The market for Vlad has been eerily quiet all winter. While I never expected him to be among the most highly sought after free agents, I certainly expected him to be signed by now. Now, that he's the last remaining big name free agent remaining on the market, reports have finally started coming in fast and furious.
Today, SI's Jon Heyman reports that the Rangers are out of the running, and the Orioles have "limited funds at this stage" with which to sign him. At first glance, it seems a little bit surprising that a player who put up a .300/29/115 season would still be trolling the free agent market in search of an acceptable contract at the end of January. Then, you remember that he's about to turn 36, and that he's completely untrustworthy defensively. Also, Manny Ramirez, a reasonably close comparable, recently received a one year $2.5M deal from the Rays this past weekend, which probably hurt his value immensely.
It's becoming much more clear to me that Vlad is going to have to settle for a one year deal around $1.0-1.5M with lots of performance based incentives. Me thinks he shouldn't have pushed his demands for a two year deal for so long. Otherwise, he might've received a much more favorable contract by now.
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