OPT-OUT CRAZY
First used to lure Jack Morris to Twins, clause in Cespedes-Mets deal shows it has become common in baseball
ANDY MACPHAIL had been working all winter before the 1991 season to sign free agent Jack Morris, but the then-Twins GM couldn’t come to a deal with the ace righty. In a moment of inspiration — “desperation, really,” MacPhail says now — he offered Morris the chance to get out of his contract after the first season and re-enter the free agency sweepstakes.
And thus the modern opt-out clause, all the rage this winter among most top-tier free agents, was born — although MacPhail, now president of the Phillies, simply referred to it back then as a “player option.”
Clubs have, ahem, opted in for opt-outs in free agency this winter, big time. Big names such as David Price, Jason Heyward, Johnny Cueto and Justin Upton have gotten them, giving them some control over their future. Even players perhaps a rung lower on the freeagency pecking order — Scott Kazmir, Ian Kennedy, Wei-Yin Chen — have them in their new contracts.
And the Mets probably would not have been able to sign Yoenis Cespedes to a three-year, $75 million contract unless they gave him an opt-out after the first year and the choice to retest the market against a weaker outfield class.
“In free agency, it’s rare to have all things be equal,” says Brodie Van Wagenen of CAA/Roc Nation, Cespedes’ agent. “The situation would likely not come down to apples on apples for the player’s choices, so we had an open mind on creative deal structures.”
Adds Mets GM Sandy Alderson: “When you see the potential competition is in the four or five (years), longer term, you’ve got to be more creative if that kind of term is not appealing. And so there was a lot of discussion of opt-outs.”
The Mets had to consider it, in part, Alderson says, “because, at least in this market, (opt-outs) have been consistently utilized.”
That probably won’t change, at least in the near future, says MacPhail. “I think it’ll be asked for more frequently,” he says. “But as the (Chris) Davis deal showed with the Orioles, it’s not a requirement. But agents will certainly ask.”
Davis, the Baltimore slugger, re-signed for seven years and $161 million, but there’s no opt-out in the contract.
While baseball commissioner Rob Manfred has publicly wondered why clubs would give players the leverage that opt-outs offer, sometimes a club has to do it to get the player it wants, even if it winds up being for a shorter amount of time.
MacPhail, for instance, says he’s “never regretted” the Morris deal. Morris was 18-12 with a 3.43 ERA in 35 starts for the Twins in ’91 and 4-0 in the postseason, including that remarkable, 10-inning shutout in Game 7 to beat the Braves.
“I didn’t know if I’d be able to sign him,” MacPhail says. “It’s not like I capitulated early — it was January, which was really late then, not like today.
“We ended up winning the World Series in large part because of his contributions.”
MacPhail gave Morris a threeyear deal worth $9 million, sweetened by the ability to bolt after one year. Morris did, signing with the Blue Jays and earning $4.45 million in 1992 and $5.425 million in ‘93, according to baseball-reference.com.
“I thought, ‘What’s the worst thing that can happen?’” MacPhail recalls. “I was already committed to giving him $9 million over three years. He could pitch great and leave or he could like it and stay the whole time. Either scenario, I would’ve taken. Nor did I get any criticism at the time.”
Most of the time, when a player has an opt-out clause, he uses it and some executives believe it’s a no-lose situation for a player. “The only way they lose is if they opt-out and don’t secure a better deal,” says Yankee GM Brian Cashman.
Vernon Wells did not use his after a poor 2011 season (he had a .660 OPS), keeping the three years, $63 million he had remaining on the seven-year, $126 million contract he had signed with Toronto.
Alex Rodriguez probably had the most famous, or notorious, optout of all time, the one he triggered after the seventh season of his 10year, $252 million contract he had signed with the Rangers. The optout news broke during the 2007 World Series. Some members of the Yankee hierarchy — Rodriguez had just won his second MVP in pinstripes — were willing to let him leave, but he ended up with a new 10-year, $275 million deal to stay a Yankee.
Beyond A-Rod, the Yankees have a lot of experience dealing with the clause. They gave one to Rafael Soriano and to CC Sabathia. Masahiro Tanaka made getting one a must in his negotiations with teams before 2014, so he can choose to be a free agent again after 2017.
You could say the Yankees benefitted when A.J. Burnett used his in Toronto, because he signed with the Yanks and helped them win the 2009 World Series.
Sabathia didn’t technically optout of his contract, but his looming power to do so prompted the Yanks to renegotiate. Sabathia got a new deal that gave him one more year and an additional $30 million.
Cashman says the Yanks gave Sabathia the clause because “he was hesitant to come to New York. It was a life-changing decision. He was moving his family. If you’re worried about it, you can opt out after three years. That was to try to address an area of concern for the player.”
That how it all started with MacPhail and Morris.
“I just had to make the thing attractive — if you don’t like us, you can leave,” MacPhail said. “I was trying to figure out ways — we were coming off a last-place finish.”