Braves Sign Matt Diaz, Others
by gondeee on Dec 12, 2009 11:21 AM EST
in Braves Related Free Agents
59 comments
Kudos to the Atlanta Braves for getting one of their arbitration eligible players signed already for next year -- something that can usually drag on into spring training. Matt Diaz agreed to a one-year $2.55 million deal in the last 24 hours, that's a raise of over $1 million from last year's salary of $1.237 million.
That leaves three players who remain unsigned by the Braves; second baseman Kelly Johnson, and relievers Peter Moylan and Boone Logan. Midnight tonight is the deadline for the Braves to offer them a contract. That doesn't mean they have to come to terms, they simply have to be tendered a contract for 2010. The Braves are expected to face a tough decision on Kelly Johnson, who is likely to make around $4 million and may not have a starting role.
I got an email from a reader alerting me to several minor league signings as well as international signings by the Braves. I'm trying to get them to source this information, so until then consider it as unsourced:
Minor League signings not posted on site yet: Mariano Gomez LHP, Gerardo Avila 1B, Luis Bolivar 3B, Eric Duncan 3B, Mauro Gomez 1B, Brent Clevlen OF, Mitch Jones OF, Juan Gonzalez OF
International Signings to date:
Mexico - Daniel Castro (ss), Javier Morales (rhp)
Panama - Abraham Espinosa (rhp), Luis Madrid (ss)
Venezuela - Erick Maldonado (of), Jesus Saldeno (rhp), Elias Valdez (lhp)
Nicaragua - Enrique Medina (lhp), Elieser Salmeron (of)
Dominican - Emmanuel Daniel (of)
Spain - Alejandro Martinez (ss)Current players expected to receive visas from DSL: Juan Flores OF Victor Cadette RHP Luis de Luna RHP Amilcar Gaxiola LHP Andy Otero LHP Jorge Paulino RHP Williams Perez RHP Alexis Pinto LHP Ernesto Silva RHP Erick Epifano IF Omar Llapur 1B Edison Sanchez 3B
No, that is not the Juan Gonzalez, I believe he's an outfielder of the same name who played last with the St. Louis organization.
The reader also passed along this article on our baseball academy in Tenerife.
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The problem with the system that allows small market teams to exist? The system that protects players so that teams like the Yankees who have no payroll limitations? The system that guarantees eventually he will be on the open market?
Aside from some creative way to keep the Yankees from spending gobs of money, the system is actually pretty awesome. Besides, Matt Diaz is about to get paid $2.5 million dollars just to play baseball.
It’s clear that baseball needs a salary cap but that isn’t going to happen for a few years. A lot of those small market teams made money last year but were to cheap to spend any of it. The only team that I know for sure that actually lost money last year was Cleavland.
The system is also dumb because as soon as a player hits arb. they almost always get a raise. The team has to offer them at least 80% of last years salary. I’m sure a player has had a reduced salary because of this but I can’t think of one.
Another knock against it is that while a lot of players stay somewhat cheap during their 3 years of arb. others get huge raises from year to year, check Howard and Lincecum. When a small market team has one of those type players they are forced to sign him long term and hope that he continues to get better and doesn’t fall off the table.
It all works out though. There is a system of checks and balances. A player takes a big pay cut for the first few years so that they can take that big pay increase. I don’t understand what you see as being wrong here. Forcing players to play for cheap, but ensuring they get a pay raise or a long-term commitment in the future has worked very well.
Small market teams have been successful. I mean Florida has been able to keep HanRam. Arbitration raises depend 100% on the situation. If a team doesn’t want to commit long term to big name talent they aren’t forced to. Rather than pay a large sum over 8 years, they just pay a smaller sum for one year. Checks and Balances.
I think my main change to the system would be that a team may only sign one pitching and one position type A free agent in the offseason. This will keep the Yankees from getting too many players at once and drive free agent contracts down a little. I also think as a blanket statement no player’s yearly salary can exceed the payroll of the lowest team (e.g. this year no one’s salary should be higher than the Pirates $26 million.)
A lot of the good players that go through arb. with a small market team usually get traded anyway and go to free agency with another team. It’s usually a big market team that trades for them. The no player can make over $26M thing isn’t that big of a deal. There’s only a couple players making over that anyway.
My biggest issue with it is that it allows small market teams to pay below market value for very good players and as soon as they become expensive they trade them. Some of the best players in baseball are very much underpaid.
I would rather see a salary cap in baseball because I think it would limit player salaries and then you could you wouldn’t have players making A-Rod money because it would cut into the cap to much.
How do you figure that the cap isn’t working in the NFL. It forces teams to draft well and not rely on free agency. The teams that stay bad are the ones that draft bad.
I doubt they go on a strike because neither side wants to lose money. They are working on a new CBA.
But it's also flawed
Top ten rookies on their initial contracts are the highest paid players in the NFL. That ruins some of the competitive balance that the draft is supposed to provide-teams with high draft picks can’t sign good free agents because all their money is tied up in their young, unproven talent.
Hence, Indianapolis, New England, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Dallas are in the playoffs pretty much every year, and the Rams, Lions, Raiders, and Browns are horrible, and can’t improve.
In the NFL, if you want to change from becoming a bad team to a competitive team, you have to get lucky-ie, landing Matt Ryan or Adrian Peterson. If you draft someone that looks promising but struggles, like Darren McFadden, you’re just stuck because those picks are getting over $10 million per year, and they’re not proportionately better players than the guys taken at the end of first round.
People talk about MLB needing to improve the competitive balance, but over the past 10-15 years, it’s been much better than the NFL because teams have the ability to acquire young, cost controlled talent.
Really?
The NFL teams you mentioned have only been relevant the past decade or so; and they all came out of horrible slumps with intelligent draft picks and smart free agent decisions. Also the teams you mentioned as not being able to improve have all been good for long stretches in the past, but made terrible decisions so are mired at the bottom of the league.
In the NFL there are no teams like the Yankees for extended periods of time unless they stay on top of their game. No NFL team simply picks the best free agents on the markets and signs them at will.
If you make poor picks, your team will be bad. On the other hand, if you make good picks, your team will be good. It’s as simple as that in the NFL; there are no teams that dominate the FA market every off season like the Yankees or Red Sox do.
Not exactly.
McFadden’s cap number this year is only around $8 mil, and because most of that is a roster bonus, it drops down below $4 mil next year. And suggesting that the NFL has better competitive balance is ridiculous. Ask fans in KC, Baltimore, and Toronto how they feel about the competitive balance.
Overheard in press box, from local reporter: 'If this Moore kid was any good, they'd be up 31-0 right now.'
--Darin Gantt, on CAR@NE
by MichaelProcton on Dec 17, 2009 9:32 AM EST up reply actions
There is?
When did that become final?
Overheard in press box, from local reporter: 'If this Moore kid was any good, they'd be up 31-0 right now.'
--Darin Gantt, on CAR@NE
by MichaelProcton on Dec 17, 2009 9:29 AM EST up reply actions
It isn't?
Every team knows they can compete every year.
Overheard in press box, from local reporter: 'If this Moore kid was any good, they'd be up 31-0 right now.'
--Darin Gantt, on CAR@NE
by MichaelProcton on Dec 17, 2009 9:29 AM EST up reply actions
Your right
The problem with the system is that he would have gotten alot more. The system is the problem eh’
Matty D. Back for more next year...
.325 AVG
17HRS
81RBI
Seems about right to me…
MATT DIAZ IS THE F**K*NG MAN.
They made me change my signature...
Where 70% of the time he is a .255/.349/.400/.749 16HR/162G player.
Don’t get me wrong, I love MattyD but I’d rather use him when we get a 1.100 OPS Diaz and not the .750 OPS Diaz.
Maybe we could platoon him in LF with someone on our roster who can’t hit lefties…. like McLouth who hit .192/.280/.298/.578 with us against lefties. I mean seriously, he was really bad.
Bill James says...
.305, 10, 46.
Overheard in press box, from local reporter: 'If this Moore kid was any good, they'd be up 31-0 right now.'
--Darin Gantt, on CAR@NE
by MichaelProcton on Dec 17, 2009 9:34 AM EST up reply actions
They actually play baseball in Spain? I’m shocked.
What the heck is this “DSL” that is supposedly going to give visas? I have no idea what that acronym means.
Tenerife is a warm-weather island in the Canary chain off the coast of Africa that belongs to Spain… the kid is from there.
DSL stands for Dominican Summer Leaguke. The Braves have a Rookie league down there where they send most of their international Latin American signings for a year or two, especially since most of them are not old enough to play in the US.
Great deal for the braves!!!!!
I hope we keep Kelly Johnson. He has value and would be useful for our team next year. I understand that he might be without a starting role but I think it’s in the braves interest to sign him and continue to field offers for him. Worst case scenario, PRADO, get’s injured, doesn’t live up to the one year hype, and Kelly takes his role back over.
We could also put Prado at 1B dump Lowe’s contract and either sign a big bat for LF or have some financial flexibility for a mid-season transaction.
The Mitch Jones? with 3998 AB and 236 HR in 10 minor league seasons? MiLB Round Tripper Award (Triple-A) Winner? Wow.
Maybe he can be our new (and improved) designated PH.
I noticed that...
he had some pretty impressive power numbers with insane OPS’s. Considering he’s never gotten a chance I can only assume he’s a butcher in the field.
Yeah, but god does he strike out a lot.
30% K rate? Ugh.
Overheard in press box, from local reporter: 'If this Moore kid was any good, they'd be up 31-0 right now.'
--Darin Gantt, on CAR@NE
by MichaelProcton on Dec 17, 2009 9:36 AM EST up reply actions
At MLBTR Ken Rosenthal is reporting that the Braves are trying to trade Johnson, if they can’t they will non tender him.
So they don't have to compete for him in FA.
Overheard in press box, from local reporter: 'If this Moore kid was any good, they'd be up 31-0 right now.'
--Darin Gantt, on CAR@NE
by MichaelProcton on Dec 17, 2009 9:36 AM EST up reply actions
Outstanding minor league signings. Duncan is a power hitter who’s been mired in AAA for the Yakees for at least 3 years and will probably do well with a change of scenery, Jones probably isn’t as good as his PCL numbers but he’s still a fine hitter and could push for a big league job, Clevlen is a good outfielder and a good power source who needs some polish, and Bolivar is a super utility player who could end up on the bench. Love it.
I wrote a novel, it's about baseball, you should buy it: https://www.createspace.com/3407939
www.dropoutproductions.com
Love the Clevlen signing as well. Low risk, big upside.
Not as excited about the Duncan move, he hasn’t shown he can hit in AAA, but he is a former first rounder, so maybe he just needs a change of scenery.
If Albert played in the AFL, they’d have to rename it the AZ/NM Fall League, based on where his homers landed.
I like Duncan. I don’t think he’s as bad as he’s played. I really think it came down to a lack of motivation; he just didn’t see any prospect of ever moving up to the Yankees.
I wrote a novel, it's about baseball, you should buy it: https://www.createspace.com/3407939
www.dropoutproductions.com
Perhaps. He’s been stuck in AAA for years and still hasn’t shown in can hit AAA pitching. But maybe he’ll turn it around. Doesn’t cost much to find out.
If Albert played in the AFL, they’d have to rename it the AZ/NM Fall League, based on where his homers landed.
I think half the reason he’s been stuck in AAA is because he’s a corner infielder and was blocked in the NYY system. Good point though, he might turn it around
(Yunel is still the Queen of Hearts)
Yeah, he’s mostly been blocked because of his position but also just because he’s a Yankee minor leaguer. if your not a stud, they just don’t move you to the majors. Not that he deserved it, I’m just saying in general that’s the thing. Kind of like the Mets and white minor leaguers.
I wrote a novel, it's about baseball, you should buy it: https://www.createspace.com/3407939
www.dropoutproductions.com
It’s been a few years since I’ve seen him, so he could have gotten better, or worse, but I never thought he was that bad. Just kind of average both in the OF and at 1B.
I wrote a novel, it's about baseball, you should buy it: https://www.createspace.com/3407939
www.dropoutproductions.com
ok...
any idea why he hasn’t gotten anything more than a small handful of big league at bats last year in his entire career, in spite of an OPS the last three years of 1.099, .942, and 1.015? His numbers the last few years in the Dodgers AAA have been ridiculous—226 hits in 772 ABs (.292), with 64 2B, 5 3B, 70 HR (just over 1:11 ABs), and 15:3 SB:CS? PCL, sure, but he’s raked out there and was always a big HR bat when in the Yankees system.
by Mr. Sanchez on Dec 13, 2009 10:09 PM EST up reply actions
The Yankees part I can explain because they’re the Yankees. They just don’t value their minor league system. I never understand when a guy signs with them. My buddy Jon Weber complained all this year about being stuck at AAA with the Rays then I see the other day he signed with the Yankees. Major facepalm.
As far as the Dodgers, frankly they tend to value older players too, especially since Torre came around. He’s had Loney locking down 1B and guys like Kemp, Ethier, Pierre, M Ramirez, A Jones, and L Gonzalez in the outfield; the ones who aren’t expensive are young. Hard to get past those guys.
And really by the time he signed with the Dodgers he was a 28 year old who had never played in the Majors. It’s not right, but most teams undervalue guys like that, even when they already have them and they’re mashing at AAA. At lot of unfair crap happens.
I wrote a novel, it's about baseball, you should buy it: https://www.createspace.com/3407939
www.dropoutproductions.com
hope he gets the chance here...
although I’d assume we’d sign over his head for R/LF and 1B, although he might fit the idea of half season tryout to see if they can be a legit MLB contributor until Heyward/Schafer are good to go.
by Mr. Sanchez on Dec 14, 2009 12:13 AM EST up reply actions
Tons and tons of strikeouts.
When you’re K-ing at 30% in the minors, people are probably scared to death of you against big-league pitching.
Overheard in press box, from local reporter: 'If this Moore kid was any good, they'd be up 31-0 right now.'
--Darin Gantt, on CAR@NE
by MichaelProcton on Dec 17, 2009 9:40 AM EST up reply actions
that's what I thought too checking them out...
nothing special, but some nice filler in the least and perhaps one can turn into a solid fringe player helping in a pinch. Jones in particular is intriguing with his big power numbers.
Anyone got ages on the international guys?
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=t_ros&cid=605
You can click each one yourself.
Money
Guys, I have been a Braves fan for over 40 yrs now. And many of you make very valid points. But the bottom line is about money. For the Braves to be a playoff team again and a WS contender one of two things has to happen. The deals that make or going to have to be perfect or they have a new owner. Since Turner sold the team they are at best mid-level when it comes to aka NY Yankees at BUYING a Team. And as bad as I hate it, that’s today’s game. We saw what happened in 08’ when the injuries hit, it was a baaaad year. Hopefully this year Heyward will be all that he is to be, and they can sign a power bat. But who’s available? They will not spend the $ on Matt Holliday or Bay and the rest are just 15-20 per yr guys. OH if only Adam Dunn! There for the taking last year. And if Chipper has another down year, it could be another year of hope and wishes.
We tendered him a contract.
He’ll be back and get a contract through the arbitration process.
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