SCOTTSDALE, Ariz − It has been 11 long years, and even after retirement, the memories refuse to fade.
Kyle Lohse knows exactly what Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery, the two talented and decorated pitchers still remaining on the free-agent market, are feeling these days.
He felt the same frustration, anger, anxiousness, and depression eating away at his soul each day.
“I definitely feel for those guys, it’s so tough,’’ Lohse tells USA TODAY Sports. “You want to be in camp. You want to be there with your new teammates. You want to get acclimated.
“But you also know what you’re worth.
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“The wait is very lonely.’’
Lohse, now 45, was coming off the finest season of his career back in 2012 with the St. Louis Cardinals.
He was 16-3 with a 2.86 ERA, leading the league with 33 starts while pitching 211 innings, and leading the Cardinals to within a game of the World Series. He finished seventh in the NL Cy Young race.
Certainly, he expected to be rewarded, with reports that agent Scott Boras was seeking a four-year, $60 million contract.
He instead waited all winter, into the spring, and nearly into the season before the Milwaukee Brewers stepped up and signed him to a three-year, $33 million contract.
He signed on March 25, 2013 − seven days before opening day.
“There are days you wake up frustrated, there are days you wake up angry, there are days you feel down, there are days you feel all of that,’’ Lohse said. “You’re property of a team for so many years, you get your shot for free agency, and then most teams don’t want to talk to you. You try to stay positive, but it’s hard. It’s a gut-check.’’
Lohse was the guinea pig for the new draft pick compensation in free agency for players who rejected qualifying offers. Teams liked him, and wanted him, but kept reiterating they didn’t want to forfeit a first-round draft pick to sign him. Free agents Anibal Sanchez of the Detroit Tigers (five years, $80 million) and Edwin Jackson (four years, $52 million) signed lucrative deals, but neither required draft compensation.
It’s similar to the sentiments that Snell is hearing this winter. He may have won two Cy Young awards, but with teams like the New York Yankees who are over the luxury tax coveting him, they don’t want to surrender second-round and fifth-round draft picks along with $500,000 in international pool money to sign him.
“I was kind of a test case going through the qualifying offer stuff,’’ Lohse said. “Teams were putting all of this value on draft picks instead of signing someone who could improve your team at the big-league level. It was like, we don’t want to pay you money and give up a draft pick, so we’re not going to pay you what you’re wroth.
“You had teams trying to low-ball you and take advantage of the situation. You felt very slighted, that you’re downgraded and forced into a corner when you’ve worked your whole career to reach that point.’’
Certainly, no one expected former MVP Cody Bellinger to get only a three-year, $80 million contract from the Chicago Cubs or four-time Gold Glove winner Matt Chapman to get a three-year, $54 million deal from the San Francisco Giants.
Yet, with opening day approaching, and the number of interested teams dwindling, you have no choice but to sign unless you’re prepared to be home when the season starts.
“I don’t want to throw around the C-word (collusion),’’ Lohse said, “but it’s pretty weird when you have guys who are proven winners, and not have people fighting to get you on your squad.’’
It has become clear that Snell isn’t going to receive anywhere close to the $325 million Yoshinobu Yamamoto received from the Los Angeles Dodgers. Montgomery, the Texas Rangers’ postseason pitching star, likely won’t approach the $172 million deal that Aaron Nola got from the Philadelphia Phillies.
They now are willing to exchange long-term deals for flexible, short-term contracts, if necessary, just as Bellinger and Chapman did. The Boston Red Sox could use a starter now that Lucas Giolito could require season-ending elbow surgery. The Los Angeles Angels still have a gaping hole in their rotation. The Yankees, Giants, Rangers and Phillies continue to lurk.
“I think there’s a pitching panic going on in Major League Baseball right now,’’ Boras, who represents Snell and Montgomery, said Monday. “We’ve got so many starting pitchers who are now compromised − maybe short term, but some long term. The calls for elite starters are certainly starting to increase.’’
While it’s getting late, with opening day three weeks away, Lohse may be living proof that the shortened spring won’t affect Snell and Montgomery.
Lohse, even after missing all but a week of spring training, pitched in the Brewers’ fourth game of the season and never missed a start.
He struck out three Arizona Diamondbacks’ hitters in the first inning of his Brewers’ debut, and finished 11-10 with a 3.35 ERA, pitching 198 ⅔ innings. He came back the next year and pitched another 198 ⅓ innings.
“It taught me that you don’t really need spring training,’’ Lohse said, laughing. “I actually had fresher legs because I didn’t spend all of that time shagging and doing drills. I was doing everything on my own, simulating games.
“The only thing I didn’t simulate was getting up at 5 in the morning and getting to the park at 6.’’
Lohse spent his time working out at Boras’ training institute in Newport Beach, Calif., while pitching simulated games at local colleges in Phoenix. Snell is doing the same now in California, while Montgomery is working out at Boras’ training institute in Florida.
The two pitchers, Boras says, each are up to 50 pitches and three-inning outings, much like the starting pitchers who have been in camp since mid-February.
“It really wasn’t a problem for me,’’ Lohse said. “I had a pretty good system going with own mini-camps, throwing, working out, covering first base. And Scott set me up with simulated games against different schools.
“When the season started, I was right on schedule.’’
Montgomery and Snell, each who are 31, three years younger than Lohse when he hit free agency, haven’t called Lohse for advice or guidance. It’s not easy to share your fears and anxiety to strangers. Lohse just hopes they have the support system they need.
“I remember having a chip on my shoulder, and I’m sure they will, too,’’ Lohse said. “You remember. I held onto those talks we had with GMs that winter, the ones trying to low-ball me, the rest of my career.
“You hate to see anyone go through this. You’ve just got to keep reminding yourself there’s going to be an end to it.
“Eventually.’’
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