The Philadelphia Phillies have signed OF Marlon Byrd to a 2 yr contract for $16M (AAV: $8M). Included within the contract is a vesting option for 2016 for $8M. If Byrd reaches 600 plate appearances in 2015 or 1,100 plate appearance combined during the life of his contract, the option will vest. If not, it then becomes a club option for the Phillies. There is no buyout known at this time.
(Good for him...He bounced back nicely after being suspended for PEDs in 2012 and deserved to get a nice pay raise. That said, while the $8M per season isn't too cumbersome, that 3rd year is. Everyday starters generally have 625+ PA per season and Byrd currently slots in as one of those starters. Marlon will be playing next season at age 36 and early Steamer projections only anticipate him hitting .256 with 12 HR and 51 RBI as they expect his Batting Average on Balls In Play (BABIP) and Isolated Power (ISO) to normalize back to career norms. )
According to John Heyman of CBS Sports, a bevy of teams have inquired on what the Mets want for 1B Ike Davis. He specifically list the Houston Astros, Baltimore Orioles, Tampa Bay Rays, Milwaukee Brewers, and the Colorado Rockies as confirmed suitors. Teams seem to view Davis as another potential Chris Davis change of scenery scenario.
(Sandy Alderson has to be salivating over the large number of teams that want Davis. Expect this to drag out for some time as Sandy goes back and forth from team to team trying to get more and more out of this deal. We may end up with a good OF'er or a MLB ready OF prospect when it's all said and done.)
Lastly, according to Marc Craig, via Twitter, the Mets are interested in CF Chris Young. Young played in Oakland last year and hit a measly .200 with a .280 OBP and 12 home runs.
(Meh...Am I missing something here? Young probably is no better than a AAAA OF at this point in his career. If he can be had for a minor league deal then sure but we shouldn't sign him to be on our MLB squad. One could argue that he provides excellent defensive value but we already have a power hitting top notch defensive OF'er on our bench in Matt den Dekker.)
2 comments:
Beats the hell out me as to why they want another 200 hitter in Chris Young.
But maybe they feel you can never have enough useless players.
Congratulations to Marlon Byrd for getting a great payday, something he could probably not have imagined a year ago. I think this will come back to bite the Phillies, but lucky for them it won't be a Ryan Howard size bite.
I hate to see them giving up on Ike now. I have been hoping that he would get another shot to prove himself. He had another really good second half last year before he went down. But, looking on the bright side, if Sandy can get a return for him similar to what he got for Beltran, Dickey or Byrd, I'll be very happy. Ike is by no means irreplaceable.
Lets not get excited about a vague rumor about Chris Young. It might not amount to a hill of beans. That said, he could be a low risk, cheap signing as a possible bench player, who could be sent to Las vegas if he shows nothing in spring training. After all, it was only 2 and 3 years ago, that he was a 5.5 & 5.0 WAR player.
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