Arbitration avoided with Felix
Conor · January 19, 2009 at 9:52 am · Filed Under Mariners
The Mariners and Felix have agreed on a one-year deal reportedly worth $3.8 million, thus avoiding arbitration. While it’s not the multi-year deal many of us were hoping for, it’s good that the situation didn’t drag out at all.
Fun fact: Felix is 8 months younger than Rays rookie David Price.
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That is still so mind-boggling. Yay for the deal…hopefully it’s a sign of a good working relationship with the new FO and they get an extension worked out soon as well. I’m confident Zduriencik is astute enought to see the talent and get it done.
Unattractive passive voice construction, Conor. How about “Mariners avoid arbitration with Felix”?
Good news. Let’s hope we get an extension soon.
Anyone think the FO could have their hands tied on Felix seeing how Z spoke about wanting to cut the payroll by 20%? That certainly can’t help a multi year deal can it?
The payroll budget, whatever it is, is only for this year. There’s plenty of flexibility for future years, so I very much doubt there’s any impediment to the front office making multi-year deals other than simple prudence in the terms they offer.
Another delicate situation handled competently by the new front office. This new “competent” style of management is going to take some getting used to…
It’s amazing, I don’t get sick to my stomach when ever the guys post an article about the team making a move.
I don’t mind the one-year deal. Without trying to be too result-based in my thinking, I love Felix, but I’m SO ready for that bust-out season that’s been coming for the last three years. If Felix starts out like he did two years ago before he got hurt and keeps it up for a couple of months, you would think Z and the gang would be trying like heck to lock up those last couple of arby-eligible years.
That reminds me of my current NBA Fun Fact: LeBron James is five months younger than Brandon Roy.
Excellent move. As the economy continues to tank and we find out how much money people are going to spend on major league baseball tickets overall, there’s plenty of time with Felix to reset his ‘market value’ over the next couple of years.
More pressing is Beltre. Equally as worthy of extending, in my mind, but much more delicate as he’s in his walk year with Boras whispering in his ear.
And Boras managed to get $3 million for Willie, so he’s clearly got supernatural powers.
“And Boras managed to get $3 million for Willie, so he’s clearly got supernatural powers.”
Well, to be fair to Superman, Spiderman, etc. the Royals GM is just an idiot. WFB actually got only $1.5 million per season. The $3 million was for two years, if I recall. King Felix’s $3.8 million is for just one season. (How does rate/compare to the projection, by the way?)
If he’d had an offense to back him up last year, it’s quite possible we’d already be talking about his bust-out season. He is a stud.
This is so awesome. I’m hoping this Felix signing contracts with the Mariners thing becomes a habit. I’m not sure I could take him winning four Cy Young awards in four years with another team. I’m definitely excited to see if he can take a big step forward this season with a better defense behind him.
The 2003 team committed 65 errors ALL SEASON. Can you imagine how King Felix would do with that kind of a defense behind him?
“The 2003 team committed 65 errors ALL SEASON. Can you imagine how King Felix would do with that kind of a defense behind him?”
Sure handedness (Jeter is sure handed) isn’t what we need. We need good defense. They aren’t the same thing.
Someone’s been reading FanGraphs.
Though, the 2003 team was very good at defense. The team DER of .721 was the second best performance by any team’s gloves in the 2000s.
The best was the 2001 Mariners with a .727 DER.
“Someone’s been reading FanGraphs”
I only check in with the site 20-25 times a day. It could start to be an issue.
Coincidentally (or not) FSN is showing Felix’s near no-no against the Red Sox from 2007 tonight at 7:30. (If my Comcast listing is to be believed.)
Also, if I told you two players signed deals today, one being Felix and the other being Nick Markakis, and that one was 1 yr/$3.8 mil and the other was 6 yr/$66 mil, which would you have guessed signed which deal?
I mean, Nick Markakis?
it’s twue, it’s twue.
I haven’t seen Zduriencik say he wants to reduce the budget by 20%. I have seen a comment by Hickey “But there likely won’t be much more free-agency action because the team has a goal of trimming last year’s $117 million payroll by about 20 percent.”
Don’t arbitrate with players you want to keep. Let alone players who are Felix.
I guess I still don’t get why Felix wouldn’t sell his arb years readily if the Ms offer was respectable.
JJD — Markakis is a stud. As a 24-year-old last year, he was a 5-win player. With the bat, he’s similar to Grady Sizemore, Chase Utley and Jason Bay.
per Baker this morning:
“… [if] the team agrees to a longer deal that would essentially “buy out” his remaining arbitration years and carry forward beyond that.
Zduriencik did caution that “it takes two sides to get a deal like that done,” meaning Hernandez’s side might feel it’s in his best interests to be patient now and not attempt to lock in until after next season. If he were to have a monster year in 2009, he’d be potentially worth even more as he heads closer to free agency.
There’s also the issue of what direction the Mariners are headed and whether Hernandez wants to lock himself in with a team that may go through major rebuilding.”
“If he were to have a monster year in 2009, he’d be potentially worth even more as he heads closer to free agency”
The opposite is also true. If Felix doesn’t pitch well this year or gets hurt his value is going to go down. Its a roll of the dice not to sign a multi year deal if one is being offered. The reason you see people taking these deals (Youk, Pedroia, Markakis, Longoria) is for some sense of financial security. Its worth it to some people and its not worth it to others. As great as Felix is, to this point he hasn’t been paid decent dough until this year. I get the feeling the longer it takes to lock Felix up the less likely he is to sign a long term deal in Seattle.
Exactly. Markakis is the other Greek God of… something. Laboring in obscurity he’s underrated in much the Raul used to be (before Raul became overrated); among his comparables B-R lists Enos Slaughter and Andre Ethier. By Fangraph’s calculations Markakis was worth $24M last year and was paid half a million. At $11M per year he’s still a bargain; considering his age, he’s arguably more valuable than Ichiro.
The O’s just picked up Felix Pie to run out on the other side of Adam Jones: that’s plus defense across the entire outfield (albeit somewhat wasted at Camden) all under 25. Even with the Markakis contract, the O’s are going to be getting a lot of value from their outfield over the next few years.
the only actual Greek God?
Well, apparently he’s half-German, so maybe he’s the Greek God of Schadenfreude or something.
speaking of arbitration, Heilman & Bedard are done