No, Philadelphia, J-Roll™ Will Not Give You a Hometown Discount

Jimmy_rollins_ring
Everything finance today. As we mentioned earlier, Chase, Jimmy, Shane, and Cole were on a bit of a media tour this morning promoting Philly Financial Today. We talked to Chase. 97.5 talked J-Roll™ and asked him about giving the Phillies a hometown discount when his contract is up at the end of the year.

"I'm definitely not going to take less, you don't have to worry about that part. I came up in this organization. With Jayson, ya know, I think was originally drafted by the Baltimore Orioles and then Pat Gillick made sure that he gave him a chance to thrive here and he did exactly that. There's a difference between a guy who's been around a couple years and bounced from here to here and who finally has his chance to get paid, and you don't get that money back. If he would have taken less money to stay here, it's not like the Phillies were going to say "here, let's give you a bonus of $30 million because you stayed here, or you do well or we continue to win." That doesn't happen. He had to think about his future and I'm different, I came up with the organization, so I helped be a building block and when the time comes all of that will play itself out. But there is no such thing as a hometown discount, or, you know, things of that nature. Business is business, and the money is going to be the money, and the numbers is going to be the numbers."

 

There you have it, money is money, numbers are numbers… and rings, home, and winning are, apparently, worthless.

J-Roll™ also said that Plaxico Burress told him he wears a Phillies cap because Jimmy is his favorite player. My God, Plaxico is publicly fornicating this city. He did it again today.

You can listen to J-Roll's™ interview right… hither.

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27 Responses

  1. Considering he’s hitting barely .260 in his contract year, I don’t see any problem in signing him. He earned it. Make him a respectable offer. He’ll accept it. We low ball him and we’ll be out a gold glove SS. His D is still as good as it’s ever been.

  2. i like j-roll….a lot…but i lambasted the yankees for overpaying jeter so if that’s the kind of payday jimmy wants then i’ll have to say it’s been a great run and where can we get a shortstop who doesn’t pop out to shallow left 7 out of 10 at bats?

  3. “…and the numbers is going to be the numbers.”
    Man, J-Roll ™, at least use the proper plural form of the verb “to be.” Just start hitting the ball and then move on. When you’re on your last legs you’ll beg to come back.

  4. At this point, I wouldn’t expect him to come out and offer a discount, but when its actually time to make a deal, his tune may change.
    If it doesn’t, he most likely will not be playing here. At this point in his career, he’s not untouchable.

  5. @The Face – The problem is where he says things like this…
    “I’m different, I came up with the organization, so I helped be a building block and when the time comes all of that will play itself out.”
    Read between the lines there and he’s clearly expecting a Jeter contract based on what he did in the past and not a realistic contract based on where his skills are today.

  6. You can take Rollins money and the money you would have paid Ibanez and pay a top flight home run hitting left fielder 20 million a year. That gives Howard protection and a fabulous 3-4-5 in the line up.

  7. Everyone can hate on Jimmy all the want but he is probably the 5th best shortstop in the game right now. Reyes, Tulo, Asdrubal, and Hanley are above him but you could make an argument for Jimmy being better than the rest when you take into account defense, speed, power, etc. Plus, take into account the fact that we have no backup plan in the minors and the FA field is weak after Reyes and Rollins and you got problems. I think we have to find a way to keep him.
    P.S.- good for him for shooting down the hometown discount crap. That doesn’t exist. And don’t use Cliff Lee as an example cause he is making the same across five years that we would have with any of the other squads.

  8. “…and the numbers is going to be the numbers.”
    Yea J-Roll(tm) and the numbers say that you are declining offensively. Granted, still a above average defensive SS, but declining offensively nonetheless. If he thinks he is getting a Jeter contract he is out of his mind. Rollins singed a 5 year/40 million extension in ’05 when he was 28. No way does he get much more than that as a 33 year old declining player. I would go 4 years/37 million MAX.

  9. I say let him go and we get a SS that doesn’t swing first pitch 90% of the time.

  10. If you listen to the whole interview, J-Roll(TM) clearly states he is NOT in a Jeter type situation. He is not looking back on his old contract and saying he outplayed it (which he definitely did) and deserves more now. He is saying he deserves what he deserves, and the market will dictate that. If the Phils don’t want to match what another team offers, and he is agreeable to that situation, that’s where he’ll go. I have no problem with that, and if you are realistic, you shouldn’t have a problem with it either.
    But the market WILL dictate his contract. And I don’t think it will give him a 5 year deal like he thinks he will get. But he’ll see that from every team, not just the Phils. Good chance he returns, but if he doesn’t, J.J. Hardy would be good on a one year deal.
    I’d go 3 years, $36M and see where that gets you with J-Roll(TM).

  11. Whatever you do please do let Homer speak with anyone in the Phillies organization.

  12. Considering money will be needed to resign Cole Hamels (that beeping sound you hear is the Brinks truck backing up to his front door from that Daily News piece i read today) and Ryan Madson, I can live without retaining J-Roll. So long, Jimmy, you did good for the club. Have a nice life.

  13. I echo the philly flash…. jimmy and his big contract or madson and the cole-train….. thats a no brainer. i hate rollins, but respect him as a player and expect him to respect us as fans and respect the phillies as an organization, i would like to resign him but nothing over the top maybe MAYBE 3 year 30 mil. and i think that is even too much, give me valdez at short and cole locked up long term!

  14. @J.T: Rule #1 of signing a player is prior success doesn’t translate over to the future. Just because J-Roll(tm) signed a crappy deal and out performed it, as we all admit he did, that doesn’t entitle him to “make up for it” this time around. The market is what the market is just as his numbers say he is in decline. There is also only 3 SS FA’s this season worth anything. Hardy, Reyes and Rollins. 3 yrs/36 mil as you say is still way too high and won’t happen. Jimmy will get an offer similiar to the amount per year he is recieving now. He won’t make in excess of $10 million per year. Those days are long gone.

  15. 3yrs/36 mil for Jimmy; if he doesn’t like it, he can go elsewhere. otherwise, JJ Hardy : 2-3yrs/20-24mil.

  16. Rollins = 4yr/$40M thats all. Simple.
    Hamels = 5yr/$80M
    Madson = 3yr/$27M
    What you all think, fair?

  17. @mvptommyd- I understand past performance shouldn’t dictate the contract you get now, that was my whole point. What Jeter got was ridiculous and I was simply replying to those saying that’s what Jimmy is doing, when he said that is not what he is doing. Just trying to point that out for those guys.
    I think Jimmy is worth 3 years, $36M. If you disagree, that’s absolutely your right.
    I think he will get at least $10-12M somewhere, and some scrub team will probably offer him at least 4 years. If he wants to take that, God bless him. He’ll be on a team that doesn’t consistently contend. If he wants to understand that it’s not a hometown discount, rather a discount to play on a championship quality team, then he’ll take a lesser amount to come back. Either way, I think we’ll be alright. Either Jimmy comes back at a little less than what some other teams (Seattle, Oakland, Florida, Washington, etc) would offer, or we go out and get Hardy for 2 years till Freddy is ready (poetry!).

  18. Hamels won’t take 5 years $80M, at least I don’t think. His agent would kill him. He can get TONS more on the open market next year. I personally think 5 years, $100M would do it, but (I know this is insane) I would go 10 years, $175-200M. Call me crazy, but that’s what I would do. Also probably a reason why I’m not an MLB GM.

  19. Perhaps you are right, Hamels is more like 5yr/$110M to keep him.
    Idk about that crazy long offer, thats NUTS! haha.

  20. Say what you want about J-Roll, he is an above average SS and the face of the franchise. He clearly outperformed his last contract. I’m not in favor of “make up contracts”, but so long as he stays healthy, he will be fine. I want to see him close out his career in red pinstripes and hopefully one day he’ll be in that broadcast booth with Franzke a la Harry and Whitey. Nothing against LA, but Franzke is obviously a lot younger than LA.

  21. Why should anyone expect him to take a discount? And when did saying you don’t plan on undervaluing yourself equal not giving a shit about winning baseball games? I don’t get it.

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