Justin Morneau has avoided arbirtration and signed a one-year, $4.5 million deal. The figure is in the middle of Morneau's asking value of $5 million and the Twins' offer of $4 million. Normally, this would be good news, but there is no way to tell if this is truly "good" news.
I mean that in the sense that although Morneau is signed, there is some reason to be worried that Terry Ryan and the Twins did not sign him to a long-term contract. If the figures didn't work this time and Morneau has another good year in 2007, its likely that negotiations will be even tougher the second time around. Good to have him back, of course, but let's keep our figures crossed that Ryan can get him now for a few years more.
Also, as many of you know, Nick Punto, Juan Rincon, and Lew Ford also avoided arbitration. Punto was given a 2 year, $4.2 million deal. As for Nick, I just hope that the production stabilizes and he remains healthy.
Friday, February 02, 2007
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4 comments:
The fact that they didn't sign him for longer scares the hell out of me.
It's fairly normal for a team to sign a young guy like Morneau to a one-year contract for the sake of avoiding arbitration. Maybe the Twins don't feel like they can commit the kind of money for an extended contract until they're a little closer to the new stadium's arrival. Trying to negotiate a long-term deal with Morneau immediately after he won an MVP and in the middle of one of the craziest fiscal offseasons is probably not very good timing.
I have to agree with my associate here. Though I was concerned myself, something should be said about the fiscal year. There is a good chance that Ryan is simply waiting. Its not like the situation with Santana, which is far more immediate. The Twins have control of Mauer and Morneau for a couple years here and Ryan may just be waiting to extend them.
From everything I've seen the reason is because both sides are so far apart on a long term deal that they just settled for one year. I'm just afraid they will end up trading him down the road or even worse not coming to terms and losing him to free agency.
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