In the final moments, at least final by Marlins standards, the club agreed to terms with Ricky Nolasco, Cody Ross and Alfredo Amezaga.
The Florida Marlins agreed to one-year contracts with pitcher Ricky Nolasco, outfielder Cody Ross and utility player Alfredo Amezaga on Tuesday, avoiding salary arbitration with all three players. Nolasco agreed to a $2.4 million, one-year deal and can earn $50,000 in performance bonuses. The 26-year-old right-hander had a breakout season in 2008, going 15-8 with a 3.52 ERA in 212 1-3 innings. He made the major league minimum $390,000 last year. Ross gets $2.25 million next season with a chance for $25,000 in performance bonuses, and Amezaga agreed to a deal worth $1.3 million plus $100,000 in available bonuses.
The one left out the mix was Dan Uggla, but more on that later. (Of course, if you read the site from top down, you already know.)
Now back to three that signed. Looking at the numbers it appears to me that the Marlins got off lighter than they deserved. Especially with Cody.
But the players freely agreed and one would think they are happy with their contracts -- which is fantastic.
Matt Sosnick, a good guy, who represents Ricky had this to say about the negotiating process.
Matt Sosnick, who represents Nolasco, said negotiations were tough but fair, and praised Mike Hill and Larry Beinfest, the Marlins' general manager and president of baseball operations, respectively. ''Mike Hill, to me, has a lot of intellectual integrity,'' Sosnick said. ``Larry Beinfest is the same way. The Marlins take a lot of [criticism] for certain things, but I feel like both of those guys are as direct and honest as you're going to find.''
Which is always nice to hear, but still, I think the Marlins front office were very fortunate in the cases of Ricky, Cody and Alfredo. Naturally I understand, that most first-year arbitration eligible players are very reluctant to go into the arbitration process, and really who could blame them. Had I been in their shoes, I would've probably done the same. However, if you look at the stats......