Hanrahan, Morton, Resop Avoid Arb

[magnumo]

The roster continues to solidify as these guys sign contracts.

I've been watching this for many years..... but the raises received by arbitration-eligible players continue to stun.

- Hanrahan gets a raise of almost 3X ($1.4 mill in 2011 to $4.1 mill in 2012).

- Morton gets over 5X ($441K to $2.445 mill).

- Resop's raise was a more "reasonable" 2X ($431K to $850K).

.....all for being good at playing a game.

That's not a complaint..... merely an observation about the professional athlete's version of free enterprise.

 

[evolver115]

The roster continues to solidify as these guys sign contracts.

I've been watching this for many years..... but the raises received by arbitration-eligible players continue to stun.

- Hanrahan gets a raise of almost 3X ($1.4 mill in 2011 to $4.1 mill in 2012).

- Morton gets over 5X ($441K to $2.445 mill).

- Resop's raise was a more "reasonable" 2X ($431K to $850K).

.....all for being good at playing a game.

That's not a complaint..... merely an observation about the professional athlete's version of free enterprise.

And a good observation, at that.

Hanrahan got a significant bump, but I still have a feeling he is trade fodder waiting to happen, and Morton has something to live up to this season. I hope he proves his worth

 

[thecrow124]

2009 Morton was probably worht about $2 million, so paying him $2.445 million for next season is pretty safe money as long as he makes 25 starts.

Hanrahan might stick through the season this year, but will not make it through the winter meetings next year.

Resop is a bargain.

The really odd thing is that you don't even have to be truely "athletic" to strike it rich in baseball.

 

[magnumo]

The really odd thing is that you don't even have to be truely "athletic" to strike it rich in baseball.

And there are a lot of people who can't sing who strike it rich making "music."

But if people are willing to pay for it, so be it.

 

[thedddd]

And there are a lot of people who can't sing who strike it rich making "music."

But if people are willing to pay for it, so be it.

So true!

I was reading an article about that Jay-Z/Beyonce hospital room and the stink they got. The funny part was in the comments when someone wrote this would never have happened if all of "you" didn't buy her music.

Why make a stink about the filthy rich if they are that way because of all the folks/us who spend money on them?

 

[thedddd]

BTW...Karstens got 3.1. Which is 3 times the 1.1 he got before.

 

[thecrow124]

BTW...Karstens got 3.1. Which is 3 times the 1.1 he got before.

K-Mart doesn't even have that type of bargain.

 

[magnumo]

This morning's media indicates that Meek has signed, as well..... leaving Jones and McGehee to exchange numbers with the club.

I wonder if that means additional problems at 1B (since Jones and McGehee seem slated to platoon there)..... or that the team merely put a priority on signing the arb-eligible pitchers.

Don't know why I continue to pay attention to this kind of stuff..... since none of it is likely to make any difference.

 

[thedddd]

This morning's media indicates that Meek has signed, as well..... leaving Jones and McGehee to exchange numbers with the club.

I wonder if that means additional problems at 1B (since Jones and McGehee seem slated to platoon there)..... or that the team merely put a priority on signing the arb-eligible pitchers.

Don't know why I continue to pay attention to this kind of stuff..... since none of it is likely to make any difference.

You are right it won't but it is the team we are all lifetime fans of!

As for the Meek deal it is actually a lot less than I thought it would have been for.

Also with the raises Morton, Hanrahan and Karstens got did that take away the additional money they stated they would use on the Payroll? Just wondering if that was already factored in or not?

 

[element1286]

You are right it won't but it is the team we are all lifetime fans of!

As for the Meek deal it is actually a lot less than I thought it would have been for.

Also with the raises Morton, Hanrahan and Karstens got did that take away the additional money they stated they would use on the Payroll? Just wondering if that was already factored in or not?

Meek is getting hurt for not being healthy.

My guess is they had the raises figured in.

 

[magnumo]

Also with the raises Morton, Hanrahan and Karstens got did that take away the additional money they stated they would use on the Payroll? Just wondering if that was already factored in or not?

This is just to confirm that element's answer is right. Those arb-eligible salaries are part of the $46 million projected season-opening payroll, which is still several million less than where the Pirates finished in 2011.

On one hand, we have the Coonelly quote from earlier this off-season, where he indicated that the Pirates' opening payroll for 2012 would exceed the payroll they finished with in 2011.

On the other, we have several reports (e.g., from Dejan and J. Langosch) indicating that the roster is pretty much set and NH probably is finished dealing.

 

[magnumo]

The arbitration process continues to amaze. MLB.com is reporting the numbers submitted by both Garrett Jones and Casey McGehee.

- After his mediocre 2011 season, during which he made $455,500, Jones is asking for a more-than-5X increase to $2.5 mill. The club has offered $2.25 mill.

- Meanwhile, after his bad 2011 season at $478K, McGehee submitted $2.725 mill, an almost 6X increase. The club submitted $2.35 mill.

The differences are pretty small (by baseball standards), so one would hope that each can reach a negotiated settlement without actually going to a hearing.

Seems a bit ironic that the club will pay its projected 1B platoon about the same money they paid Overbay last year. One would hope for better production in 2012. On one hand, it's hard to imagine first base performance worse than Overbay's. On the other, the Jones-McGehee platoon has a shot. With Jones, McGehee, Evans, and Fox all seemingly ahead of him on the depth chart, it appars that Hague won't sniff a shot at the bigs after performing consistently well at every level in the minors.

 

[element1286]

Maybe, but I don't think it is likely, or even probable.

As for Fox and Evans, my guess is that they have an escape clause if they aren't going to make the MLB roster they become a free agent, there wouldn't be much other reason to take a minor league deal, and it wouldn't make much sense for the Pirates to have three first basemen at AAA.

 

[Etrius24]

Element,

I agree... A lot of players ask to have a contract where if the player is not going to make the big league roster the team releases them as a courtesy so they can hope to catch on somewhere else...

Plus as you said it makes zero sense to have half the roster filled with first basemen...