Hey, it’s the New Guy! Hudson was the first piece of the A’s pitching factory to make it to the big leagues and the first representative of their philosophy of drafting finished college pitchers with good control. An Auburn (boo!) product, he was in the majors less than two years after being drafted and never looked back.
Hudson isn’t a big strikeout pitcher (last year, he only struck out 103 in 188 2/3 IP, though he was hurt and I think he’ll rebound to a 150 K level). But he doesn’t walk many either, and has basically stopped giving up home runs (8 all season last year, and the number declined every year). As you’d expect, he gets ground balls, lots of them. Good infield defense will be key for him — meaning Chipper has to play at least as well at third base as he did last season, and Furcal has to play better.
Hudson, for the first time since his second season in the league, had his ERA go up and his innings go down. He was still darned good for the A’s, putting up a 12-6, 3.53 campaign. His career ERA is 3.30, his career W/L record 92-39. He’s pretty good. The Braves are trying to sign him to an extention.
This story about Chipper being willing to rework his deal if it meant signing Tim Hudson long term was pretty encouraging. I’ve had some negative things to say about Chipper through the years (mostly along the lines of “How can such a good athlete be such a lousy outfielder”), but he gets nothing but praise here. Truly a guy that gets it. Trading a little money for a pleasant work environment is a good trade.
It’s a nice sentiment, but there’s not really much you can do with Chipper’s deal without having the union jump all over you.
Tanto, thats not really true. Players can defer money almost at will. The D’backs went through a few years of that and now owe retired players like Matt Williams and Todd Stottlemeyer roughly the GNP of Bolivia.
You can also recongomulate the contract with an extension, a`la Smoltz, right?
Yeah, if a player can secure another guaranteed year in exchange for a slightly lower annual salary, the union will allow it — the critical inquiry is whether or not the total guaranteed value of the contract goes up.
The union only throws hissy fits if the contract value goes down. There’s usually flexibility in how and when you pay it, though.
If I understand the particulars then for all intents and purposes Chip is a Brave for the next 4 years. I am thinking that he’d spread the 62 million owed him over his age 38 and 39 years to finish as a Brave. The Braves have a tough decision to make. They could certainly use the short term flexibility that this public announcement gives them. But they would then be paying an ‘old’ guy significant dollars and they have a ready replacment in the minors.
The problem is that Chipper’s option years are almost guaranteed to vest — he’d have to miss almost half the season for them not to. When his contract runs out, he’ll be 37 — and chances are he’ll be no fun anymore at that point, so just adding more years seems like a bad move to me.
I hate deferred money.
Either way, you’re going to pay it, so why not try and keep one of the best young pitchers in the majors.
Yes, we want Hudson but what kind of contract would make sence for him? How much is Hudson worth and for how long?
If we have to pay Chipper $62 million over 4 yrs, why not pay $62 million over 6? We would save about 5 million a year.
What a gracious gesture by Chipper…I mean into today’s baseball where everyone wants the big bucks..Chipper is willing to give towards the future of the Braves. Kudos to Mr. Jones.
Adam, before you start looking at Chipper like he is Mr. Altruism you have to believe that he has his own agenda at the forefront. He knows that there is no chance the Braves re sign him after this current contract. He’d be glad to spread the 62 mil owed him over 6 or 7 years just to stay in Atlanta. Thats still 10.3 mil per year. The Braves have to ask themselves if it is worth paying a 38, 39, 40 year old defensively challenged third baseman that kind of dough when you have Andy Marte ready to take over 3rd, Adam LaRoche already at 1st and a bevy of left fielders that could produce his projected stats for a fraction of that money. The days of keeping around a franchise icon are over. Its a cold world out there and the Braves better than most teams are good at cutting ties and refreshing the team.
All that being said, If I am the Braves I take a hard look if it means getting Hudson for 3 seasons.
Johnny,
I think what is being discussed here is a deferral, not an extension. That is Jones would be receiving a annuity even after he is done playing with the Braves. It happens all the time — Dave Winfield is still being paid by the Yankees; doesn’t mean he is blocking anyone else’s playing time.
Dan, I understand that he is deferring salary but I think that he is doing that in exchange for playing years ie. his age 38+ years. I can’t think of a reason that he’d just defer when the value of that money goes down because of inflation. Of course the Braves could just release him and pay the money anyway.
If Chipper were a true altruist, he’d agree to take whatever guaranteed money he’s due now, plus a small premium, in exchange for guaranteeing at least the first option year and spreading the money out over all those years. Sure, we don’t actually want to have his age 39 year at 10 million per, but a) I’d rather have the per year value be less, ceteris paribis, and b) we really, really don’t want those option years to kick in – the total contract value would approach 90 million bucks over the next 6 years if both kick in. Hell, the buyouts are something like 4 million each anyway.
Mac please see my comment what do you think?
I don’t know. More than Carl Pavano got.
Johnny, the benefit to Chipper would be two-fold: first, he would get interest on the money and second, he would get to play on a (conceptually at least) better team. The benefit to the team isn’t a reduction in total payout, but rather a cash flow issue hedging the income of tomorrow against the expense of today. Teams and players do it with some frequency. And I think it is not an altogether altruistic gesture – there is mutual benefit.
Dan, I get it. I forgot that teams will pay 1 or 2% interest on these deferrals.
IMHO 3 years 27 mil for a pitcher about to enter his 30’s. He’ll probably want more. I pretty much think that despite Chipper’s ‘altruism’ that Huddy’s a one year Brave.
Ye of little faith. When Chipper becomes older and worse defensively, trade him to an AL team so he can be a 3B/1B/DH. The Orioles will take him in 4 years when they finally get Palmero to leave the stadium. By then, Andruw and Glavine will be playing for the Orioles also along with Griffey Jr. It’s the over the hill overpaid team.
3/27 isn’t realistic for Hudson. We gave Maddux (albeit a better pitcher than Huddy) more than that after his age 32 season in about 98, IIRC. The starting point has to be at least 11 million per year for 3 years. I wouldn’t go much beyond 3/36 plus this year for him, which probably ain’t enough considering he’ll be one of the few decent FA starters available this November. It’s pretty tough to offer much more money than that without seeing him throw a pitch, though.
They’ve seen him throw plenty of pitchers. Hudson will be signed and will be a brave for years to come.