Tweet
ST. LOUIS - The may very well be taking it easy with Josh Johnson because they are protecting a long-term investment.
For now, Johnson wearing a Marlins uniform deep into his free-agent years may just be wishful thinking on both sides.
Johnson is arbitration-eligible two more seasons before qualifying for free agency after 2011. The two sides have not had substantive discussions about a multiyear deal, but the Marlins at least appear willing to entertain that possibility.
"They have said they want to try to get something done in the offseason, but I've also made it clear what my feeling is about what his value is," said Matt Sosnick, Johnson's San Francisco-based agent.
"He'd like to stay in Florida, but they're probably going to have to really bust out of their [financial] comfort zone to make it happen."
The next two seasons combined, Johnson, through arbitration, would likely make somewhere around $15 million. Where it gets tricky is assigning a price for his free-agent seasons. Don't look for Johnson to give the Marlins a break on those free-agent years the way Hanley Ramirez did.
The Marlins bought out Ramirez's first three free-agent years for an average of $15.5 million. That's not chump change by any means, but on the open market, Ramirez would have commanded considerably more for those years.
"Josh is a pitcher who is absolutely unaffected by the economy," Sosnick said. "Whatever the economy is, there are four or five teams that would pay him $20 million a year to go play for them five or six or seven years.
"Josh is not going to make a bad deal. They're going to have to make a market deal for him, and it just so happens that in this case a market deal for this player is going to be somewhat precedent-setting. Once again, it doesn't make it right or wrong on the Marlins' part, but it doesn't seem like that follows into their past strategy of doing business."
For now, Johnson wearing a Marlins uniform deep into his free-agent years may just be wishful thinking on both sides.
Johnson is arbitration-eligible two more seasons before qualifying for free agency after 2011. The two sides have not had substantive discussions about a multiyear deal, but the Marlins at least appear willing to entertain that possibility.
"They have said they want to try to get something done in the offseason, but I've also made it clear what my feeling is about what his value is," said Matt Sosnick, Johnson's San Francisco-based agent.
"He'd like to stay in Florida, but they're probably going to have to really bust out of their [financial] comfort zone to make it happen."
The next two seasons combined, Johnson, through arbitration, would likely make somewhere around $15 million. Where it gets tricky is assigning a price for his free-agent seasons. Don't look for Johnson to give the Marlins a break on those free-agent years the way Hanley Ramirez did.
The Marlins bought out Ramirez's first three free-agent years for an average of $15.5 million. That's not chump change by any means, but on the open market, Ramirez would have commanded considerably more for those years.
"Josh is a pitcher who is absolutely unaffected by the economy," Sosnick said. "Whatever the economy is, there are four or five teams that would pay him $20 million a year to go play for them five or six or seven years.
"Josh is not going to make a bad deal. They're going to have to make a market deal for him, and it just so happens that in this case a market deal for this player is going to be somewhat precedent-setting. Once again, it doesn't make it right or wrong on the Marlins' part, but it doesn't seem like that follows into their past strategy of doing business."
Comment