Quote of the Day: Phillies president comments on the Ben Wetzler

By Craig CalcaterraMar 3, 2014, 10:30 AM EDT
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Phillies president David Montgomery was on WIP radio in Philly today talking about the incident in which someone with the team reported Oregon State pitcher Ben Wetzler to the NCAA for using an agent. While Ruben Amaro and others have been tight-lipped to date, it sounds like there is beginning to be some realization by the team that they made a mistake:

 

Yep. The approach every other team takes in such instances: not caring what dumb, random and unfair rules the NCAA has and appreciating that what teams and players do in the course of negotiations is none of the NCAA’s business.

Astros talking to Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole about extensions

Justin Verlander
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By Craig CalcaterraMar 22, 2019, 10:52 AM EDT
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It’s extension season and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that the Astros — who already agreed to an extension with Alex Bregman — are discussing contract extensions with Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole.

Funny thing about Verlander, by the way: when he got his current $180 million deal, most people fell into the “oh, there’s an overpay!” column. What’s more, this past winter, when everyone was talking about how bad it is to give guys big long term deals, Verlander’s name was notably absent in the conversation despite the fact that his deal has turned out to be quite good. I suppose that says something about how good the anti-long-term deal folks are at cherrypicking.

That being said, Rosenthal says “it would be an upset” if either Verlander or Cole signed extensions. I can see that. Verlander is locked up this year and has a vesting option for 2020, and a lot can happen in a year or two. Cole is a Scott Boras client and Boras clients tend to hit the market rather than sign extensions. Perhaps their former teammate, Dallas Keuchel‘s, terrible experience on the free agent market this winter will alter that calculus. Hard to say.