Washington Nationals Arbitration Update: Nats, Michael Morse And John Lannan Submit Arbitration Figures.

by Patrick Reddington on Jan 17, 2012 8:05 PM EST

"The People's Champion" Michael Morse hasJohn Lannan #31 of the Washington Nationals show him where Morse's home run landed above the Crawford Boxes in the fifth inning against the Houston Astros on July 18, 2011 at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Thomas B. Shea/Getty Images)

The Washington Nationals announced today that they'd avoided arbitration by agreeing on deals with three Nats, starter Jordan Zimmermann and relievers Tom Gorzelanny and Tyler Clippard. The Nationals had previously signed catcher Jesus Flores to a one-year deal and inked Gio Gonzalez to a contract extension. That took care of five of the seven arbitration-eligible Nationals, leaving OF/1B Michael Morse and left-hander John Lannan as the only unsigned Nats. According to CBSSports.com's Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS), who was Tweeting the numbers filed before today's deadline to do so, the Nationals offered Morse, who's coming off a .303/.360/.550 breakout campaign, $3.5M while the player's side filed at $5.0M dollars. Lannan, 27, finished the 2011 campaign (10-13) with a 3.70 ERA, 4.28 FIP, 5.17 K/9 and 3.70 BB/9 in 33 games and 184.2 IP. The lefty filed at $5.7M according to CBSSports.com's Mr. Heyman, while the Nationals filed at $5.0M even.

(ed. note - "We'll change the poll later, up first it's LANNAN vs THE NATS!! Who wins the arbitration battle!?!?! VOTE BELOW... Feel free to argue in the comments...")

Lannan, an '05 11th Round pick by the Nationals in their inaugural draft class, saw his salary jump from $458,000 to $2.75M dollars in his fifth MLB season in 2011 after he avoided arbitration by agreeing on a deal on January 17th. Morse, in his seventh campaign with Washington, played more games in 2011 than he had previously in any year at the major league level, appearing in 146 games and making 575 plate appearances. Morse signed a day after Lannan last winter, agreeing to a 1-year/$1.05 million dollar deal after having made $410,000 in 2010.

Does Lannan get the $5.7 he's looking for? $3.5 for Morse? Or $5.0 million? The Nationals haven't had an arbitration case since the winter of 2010 when they came out on the winning-end of hearings with both left-hander Sean Burnett and right-hander Brian Bruney. Will the Nationals' two-case winning-streak be challenged, or will both players agree on deals before heading into arbitration?

Poll

John Lannan at $5.7M or The Nationals at $5.0M?

John Lannan at $5.7M?

56 votes

The Nationals at $5.0M?

240 votes

Somewhere In Between?

119 votes

415 votes | Poll has closed

Tweet Comment 32 comments | 0 recs |

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Comments

Zow...I was cringing over the projected $4 million for Bambi...

and now it’s up to $5 million.
And now Lannan thinks he’s worth more than $5 million? He must think he’s still an OD SP!
HAHAHAhahaha…..

"player development" should not be gladiator games. by cat daddy3000 on Aug 6, 2011

by MissB on Jan 17, 2012 8:46 PM EST via mobile reply actions

He'll be better this year and worth it, you'll see....

"...I don't want to go watch American League baseball." -Lance Berkman....
I wanna watch the "... tape-measure-testing, laser-throwing, eyeblack-oozing baseball cyborg."

by cat daddy3000 on Jan 17, 2012 9:32 PM EST up reply actions

Lannan = Bambi, who's Thumper? Harper?

by RoscoeNats on Jan 17, 2012 10:03 PM EST up reply actions

How the hell d'ye load pics?

Need some tutorial up in here

"I can go to my left or right, I am amphibious." - Charles Shackelford

by Whupass on Jan 18, 2012 12:46 AM EST up reply actions

Okay.

When you post a reply, or a post in general, look where the bold/italic buttons are. The one on the far right is the “Image” button. If you click it, it’ll have a little pop-up that asks you for the URL of the image you’re trying to post.

If you got the picture by Google Images, you can right-click (Option-click?) the image and choose “Copy Image Location” before pasting it into the URL-requesting pop-up.

"I just want to tell you both good luck. We're all counting on you."
-Leslie Nielsen, Airplane

by Jorgath on Jan 19, 2012 3:57 PM EST up reply actions

Opening Day Payroll at least $69 million

using averages for Morse and Lannan, and minimum salaries for players whose contracts are totally under team control. This does NOT include the $6 million spent on players not on the major league roster (Maya, Harper, Rendon, Purke)

Also, still no word on what DeRosa is being paid.. I penciled in $1M, but it likely is much more (he made $6M last year).

by dc Roach on Jan 17, 2012 8:59 PM EST reply actions

Salaries

Mark DeRosa, 1b, an $800,000, one-year contract. I did a google news search.

There is only a 40 Man roster at this point. You should include players on the 40 man roster because they are MLB level and the Nats got to pay them. Maya, Harper, Rendon, Purke are all on the 40 Man.

by HG_VA on Jan 17, 2012 9:47 PM EST up reply actions

thanks.. couldn't find him anywhere

I’m focusing on players with major league contracts, so the 25 man roster and the four minor leaguers with major league contracts. I’ll put up a post when these negotiations are finished, like I did last year (except with more years of info this time).

by dc Roach on Jan 17, 2012 9:54 PM EST up reply actions

Isn't that Morse in that picture, not Ramos?

Anyways – I think Nats win both. The Lannan is a no-brainer – if only the arbirtators could tell the Nats you could have gone $4M and won. I could maybe see Morse in between, but closer to the Nats number.

by dugjxn on Jan 17, 2012 9:06 PM EST reply actions

I apparently should have edited Getty's copy, dang...

I have enough trouble with my own mistakes.

Vivian Jaffe: "Have you ever transcended space and time?"
Albert Markovski: "Yes. No. Uh, time, not space... No, I don't know what you're talking about."

by Patrick Reddington on Jan 17, 2012 9:19 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

re: Lannan

I think Lannan would score a pretty good contract on the open market, probably more than what he asked for.

That’s the difficulty of assigning value to a player in arbitration – it’s not a free market, just the opinion of a third party.

by illlwill on Jan 18, 2012 2:35 AM EST reply actions

and i dont believe they value lannan's intangibles as much as his supporters do

Yeah, well, you know, that's just like, uh, your opinion man

by TJL on Jan 18, 2012 8:31 AM EST up reply actions

influences

I wonder if the fact that the nats are constantly ripped on for having a low payroll already would have any impact on decisions about arbitration. Personally I would rather see the team enter into a good deal with Mike nothing too long, but maybe four years going from 4 million this year to 10 million in year 4, and increasing by 2 million a year each season.

I think it would make this team look good to reward players who are in the system and perform, not just reward guys they grab from other teams.

by Alex35332 on Jan 18, 2012 8:39 AM EST reply actions

lately theyve rewarded players they draft more than anybody else

so its not only those they grab from other teams

Yeah, well, you know, that's just like, uh, your opinion man

by TJL on Jan 18, 2012 9:02 AM EST up reply actions

You know what bugs me about Lannan?

He never seems to have great starts. They’re pretty much always the 5-6 inning variety, allowing 2-3 runs, and he always seems to have that one mid-game inning which teeters on the brink of disaster. It’s like clockwork with him. In 128 career starts over five seasons, he’s only managed to reach the eighth inning ten times. All this makes him an “OK” pitcher, but not one who merits 200,000 dollars per start.

Rob

--"Well my days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle." -- Mal Reynolds

by RobBobS on Jan 18, 2012 9:00 AM EST reply actions

You are SO preaching to the choir!

Five-inning Lannan puts extra stress on the bullpen, has the worst ABs of all the SPs and couldn’t lay down a bunt if his life depended upon it = Not helpful to the team

Five million seems a lot for a pitcher who’s mostly vamping until Detwiler or Purke takes his job.

"player development" should not be gladiator games. by cat daddy3000 on Aug 6, 2011

by MissB on Jan 18, 2012 9:31 AM EST via mobile up reply actions

That is certainly the simplistic view

As we ARE paying him per start, but obviously there is everything else that comes with just being a professional.

It seems like alot but I think Lannan has a pretty good case. I don’t think arbiters are that in tune with the times, heres a guy with a sub 4 ERA in 3 of the last 4 years, and has led the Nats in win 2 of the last 3 years. (COUGH)

You guys. You lollygag the ball around the infield. You lollygag your way down to first. You lollygag in and out of the dugout. You know what that makes you? Larry!

by Bsullivan on Jan 18, 2012 10:16 AM EST up reply actions

Led the Nats in wins?

Is that really an argument?

Rob

--"Well my days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle." -- Mal Reynolds

by RobBobS on Jan 18, 2012 10:22 AM EST up reply actions

It is in this type of case.

They use statistical analysis such as ERA Whip and Wins. They could say he only had 10 wins, but he could follow up with, “Well, I led the team”.

There is an argument to be had there, if they were any good, how many wins would he have? Unknown really. Cant imagine he’d have too many more. But with that said, he only gave up more than 3 runs 7 times. I know we talk about his lack of innings prowess, but it can lead to wins with a shutdown bullpen.

You guys. You lollygag the ball around the infield. You lollygag your way down to first. You lollygag in and out of the dugout. You know what that makes you? Larry!

by Bsullivan on Jan 18, 2012 10:38 AM EST up reply actions

In the mediator's eyes,

yes.

Brain: "Pinky, are you pondering what i'm pondering?"
Pinky: "Yes, ... wait, ... no, ... never mind"

by jbg2772 on Jan 18, 2012 11:09 AM EST up reply actions

If I were representing the Nats' management in the arbitration

I’d tear that argument to shreds.

It’s not personal, John; it’s just business.

Rob

--"Well my days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle." -- Mal Reynolds

by RobBobS on Jan 18, 2012 11:28 AM EST up reply actions

And the arbiters would then dismiss your argument

Because you’d be using dem newfangled sabermetrics

"I just want to tell you both good luck. We're all counting on you."
-Leslie Nielsen, Airplane

by Jorgath on Jan 19, 2012 3:59 PM EST up reply actions

Why are people worried about paying PF?

The before last paragraph in this piece says we paid Morse $410 million last year alone.

I knew the Lerners had money, but that seems a little excessive, IMHO.

by DC20 on Jan 18, 2012 9:47 AM EST reply actions

HA!

You guys. You lollygag the ball around the infield. You lollygag your way down to first. You lollygag in and out of the dugout. You know what that makes you? Larry!

by Bsullivan on Jan 18, 2012 10:06 AM EST up reply actions