Glove Me Tender
Today is the deadline for MLB clubs to tender 2007 contracts or offer salary arbitration (where applicable) to players on the club's MLB Reserve List (40-man roster) who are not already signed for 2007. (The old deadline for tendering contracts or offering salary arbitration was December 20th).
Any unsigned player who is not tendered a 2007 contract or offered salary arbitration today becomes a complete and total free-agent, known as a "non-tendered free-agent," or sometimes just a plain "non-tender." There are no Type "A" or Type "B" non-tendered FAs, the player does not have to file anything, and waivers are not required. Starting tomorrow, any player who is non-tendered can sign a major league or minor league contract with any MLB club (including the player's former club). For instance, a club can non-tender a player on its 40-man roster today, and then re-sign the same player to a minor league contract tomorrow.
At present, there are 25 players on the Cubs 40-man roster who are not signed for 2007. Of the 25 players who are unsigned, four have at least three years of MLB service time and are eligible for salary arbitration, and the other 21 have less than three years of MLB service time, and thus can have their contracts automatically renewed by the club (these pre-arbitration guys are sometimes called "Auto-Renewal" players). If he doesn't like the club's offer, the only recourse an "Auto-Renewal" player has is to "hold out" and not play.
In addition to the 25 unsigned players on the Cubs 40-man roster, there are 14 other players who are already signed at least through 2007, and there are another three who have contracts pending. Because there are currently 39 players on the Cubs 40-man roster, once the three players with pending contracts are added to the roster, two players presently on the 40-man roster will need to be removed either by trade, release, or outright assignment to the minors.
It's entirely possible that the two players who will be removed from the 40-man roster to make room for the players with contracts pending will be removed today by way of being non-tendered for 2007. If that in fact does happen, the two players who are non-tendered for this purpose (perhaps Buck Coats and Jose Reyes?) could be subsequently re-signed by the Cubs to '07 minor league contracts as soon as tomorrow (probably for something like they would have gotten if they had remained on the 40-man roster, like maybe minor league "Split Contract" money--$60,000 minimum--plus an NRI to Spring Training).
SIGNED FOR 2007 AND BEYOND (14):
Michael Barrett (thru 2007)
Wade Miller (thru 2007)
Glendon Rusch (thru 2007)
Kerry Wood (thru 2007)
Scott Eyre (thru 2007 + 2008 player option)
Cesar Izturis (thru 2007 + 2008 club option with buy-out)
Ryan Dempster (thru 2008)
Bob Howry (thru 2008)
Jacque Jones (thru 2008)
Henry Blanco (thru 2008 + 2009 club option with buy-out)
Mark DeRosa (thru 2009)
Derrek Lee (thru 2010)
Aramis Ramirez (thru 2010 + 2011 player option & 2012 mutual option)
Alfonso Soriano (thru 2014)
CONTRACT PENDING (3):
Daryle Ward (thru 2007 + club option for 2008)
Jason Marquis (thru 2009)
Ted Lilly (thru 2010)
OTHERS UNDER CLUB CONTROL
(APPROXIMATE MLB SERVICE TIME IN PARENTHESIS)
NOTE: Although the MLB season is 182 days, 172 days constitutes one full year of MLB service time
ELIGIBLE FOR SALARY ARBITRATION (4):
Carlos Zambrano (5+42 ñ can be FA after 2007)
Will Ohman (4+40 ñ can be FA after 2008)
Mark Prior (4+131 ñ can be FA after 2008)
Neal Cotts (3+27 ñ can be FA after 2009)
AUTO-RENEWAL (PRE-ARBITRATION) FOR 2007 (21):
Ronny Cedeno (1+108)
Rocky Cherry (0) ñ see NOTE
Buck Coats (0+35)
Brian Dopirak (0)
Angel Guzman (0+95)
Adam Harben (0)
Rich Hill (0+87)
Sean Marshall (1+0)
Carlos Marmol (0+121)
Juan Mateo (0+62)
Scott Moore (0+28)
Matt Murton (1+87)
Roberto Novoa (1+169)
Angel Pagan (1+0)
Felix Pie (0)
Clay Rapada (0) ñ see NOTE
Jose Reyes (0+27)
Jae-kuk Ryu (0+38)
Geovany Soto (0+60)
Ryan Theriot (0+112)
Michael Wuertz (2+4)
NOTE: All AUTO-RENEWAL (PRE-ARBITRATION) players except Rocky Cherry and Clay Rapada will be eligible for the MINOR LEAGUE SPLIT-CONTRACT MINIMUM ($60,000) if the player is optioned to the minors in 2007. Because this is their first year on an MLB 40-man roster, Cherry and Rapada will only be eligible for the FIRST-YEAR MINOR LEAGUE SPLIT MINIMUM ($30,000) if they are optioned out in '07.
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MINOR LEAGUE OPTION STATUS:
* Can only be optioned to minors after clearing Major League Waivers
NOTE: Players with minor league options left can refuse an optional assignment to the minors once they reach five years (5+0) of MLB service time.
NO MINOR LEAGUE OPTIONS LEFT:
Angel Guzman (see NOTE)
NOTE: Because of time spent on the DL in 2004 and 2005, Angel Guzman PROBABLY is eligible to receive a 4th option year in 2007. A player receives a 4th option year if he has not played five ìfull seasonsî (minimum 60 days on major league or minor league active roster in each of five separate seasons) by the time his three minor league options have been exercised (4th OPTION YEAR FOR GUZMAN CANNOT BE CONFIRMED AT THIS TIME).
ONE MINOR LEAGUE OPTION LEFT:
Ronny Cedeno
Rich Hill
* Roberto Novoa
* Will Ohman
Geovany Soto
* Michael Wuertz
TWO MINOR LEAGUE OPTIONS LEFT:
* Neal Cotts
Brian Dopirak
Adam Harben
Carlos Marmol
Angel Pagan
Felix Pie
* Mark Prior
Jose Reyes
Jae-Kuk Ryu
Ryan Theriot
THREE MINOR LEAGUE OPTIONS LEFT:
Rocky Cherry
Buck Coats
Sean Marshall
Juan Mateo
Matt Murton
Clay Rapada
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POST-2007 MINOR LEAGUE FREE-AGENTS
(if not added to 40-man roster by 10-15-07)
Jason Anderson, RHP (0+115 - MLFA after 2007)
Federico Baez, RHP (MLFA after 2007)
Oscar Bernard, RHP (6Y MLFA after 2007)
Ryan Bicondoa, RHP (MLFA after 2007)
Nate Bland, LHP (0+56 - MLFA after 2007)
Gary Cates, IF-OF (MLFA after 2007)
Robinson Chirinos, 2B (6Y MLFA after 2007)
Jorge Cortes, OF (MLFA after 2007)
Koyie Hill, C (1+32 - MLFA after 2007)
Jesse Hoorelbeke, 1B (MLFA after 2007)
Ben Howard, RHP (0+118 - MLFA after 2007)
Geoff Jones, LHP (MLFA after 2007)
Albenis Machado, INF (MLFA after 2007)
Isaac Pavlik, LHP (MLFA after 2007)
Carmen Pignatiello, LHP (MLFA after 2007)
Carlos Rojas, SS (6Y MLFA after 2007)
Issmael Salas, INF (6Y MLFA after 2007)
Les Walrond, LHP (0+45 - MLFA after 2007)
John Webb, RHP (0+41 - MLFA after 2007)
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ELIGIBLE FOR 2007 RULE 5 DRAFT
(if not added to 40-man roster by 11-20-07)
Alberto Alburquerque, RHP
Thomas Atlee, RHP
Chadd Blasko, RHP
Jerry Blevins, LHP
Bobby Brownlie, RHP
Jose Caridad, RHP
Matt Ciaramella, OF
Matt Craig, 3B
Darin Downs, LHP
Mike Fontenot, 2B (0+19)
Jake Fox, C
Alfredo Francisco, RHP
Sam Fuld, OF
Alberto Garcia, 1B
Carlos Guerrero, LHP
Luke Hagerty, LHP
Kevin Hart, RHP
Ryan Harvey, OF
Jim Henderson, RHP
Micah Hoffpauir, 1B
Jonathan Hunton, RHP
Grant Johnson, RHP
Scott Koerber, LHP
Tim Layden, LHP
Dary Maria, RHP
J. R. Mathes, LHP
Zach McCormack, LHP
Casey McGehee, 3B
Jose Mejia, RHP
Adalberto Mendez, RHP
Mario Mercedes, C
Jonathan Mota, INF
Ryan Norwood, 1B
Eric Patterson, 2B
Leonel Perez, RHP
Billy Petrick, RHP
Elvin Puello, 3B
Robert Ransom, RHP
Tony Richie, C
Alan Rick, C
Lisandro Rosario, INF
Felin Santana, RHP
Joel Santo, RHP
Paul Schappert, LHP
Chris Shaver, LHP
Roberto Sotolongo, RHP
Jemel Spearman, INF
Nate Spears, 2B
Edwin Valdez, OF
Jesus Valdez, OF
Chris Walker, OF
Randy Wells, RHP
Jesus Yepez, LHP
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