Month: February 2009

Report: Phillies, Howard Agree To Contract

The Philadelphia Inquirer is reporting that the Philadelphia Phillies and Ryan Howard have avoided arbitration by agreeing to a 3-year/$54 million contract. Howard had been seeking $18 million in arbitration and the Phillies were offering $14 million.

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Unfortunately, we’ll have to see Ryan Howard go against the Mets 19 times per season for the next three years. I wouldn’t call him a Met killer like Pat Burrell was, but he does have numbers that are pretty much on-par for his career against the Mets.

Howard’s career numbers against the Mets are: 243 AB/ .272 AVG/.367 OBP/ .572 SLG/ 21 HR/ 50 RBI.

This is a fair deal for both the Phillies and Howard. He’s certainly one of the elite power hitters in baseball. Looking over his statistics, he’s really solid offensively in all of the splits. The most notable stat is that he really destroys right-handed pitching compared to left, hitting .304 AVG versus .231 AVG right-handed.

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Mets, Citigroup And Other Banking Culprits

Bank of AmericaIt’s been well documented recently that Citigroup’s decision to purchase the naming rights of the New York Mets new stadium has turned into a PR disaster. Everyone and their brother has written about this extensively, including me.

It was interesting to see that Mets COO Jeff Wilpon’s defense of the deal is that everyone else is doing it too, so why single out Citigroup? As lame as that defense appears on the surface, I was curious to find out how accurate that was. Sure, it seems like the infamous childhood argument to your parents “I did it because everyone else was”.  In this case though, Wilpon turns out to be correct.

Some of the companies have less impactful deals than Citigroup that don’t include naming stadiums. And all of the deals are certainly smaller financially than Citigroup’s commitment to the Mets. But everything is bigger in New York. Right?

The list of companies engaged in marketing deals with sports companies according to Bloomberg.com:

  • Bank of America ($45 billion TARP)– $7 million/year through 2024 for a total of $140 million for the naming rights to the Carolina Panthers stadium. They’re also working on a deal for in-stadium naming rights at the new Yankee Stadium. They also have sponsorship deals with MLB, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Washington Redskins, Dallas Cowboys, and the New England Patriots.
  • Wachovia/Wells Fargo ($25 billion TARP)– naming rights for Philadelphia 76ers and Flyers for a total of $40 million.
  • Bank of New York Mellon Corp. ($3 billion TARP)-naming rights deal with Pittsburgh Penguins for a total of $18 million, which expires at the end of this season.
  • JPMorgan Chase & Co. ($25 billion TARP)-They’re in a $66 million naming rights deal for the Arizona Diamondbacks stadium Chase Field. And they’re also negotiating a deal for in-stadium naming rights at the new Yankee Stadium.
  • PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. ($7.7 billion TARP)– PNC has a naming rights deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates for PNC Park. They’re paying the Pirates $2 million/year until 2020 for a total of $22 million.
  • Comerica ($2.25 billion TARP)– Detroit Tigers naming rights deal for Comerica Park valued at $2.2 million/year until 2030 for a total of $46.2 million.
  • M&T Bank ($600 million TARP)– Sponsorship deal with the Baltimore Ravens at $5 million/year for a total of $45 million through 2018.
  • BankAtlantic Bancorp, Inc. (applied for $124 million TARP)– naming rights deal with the Florida Panthers at $2 million/year until 2015 for a total of $27 million.
  • Raymond James Financial, Inc. (applied for TARP funds; amount unknown)– naming rights deal with Tampa Bay Buccaneers at $3.1 million/year until 2026 for a total of $45 million.

These are the companies that should be the targets of our outrage other than Citigroup. The US government propping up failing companies is distressing in itself, whether it’s financial companies making poor decisions or auto makers that are unable to compete in a world economy. We can still attack Citigroup’s naming rights deal with the Mets as ill-timed. That won’t change. But there are plenty of other culprits out there as well.

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Mets, Feliciano Agree To One Year Contract

Pedro Feliciano was the Mets last arbitration eligible player for the 2009 season without a contract. He agreed to a 1-year/$1.6125 million contract this week.

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The lefty reliever finished the 2008 season at 3-4 with a 4.05 ERA and 1.26 WHIP. Last season was Feliciano’s worst as a Met since he started pitching regularly in 2006.

Feliciano is a good lefty specialist. Right-handed batters hit him hard last season, having a .357 batting average against him versus ..210 for lefties. He also got hit much harder during the day (6.60 ERA) than he did at night (3.05 ERA). It’s also worth noting that he was miserable after the All-Star break, having a 6.27 ERA versus 2.86 ERA before the break.

This is an important season for Feliciano to establish himself as a solid reliever that can succeed throughout the entire season.

Mets Fernando Martinez Injured In Carribean Series

Top prospect Fernando Martinez strained his elbow playing in the Carribean Series this week. He flew back to New York to be examined by Mets doctors and was told to resto for three weeks. He’ll miss the first week of full squad workouts.

The 20-year old is the Mets top prospect and I suspect will see time in the majors in left field at some point this season. The injury doesn’t appear to be serious at this point. No reason to worry Mets fans.

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Mets, Elmer Dessens Agree To Contract

Elmer Dessens will join the Mets this season on a minor league contract. The deal will pay him $600,000 if he’s on the major league roster and has an additional $150,00 in incentives.

Dessens turned 38 years old last month. He’s kicked around the league for 12 years, pitching in four games last season for the Braves in relief. He started five games for the Rockies in 2007.

Expect him to start the season at Triple-A Buffalo and make a possible appearance in the bullpen if things start to go haywire during the season. Otherwise, Buffalo is the only place you’ll get to see him pitch this season.