Report: Placido Polanco 'probably' would have accepted arbitration
by Kurt Mensching on Mar 11, 2010 6:25 PM EST
in News
23 comments
A lot of debate about the Tigers in the early offseason centered on two related questions:
- Should they offer second baseman Placido Polanco arbitration, either for what he brings to the field or for the chance to take advantage of his Type A status, which would net some extra draft picks.
- Would Polanco accept arbitration?
The answers many put forth was this: The Tigers should offer arbitration because Polanco would be worthwhile as a player for another year if he chose to stay in Detroit, but he probably would not accept arbitration.
So some consider failing to make the offer to Polanco a mistake. He signed a three-year deal worth $18 million soon after the decision became final.
MLB.com's Jason Beck today found the possible answer to the second question.
"You know, if they would've offered me arbitration, I probably would've accepted it," Polanco said. "Probably. I didn't know what was out there. Most teams were waiting on that. Most teams wait on that, because the type of free agent I was, they have to give up a Draft pick. So that kind of worked out well for me."
That suggests contract talks with the Phillies really didn't reach a definitive stage until the Tigers decided against arbitration.
Asked if he knew beforehand that the Phils were stepping up, Polanco said, "I had an idea, but nobody really takes a really aggressive step until the decision of arbitration is done."
Interestingly enough, Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski told Beck in hindsight he would offer arbitration.
Does that change how you view the TIgers' offseason?
As for me, I did not see the decision not to offer arbitration as a bad one. Scott Sizemore was ready to claim the position, and I thought there was a good chance Polanco would accept arbitration. Not that it would necessarily be a bad thing to have Polanco on your team. It wouldn't. He's still an above-average player and a fan favorite. But to me, the decision was the right one for the franchise to make during its transition period.
It's a bit weird seeing Polanco turn double plays against his former team, but I would not change how the Tigers handed the decision.
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This is a classy move by the Tigers for Polly
Polly was nothing short of amazing here in Detroit. And DD, knowing what arbitration can do to a player and contract negotiations, stepped aside so Polly could get his pay day. Had he offered it to Polly, sure he would have accepted, but it would probably be for only one year, and he may have taken a backseat to Sizemore halfway through the year, with his stats declining over the past two years. Now Placido has himself some security, a nice check, and thankfully he’s in the NL – and hopefully happy. That’s how you should treat your all-stars who played their hearts out for you.
And I miss the guy too and wish he was still our 2B, but Sizemore, by all accounts is ready to play big league ball. I’m excited to see him and A-Jax this year.
The artist formerly known as Granderson28
I agree on not offering arbitration.
With hindsight, I agree with it more because we wouldn’t have gotten draft picks.
I am heartbroken and have been since he went...
and hearing that just makes it worse… <3 I miss you giant bighead Polly <3
Welcome to Detroit, NO sissies allowed
The heartbreaking thing . . .
. . . was how the team wasted his ( and Magglio’s) career year in ’07.
I’ll miss him, but in a way I’m glad that I don’t have to watch him become old and overpaid . . .
Oh, and the other heartbreaking thing . . .
. . . is how last year might have ended if they’d played the last 6 weeks or so of the season with Polly at 3rd, Sizemore at 2nd, and Inge on the DL.
Yes, that was heartbreaking.
I hate it when we play guys who have injuries that affect their performance. Nate Robertson, Bonderman, Galarraga, Washburn, Zumaya, and Guillen were guilty of this also.
Many will disagree
but personally I think Polly has a few good years left in him.
Welcome to Detroit, NO sissies allowed
What will keep Polly around for a few more years is He as always been a contact hitter with a fantastic glove. If that’s all the teams expect from him they’ll be very happy. Those things will not decline much over time. Where he will run into trouble is when a team wants more than a .320 singles hitter. Particularly at third base.
Well
our 3rd baseman is no .320 hitter and the Tiger’s have kept him around for quite a while. I’d be willing to bet that when it’s time for contract talks they offer Bingey a couple of more years too.
Welcome to Detroit, NO sissies allowed
by Detroitchik on Mar 12, 2010 11:49 AM EST up reply actions
Hope so,
it’s not easy to find a gold glove caliber 3rd baseman who can hit 25+ HR’s a year, even taking into account his .230 average.
by 77bestrookieclassever on Mar 13, 2010 7:38 AM EST up reply actions
i agree
his BA is not much to speak of, but it really never has been. But I think he’s great defensively.
Welcome to Detroit, NO sissies allowed
by Detroitchik on Mar 13, 2010 10:01 AM EST up reply actions
Ehh...
Kinda hard to see Poly and Granderson, fixtures on the team for the last few years, depart at the same time, but I was okay with not offering him arb. It was time to get Sizemore in here
I thought he said that he never wanted to leave Philly....
Oh well… Sad to see Polly gone :(
but still excited for the Scott Sizemore era at 2nd base to begin!
Off topic, and I asked this on the gamethread, but never got an answer, but…
How are Daniel Fields and Cale Iorg looking? Haven’t heard anything about them. Granted, they don’t stand a chance making the big league club, but still, some info on them would be nice.
by DetroitTigersGeek on Mar 11, 2010 10:55 PM EST via mobile reply actions
neither was a big league camp invite
Off the top of my head I don’t remember the minor league report date but I believe it was this week. so it’s likely no one has seen them unless they found their way to the back fields.
by Kurt Mensching on Mar 11, 2010 11:08 PM EST up reply actions
Agree with the general consensus...
Sad to see the Placidome leave, but it was time.
He wasn’t getting to ground balls he used to gobble up (such as late in game 163, a ball he likely gloves a couple of years ago), and his offensive stats are starting to decline. Not steeply, but noticably.
Middle infielders don’t usually age gracefully. Polanco may be the exception, but I’m glad the Tigers aren’t paying him big $ to find out.
I will admit I’m certain there will be times this season where I’ll curse the Tigers for allowing Polanco to leave…when someone fails to get the bat on the ball in a clutch situation.
I'm owner/editor of The Wayne Fontes Experience and a deputy editor at Bless You Boys.
I still think they should have offerred
Polly was sufficiently valuable such that, had he accepted arb., we could have traded him for small value a la Rafael Soriano w/ the Braves.
Doesn't change my mind
The Tigers should have offered Polanco arbitration, and I’d be happy with the outcome whether he accepted or not.
If the Tigers had offered arbitration, the Phillies would have had no reason to wait until he makes a decision if they were going to go ahead and offer him a contract. If he doesn’t get an offer, his agent would be looking at a possible “Orlando syndrome”, in which Orlandos Hudson and Cabrera had difficulty landing a job because of their Type A status a year ago. Chances are, and we don’t know this, if Philly was willing to give a player $ 18 million for three seasons, plus an option on a fourth year, they would not avoid the deal because of the 27th overall draft choice. If Philly still made their offer to Polanco, no way he accepts arbitration, and the Tigers get TWO first round picks, about the 27th and 45th picks overall in the June draft.
If Polanco accepts arbitration, he gets about six million bucks, not nearly the $ 9 million that Beck suggested in his article, and DD knows that. No way in hell does a player with PP’s numbers at the plate in 2009 and his ten year salary history in which he has never made more than $ 4.6 million, get his salary doubled. In a market that sees Orlando Hudson getting $ 3 mil plus incentives with comparable numbers, Polanco would get in the range of $ 6 million for one year, and he’d be a good buy at that rate.
One can not conclude that Sizemore is ready for the majors. And even if he is, he’s a downgrade from what Polanco gives the team, both offensively and defensively. Polly is coming off a poor season, but his second half numbers show an OBP of .358 which is right in line with his three year splits. He also led the majors defensively in UZR among second basemen, according to fangraphs.com.
I think the strong likelihood is that the Phillies would have made their offer anyway, notwithstanding the loss of the No. 27 pick, and DD left two picks laying on the table. But even if they didn’t and Polanco accepted, the Tigers would be better offering than not. The sad reality is that $ 72 million in bad, immovable contracts on the books heading into the 2010 season left DD with no wiggle room. If he was going to replace or extend any free agents, he first had to shed some salaries or he was headed for an increase in payroll over the 2009 totals.
I wonder this one:
If Inge wasn’t coming off an injury, would the Tigers have tried to trade him (probably taking on some salary) to open up third for Polanco and keep him instead, or did they ever consider the possibility of third base at all.
by Kurt Mensching on Mar 13, 2010 9:40 AM EST up reply actions
Good question
I get the impression that it was never considered. DD tried to deal Inge a year earlier with no luck, and his surgery on both knees couldn’t have made that task any easier. The money would have been about equal (PP and Inge), but the math says that if they had to eat any salary, that’s a payroll increase above 2009. I also wonder how the sequence of events impacted decisions. I’m pretty sure that, when they sat down and determined priorities, a closer was on the shopping list, but they had to move some payroll to make room for one. First, they offered arby and made offers to Lyon and Rodney. I’m not so sure that if they didn’t sign Valverde, that money would have been available to fill another spot. I’m guessing that, once Illitch saw that payroll was coming under control, he reopened the check book and sprung for Damon, seeing the glaring needs at the top of the lineup. But at the time that the arby decision on Polanco had to be made, DD was up against a hard ceiling and probably an edict to not let payroll go up any further, which it would if they extended or replaced any of the departing free agents. He wouldn’t take the chance, no matter how great or small, that PP would accept arbitration.
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