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January 30, 2012 at 2:57 PM

First Take Update: Looking at contracts


MLB.com's Ian Browne has some great info today on contract clauses for some recent Sox signees. Since I've speculated in this space on some contract details like opt-outs, I felt it appropriate to follow up based on Ian's reporting. There's definitely more over on his blog, particularly involving player performance incentives, so check out the link.

First, a quick note on opt-out wording: unless specified otherwise, the clause is worded that the player may be "released if requested" or added to the pertinent roster within 24 hours.

Jesse Carlson
4/1 opt-out if not on 40-man roster
60 games opt-out if not on 25-man roster
If not on Major League roster, may sign with an Asian team for escalating amounts based on date: $50,000 before Feb. 19, $75,000 between Feb. 19 and April 3, and $100,000 if after April 3.

Take: Carlson didn't seem like an obvious opt-out candidate to me. His deal definitely keeps his options wide open if he doesn't make the club. The April 1 opt-out looks more like a safety valve to me if he's getting sniffs from other MLB teams, with the "60-game" clause being his true nuclear option opt-out. The Asian team clause is also interesting to me - if he's buried on the depth chart in Pawtucket and a team in Korea or Japan is interested, he can bolt at any time, for a price of course.

Aaron Cook
5/1 and 6/1 opt-outs if not on 25-man roster (club has 48 hours to add him)

Take: Nothing too surprising. Looks like he may get a month or two in Pawtucket after all though.

Vicente Padilla
Noteworthy that he apparently has no opt-out. Might be understood that he'll be in Boston?

Carlos Silva
4/15 opt-out if not on 25-man roster (club has 48 hours to add him)

Take: Not surprised and pretty much exactly the opt-out I expected he'd have.

UPDATE, 10:00 PM: The last player I wonder about is John Maine, given that we now know he got an invite to major league spring training.

UPDATE, 2/1: Thanks to Tim Britton of the Providence Journal for confirming that John Maine was not, in fact, invited to spring training. Just a minor league deal.