Diamondbacks re-sign Joe Saunders after non-tendering him last month
Jan 17, 2012, 4:33 PM EDT
AP Last month Joe Saunders turned down a two-year, $12 million deal from the Diamondbacks and they non-tendered him rather than pay approximately $8 million for 2012 via arbitration, but the veteran left-hander said later that he “really wanted to come back” to Arizona and today he did just that.
Steve Henson of Yahoo! Sports reports that Saunders has re-signed with the Diamondbacks for an undisclosed one-year deal.
Saunders reportedly countered Arizona’s two-year, $12 million offer with a three-year, $27 million proposal, revealing to Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic that they “never countered back.”
Early in his career Saunders was overrated by nice-looking win-loss records, but he’s basically a typical mid-rotation starter with a 4.16 career ERA and weak secondary numbers, including a 3.69 ERA and 108/67 K/BB ratio in 212 innings for the Diamondbacks last season.
And it looks like he almost surely cost himself some money by turning down the Diamondbacks’ initial offer.
UPDATE: Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com says it’s a one-year, $6 million deal, so Saunders definitely overplayed his hand.
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- trevorb06 - Jan 17, 2012 at 4:44 PM
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I hope all my future male children turn out to be left handed. I’ll start them at a young age to be lefty. #sarcasm
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- jwbiii - Jan 17, 2012 at 4:57 PM
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joe saunders signs with dbacks for $6M. nice way to fill out rotation.—
Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) January 17, 2012
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- mschempp - Jan 17, 2012 at 6:01 PM
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Isn’t Saunders just settling for the Diamondbacks level (instead of leaving money on the table)? If he believes he’s worth more than $6M per, he has a year to prove it. Sign for 1 year/$8 next year, and he wins.
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- jwbiii - Jan 17, 2012 at 8:01 PM
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This way Saunders assumes the risks of injury or poor performance, but also reaps the rewards of good performance. A two year deal splits the risks and rewards.
