The Nationals crossed two more arbitration-eligible players off their unsigned list this morning, inking pitchers Jordan Zimmermann and Tom Gorzelanny to one-year contracts.
Financial terms weren't immediately known, but Zimmermann, in his first year of arbitration eligibility as a "Super 2" player, was expected to receive somewhere in the neighborhood of $2 million to $3 million. Gorzelanny, in his second year of arbitration eligibility, figures to receive somewhere between $2.5 million and $3 million. (UPDATE AT 1:05 P.M. -- Zimmermann will make $2.3 million this year, Gorzelanny will make $2.7 million.)Both deals were reached one day before the deadline for clubs and arbitration-eligible players to submit salary figures to Major League Baseball in advance of hearings that will be held next month.
With Zimmermann, Gorzelanny, Gio Gonzalez and Jesus Flores all signed, the Nationals have three remaining unsigned arbitration-eligible players: left fielder Michael Morse, left-hander John Lannan and right-hander Tyler Clippard.
47 comments:
excellent news! Once terms are released/leaked, we'll have a better idea of the Nats' payroll situation and how that would impact a PF signing.
I keep wondering why Rizzo doesn't sign Ankiel as center field insurance?
bups, it's because Ankiel is not ready to settle for being "insurance." When he realizes that his best shot for a regular CF job is here, he will sign.
No way will Clipp go to arbitration. They will settle now or when he puts forward his terms. Davey will walk if Clipp does--remember that??? ;)
Great to hear - the more the merrier. Just locked in a 3 pack for my first trip to Viera. 4 games in 4 days is sounding real nice as the rain falls on DC. For those looking to pop down for a long weekend - the best weekend that I found is March 15-18. Yankees @ Nats on the 15th. Nats @ Yankees on the 16th. Fish @ Nats on the 17th and the Tigers @ Nats on the 18th. One road trip in the mix but not a stinker in that mix of games. Hope to see some of you down in Viera.
Gardner, I've never gone down, but would love to try. What travel agent do you use and what kind of $$ are we talking?
Good news! Going to arbitration stinks!
Nats Lady--Thanks. Werth's wheels make not hold up in CF so Ankiel may get plenty of playing time, just like he did last year when he wasn't on the DL.
Wow.. All these moves once Mark comes back from Vacation.. Coincidence??? I think not... wonder what is next!
Not a surprise getting JZim and Gorzo announced at the same time as they are both rep'd by SFX Group.
I know Michael Morse is with Aces and Lannan switched to CAA. Anyone know who rep's Tyler Clippard?
I fully expect Morse and Lannan to at least reach 1 year deals today.
Also based on a previous comment, just because JZim signed a 1 year deal today doesn't mean they won't be working on a multi-year deal similar to the Gio deal.
bups said...
I keep wondering why Rizzo doesn't sign Ankiel as center field insurance?
11:36 AM
Bups, if my source is correct they are waiting on filling the last outfield spot after they decide on Prince.
The Nats feel if they get Prince it gives them a trade chip with LaRoche that may net them a CF in a similar situation (1 to 2 years team control).
I'm not saying it is right or wrong but it does make some sense to wait another week.
The other thoughts are the team controls 3 left-handed outfielders in Bernadina with Corey Brown and Bryce Harper in the wings. Figure the Nats will have a July 1st outfield of Morse, Werth and Harper with DeRosa, Bernadina and Cameron on the bench which can all change if they trade LaRoche.
Uh-oh, the deadline has passed. What about Morse, Lannan and Clippard?
+1/2St.
SteveM said ...Bups, if my source is correct they are waiting on filling the last outfield spot after they decide on Prince.
SteveM - I assume that your first 4 OFs are Werth, Morse, Cameron & Bernie? Kind of disappointing to see them counting on both Bernie and Cameron making the team, two guys with subpar bats.
@ MichaelS:
Rizzo rarely makes a move unless the ZMan opines about it.
JZimm gets $2.3M, according to Jon Heyman
@Natslady:
No travel agency used - I put it together on my own on the cheap. Flights in to Orlando aren't expensive - I think we were right at $220 a seat out of National. Tickets for the Nats were right at $20 a pop for the box seats. The tickets for the away game at Steinbrenner field were predictably more expensive but them's the breaks. There are a ton of hotels available in an around Viera, Melbourne, Cocoa Beach (where we are staying) as you might expect based on proximity to Mickey Mouseland.
Seems kind of amazing to me that Juan Carlos Oviedo (the reliever formerly known as Leo Nunez) gets $6m. (a) he is a reliever, and not even a closer, and (b) I never thought that he was that good.
Gorzy @ $2.7m (also per Heyman)
@SteveM
Clippard is rep'd by Casey Close, who left CAA last year but took Clipp with him.
Also, why would the Nats work on a multi-year deal with JZimm when they just signed him to a 1-year contract? I think it's in their interest to see what he does with a full season to judge whether he's made a full recovery from the TJ surgery.
Wally said...
SteveM - I assume that your first 4 OFs are Werth, Morse, Cameron & Bernie? Kind of disappointing to see them counting on both Bernie and Cameron making the team, two guys with subpar bats.
12:18 PM
Yes, as of right now I see Bernie/Cam in a 3 month platoon until Harper arrives.
Remember, NatsJack kept saying expect the unexpected from Rizzo. I believe Rizzo also has 1 more trick up his sleave and if it is Fielder and then trading LaRoche for a CF then Cameron is the odd man out if it is a RH outfielder.
Grandstander said...
@SteveM
Clippard is rep'd by Casey Close, who left CAA last year but took Clipp with him.
Also, why would the Nats work on a multi-year deal with JZimm when they just signed him to a 1-year contract? I think it's in their interest to see what he does with a full season to judge whether he's made a full recovery from the TJ surgery.
12:45 PM
One thing I can assure you is JZim is fully recovered from TJ. What none of us know is how he will pitch in 2012 just like we don't know how Gio will do.
Grandstander, using your logic, why didn't Rizzo do a 1 year deal or go to arbitration with Gio? He didn't have to offer him a longer term deal either as he was a Super 2 and the Nats had 4 years guaranteed of team control going forward.
Grandstander, thanks for the info on Clip. I knew he left CAA. That makes sense he followed Casey to the new group which explains why this will be a tough negotiation.
I think Casey Close has only 2 arb players in Clip and Alex Gordon. I could see this one being the most difficult of all of the pre-Arb negotiations.
The thing that keeps me coming back to this site on a daily basis is Mark's writing. The second thing that keeps me coming back is Steve M's posts and perspective on things. I enjoy his comments as much as Mark's articles.
Anonymous @ 1:04, that is very kind of you. I wish you signed with a name so I could formally thank you for the kind comment.
I am also helped by people giving me perspective although they aren't the blogging types and do want to stay anonymous so I just get to be their mouthpiece. I also have to know what I can say and what I can't say so it sometimes comes out filtered.
Mark Zuckerman, I see you updated with the JZim'nn and Gorzo figures. How do those compare with your estimates when figuring out the Opening Day payroll for 2012?
I think Gio is different than JZimm because the Nationals clearly think the move to DC will improve his numbers and possibly his control issues as well. Better to lock him in now and give yourself a couple of club options well into his free agency than wait for him to put in an amazing season and demand even more.
JZimm was awesome this year coming back from surgery and I think anyone who watched him pitch would come to conclusion that he's fully recovered. But are you willing to bet $50 million on it? There's still plenty of time to lock JZimm up long term but it's worth a full season of playing time to see if it's truly worth the investment.
That's my opinion anyway...
Reported values (per MLBTR) are $2.3M for JZimm, $2.7 for Gorzelanny. Four down, three to go...
MLB.com has a report that if the Rangers sign Darvish, signing PF is unlikely...
Anybody know if PF landed here in the last couple of days to tour DC again? He went to TX last week.
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120116&content_id=26362250&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb
OK: thanks to all for once again giving out excellent thought and information. Help me out with one more issue. We have no information on Morse, Clipp and Lannan. I hear Natslady and agree on Clipp and I have read the back and forth on Morse and agree that extending him now actually gives us leverage "if" we decide to trade him. What I don't understand is the procedure in the next few weeks. We offer a salary, the player offers his idea of a salary and if there is no agreement it goes to an arbitrator who decides one way or another (no reaching a happy medium in arbitration). My question is, can both sides throw those figures out and work out a different agreement including mulitple years? If so, why is there a deadline?
Thanks for dealing with my incompetence.
We offer a salary, the player offers his idea of a salary and if there is no agreement it goes to an arbitrator who decides one way or another (no reaching a happy medium in arbitration). My question is, can both sides throw those figures out and work out a different agreement including mulitple years? If so, why is there a deadline?
There are several deadlines. (1) The deadline for teams to issue their salary offers. (2) The deadline for players to issue their salary expectations. Those two deadlines have expired as of today, creating a third deadline, which is the date/time/place for the arbitration hearing, where absent an agreement the two sides will present their arguments and the arbiter will pick one of the two salaries. But negotiation is allowed right up until the start of an arbitration hearing, and the negotiated salary does not have to be one of the two submitted numbers. And if the player goes to arbitration or even if the two sides reach a one year deal avoiding arbitration, they can still do a multi-year deal at any time after that.
This very scenario played out with Ryan Zimmerman in 2009. The two sides exchanged arbitration numbers and a hearing was scheduled. Bowden, Zimmerman and his agent flew from Florida to Arizona for the hearing, but negotiated a one year contract the night before to avoid it. Then two months later they tore that contract up and Zimmerman signed his current multi-year deal.
I was also wondering why the deadline, but I suppose that with the deadline the "cases" have time to be prepared by each side and make other necessary arrangements.
sjm308,
(a) There's nothing that prevents the team and the player from working out a deal even after they've filed their respective numbers. They can continue to negotiate right up until the hearing begins (perhaps even until the arbitrator rules, although I'm not 100% sure about that). Some teams, however, have their own internal policies to the effect that once the numbers have been put down, they stop negotiating. But that's not a formal rule.
(b) The deadline insures that if the case does end up with the arbitration panel (or single arbitrator), each side will have had a reasonable period of time to put its own argument/presentation together.
FWIW, the system is based on a labor-management negotiations model put together by ex-Secretary of State George Shultz, also a former Secretary of the Treasury, when he was a professor at the University of Chicago.
"mlbtraderumors: Royals announce arb deals with Hochevar, Paulino, and Sanchez, leaving just Alex Gordon."
This was just posted on MLBTR, as SteveM noted earlier about Alex Gordon and Tyler Clippard being with the same agent.
thanks to Feel and Mr.Oregon: I do now remember the Zimm signing and its good to know that people will keep on working on this even after today
Free Agency may look like a gold mine to some and a mine field to others. Look no further than Ryan Madson. Case study that one!
The Gio deal sets a great precedent not only for JZim but for other arbitration pitchers. Yes, not exactly an apples to apples but close enough.
As I stated before, just because JZim signed a 1 year deal today won't preclude them from doing a multi-year deal going forward.
Gorzelanny is obviously the better pitcher of the two.
Just because Upton remains a possibility: Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times on Twitter: BJ Upton gets $7MM plus some small plate appearance bonuses.
That is BJ Upton's 3rd arbitration year which gives you an idea of what Michael Morse could be making next year which is why 3 years at $18 to $21 million for Morse makes a lot of sense. You essentially buy out his 2nd and 3rd (final) years of arbitration and his 1st year of Free Agency. Any option years on top of that are a bonus to the team.
Clippard is signed.
Morse made $1 mill in his first arb year, while Upton made $3 mill, so getting to $7 mill in his third arb year will be more difficult for Morse.
Anon @ 3:24, it depends in large part on what Morse gets this year and performance. If Morse gets $4 mill this year in a 1 year deal and has another good season he will be near $7 million next year. If he gets $3.5 mill this year then around $6.5 mill next year. None of it is exact. It depends on performance.
Upton went from $3 mill in his 1st year of arbitration eligibility to $4.825 last year to $7 million this year on his deal today and most thought he would get $7.65 if he went to arbitration.
In bad news out of Detroit, the Tigers lose VMart to a knee injury. Most likely out for the entire season. He is listed as Catcher and 1st baseman and DH.
From Mark's Twitter updates on the upper righthand side of this site:
#Nats come to terms with Clippard on 1 year deal. 40 minutes ago
Steve M., understood, just pointing out that he is starting from behind bj, although last year goes a good ways toward catching up. If Morse, had earned $3 mill last year, he probably would be looking at around 6 this year? with a chance of getting near 10? next year (assuming a similar performance next year).
BJ's #'s of course weren't Morse-like the last two years, so his salary didn't accelerate like it could have.
Yippee!!!!!
I knew JORDAN would never leave me.
Not sure how I missed the "1-year" part ...
Scooter, did you happen to be texting a "zOMG!1! JORDAN's signed!!1" message to somebody in the midst of reading the item? Because that type of activity could be distracting. Or so I've heard. Not that I ever text, mind you. Okay, I do. :-)
omg u no me so well 1a lol roflmao
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