Cash to flow
Teams flush with money, eager to spend
Baseball teams will open wallets to free agents,
INDIAN WELLS, CALIF. The San Francisco Giants were wiping champagne out of their eyes and hadn’t even boarded their flight back home, but Major League Baseball general managers across the land already were picking up their cellphones to call player agents.
They have money to burn, precious little time to spend it and are being more aggressive than hawkers at a flea market.
“I’ve been in this business for 21 years, and I’ve never seen anything like it,” agent Gene Matos says. “This is moving really, really fast.
“I mean, it’s gotten to a point where I’m trying to slow the process down.”
Matos represents free agent pitcher Anibal Sanchez (48-51 in his career), who has more than nine wins in one season since 2006 but is being courted as if he’s a combination of Sandy Koufax and Bob Gibson.
More than a dozen teams, including virtually every big-market club, Matos said, have expressed serious interest in Sanchez. Several clubs, Matos said, made lucrative multiyear offers.
The interest in Sanchez, 28, who yielded a 2.43 ERA in September and a 1.77 ERA in three postseason starts, has become so overwhelming that Matos abruptly changed plans. He originally was going to stay home in Miami this week but scheduled a flight to arrive this afternoon at the general managers’ meetings, which begin here today.
“You never know; things could slow down,” Matos said. “But right now, teams are being so aggressive.”
Certainly, the game is flush with money, as teams will earn about $52 million a year with the new national TV deal that begins in 2014, doubling the previous value.
“Yeah, a lot of agents are bringing that up in conversations,” Texas Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said. “I’msure it won’t be the last we hear of it.”
Rangers center fielder Josh Hamilton and Los Angeles Angels starter Zack Greinke are expected to benefit the most in free agency, with each player commanding in excess of $140 million.
Hamilton has notified teams that he is seeking a seven-year, $175 million deal; Greinke is expected to receive at least a six-year deal worth more than $140 million.
While the Rangers have not had contract negotiations with Hamilton since spring training, the Angels are actively trying to retain Greinke. But the Angels will have plenty of competition, with the Los Angeles Dodgers, division rival Rangers and several other teams actively pursuing Greinke.
The Seattle Mariners and Baltimore Orioles are expected to be Hamilton’s top pursuers.
“There’s more urgency than years past, but then again, we’ve got some pretty good players on the market,” agent Larry Reynolds said.
Reynolds has been busy, representing, among others, free agent outfielders B.J. Upton and Torii Hunter.
The expediency of this winter’s hot stove action can be attributed to the new labor agreement, with teams forced to decide last week whether to submit a $13.3 million qualifying offer to their own free agents, with a Friday deadline for players to decide whether to accept the one-year deal.
“We made changes to the free agent calendar in the basic agreement that we hoped would do that,” said Michael Weiner, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association. “If it works out that way, that would be a good thing.”
GMs and their top assistants were scheduled to arrive Tuesday and today for their annual meetings, with a horde of agents also expected to arrive, perhaps even finalizing deals that usually don’t occur until after Thanksgiving.
“With all the calls coming in, I’m braced for anything,” Matos said.
There also will be no restrictions involving the ACES agency, Weiner told USA TODAY Sports, with Sam and Seth Levinson cleared of the major allegations against them involving the Melky Cabrera scheme. They are free to negotiate deals with their clients and will be privately disciplined for their failure to properly supervise Juan Nunez, the consultant who admitted to concocting a phony Internet scam aimed at clearing Cabrera when he tested positive for testosterone.
“Our investigation concluded that none of the top officials at ACES were aware of the Melky Cabrera scheme,” Weiner said in a telephone interview. “There were some issues to supervision, and they have been addressed. That (penalty) is something we will not disclose.”
Weiner said he would not comment on Major League Baseball’s investigation of ACES.