Managing Marginal Costs In a Contract: Option Years For 2009's Free Agents

With the 2008 baseball season quickly coming to an end, it is never too early to start looking ahead to the future. Although free agency is always interesting, one aspect of free agency that is often not looked at are the option years players have on their existing contracts.

At this point in the season, there is enough data relating to the players' seasons and the teams' futures to guess whether or not the option years will be picked up for many well-known players. Here is a position-by-position look at these players.

Catcher

There are no big-name players facing the future of having an option picked up or not at catcher.

First Base

Carlos Delgado—$12 Million Mutual Option with a $4 Million Buyout—Early in the season, Delgado was struggling, but his play picked up towards the middle of the season. Although the Delgado of old will never be seen again, Delgado is an above-average first baseman, putting a line of .255/.341/.484 up this year and sporting an above-average 117 OPS+, up from last year's extremely average 103 OPS+.

Considering that the buyout is a third of the total contract that Delgado would receive next year, this is an easy decision for the Mets. They would be smart to pick up his option, as the marginal cost is only $8 million.

Delgado is 36 and will turn 37 in 2009, so his next contract will probably be his last multi—year contract. Considering this year has been fairly successful for him, he might consider opting out, but he should be able to do this well next year as well, and then leave as a free agent after his age 37 year. Both sides will pick up this option.

Jason Giambi—$22 Million Club Option with a $5 Million Buyout—Giambi has had a fun year, and it has also been a very good year for him, as he has put up a line of .249/.387/.506. The only issue is that his option is very expensive. He will be 38 in 2009, and a $22 million aging first baseman is not what the Yankees need.

They will buyout his contract and look to resign him for two years at a diminished cost, giving Giambi added security after 2009 while giving the Yankees a little money back. Giambi will not be able to receive lots of money from any other team, so he will definitely look to come back to the Yankees next year.

Second Base

There are no big-name players facing the future of having an option picked up or not at second base.

Short Stop

Edgar Renteria—$12 Million Club Option with a $3 Million Buyout—A few years ago, Renteria was considered to be one of the better shortstops in baseball, but after this year's .268/.319/.361 line, that thinking has been buried. The Tigers will buyout his contract and not look to re-sign Renteria at all. He will have to look back into playing in the National League because he has not solved the American League at all.

Third Base

Chipper Jones

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