Options dwindling for Rollins, Phillies
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Options dwindling for Rollins, Phillies
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
If you thought Jimmy Rollins' re-signing with the Phillies was inevitable a couple of days ago, the recent signings of Alex Gonzalez and Rafael Furcal by the Brewers and the Cardinals make it a stone-cold lock.
If you believe the Phillies when they express a willingness to enter the season with Freddy Galvis and Wilson Valdez as their options at short stop, well, that makes one of us. There are still some fringe players out there, but none are any more impressive than Valdez and Galvis -- Ronny Cedeno, Yuniesky Betancourt, and so on. Feel free to slump over on your keyboard. The Phillies could certainly look to deal for a player like Eduardo Nunez or Jed Lowrie or Mike Aviles, but it is generally hard to acquire defensive utility players because they are almost always worth more to their own team than whatever another team is willing to give up.
As for Rollins, the list of potential suitors appears to be limited to the Phillies. The way I see it, these are the only teams who would even have the need for a guy like Rollins:
Tampa Bay - Sean Rodriguez/Reid Brignac
Kansas City - Alcides Escobar
Atlanta Braves - Tyler Pastornicky
Mets - Ruben Tejada
Nationals - Ian Desmond
Reds - Zack Cozart/Paul Janish
Astros - Angel Sanchez
Giants - Brandon Crawford/Jeff Keppinger/Ryan Theriot
The Rays aren't going to give Rollins the kind of contract he is looking for. The Mets are looking to shed payroll, not add it. You have to figure the Nationals are not yet ready to give up on Desmond. The Reds don't appear to have the money. The Giants have veteran options who can fill in if the highly-touted Crawford stumbles.
The Braves and the Royals are the only two teams that appear to pose even a semblance of a threat. The Royals don't always make the smartest personnel decisions, so who knows.
But in reality, it comes down to Rollins and the Phillies. Rafael Furcall just singed a two-year, $14 million deal with the Cardinals. That's a pretty significant chunk of change for a guy who has barely been on the field the last couple seasons.
To me, an at-market deal for Rollins would be 4 years, $36 million with a club option and reasonable buyout. There were some rumblings that Rollins could get $13 mil a year. To me, that's a huge overpay, just based on the market rate for short stops. Now that there does not appear to be much of a market for Rollins, you would think a four-year, $40 million deal would easily get it done. If Phils really don't want to go beyond three years, I think a 3 year, 30 million deal with a club option that has a big buyout and vests on certain incentives would make sense.
@JHL- ok, best shortstop ever to put on phillies uniform, but he is 33 and from where i sit, poor situational hitting(swinging at first pitch when situation calls for patience, etc.) is evidence of an attitude problem. maybe that's too much micro-managing. i would like to see how this team behaves without Jimmy always bringing the hype and i would hate to not be able to sign others because of money given to someone who can be replaced (can't replace Cole Hamels)— MGALLAGHER1939- 2 yrs @ $11.5M per, with 3rd yr buyout.— Romus
- There's a reason the Cardinals have one more World Series title than Ruben Amaro Jr. They are too smart to sign their first baseman to a crippling contract and they are too smart to go more than 2 years for an aging, injury-prone has been like Rollins. It would be nice to see the Phillies try to copy success once. Offer Rollins the same contract as Furcal with an option for another that kicks in if he plays in 275 games over the next two years. NOBODY is going to offer him anything better.— jtj06
- Murph, Ryan Theriot is on the Cardinals...dare we forget? You must be thinking of Mike Fontenot.— dasher
- Poor Jimmy....he lost millions waiting this one out.
Chalk one up for Rube.— Sackbutt - Well said but most of the simpletons here, you know the ones I'm talking about, the ones who call people who post here losers, wont see that. They're simply too busy attempting to convince us of their superior knowledge about everything from baseball to politics. — SFPhillyphan
- so, nobody wants him, huh? now we're stuck with him, and if you didn't like his act when he was playing for his next contract, wait 'til you see him after he signs a contract he considers beneath him.
You think he didn't run hard before? Wait 'til next year, and the year after.— advantasux - Jay-Row needs Pop-Up money. 100 years a dollar a year.— Wilhelm Von Humboldt
- Interesting turn of events. I was lukewarm on signing Jimmy now its a forgone conclusion he will sign with Phillies, but for how much?— delcodanno
- The flipside of "No hometown discount" is "No hometown bonus"
The market has been set.
The player is 33.
The production is dropping.
The conditioning/health is an issue.
The lineup is aging.
The replacement is in the system.
2 years, 20 Million.
3 years, 27 Million.
No discount. No bonus. No better options for either side.— andyd - RAjr please be reasonable in your dealing J. Ro. Yes, he has been a well paid servant. But its time to plan for he future by not tying up cash with the sort of deal JRo wants. Keeping him will be no guarantee of going deep into the play offs. I would rather you gamble with the youngsters that pay JRo what he is asking— cdm48
- It sounds like the Cards were interested but didn't want to go anywhere near 5 years with Rollins. That should mean we can get him for 3 with a 4th year option and maybe even do better than that.
I'm okay with Jimmy given the alternatives. The two issues are how long he's here and whether he leads off. If he still leads off that means there was absolutely no change to the lineup which means (to me) that the talk of a new approach was just hot air. The existing lineup will fall right back into the same habits without some sort of change. They didn't even do something as simple as
change the hitting coach to put something behind that hot air.— s - -s...AMEN to all that you wrote about talk of a changed approach being nothing but hot air so far.— advantasux
- would you like Jimmy more this year if he busted it down to first on weak grounders and blew out his hamstring/calf? we all know Jimmy's weaknesses..but you want to win next year dont you? dont give me valdez/galvis, or jokes like renteria and cabrera...you could survive with valdez/galvis if you pulled off the ARam move, but that contract would be a bigger albatross in future years than Jimmy's...now, free agency was supposed to be this boost to Jimmy's ego as he gets courted and forces the Phils to up their offer..chalk one up to Reuben this time...but i just dont see Jimmy taking more of a jolt to the ego by coming back on a one year deal..he'd sign anywhere else than here for 1 year id imagine....
good column murph except for mentioning KC as an option...escobar was a big part of the Grienke trade, and why would they spend big dollars on an old shortstop?— jim715 - Jim, then my question to you is...if J Roll does not have another viable team to go to, wouldn't it benefit him to come back to the Phils for one year, go as far as he can with a good team that contends (always increases value,everyone loves a winner), and seek a big contract when there are more openings in the market than there was this year...a load of teams went with one or two year deals, I really believe the Phillies don't have to go multi year with him at this stage of the game, unless they just want to. — bearsfriend
