I noted on Twitter yesterday evening that, with the Winter Meetings taking place this week, the gentle simmer of the 2011/12 offseason Hot Stove so far was about to come to the boil.
The Winter Meetings hadn’t even began before that prediction came true. It was announced late on Sunday evening that the Miami Marlins have reportedly agreed a six-year deal with shortstop Jose Reyes.
It was difficult not to view the Miami Marlins’ public courting of the leading free agents with cynicism. Their previous money-pinching ways have seen to that. While the financial boost of moving to a new ballpark, largely funded by the taxpayer, gave them the resources and motivation to make a splash, old habits die hard. Do they genuinely believe they can sign Albert Pujols or do they simply think showing him around will boost season ticket sales?
Pujols may be beyond their reaches – although it does look like they are making a firm effort to sign him – but Reyes was ticketed as their number one offseason target and the fact that they have reeled him in should ramp up the excitement in Miami.
Reports suggested that the former Met was looking for ‘Carl Crawford money’, by which was meant a comparative sum to the seven-year/$142m contract that the left fielder signed with the Boston Red Sox this time last year.
He hasn’t quite reached that level in terms of guaranteed years and dollars. Reyes’ injury history always made Crawford’s contract a staring point to work backwards from, rather than an achievable target. However, Reyes hasn’t exactly missed out.
The reported deal sees Reyes banking $102m over the next six years – that’s £65,093,480.43, or £208,632.95 per week – with a $22m option for a seventh year or a $4m buyout. Continue reading
or a while now, and we’re not even half way through yet. At the time of writing my team, the Milwaukee Brewers, have just completed a closely fought four game sweep of the Florida Marlins, immediately followed by a fairly disappointing series at home to the New York Mets.
It’s the final day of May and all baseball fans will be sorry to see the month end. After Ubaldo Jimenez gave us a no-hitter in April, Dallas Braden and Roy Halladay turned this month into one for the ages as both pitched perfect games.