Omaha goes on an extension frenzy..Who’s next?(38.6)

[niles08]

Omaha went on quite the streak of handing out contract extensions over the past few days and that has left Hawks fans questioning who is next?

Could it be Jimmy Starks Jr.? The club recently put out a league wide memo saying he was “available” but never said never. The club has obviously shown a bit of loyalty to it's players and Starks falls in that category as he has never taken a swing at the BBA level for another club. Starks is in the last year of team control, earning $10,500,000 this season.

Could it be Hirotada Miura? Miura won 15 games last season and is in the final year of his contract so an extension seems likely until you figure that Miura is currently not even in the Hawks plans to be in the starting rotation and his extension demands are unknown at this time to the public

Some think that Sergio Maldonado is a likely candidate, given he has potentially only 1 more arbitration year before free agency. His low arbitration figures also would seem to favor Omaha.

Speaking of only one more year, Edris Mtume is the same way. As a matter of a fact, Mtume seems to be the betting favorite on the next extension. Many fans still think Starks will wind up getting extended with the team however many believe that Mtume will get extended first.

The club very well could be waiting for the league mandated 5 years of major league service rule in the constitution that states players may not sign contracts longer than 3 years in length until they reach 5 years of major league service.

Mtume will eclipse that soon after the season begins.

The 27 year old Mtume had a rough win loss record last year finishing 6-11. However digging deeper, he actually had a pretty good year finishing with a 4.35 ERA and a 4.21 FIP. He did have a 3.0 WAR on the year which is actually his second best of his career only topping the 5.3 he had in 2036.

Mtume did miss 5 weeks last year and did miss 10 months with a partially torn UCL in 2035 but seems to be past that injury with an okay recovery as shown in 2036 and 2037.

If the team is unable to extend Mtume, he is currently estimated to have a salary next season of $8,400,000.

It is unknown what Mtume’s current demand is and the team is been pretty tight lipped about negotiating with any of their players they have signed as not many knew they were even negotiating with the 4 other players signed this week.