’t want to sign him for one-year deal and give up a draft pick, and for Morales, I’d go $8 million to $10 million, prorated."

 

A second AL official: "I’d go $5 million for Morales, maybe $6 million to $8 million for Drew. The injury history for both guys scares me."

 

A third NL official: "The salary level I would be comfortable for both Drew and Morales is in the $7-8 million range. Both are limited players -- Drew just isn't an impact offensive player and Morales is so limited by his body, injuries, and poor defense -- which for me are similar to Nelson Cruz." (Cruz signed with Baltimore for $8 million.)

 

"Frankly, Cruz may be a better player than Drew and Morales; you know he's going to hit more than Drew and hitting is what pays while you know that he will hit similar to Morales and is more versatile defensively.

 

"I would have concerns about signing both now, but I think Morales can adjust easier than Drew. Morales is basically a bat; nobody expects anything out of him defensively and even if he plays the field he won't be put into too many situations where he can hurt himself. Drew is much more of a risk to sign now, not only because of the injuries more common to up-the-middle players, but also because he needs to learn his other infielders or, specifically to him, his double play partners. I think the adjustment will be harder for Drew and the upside will be much less."

 

AL talent evaluator: "I’d go $5 million to $6 million for Morales -- he has almost nowhere to go -- and $7 million for Drew. That’s after we get past the draft and you don’t surrender a pick."

 

AL exec: "Two years and $8-9 million for Drew, two years at $7 million or $8 million for Morales. I wouldn’t want to go to a third year for either guy."

 

An AL evaluator: "We are two months from the draft, and most teams that might be interested would just hold off so they keep their draft pick. I don’t think we have many teams that can just add millions to the payroll in midseason. It becomes an issue before the trade deadline. I think both these guys will sign after the draft and get ready to start playing at the major league level by July 1, a half season. Go out and have a good second half of the season and go back into free agency. Incentives in the contracts will probably be a must, as both guys will be getting ready to play in a shorter period of time."

 

"Both guys have missed time in recent years. Maybe you’ll see a situation in which team loses a high priced player and has insurance cover a chunk of his salary which one of these guys could fit right into. I’d give either guy $3 million to $6 million base salary for three months, plus incentives. You will be getting close to the deadline once the summer hits and you can get these guys without giving anything up.

 

"Their layoff is a factor but not that big of a factor. By mid-June, 10 teams might be looking to sell, and not buy, so the options for Drew and Morales will be limited. We’ve got to see how the Detroit and Boston infield situations play out for Drew."

[o2cui2i]

serves them right and Boras will have to rethink his negotiating tactics.

[Caper]

Man... Boras may have miscalculated big time.

[Sammy225]

The one guy makes a good point at with one of them signing are they signing to help the team or help themselves. That would be a huge factor for me anyway.

 

Nice to see that the Boras guys are just sitting rotting away.

[TDotttt2005]

Survey comes around to Alex -

 

AA: "Hey Mark, Jose, Jose, Melky, and RA...How much money you got on you??"

[eastcoastjaysfan]

The one guy makes a good point at with one of them signing are they signing to help the team or help themselves. That would be a huge factor for me anyway.

 

Nice to see that the Boras guys are just sitting rotting away.

 

I don't get that at all. If he signs to "help himself" (i.e. being extra motivated to get a big contract next year), how would he not be helping his team?

 

Drew is a super talented guy. He'd be even more dangerous playing with a bigger chip on his shoulder.

 

I would hope that the Jays at least made a super low-ball offer to Drew in the hope that he gets desperate.

[baseballsss]

I'm gunna go with a guess here and say Boras will get the last laugh for one or both of these guys. Guys the best agent out there.

[Stangstag]

I don't get that at all. If he signs to "help himself" (i.e. being extra motivated to get a big contract next year), how would he not be helping his team?

 

Drew is a super talented guy. He'd be even more dangerous playing with a bigger chip on his shoulder.

 

I would hope that the Jays at least made a super low-ball offer to Drew in the hope that he gets desperate.

 

From the article:

 

""Let’s say Drew waits until after the draft to sign, so that he isn’t tied to draft-pick compensation for this year," the executive explained, "and let’s say he signed a one-year deal. Would he be playing for you at that point, for the team, or would he be playing for himself? If he had a minor injury late in the season, would he push through it for you, or would he sit out (to protect his free agency). That would be a factor for me."

[o2cui2i]

I don't get that at all. If he signs to "help himself" (i.e. being extra motivated to get a big contract next year), how would he not be helping his team?

 

Drew is a super talented guy. He'd be even more dangerous playing with a bigger chip on his shoulder.

 

I would hope that the Jays at least made a super low-ball offer to Drew in the hope that he gets desperate.

 

throw out an offer of whatever league minimum is with his years of service plus a million.

[eastcoastjaysfan]

From the article:

 

""Let’s say Drew waits until after the draft to sign, so that he isn’t tied to draft-pick compensation for this year," the executive explained, "and let’s say he signed a one-year deal. Would he be playing for you at that point, for the team, or would he be playing for himself? If he had a minor injury late in the season, would he push through it for you, or would he sit out (to protect his free agency). That would be a factor for me."

 

I don't understand how having a minor injury late in the season would impact his FA for the next year. If it's not a lingering thing he'd clearly play through it to show that he can still perform at the highest level. Sitting would do nothing positive for his future prospects.

[o2cui2i]

I don't understand how having a minor injury late in the season would impact his FA for the next year. If it's not a lingering thing he'd clearly play through it to show that he can still perform at the highest level. Sitting would do nothing positive for his future prospects.

 

yeah, but that quote is from AA.

[jb22]

throw out an offer of whatever league minimum is with his years of service plus a million.

 

I don't understand how having a minor injury late in the season would impact his FA for the next year. If it's not a lingering thing he'd clearly play through it to show that he can still perform at the highest level. Sitting would do nothing positive for his future prospects.

 

I think what he's trying to say is he may be extra cautious with minor injuries he may normally play through in order to avoid the risk of having the injury become more serious, thus affecting next year's contract.

[kgm1]

The comp system is so dumn.

 

But it is there and Boras really misread the market and draft pick compensation issue . Teams have a good idea of what a first round pick is worth in value . I'm surprised they haven't dumped him as an agent by now .

I also think more teams are having second thoughts when dealing with him .

[over500]

If this team had money to go for Santana, sure they have money for Drew. That's what's so mind-boggling.

[The_DH]

I gotta think the assessments by the other GMs was reasonable and that the only reason they were offered arb is that the teams knew Boras would turn it down. If im GM of the Jays I'd take Drew for about 6-8 million on a full season.

[GoldBull]

At this point, they must be holding out for after the draft is done, hoping to start a bidding war between teams desperate for offense.

[The_DH]

I'm not so sure about that. This may be Boras' black eye.

[G-Snarls]

[G-Snarls]

Sherman reporting they have called for these anonymous MLB execs to be outed and punished.

 

Really?

[Sammy225]

Sherman reporting they have called for these anonymous MLB execs to be outed and punished.

 

Really?

 

f*** off. Its not there fault that they were not good enough/too full of themselves to still be sitting out.

[Stangstag]

 

Lol. Too f***ing bad. The MLBPA is a f***ing joke. Grow up

[John_Havok]

Sherman reporting they have called for these anonymous MLB execs to be outed and punished.

 

Really?

 

It's completely against the rules of the CBA, so ... yeah if I were the MLBPA I'd be pissed too.

Edited April 12, 2014 by John_Havok

[G-Snarls]

Fox Sports:

 

-

 

Drawing a market for Drew

 

An executive had an interesting thought on free-agent shortstop Stephen Drew, one that Drew's agent, Scott Boras, surely has considered.

 

Assuming Drew waits to sign until after the June draft, an American League contender with a need would have the added incentive of blocking him from going to the Tigers.

 

Let's face it, the Tigers eventually will need to make a move at short; Alex Gonzalez, 37, is batting .208 with a .532 OPS and is playing below-average defense, to boot.

 

 

Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, meanwhile, already is dealing with physical issues, and after this season the Yanks could have openings at second, short and third, depending upon what they do with Alex Rodriguez.

 

For now, Drew could play shortstop for the Yankees on days when Jeter is unavailable and third on other days. One exec says Drew is so even-tempered, "I don't know if he even would notice" if he had to play third.

 

The Pirates, who look offensively challenged, are another team with a potential need for Drew, as I mentioned Saturday in my Full Count video. By June, other teams also could enter the mix, without fear of losing a draft pick.