Mike Minor signs with Rangers; 3-years/$28M

[reillymcshane]

The Rangers landed one of the best relievers available by signing Mike Minor.

 

Initial report is that it is 3 years, $28M million and a 10 team no trade clause. We will update as more details get added.

 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/12/rangers-agree-to-terms-with-mike-minor.html

 

After missing all of 2016, Minor was outstanding last year as a reliever - sporting a 2.55 ERA in 77 innings with 88 strikeouts for Kansas City.

[MadThinker88]

Early reports are the Rangers are looking at Minor returning to the rotation.

 

From the MLB Trade Rumors posting:

 

The Rangers have struck a deal with lefty Mike Minor, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link). Minor will need to pass a physical before the contract is finalized. Texas is expected to utilize Minor as a starter, as Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News first suggested on Twitter and Jon Morosi of MLB Network tweets.

[KeithStone53151]

Him competing for a starting gig and actually starting are 2 different things. I'm very curious what kind of deal he got. It won't necessarily tell us what we should expect to pay for other bullpen guys as I assume minor signed for a bit more than expected since they intend on having him start.

[dacbrewers]

He turned down a one year 10 million dollar option, so I'm sure it's above that.

[bill hAll Star]

Him competing for a starting gig and actually starting are 2 different things. I'm very curious what kind of deal he got. It won't necessarily tell us what we should expect to pay for other bullpen guys as I assume minor signed for a bit more than expected since they intend on having him start.

 

He may have gotten starting pitcher money. His velocity ticked way up (as it usually does for a reliever) but I could see them asking him to throw harder than he used to as a starter and if he makes it through the 5th inning...great. If not, we are in the day in age where teams adapt to that.

 

He's got 4 pitches. He might succeed this time as a starter. I think it might be a shrewd move by the Rangers.

 

The fly ball rate in that park is a bit of a concern.

 

This deal will tell me more about how attainable Chatwood is. League GMs are smart and will either take a chance on starting Minor as I stated above or obviously know Chatwood's splits. I think there were rumors of maybe 4/$30 for Minor, so Chatwood could be in that ballpark, with maybe a shorter number of years.

[dacbrewers]

Interesting that his longest outing last year of 3 innings was against the Rangers. 3 ip, 0 hits, 1 bb, 2 so.

[adambr2]

He turned down a one year 10 million dollar option, so I'm sure it's above that.

 

Not necessarily. Guys turn down single year offers for lesser multi year deals for the security all the time.

[StearnsFTW]

He turned down a one year 10 million dollar option, so I'm sure it's above that.

 

Not necessarily. Guys turn down single year offers for lesser multi year deals for the security all the time.

 

I'm assuming he means the total contract is for more than $10MM, which it obviously wiil be. I'll be surprised if it's under $25MM total value.

 

This was my #1 hope for the Brewers even though I think he'll end up being overpaid over the term of the contract.

[KeithStone53151]

 

3 years, 28 million. 10 team no trade. Even with him reportedly vying for a rotation spot, I would imagine a guy like Reed is going to use this contract as a starting point. Probably will ask for slightly more annually and an extra year.

[NOMAAM]

28 million guaranteed at least 3 years. So probably a 4th year option buyout

[DR28]

 

3 years, 28 million. 10 team no trade. Even with him reportedly vying for a rotation spot, I would imagine a guy like Reed is going to use this contract as a starting point. Probably will ask for slightly more annually and an extra year.

 

Give Reed w/e he wants... We need him to replace Hader, if he moves to the rotation.

[dacbrewers]

I'm all for Reed, offer 2 years 20 million and see if he laughs.

[NOMAAM]

Neshek & Reed one of those two would be sweet.

[KeithStone53151]

Neshek & Reed one of those two would be sweet.

 

Call me greedy, but I want 2 pitchers in that caliber. No reason with our payroll flexibility that we can't get 2 high end setup guys.

[NOMAAM]

Neshek & Reed one of those two would be sweet.

 

Call me greedy, but I want 2 pitchers in that caliber. No reason with our payroll flexibility that we can't get 2 high end setup guys.

 

Yeah it would be nice but I'm thinking Reed will require a 40 Million dollar commitment now. I'm guessing the really high end guys will be between 20-40 Million depending on years. Neshek & Cishek probably around that 20 million mark. Holland, Reed, Davis, Kintzler probably closer to 40 Million

[StearnsFTW]

Reed for $40,000,000 is gross. Pass. Easily.

 

If he took a similar deal to Minor I'd be ok with it, but $40MM seems like a pretty hefty overpay even if it is 4 years.

[KeithStone53151]

Reed for $40,000,000 is gross. Pass. Easily.

 

If he took a similar deal to Minor I'd be ok with it, but $40MM seems like a pretty hefty overpay even if it is 4 years.

 

Addison Reed is significantly better and a year younger, though he is RH which hurts value. Overall, I kinda figured Reed would find a 4 year deal. 2016 is bad for comps as it was closers and 1 year deals for the most part. Darren O'Day signed after his age 32 season for 4/31, but he was also coming off 4 years in a row of ERA under 2.3. Joakim Soria got 3/25 and Madsen got 3/22. Soria is probably a better comp for Reed, but he signed after his age 31 season. Reed being so young makes him likely to get a 4 year deal, which will cover ages 29-32. As far as AAV, 2 years ago the top setup guys were getting 7-8/year. Minor just got a shade over 9, but tough to say how that will impact relievers as he isn't going to be used as a reliever. He apparently had 4/30 type offers, which lines up with the 7-8 million per year. Reed being a touch better might get 8-9, so 4/36 is probably his max. But if offers are similar he might prefer a different team or a closing gig for similar $, so we might have to shell out a touch more than the next guy to win a guy like Reed.

[StearnsFTW]

If you don't believe that 2017 was the real Minor I guess you could say Reed is better. I don't think he was significantly better last year. I'd say better, but not by a whole lot. His ability to go multiple innings and be left-handed are the things I like about Minor. He went more than 1 inning 20 times last year to Reed's 9. That's a big deal for me, although that is only relevant if the manager takes advantage of it, and I believe Counsell would.

 

I'd much rather have Minor on his deal than Reed at 4/40. Of course we don't even know that's what Reed will get.

[bill hAll Star]

Yeah, if Minor is for sure a reliever, I'd rather have him. I also like him as a cheaper option to try out as a starter again and have him throw faster and live with less innings.

 

You look around at contracts and trades and you can see MLB GMs have a pretty good grasp on something that is repeatable or not.

 

Minor and Swarzak both will get paid because there is a specific reason for their success. Minor turned up his velocity by 4-5 MPH and Swarzak over the past few years has gone to his slider and pushed his velocity upwards. That's different than some guy that has always been the same pitcher and randomly turned in a lucky season where his ERA dropped by 2 points.