Report: Red Sox, Adrian Beltre Reach Contract Agreement
by Ben Buchanan on Jan 4, 2010 5:43 PM EST
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PrintAccording to Gordon Edes, the Red Sox have made an offer to third baseman Adrian Beltre, who is close to choosing a team to sign with.
Tim Brown of Yahoo reported earlier in the day that Beltre was close to choosing a team, with one choice on each coast. The Athletics had long been considered one of the teams most interested in Beltre, making them the most likely west coast contender. There were conflicting reports on whether the Red Sox were or were not in the race. If Edes is right about the offer, though, it seems likely that the Sox would be the east coast team involved.
Beltre would certainly fit the profile of what the Red Sox are attempting to accomplish this offseason, providing top defense at third base. Of concern are his offense, and injuries he received last season. Beltre has disappointed offensively since signing with the Mariners before the 2005 season, but has put up fair numbers when playing away from the offense-killing confines of Safeco.
Earlier in the offseason, Beltre--a Scott Boras client--was said to be looking for a long-term contract in excess of $10 million per year. No market developed for him near that price, however, so it is likely the terms of any contract would be significantly lower.
UPDATE [6:15 PM EST]: Ken Rosenthal is reporting that the A's are out of contention. If Tim Brown was right about it being between 2 teams, that would mean that it's either not the A's who were in (Angels? They have Brandon Wood waiting, but I wouldn't put it past them...), or that the east cost team is the "winner". If it's the latter, we should get word soon.
UPDATE [7:15 PM EST]: Jon Heyman says the Red Sox are now close to signing a deal with Adrian Beltre.
UPDATE [7:25 PM EST]: Tim Brown says they have reached an agreement. Popular opinion says it's a 2-year deal that Beltre can opt out of after 2010. 5 minutes later, he says they're still working on minor details.
UPDATE [7:35 PM EST]: Peter Gammons puts it at 1-year, $9 million with a $5 million player option. Cheap.
UPDATE [8:05 PM EST]: Peter Abraham says it's a done deal, and agrees with Gammons' numbers.
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If the Sox HAVE made an offer to Beltre, than that basically confirms they're willing to go over the CBT.
Though as I said yesterday, that shouldn’t be too big of a deal.
USG
Correct me if I am wrong
But wouldn’t it come down to the amount of the contract? Say we sign Beltre for 1year 10mil. Would that put the Sox over the CBT?
Yes
Calculating for the CBT is Total value of contract/years
So 1 year at 10 million is 10 million. 2 years at 20 million total is 10 million. 3 years at 24 million total is 8 million. This is regardless of backloading or frontloading. Depending on whose arbitration guesses you agree with, we’re either slightly under or slightly over the CBT as is. This would put us at least 5 million above.
USG
maybe
Couldn’t the Sox go with a 1 yr contract with a player option such as 3 million 2010 with a 15 mill option thus not guaranteed and beat the lux tax by only adding 3 million guaranteed this year? or a one yr contract of 3 million plus another contract for 2011 at 15 or 16 … thus beating it this way?
Sure.
However, you’d have to get a Scott Boras client to agree to what is essentially a one-year $ 3MM contract. You’d have better luck lobbying to change the CBT rules on the fly for only the Red Sox.
Rock me, sexy Jesus...
by nuthinboutnuthin on Jan 4, 2010 6:39 PM EST up reply actions
I doubt it.
I’m going to look into it, but I expect such loopholes would be either A) already closed or B) have the contracts shot down pretty quickly.
USG
read
I read somewhere that lux tax monies are held by mlb for a year anyway in case the deal changes and part has to be returned to the club but haven’t read anything on 2 contracts or even how they can change player options going against the team
They do hold a certain amount of every team's taxes.
It’s for things like terminating a contract based on a clause that lets you avoid paying him. Say a player shoots himself, on purpose, in the shoulder, and can’t play. Pretty much any contract would have a clause negating payment in that case. If that contract gets you under the CBT, you’re due some money back.
USG
Just checked.
Player options are considered guaranteed years unless the player will receive 50% or more of his contract by opting out. Essentially, the Sox would have to do the 3 million-15 million thing while offering him 7.5 million as a “buyout” essentially. And I’m fairly certain the buyout would then count against us anyways, and we’d be paying him 10.5 million for one year. Assuming he’s willing to even sign a 1 year contract to begin with.
Basically, they’ve seen your loophole, and they’ve closed it.
USG
I guess they would have had to anyway.
You see, you spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball, and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time. ~Jim Bouton, Ball Four, 1970
link
http://fenwaywest.com/2010-archives/january/red-sox-will-pay-luxury-tax-in-2010.html
You see, you spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball, and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time. ~Jim Bouton, Ball Four, 1970
Yeah, I didn't think they were going to pay it unless they got another player.
You see, you spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball, and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time. ~Jim Bouton, Ball Four, 1970
Beltre
Wow, just had a look at Beltre’s stats at Fenway Park…
56 AB’s, .179 AVE, .299 OBP, 0 HR’s, 4 RBI’s.
Rosenthal says A's are out
I’m hoping it really is a two year deal
DFA Beckett
by South Coast Ghost on Jan 4, 2010 6:09 PM EST reply actions
If the Angels are the other team, I'd be curious to see what they would ask for to bring Brandon Wood over
Signing Beltre would be his death knell.
DFA Beckett
by South Coast Ghost on Jan 4, 2010 6:35 PM EST up reply actions
I'm pretty sure...
…that Brandon Wood slept with Mrs. Scioscia or Rev Halofan or something. I mean, he’s decent, right?
Rock me, sexy Jesus...
by nuthinboutnuthin on Jan 4, 2010 6:41 PM EST up reply actions
I have this gut feeling we're turning into the Orioles
Since when was settling the answer? You settle, you turn into the Oreos.
All you defense guys remember how bad you wanted defense
come the middle of June and we are not hitting.
Trade Beckett !!!
I will definitely remember that
I’ll also remember it whenever a ball can’t get past the Iron Curtain that our infield would be
DFA Beckett
by South Coast Ghost on Jan 4, 2010 6:33 PM EST up reply actions
We won’t need to hit as much if the opponent scores less on us. Our offense isn’t going to be that much worse than it was last year (which was actually a pretty good offense, and don’t anyone say we can’t hit good pitching, that’s dumb because good pitchers get good by beating good offenses). A year of VMart and stability at short with Scutaro will make up a lot of the difference between the two lineups.
"We are not normal, We are Legends. People will tell their kids about us." - Deon Butler before Ohio State Game 2008.
Will do.
Explain why scoring runs is more important than preventing them, in the meantime.
Is winning 2-1 somehow worse than winning 8-7?
USG
+1
You see, you spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball, and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time. ~Jim Bouton, Ball Four, 1970
Hitting
If “we” are not hitting come June I highly doubt that Beltre one way or the other matters – Ellsbury, Youk, V-Mart, Pedroia, Drew would have to be the culprits.
I guess some forget we won a World Series with Kevin Millar, Mark Bellhorn, Trot Nixon and Orlando Cabrera as starters….
That was happened last year
The team went in an offensive slump in June/July. At least this time if it happens again the Sox have a much better chance at winning the game when the slump due to their overall upgraded defense.
So will we keep Lowell? or DFA him?
"Ninety percent [of my salary] I'll spend on good times, women, and Irish whiskey. The other ten percent I'll probably waste."
-Tug McGraw
Yup
Seems the most reasonable route
DFA Beckett
by South Coast Ghost on Jan 4, 2010 6:39 PM EST up reply actions
Trade?
Send him and 75% of his contract out for an ok but not great minor leaguer? Like what we would do with Texas for MaxRam. Someone will bite.
"We are not normal, We are Legends. People will tell their kids about us." - Deon Butler before Ohio State Game 2008.
I'd rather have him
as an overpriced bench player then an overpriced minor leaguer. If he spent ST learning 1st, he could be a decent bench bat for the corner spots
True
He definitely still sees himself as a starter. But the money’s being paid either way, and lowell has more value than whatever minor leaguer we’d get.
Max Ramirez had potential to be a big-time slugger.
That, 3 million dollars, and a possible clubhouse issue is worth less than a minor bonus over a standard bench player?
USG
I'm just sick of paying other team's players
And believe that Lowell is much better than Kotchman. Max Ramirez was a decent prospect but now that there are further injury concerns, any trade for Lowell would not return as good of a prospect.
Depends on how he looks in ST.
If we convince Texas he’s as good as he was thought before the surgery, then bam.
USG
So it looks like we MAY be getting closer to a resolution...
adrian beltre is close to a deal with the #redsox, si.com has learned. story should be up soon.
http://twitter.com/SI_JonHeyman
DFA Beckett
by South Coast Ghost on Jan 4, 2010 7:14 PM EST reply actions
Also with a possible opt-clause too
Interesting if true.
DFA Beckett
by South Coast Ghost on Jan 4, 2010 7:22 PM EST up reply actions
For the record, if it's only 2 years, it could be interesting.
That would leave the Red Sox with a sizable amount of expiring contracts after 2011.
USG
Yeppers
I always hoped we could have landed Beltre for a 2year deal.
Nobody is reporting 3 yet.
2 years with Beltre having the option to opt out after 1. We could use a long-term deal ATM, but Beltre isn’t the best guy to give one too.
USG
From MLB Rumors
Tim Brown of Yahoo! tweets that Beltre “has reached an agreement” with the Red Sox. According to Heyman, “Terms aren’t known, but the contract is believed to be for at least two years and include a player opt-out option that could make Beltre a free agent again next year if he chooses.”
I edited the headline after the first Brown post
Thought about changing it after the second one, but now Gammo says one year deal…
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I was going to after Brown made it official
We’ll make a new one when it is REALLY official, where multiple sources says it is
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Personally,
I prefer updates, so we don’t end up with multiple threads on the same theme.
Manny ain't the only bad man.
Yeah, we'll have one once it is OFFICIAL
Just so we can have some solid facts and don’t need to update
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Brown retracts
But Gammo:
“Beltre 1 yr. Deal for $9m with player option for $5m. Physical coming”
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I also like it
Especially the short-term deal.
I gotta go 'cause I'm probably definitely gonna nod out again.
by Drugs Delaney on Jan 4, 2010 7:33 PM EST up reply actions
Maybe with the Damon Fiasco
Boras is working up? Hey I can dream can’t I?
Even before Gammons came it most sources put it at a 2 year deal
At around $10MM a year.
DFA Beckett
by South Coast Ghost on Jan 4, 2010 7:36 PM EST up reply actions
Gammo
if Gammo is correct than it is a 9 mil with a 5 mil player option for 11 … Does that make it a 7 million lux tax hit then over 2 yrs?
A one year deal would be sweet.
Makes sense for Beltre, after his crap-tastic 2009, to take a year to try to show he’s healthy and hitting and see if he can’t parlay that into mo’ money next year.
Manny ain't the only bad man.
Random thought
If after half-a-year Papi isn’t working out, we can still swing an Adrian Gonzalez deal if Beltre is looking like he’ll leave after the year is over.
USG
If the Gammons deal is legit, I like it.
Galactus does as he pleases. Because Galactus is drunk.
I have a five-tool player in my pants.
So, if we put Cameron in Center, Ells in Left...
Where do you all put us defensively? Top-2 with the Mariners?
USG
I see a toss-up between us, the Mariners and the Rays.
While Figgins is good defensively, I think he’ll revert to his pre-2009 numbers next year. I don’t trust numbers that suggest a guy suddenly gets twice as good at age 30.
And Gutierrez’s 2009 was fluky.
Manny ain't the only bad man.
Is Chone better defensively than Beltre?
Because there is no way the Sox would have gotten Chone for Beltre’s contract.
Think about it
If the reports are true—and Cameron is in CF—the Sox will have elite gloves in CF, RF, 3B, 2B, and 1B. Ellsbury has a chance to be a very good defensive LF. Scutaro is a decent SS. Only at C will the Sox be below average (in arms at least).
I gotta go 'cause I'm probably definitely gonna nod out again.
Decent = above average in my book
Above average in SS and LF, if that’s where Ellsbury moves. That’s just a guess, obviously, but I think it’s safe to say.
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I'd say Ells is elite in left.
He’s like Carl Crawford. In about a quarter of a season, Ellsbury was a +7/9.3 UZR. Adjusted for a whole season, that’s ridiculous.
USG
'arms' are an overrated aspect of C defense
Give me a Catcher who can communicate with the pitcher, frame a pitch, block wild pitches and field bunts & pop-ups. Those are the most important defensive tasks of a catcher.
I really could care less about whether they have a cannon for an arm. And clearly the Red Sox pitching philosophy is NOT to hold runners and instead focus on batters. So they could care less too.
Both V-Mart and Varitek have plenty of experience catching for some of the best pitching in MLB over the last few years. V-Mart has two recent Cy Young winners under his watch. If I recall, Varitek has caught a few no-hitters…
My view: We are NOT below average defensively at catcher.
Arms are. But Varitek was clearly falling apart last year.
Dropped 3rd strikes ended up being a problem. Also, Martinez tends to take the overrated “arm” stat and make it perfectly rated. He doesn’t just get it there late, but I’ve seen the guy airmail too many throws in too short a time.
I’d feel much safer with Wagner backing up Vic instead of Tek. Let him come in late inning situations and cut down anyone who tries to play small ball and break or make a tie.
USG
by Ben Buchanan on Jan 4, 2010 10:52 PM EST up reply actions
+1 to having Wagner at the Show
I really, really like everything I’m learning about him. I am hoping that Tek will look a little better in part time duty, with less wear and tear. But yeah, I’d rather have Wagner.
I still feel strongly, though, that gunning down runners is near the absolute bottom of what you need out of catcher when it comes to defense. And especially with the “What? There’s a runner I’m supposed to be holding?” Red Sox pitching staff. Yes, ’Tek and Vic were not exactly launching sniper shots. But I swear 75% of the time they had no chance at catching anybody no matter if they had laser guided missiles, based on the jumps runners were getting on our pitchers.
It is just not in the Red Sox pitching/defensive philosophy to worry about preventing stolen bases. And I tend to agree. It should be completely secondary (if that) to getting batters out.
Defensively, the things I listed in my above post are far, far, far more important and we are fine in those areas.
Question for Sox fans
Now that Beltre is yours, can you pick up 3/4 the tab on Mike Lowell? We’ll send you a sandwich to take him off your hands for a few million.
We'll eat up $10MM if you give us Hicks!
DFA Beckett
by South Coast Ghost on Jan 4, 2010 7:49 PM EST up reply actions
Fine, $11MM
And we’ll take that aforementioned sandwich too!
DFA Beckett
by South Coast Ghost on Jan 4, 2010 7:56 PM EST up reply actions
Crasnick at ESPN Tweets:
“I just heard that Red Sox have talked to the Mets about a Mike Lowell-for-Luis Castillo trade. Not sure how serious it is.”
Whaaa?
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I'd do that deal
if it were straight up, no cash. Castillo would basically be an Alex Cora type, and he’d cost $6m less than Lowell.
Manny ain't the only bad man.
Not so hard to believe.
Castillo can play the role of utility middle infielder. They have equally bad contracts, and we may have gone overbudget by signing Beltre. Remember the $5 million rumors?
USG
Good points
Definitely wasn’t looking at it that way
Hell, I would LOVE this deal.
Get an OBP guy on the bench who can dodge a late-inning out (say, Beltre, if the OBP stays low) and bridge to the top of the lineup. Play backup infielder so Lowrie can get significant ABs in Pawtucket…
USG
Can Castillo really play middle infield well though?
He’s only played 2B in the majors, and really badly last year if UZR is to be believed. Not sure I would trust him at SS.
DFA Beckett
by South Coast Ghost on Jan 4, 2010 8:19 PM EST up reply actions
Lowell and 7 millions for Jeurys Familia
"That was a lot of fun… You just keep pounding balls into the gap. The one thing you don’t want to do is hit a home run. That’s a rally-killer." Jeff Francoeur
+/- agrees he's been awful for a bit.
But really, he’d just be there as a warm body for a game while Scutaro rests, or until Lowrie comes up in a DL situation.
The point is that our backup SS is basically in AAA. Castillo is a bench bat.
USG
Do you think we would have to throw some cash in ala the Rangers deal?
Fehr is fair, but I like Laich
Looking at Castillo's OBP, maybe.
But he’s got bad defense, and the Mets are looking to make a move in 2011 I’m guessing, not now after Bay. So it’s unlikely.
USG
YES
Great deal, just find a way to get rid of Lowell. I don’t care who its for or how much it costs. The Infield defense is going to be much improved this year.
Lineup Guesses?
Ells- LF
Peds- 2B
Drew- RF
Youk- 1B
VMart- C
Papi- DH
Cameron- CF
Beltre- 3B
Scutaro- 2B
Thoughts?
Fehr is fair, but I like Laich
cough Drew at leadoff cough
You see, you spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball, and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time. ~Jim Bouton, Ball Four, 1970
wow
great deal if reports hold. might have one of the top defenses of all time
This deal is just ridiculous
Theo’s plan reminded of a fanpost here sometime ago ;)
"That was a lot of fun… You just keep pounding balls into the gap. The one thing you don’t want to do is hit a home run. That’s a rally-killer." Jeff Francoeur
by radiohix on Jan 4, 2010 8:05 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
I like your/Theo's plan.
You see, you spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball, and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time. ~Jim Bouton, Ball Four, 1970
Next step
Mike to the Mets: Call Minaya Theo…Call him now (Who knows? maybe I have some magical power on the guy lol)
"That was a lot of fun… You just keep pounding balls into the gap. The one thing you don’t want to do is hit a home run. That’s a rally-killer." Jeff Francoeur
Thx
The idea of the post was: Run Prevention is an underrated value on the FAy maket and in the same time Slugging is overrated. Any smart GM would capitalize on those market defencies in the idea of building winz. And Theo is a smart MotherF*&*r!
"That was a lot of fun… You just keep pounding balls into the gap. The one thing you don’t want to do is hit a home run. That’s a rally-killer." Jeff Francoeur
Adrian is a great player, you guys will love him.
I am going to miss him. his results were not always great at the dish, but fenway should help that. His defense is unbelievable. and he plays his ass off every game. You guys will enjoy having him around. I wish him the best.
You can run, but you can't hide! Unless it's in this general area over here. Blindspot.
Ben/USG
Making a new thread because now it seems quite official
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