1. #456
    El Nino
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    Quote Originally Posted by JMobile View Post
    He gets to keep $210 K. Unreal.
    Pretty sure that amount was to offset the taxes he had to pay from the money the A's already paid him.

  2. #457
    JAKEPEAVY21
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    Quote Originally Posted by JMobile View Post
    It would sell tickets.

    Padres GM visited Machado today in Florida.
    this offseason or next is the time to make a splash in free agency with all these young talented players getting ready to contribute.

  3. #458
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    Quote Originally Posted by EmpireMaker View Post
    The Giants have interest in veteran infielder Yangervis Solarte, according to Alex Palovic of NBC Sports Bay Area (Twitter link).
    While this connection is decidedly less splashy than another recently reported expression of interest, Solarte seems to be a readily achievable target. He is looking for a new opportunity after the Blue Jays declined a $5.5MM club option and then non-tendered him.
    A 31-year-old infielder, Solarte is capable of lining up anywhere in the infield, though he has spent most of his time at third base and second base. Solarte has played some shortstop, though he has logged fewer innings there than he has at first.
    If he’s a utility piece, then, the switch-hitter is more of a bat-first option who probably shouldn’t be relied upon too heavily at shortstop. That profile arguably suits the Giants well, given that they’ll likely play Brandon Crawford nearly every day at shortstop but could stand to find complementary pieces at second and third base to go with Joe Panik and Evan Longoria.
    Solarte has at times been a solid overall contributor. From 2014 through 2017, he turned in over two thousand plate appearances of .267/.327/.419 hitting with 57 home runs. Defensive metrics have graded Solarte as an average or slightly below-average performer.
    Last year, though, was a rough season in all respects. Solarte topped five hundred plate appearances for the fourth time in his five MLB seasons, but slashed a meager .226/.277/.378 while receiving his lowest-ever marks defensively. No doubt a .233 batting average on balls in play reflected some poor fortune, though Statcast was not particularly enamored of his batted-ball profile, crediting him with a .284 wOBA and .299 xwOBA.
    Now in search of an opportunity to bounce back, Solarte will surely be looking for the best chance to carve out a significant role. If he lands in San Francisco, it stands to reason that Solarte would battle with Pablo Sandoval and Alen Hanson for a roster spot and/or position on the depth chart.

    lots of moves to make still

  4. #459
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    Giants still need some outfielders, what a terrible outfield.

  5. #460
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    Spring training is here and so many players unsigned.

  6. #461
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    Yankees make it official and announce that they signed Luis Severino to a four-year contract extending through the 2022 season, with a club option for the 2023 season.

  7. #462
    JMobile
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    Giants ended up getting Solarte.

  8. #463
    Cross
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    What’s with this fake news about giants being in on Harper?

  9. #464
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    Solarte seems like the type of player the Giants would sign. A guy who can play multiple postions and gives them some depth off the bench. Time will tell if they land any of the big name free agents though but I don't think they will given their recent history.

  10. #465
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    IMO they are thinking about it, the move fits their style. Plus, their current outfield group is weak.

    Quote Originally Posted by Cross View Post
    What’s with this fake news about giants being in on Harper?

  11. #466
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    4:48pm: The Yankees have now announced the agreement.
    11:00am Severino’s fifth-year option is worth $15MM and comes with a $2.75MM buyout, tweets ESPN’s Jeff Passan. He’ll earn a $2MM signing bonus, a $4MM salary in 2019, $10MM in 2020, $10.25MM in 2021 and $11MM in 2022. In all, Severino can earn up to $52.25MM if the option is exercised.
    As has been the case with numerous recent extensions — Max Kepler, Jorge Polanco, Whit Merrifield — Severino’s deal is more front-loaded than conventional extensions. That’s been agreed upon in some cases as a means of protection against a potential work stoppage upon completion of the current CBA in 2021.
    10:41am: The Yankees and right-hander Luis Severino have avoided arbitration by agreeing to a multi-year contract, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter links). The new contract is pending a physical. Severino, a client of Rep 1 Baseball, will be guaranteed $40MM over a four-year contract that contains a club option for a fifth season.

    The first major payday comes as an early birthday present for Severino, who’ll turn 25 next Wednesday. It’s a well-earned contract for the Dominican-born righty, who to this point in his career has turned in a 3.51 ERA in 518 innings of work. Over the past two seasons, Severino has been both excellent and consistent, compiling a combined 3.18 ERA with 10.5 K/9, 2.3 BB/9, 0.94 HR/9 and a 46 percent ground-ball rate in 384 2/3 innings of work. Though he’s yet to find success in the postseason spotlight, the Yankees’ strong core should afford Severino ample opportunities to do so over the life of this contract.
    Severino had been arbitration-eligible for the first time as a Super Two player, meaning he was already controlled for those four seasons. However, the new contract arrangement affords the team with control over what would have been the right-hander’s first season of free agency.
    Severino’s camp filed for a $5.25MM salary against the Yankees’ submission of $4.4MM (as can be seen in MLBTR’s Arbitration Tracker), so this contract promises him what would be at least an additional $35.6MM for his three subsequent arbitration seasons (or an additional $34.75MM in the scenario where he had won that case). Heading into arbitration, Severino and righty Aaron Nola were viewed as similar cases, and the similarity between the pair of extensions they signed this week — Nola inked a four-year, $45MM pact on Wednesday — further speak to the comparable nature of their cases.
    The most notable difference between the pair of right-handers, though, was that Nola had already surpassed three year of service, while Severino was a Super Two. So while the Phillies gained control over an additional two seasons of Nola (in exchange for an additional $5MM in guarantees), the Yankees are buying out just one free-agent year. Severino will now hit the open market in advance of his age-30 season.
    As was the case with the Nola deal, there’s some risk baked into this new pact for Severino. While one can hardly fault him from wanting to secure a first life-altering contract, Severino is also forgoing the opportunity to reach free agency heading into his age-29 campaign — an age at which Patrick Corbin received a six-year, $140MM contract. Granted, he’s only pushing the free-agent clock back by one season, but teams have shown an increased reluctance to pay a premium as players enter their early and mid-30s. It’s also quite possible that with at least $4.4MM (and potentially as much as $5.25MM) already banked, Severino could’ve handily topped $40MM in total earnings over the course of his four arbitration seasons.
    Of course, those risks apply to virtually any early-career extension, and Severino’s new arrangement provides him with a nice safety net in the event that he incurs a serious injury or unexpected decline — either of which could radically alter his earning capacity in a scenario where he’d opted to go year-to-year through the arbitration process.
    Looking at historical precedent, the contract, like Nola’s, is somewhat of a half measure. Severino isn’t fully betting on himself, surrendering his earliest opportunity at free agency in exchange for an immediate payday, but his camp also opted not to go for broke in terms of establishing a new precedent for Super Two starting pitcher extensions.
    As shown in MLBTR’s Extension Tracker, Gio Gonzalez’s now seven-year-old extension with the Nationals (five years, $42MM and two club options) still stands out as the largest contract ever signed by a pitcher with between two and three years of service time. Severino did top Corey Kluber’s $38.5MM deal with the Indians by a slight margin, but Kluber wasn’t Super Two eligible and was four years older at that point than Severino is now. Of course, both Gonzalez and Kluber agreed to five-year guarantees with multiple club options as part of those contracts, whereas Severino only surrendered five years of control in total. With that in mind, it’s likely that the Yankees would have wanted (at least) an additional year of control over Severino in order to firmly set a new precedent — something to which Severino’s camp may simply not have been amenable.
    Historical context aside, Severino’s contract will push the Yankees’ 2019 payroll to just north of $202MM and come with a $10MM hit on their luxury tax payroll, which is calculated by contracts’ average annual value as opposed to their year-to-year salaries. The Severino extension, then, brings New York’s 2019 luxury tax ledger to a bit more than $222MM, per Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez, which checks in about $16MM north of the $206MM luxury threshold. Looking beyond the current season, the Yankees now have nearly $146MM committed to the 2020 payroll and more than $161MM on their 2020 luxury ledger.

  12. #467
    ApricotSinner32
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    Is empiremaker the same guy who buried Tufffish on partypoker about 10 years ago?

  13. #468
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    Quote Originally Posted by koz-man View Post
    Yankees make it official and announce that they signed Luis Severino to a four-year contract extending through the 2022 season, with a club option for the 2023 season.
    Nice deal

  14. #469
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    Quote Originally Posted by ApricotSinner32 View Post
    Is empiremaker the same guy who buried Tufffish on partypoker about 10 years ago?
    I think empire poker and party poker were the same thing

  15. #470
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    Brian Cashman didn't commit to this fully, but said today it could be possible Jacoby Ellsbury begins the season on the DL due to his setbacks from plantar fasciitis. He'll be in camp at the earliest mid-late March, Cashman said. Currently, Ellsbury is going through 6-8 hours a day of physical therapy in Arizona with a Yankees trainer. He/team feel it's better for him to stay out there for now. Ellsbury recently had a cortisone injection that's also slowed his progression.

  16. #471
    JAKEPEAVY21
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    I'm on the owners side in the potential upcoming labor dispute...tired of listening to these guys whine about making millions.

  17. #472
    BigSpoon
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    Quote Originally Posted by JAKEPEAVY21 View Post
    I'm on the owners side in the potential upcoming labor dispute...tired of listening to these guys whine about making millions.
    I'm on the players side, I always side with the labor. Owners always holding cities hostage for tax breaks and public funding for ballparks. Meanwhile tv deals and franchise values always going up for them, penetrate those billionaires.

  18. #473
    JMobile
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    Jake, are you going to miss Solarte? He will be back in the NL West though.

  19. #474
    batt33
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    Quote Originally Posted by jrgum3 View Post
    Solarte seems like the type of player the Giants would sign. A guy who can play multiple postions and gives them some depth off the bench. Time will tell if they land any of the big name free agents though but I don't think they will given their recent history.
    I tend to agree with you....

  20. #475
    hotcross
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    saw this headline today....

    Tim Tebow says that the Alliance of American Football keeps calling him to play,
    but he insists he is committed to playing baseball.

  21. #476
    EmpireMaker
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    Per Andrew Baggarly and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the Giants are “finalizing” an agreement to bring outfielder Cameron Maybin to Spring camp as a non-roster invitee.
    Maybin, 32 in April, has spent time with four teams over the last two seasons, dropping an identical 88 wRC+ in each. Mired for the last three seasons in fourth-outfielder limbo, the former first-rounder has seen his once-vaunted center-field defense decline sharply with age. In nearly 2,800 innings at the position since the beginning of 2015, the longtime MLB vet has posted -26 DRS, though his numbers did normalize a bit in the last two seasons.
    Rushed to the big leagues at the ripe age of 20, Maybin was quickly shipped in the Miguel Cabrera trade to Miami, where he never quite found his footing at the plate. A cross-country swap to San Diego offered respite, and Maybin’s 105 wRC+, 4.3 fWAR 2011 season precipitated a 5 year, $25MM extension for the young outfielder. Tough times followed, though, and the Friars cut their losses just three seasons in.
    The then-29-year-old looked to turn a corner in 2016, when he slashed .315/.383/.418 for Detroit in part-time play, though his BABIP (.383) was hardly congruent with his hard-hit rate (24.7%), and he again faced regression the next season. All told, Maybin has slashed a respectable .254/.322/.368 (92 wRC+) in 3,848 lifetime MLB plate appearances, which mirrors closely his Steamer projection (92 wRC+) for the upcoming season.
    The Giants would figure to have a place for Maybin in center, as the weak side of a Steven Duggar platoon, but the up-for-grabs outfield, the sloppiest projected crop in years by the bay, could align with him in a full-time role at either corner. Either way, he’ll jostle with a veritable grab-bag of candidates, including Gerardo Parra, Mac Williamson, Austin Slater, Chris Shaw, John Andreoli, Cesar Puello, Mike Gerber, Craig Gentry, Drew Ferguson, and Anthony Garcia, for any number of roles. ZiPS, interestingly, projects Ferguson, the Rule-5 selection, and Garcia, the longtime Cardinal farmhand, to post the highest WAR totals of any Giants outfielders in the upcoming season.

  22. #477
    jrgum3
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    Another day and no big free agents sign. Got to be one of the slowest Hot Stove seasons ever...

  23. #478
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    Who is the best bet as a Red Sox catcher – Christian Vazquez, Sandy Leon or Blake Swihart?! I hope they sign Vasquez

  24. #479
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    Quote Originally Posted by EmpireMaker View Post
    Per Andrew Baggarly and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the Giants are “finalizing” an agreement to bring outfielder Cameron Maybin to Spring camp as a non-roster invitee.
    Maybin, 32 in April, has spent time with four teams over the last two seasons, dropping an identical 88 wRC+ in each. Mired for the last three seasons in fourth-outfielder limbo, the former first-rounder has seen his once-vaunted center-field defense decline sharply with age. In nearly 2,800 innings at the position since the beginning of 2015, the longtime MLB vet has posted -26 DRS, though his numbers did normalize a bit in the last two seasons.
    Rushed to the big leagues at the ripe age of 20, Maybin was quickly shipped in the Miguel Cabrera trade to Miami, where he never quite found his footing at the plate. A cross-country swap to San Diego offered respite, and Maybin’s 105 wRC+, 4.3 fWAR 2011 season precipitated a 5 year, $25MM extension for the young outfielder. Tough times followed, though, and the Friars cut their losses just three seasons in.
    The then-29-year-old looked to turn a corner in 2016, when he slashed .315/.383/.418 for Detroit in part-time play, though his BABIP (.383) was hardly congruent with his hard-hit rate (24.7%), and he again faced regression the next season. All told, Maybin has slashed a respectable .254/.322/.368 (92 wRC+) in 3,848 lifetime MLB plate appearances, which mirrors closely his Steamer projection (92 wRC+) for the upcoming season.
    The Giants would figure to have a place for Maybin in center, as the weak side of a Steven Duggar platoon, but the up-for-grabs outfield, the sloppiest projected crop in years by the bay, could align with him in a full-time role at either corner. Either way, he’ll jostle with a veritable grab-bag of candidates, including Gerardo Parra, Mac Williamson, Austin Slater, Chris Shaw, John Andreoli, Cesar Puello, Mike Gerber, Craig Gentry, Drew Ferguson, and Anthony Garcia, for any number of roles. ZiPS, interestingly, projects Ferguson, the Rule-5 selection, and Garcia, the longtime Cardinal farmhand, to post the highest WAR totals of any Giants outfielders in the upcoming season.

  25. #480
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    Quote Originally Posted by JaimeMiro View Post
    Who is the best bet as a Red Sox catcher – Christian Vazquez, Sandy Leon or Blake Swihart?! I hope they sign Vasquez

    Vasquez would work

  26. #481
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    Vasquez would work

  27. #482
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    Quote Originally Posted by JMobile View Post
    Jake, are you going to miss Solarte? He will be back in the NL West though.
    I liked him because he plays with passion.

  28. #483
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    Cardinals expect Marcell Ozuna to be ready Opening Day

    JUPITER, Fla. -- St. Louis Cardinals left fielder Marcell Ozuna will be on a limited throwing program to start the spring but is expected to be ready for Opening Day, manager Mike Shildt said Saturday.
    Ozuna underwent offseason shoulder surgery and is still in the rehabilitation process.
    "Just making sure that he's being stretched out, healthy and moving forward," Shildt said. "But his program has been nothing but positive feedback, has been great, and he's feeling good."
    St. Louis acquired Ozuna in a trade with Miami before the 2018 season. He had 37 homers and 124 RBI in 2017. Hampered by a lingering shoulder injury, Ozuna hit .280 with 23 homers and 88 RBI for St. Louis last season.
    Ozuna will serve mostly as a designated hitter once Grapefruit League play begins. He'll be eased back into left field as the spring schedule progresses.
    Shildt isn't at all worried that the slugger won't be ready when the Cardinals open the season at Milwaukee on March 28.
    "Hasn't caused me [to lose] a wink of sleep," Shildt said.

  29. #484
    BigSpoon
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    Quote Originally Posted by JAKEPEAVY21 View Post
    I liked him because he plays with passion.
    He had an off year with the Jays last season.

  30. #485
    JMobile
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    Well, the Brewers signed Moustakas. Padres better sign Machado now or another season in last place.

  31. #486
    El Nino
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    Quote Originally Posted by koz-man View Post
    Cardinals expect Marcell Ozuna to be ready Opening Day


    JUPITER, Fla. -- St. Louis Cardinals left fielder Marcell Ozuna will be on a limited throwing program to start the spring but is expected to be ready for Opening Day, manager Mike Shildt said Saturday.
    Ozuna underwent offseason shoulder surgery and is still in the rehabilitation process.
    "Just making sure that he's being stretched out, healthy and moving forward," Shildt said. "But his program has been nothing but positive feedback, has been great, and he's feeling good."
    St. Louis acquired Ozuna in a trade with Miami before the 2018 season. He had 37 homers and 124 RBI in 2017. Hampered by a lingering shoulder injury, Ozuna hit .280 with 23 homers and 88 RBI for St. Louis last season.
    Ozuna will serve mostly as a designated hitter once Grapefruit League play begins. He'll be eased back into left field as the spring schedule progresses.
    Shildt isn't at all worried that the slugger won't be ready when the Cardinals open the season at Milwaukee on March 28.
    "Hasn't caused me [to lose] a wink of sleep," Shildt said.
    Guy could barely throw the ball in from left field towards the end of the season. Must be nice to be healthy again.

  32. #487
    batt33
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    Quote Originally Posted by EmpireMaker View Post
    Per Andrew Baggarly and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the Giants are “finalizing” an agreement to bring outfielder Cameron Maybin to Spring camp as a non-roster invitee.
    Maybin, 32 in April, has spent time with four teams over the last two seasons, dropping an identical 88 wRC+ in each. Mired for the last three seasons in fourth-outfielder limbo, the former first-rounder has seen his once-vaunted center-field defense decline sharply with age. In nearly 2,800 innings at the position since the beginning of 2015, the longtime MLB vet has posted -26 DRS, though his numbers did normalize a bit in the last two seasons.
    Rushed to the big leagues at the ripe age of 20, Maybin was quickly shipped in the Miguel Cabrera trade to Miami, where he never quite found his footing at the plate. A cross-country swap to San Diego offered respite, and Maybin’s 105 wRC+, 4.3 fWAR 2011 season precipitated a 5 year, $25MM extension for the young outfielder. Tough times followed, though, and the Friars cut their losses just three seasons in.
    The then-29-year-old looked to turn a corner in 2016, when he slashed .315/.383/.418 for Detroit in part-time play, though his BABIP (.383) was hardly congruent with his hard-hit rate (24.7%), and he again faced regression the next season. All told, Maybin has slashed a respectable .254/.322/.368 (92 wRC+) in 3,848 lifetime MLB plate appearances, which mirrors closely his Steamer projection (92 wRC+) for the upcoming season.
    The Giants would figure to have a place for Maybin in center, as the weak side of a Steven Duggar platoon, but the up-for-grabs outfield, the sloppiest projected crop in years by the bay, could align with him in a full-time role at either corner. Either way, he’ll jostle with a veritable grab-bag of candidates, including Gerardo Parra, Mac Williamson, Austin Slater, Chris Shaw, John Andreoli, Cesar Puello, Mike Gerber, Craig Gentry, Drew Ferguson, and Anthony Garcia, for any number of roles. ZiPS, interestingly, projects Ferguson, the Rule-5 selection, and Garcia, the longtime Cardinal farmhand, to post the highest WAR totals of any Giants outfielders in the upcoming season.
    Giants have a crowded outfield going into spring training....with little hope of a breakout person.....but ya never know...

  33. #488
    Cross
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    This is going to be the week for a big signing, it just can’t go any longer.

  34. #489
    jrgum3
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    Maybin should be able to start in one of the Giants corner outfield spots but it's more likely he platoons with one or more of the youngsters they invited to spring training.

  35. #490
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    Extension talks between Khris Davis and the A’s have been taking place for over a year, and the slugger reiterated to media members (including MLB.com’s Jane Lee) on Sunday that his desire is to remain in Oakland. To this end, Davis is also willing to take a salary cut to make an extension happen, telling Lee that he would be willing to accept $10MM per year if the A’s were to extend through at least the 2021 season.

    This would represent a pretty significant salary reduction for Davis, who is set to earn $16.5MM in 2019 after he and the Athletics avoided arbitration by settling on a contract in Davis’ final year of arb-eligibility. Davis, however, recognized that his market could be limited in free agency next winter. He’ll be 33 years old on Opening Day of the 2020 season, and he doesn’t offer a well-rounded game — beyond his power bat, Davis is a sub-standard baserunner and defender, and best suited for a DH spot at this stage in his career. Though he has been a solidly above-average hitter overall (career 125 wRC+) thanks to his huge power, Davis also isn’t a big on-base threat or known to post a high batting average, as per his well-documented streak of four straight seasons with a .247 batting average.

    I don’t want to break the bank. I want to be happy playing baseball. I’m not trying to max out the dollars,” Davis said. “$16 million, this is the top for me. I don’t want more than that. I’ll probably have to take a cut, and that’s fine, as long as I’m here.”
    It’s an unusually public stance for a player to take, and perhaps one that Davis’ agent and/or the MLBPA might have concerns about given how the union is facing a league-wide slowdown on free agent salaries. From Oakland’s perspective, the club may feel that it has enough leverage to perhaps avoid an extension whatsoever, taking the gamble that Davis might still be eager to re-sign at a discount after the season, even if he posts more big numbers. Extending Davis even at a modest two-year deal for around $20MM through 2021 still carries some risk for the A’s now, as a lower-payroll team like the Athletics can hardly afford even a $10MM payroll albatross should Davis’ production fall off.

    Still, in a vacuum, Davis’ comments aren’t too far removed from any highly-paid veteran player acknowledging that their next contract will be of lesser value, or a player who prioritizes a certain team or playing for a contender over a wider scope of free agent choices. Davis’ home run totals have also allowed him to capture $32MM over his three arbitration years, so he is already more than secure financially. As Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle noted earlier this winter, contract length “is far more important to Davis than the annual value of the contract,” and Davis told reporters today that he hopes to keep wearing an A’s jersey for “at least three more years.”

    It’s not a good thing being a free agent right now,” Davis said. “I’m already 31. I don’t know if I’m too old. There’s a lot of things that run through my head.

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