Nats don’t renew deal for assistant GM Miller
Price of qualifying offers going up; Cubs’ Russell suspended 40 games
Bob Miller, Mike Rizzo’s longtime right-hand man in the Nationals front office, will not be back in the general manager’s box with him next season. The Nationals did not renew his deal, which means his three-year tenure will the team will come to an end, according to a person familiar with the situation.
Miller was one of the more highly paid members of the baseball operations staff. The Nationals also let go of advanced scout Chris Rosenbaum, another member of that department, according to a person familiar with the situation. Ownership will be committing $2 million more to baseball operations next season, when Rizzo’s two-year extension kicks in — though whether recouping some of that money had anything to do with Miller’s departure is not clear.
What is clear is that Rizzo did not want Miller to leave, according to people familiar with the situation. The duo began working for the Arizona Diamondbacks on the same day in 1998. They helped the Diamondbacks to the 2001 World Series title. They parted ways when CEO Jeff Moorad cleared house a few years later. Miller headed to Cincinnati. Rizzo took a job with the Nationals, but always hoped he could reunite with Miller. When a spot opened in November 2014, he brought in Miller.
A month later, Miller pointed out the loophole in MLB rules that allowed the Nationals to acquire Trea Turner just six months after the San Diego Padres had drafted him as a player to be named later. The league has since closed that loophole. Drafted players can now be traded the day after the World Series ends.
With a giant cellphone always in hand, Miller was a staple of the clubhouse, in and out of the manager’s office with Rizzo, always on the road with the team. He helped with contracts and logistics, but in a corps of assistants to Rizzo that was often spread across the country looking at this player or that one, Miller was always closest in proximity.
More recently, Miller donated his 2001 World Series ring to a charity auction to help fellow Nationals assistant general manager Doug Harris pay for experimental treatment for leukemia. The ring drew $25,500, the highest amount for anything in the auction. Qualifying offers: The price of qualifying offers for Major League Baseball free agents will be $17.9 million this year.
That figure is up from $17.2 million last year and $15.8 million the year before. It was determined by the average of the top 125 major league contracts this year by average annual value.
This year’s anticipated free agent class could include Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Josh Donaldson, Brian Dozier, Daniel Murphy, Michael Brantley, Adam Jones, Andrew McCutchen, A.J. Pollock, Nelson Cruz, Patrick Corbin, Dallas Keuchel, Charlie Morton and Craig Kimbrel. Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw could also decide to opt out of the remaining two years on his contract.
A qualifying offer can be made through the fifth day after the World Series, and a player has a week after that to accept. If a team makes a qualifying offer to a player who signs a major league contract with another club before the June amateur draft, his former club would receive a draft pick as compensation at the end of the first round. Russell suspension: Major League Baseball suspended Chicago Cubs shortstop Addison Russell for 40 games without pay Wednesday, after the league's two-and-ahalf week investigation of allegations of spousal abuse.
The suspension is retroactive to Sept. 21, according to an agreement reached between Russell and the league, the date Russell went on administrative leave after the allegations came to light. Russell agreed not to appeal the suspension, per the agreement.
Melisa Reidy, Russell's ex-wife, published a lengthy blog post in September claiming she suffered physical and emotional abuse during their two-year marriage. MLB opened an investigation last year into a similar allegation, which was never closed.