Rangers: What Part of NO Don't You Understand, Scott
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In Mariner Analyst's "So You're Telling Me There's a Chance .... !" department, the East Coast internet chooses to interpret even this optimistically:
Bob Simpson, who along with Ray Davis is a Rangers principal owner and co-chairman of the board, said that the Rangers are operating at a deficit and will until the new TV contract starts in 2015 .... Fielder is not a viable option unless his price goes down and he would accept a backloaded deal.
"If they come around to something we can do, we'll take a look at it," Simpson said.
In one-syllable words, so we can understand it? "NO, SCOTT. WE'RE NOT GIVING YOU 7 YEARS AND $160M. If you want a firm 5-year offer, let us know and we'll see what ownership wants to do."
Which is what every ML franchise, other than the Mariners, has evidently told Boras. When the Nationals say "unless something changes," that doesn't mean "Unless we can bridge the gap between $160M and $180M." It means "unless he wants to sign on our terms. Unless he'll take five years, 6th year vested. He won't, so we're out."
Every thing that every franchise, other than the Mariners, has ever said has amounted to the same thing. Teixeira money, 8/180, just forget it. We're not even going to consider it. If you want to talk 5/120, give us a call. We've heard the same blinkin' thing, over and over, for a month.
And this morning, in case we didn't get it the first time, here comes a Texas owner with another -- public -- swat of Boras' weak slop. There goes the scoop shot, into the third row:
"I think he's, given our set of cards, too pricey," Simpson said. "And if that were to change, I guess they would look at that harder. But right now I think he's priced himself out of what we could do."
I hadn't realized, until just this winter, how hard the East Coast media roots for mega-FA's to go to (1) existing contenders or (2) teams within a cab ride of New York. But it's like Russ has been saying. New York doesn't scoff at the Mariners; it considers the Mariners irrelevant.
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Minor note: the Rangers negotiated, through the media, that they want backloading. This obviously implies Boras' own aversion to delayed money. The guy wasn't born yesterday. He doesn't want a $28M, 325-lb. Fielder being laughed at in 2019.
The earlier suggestions that the Mariners simply give Fielder $15M per year, three year opt out, $25-30M per year after that, were out of contact with the reality of MLB negotiations.
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The Washington Nationals, the other team pushed as a Fielder destination, just gave Michael Morse a contract extension. Morse went .303/.360/.550 with 31 home runs last year; as a left fielder, he was -22 runs per 150 games, UZR. Morse goofs off for a while in LF, just until Adam LaRoche can be shed, and then Morse plays 1B. The Nationals haven't yet been approved to use the DH during National League games.
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The Los Angeles Dodgers, this time NEXT year, will become the "Yankees West." Underlining the fact that they are not players for Fielder this winter, and underlining the fact that Mariners fans do not have the luxury of just saying, "Well, we'll buy a $200M free agent a year from now." Other teams will have something to say about that, and next year looks much more difficult than this one.
Fascinating to Dr. D, how these teams, every single one of them, marches out and tells the media that they are not in on Prince Fielder. There's a price to being Scott Boras.
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