The Tigers officially signed Jose Valverde to a two-year contract worth $14MM today. The deal also includes a club option for 2012 worth $9MM.
The 30-year-old Valverde has enjoyed a tremendous run as the closer for the Diamondbacks and Astros over the last three years. In 190.1 innings during that time, he posted a 2.84 ERA with a 10.3 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9. Valverde battled leg injuries in 2009, though he held opponents to a .202/.286/.294 batting line after coming off the disabled list in June.
The Tigers were left with a gaping hole in the back of their bullpen this offseason after losing setup man Brandon Lyon and closer Fernando Rodney to the Astros and Angels, respectively. Because Valverde was a Type-A free agent, Detroit sent their first round pick (#19 overall) to Houston as compensation. The Astros will also receive a supplemental first round pick (#33 overall).
The agreement was first reported by Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports last Thursday, with Jon Paul Morosi of FoxSports.com adding the value of the option year later in the day.
As a Sox fan, I’m glad they wasted money on Valverde instead of a Ben Sheets or an Orlando Hudson…
Ed Wade gets his #1 picks. Lucky Ed.
why did they trade Granderson? the point was a salary dump right?
No.
maybe they just plan to flip him mid season and get a nice haul on proven prospects as opposed to a low Draft pick. lets face it, after like the 15th ish DP, you have about as good of a chance as finding a star in 15-20 as you do the 2nd round.
funny. your realize they just lost a pick when they signed Valverde.
You see high round guys not make , barely make it or have a cup of coffee in the bigs. You see later round guys called up all the time. I am sure someone has done a study on this but a Baseball draft is a crap shoot. Ryan Sandberg was a 24th round pick.
This makes so much sense. Rodney out, Valverde in (virtually equal money). Who is better??? I’m going with Valverde. Nice signing.
I don’t have anything against Valverde, just the $14MM the Tigers gave him. I doubt the Cards would have gone over more than $4-5MM per year. Dombrowski probably could have cut 4 million off the contract based on the total lack of competition.
From a Tigers perspective, they only gave him 3m more than Rodney got and I think if you asked them they would say Valverde is 3m BETTER than Rodney every day of the week.
At least 3M better. However, Rodney and Lyon were two of the most overpaid FAs this offseason. If we base Valverde’s contract on two already inflated contracts, it looks relatively good. If you look at the market as a whole though, I think the Tigers gave up too much. Especially when you consider the entire idea of the Jackson/Granderson trade was to trim their payroll that was already high due to some awful extensions on Dombrowski’s part. Earlier in the offseason, they appeared to be holding money at a premium, so they should be the last team to overpay for a closer at this point.
Right so from a Tigers perspective they did fine. Who else was left that had a history of CLOSING GAMES?? I don’t buy that the Tigers won’t complete in 2010 having dealt Grandy and E-Jack. They had to sign this guy, they had no choice!
You are right on. Valverde is a quality closer. I hated the deal for the Angels when it was announced. I’m sick about it now that Valverde has been signed for so cheap. Stupid, stupid, stupid move by my Angels.
The only downside to Valverde is the loss of a draft pick. For the Angels, they could have afforded losing the 29th or so pick. With the other compensation they received that would have been a fair trade off.
Great signing by the Tigers. Bad decision by Valverde to turn down arbitration.
like the signing, we have a way better closer now, plus he brings experience, something that’s very usefull with the relief prospects the tigers have.
so who’s closing for the astros than this year? Lyon?
Almost definitely, though I would have rather seen it go to Alberto Arias, who has a slightly higher K rate than Lyon and who induces a lot of grounders that would have fit in well with the Astros improved infield defense.
Likely some competition between Lyons and Lindstrom. Gervacio and Arias could possibly win the spot, and Chia Jen Lo may be up before the season is over.
As a Tigers fan I don’t mind it. Used some of the money saved from dealing Curt and Ejack to get a guy with nasty stuff for the late innings
As an Astros fan, you’ll love Valverde…hated to lose him.
cheap signing, better money spent than rodney or lyon thats for sure. Im glad its more than a one year deal tho, because quite frankly, a one-year deal doesn’t make sense for a team that has an offense going nowhere. However, I’d like to think this is what Dombrowski’s thinking…
IF WE CONTEND UP TO THE ALL-STAR BREAK
Casey Crosby, Alex Avila, Cale Iorg, Casper Wells/A-Jax trade for Adrian Gonzalez. Shift MCAB to DH. Use some of the 50MM we have to spend next offseason to extend Gonzalez and Verlander and sign Carl Crawford. Or trade less than that and just acquire Crawford at the deadline, and sign Dunn in the offseason.
IF WE DONT CONTEND UP TO THE ALL-STAR BREAK
Trade Valverde and Guillen in a package that saves us money and nets us one decent prospect. Or just trade Valverde and get 2 really good prospects. Trade Bonderman, Robertson, Inge, Ordonez or Willis if they have regained any value back (doubtful besides Inge).
“IF WE CONTEND UP TO THE ALL-STAR BREAK
Casey Crosby, Alex Avila, Cale Iorg, Casper Wells/A-Jax trade for Adrian Gonzalez. Shift MCAB to DH. Use some of the 50MM we have to spend next offseason to extend Gonzalez and Verlander and sign Carl Crawford. Or trade less than that and just acquire Crawford at the deadline, and sign Dunn in the offseason.”
What? Highly unlikely.
That is probably not enough to get Gonzalez. Just a hunch.
…more than a hunch.
Oops didn’t mean to reply to tigers22, sorry.
you mean FutureFantasyGM?
Wow, that’s a huge package for Gonzalez. I think he’s a great player, but you’re sending 4 or 5 guys that the Tigers think will be MLB regulars in the coming years. They’re not just a bunch of A and AA prospects. Also, you’re making a whole lot of assumptions on what else they will do. It would take a perfect world for them to land Gonzalez, Crawford, and keep Verlander. I suppose you want Adam Everett and Scott Sizemore to combine for 40 homers and 180 RBI’s this season too. Do you also expect Willis, Robertson and Bonderman to be Cy Young candidates? Also, why would they want a .240 hitter with limited defense like Adam Dunn who hasn’t hit American League pitching before?
….No. a lot of people would argue that thats not enough for Gonzalez. a fair trade. Dunn would provide protection in a lineup that sorely needs it. And there isn’t a power hitter I’d rather have in next year’s crop of Free Agents. The only players I’d rather have from next years free agents are Crawford and maybe Carlos Pena. and as for the everett/sizemore thing, no. Id expect Everett to hit 220 and play stud defense and sizemore to hit 260 and steal 15 bags. and I don’t expect any of the three overpaid pitchers to do anything, but if they can even anything for them I’d be happy considering they are free agents anyway. not terribly unrealistic. it would take a perfect world for them to get all three I agree, but 50MM to spend next offseason certainly doesn’t hurt their contracts, especially without a lot of backloaded contracts.
I’m sorry dude but I don’t think they’d even think about trading all those guys for Gonzalez. Those are guys who are on the verge of making the big leagues, and should be a big part of our young core for years to come. Plus were just building our farm up with this big league ready talent, so we aren’t just going to ship it all out for a power hitting first basemen. We already have one of those.
No, no one is even saying Everett and Sizemore will combine for 40/180. You be hard pressed to find many combos that can put those numbers together. And why are you asking people sarcastically if they think Willis and Robertson and Bondo are going to be Cy Young candidates? Of course we don’t… that isn’t what we’re saying. Plus Adam Dunn would be a great addition to this team if we can sign him next offseason. Big bat, great protection for Miggy. No defense, perfect for a DH
How can you give up a relatively high first-round pick for a reliever?
It’s essentially the same as drafting a reliever in the first round, but worse, because you only get to have that reliever for 2 years, and you pay him much more than he’s worth.
The Tigers have become such a terribly-run organization. What happened to all the pundits who were saying the Tigers were one of the smartest organizations in baseball after they made the WS? Just goes to show you, either the pundits know nothing about which organizations are actually well-run, or organizations that are well-run for a couple years are likely more due to good fortune than anything else.
Seriously? A “terribly run organization?” Do your homework. They went from one of the worst teams -EVER- to the world series and a perennial contender in just a handful of years. A couple of bad extensions (Willis and Robertson) and one bad trade (Renteria). Look around at the Mets, the Cubs, KC, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Washington, the Reds, the Blue Jays, the Orioles and the Astros and tell me the Tigers are a “terribly-run organization.” Seriously?
The 19th pick in the MLB draft for the top-flight, lights-out closer Detroit has needed since Mike Henneman and that’s somehow a “terrible” decision? And we’re paying him “much more than he’s worth?” Compared to who? Most top-flight closers are making $8-12m or more a year and we’ve got him for $7m, LESS than what he made last year in a very good year. Fernando Rodney and Brandon Lyon are making $5m+/year – at that money, Valverde is a steal!
Come on, get your head out of the fishbowl and look around!
you are 100 percent right my man 100 percent
I agree man. Bad contracts aside this team is a very well run organization. They went from terrible to contender just like you said, and with the moves this offseason DD is setting this team up to be EXTREMELY good in the years to come. They should have a dominating rotation, great arms in the pen, and a good lineup. I don’t care what anyone says, especially casual fans around Detroit who want to cry themselves to sleep over Granderson. This team is going to be very, very good in the near future.
Detroit usually pay well over slot for rookies in the draft so can usually get talent at later picks that other teams might pass over due to signing concerns. No big deal really for a semi-elite closer. Far better than going with Perry or Zumaya. As an Indians fan (not that we’ll be close enough in the 9th to warrant them using a closer) but I know who I’d rather my boys had to face!
They had no competition for this guy – the 7MM per year is pretty bad for a team like the Tigers. Can they really afford to spend 7MM on the closer spot? I think if Dombrowski had waited he could’ve gotten him for something around 1 yr 5 mil with an option.
No way he would have gone for that cheap. Good signing and you cant forget we have the 2 supplemental picks between the first and second round so the pick wasnt that big of a deal
Um, did you hear anything else about an offer even close to the Tigers? This is a terrible use of very limited resources for the Tigers. And they surrender the 1st round pick – terrible move.
No way he would have gone for that cheap. Good signing and you cant forget we have the 2 supplemental picks between the first and second round so the pick wasnt that big of a deal
“The Astros will receive two draft picks as compensation for losing him: Detroit’s first round pick (19th overall), as well a supplemental first rounder that will be 34th overall.”
Good job by Houston to get 2 picks. Their Farm system certainly needs them.
I am an Astros fan, and I am glad that Bobby Heck just received two nuclear missiles to add to his armament for this years draft. They finally got one of these arbitration things right…
This is a hilariously bad signing. And as a White Sox fan I couldn’t be happier. They traded a young, effective player at a premium position to save money. Then they spent 14MM on a closer, probably one of the last places you want to allocate resources (unless it’s Mariano Rivera or something, which Valverde is decidedly not). Bad, bad, bad. But good, since the Tigers will not be very good.
Yeah because Teahen and Putz were really impact acquisitions huh? We’ll see man.
Peavy was.
Peavy wasn’t this offseason. C’mon now.
If I were a WS fan I would be worrying about my own closer situation. Jenks is slumping in a big way and stands to make as much, if not more, than Valverde. Jenks is now untradeable unless the WS kick in money. If Valverde is worth $7m on the open market I have to think that Jenks is worth $5m or so.
The White Sox have many of their own problems. You can’t compare Jenks and Valverde, however. Jenks is not a free agent, he’s facing arbitration. The White Sox have no control over how much the arb panel decides he should earn. And the simple fact is, the Tigers were bidding against themselves for Valverde and overpaid. He probably will perform adequately, he’ll just do so while making more money than he’s worth.
the WS have three guys that are fully capable of pitching in high-leverage situations. not worried.
Or how about Omar Vizquel AND Andruw Jones in the same offseason? Both washed up, just taking on the Rangers scraps. Talk about hilarious.
Neither one of them is being paid like anything more than they are, serviceable bench players. Vizquel still plays elite defense at three infield positions and Andruw Jones is making 500K. That’s the difference. Regardless of your thoughts on the White Sox, the Valverde signing remains laughable.
The Astros off-season suddenly looks a lot smarter now. #8, #19, #33, and #57. Bobby Heck should be able to really fix the farm system with that haul.
It was said at the time of the trade and has to be said again. The Granderson trade was not a salaray dump. The Tigers obviously thought they were selling high on two players who they saw flaws in their game. Yes shedding some salaray was an added benefit but the real benefit was getting 4 guys with around 5 years of control. If they were really trying to shed salaray you would have seen Cabrera traded.
The problem is they got an unproven commodity in Jackson, who has very little power, mediocre base-stealing skills, and strikes out far too much, and Coke, an expendable left hander for Grandy. The haul from the D’backs was much better, considering how the only thing E Jackson had going for him was a good first half of the year.
The only way they got Scherzer and Schlerith was if they traded Graderson to Yankees who sent Ian Kennedy to D-Backs so it wasn’t A. Jackson and Coke for Granderson.
You hit the nail right on the hammer there. I have been saying that since day 1. the only way the Tigers got Scherzer was by sending granderson as well. and schlereth was what they got for jackson. initially the Edwin Jackson trade was just
E. Jackson AND they also offered Gerald Laird for Schlereth and Chris B. Young or Geraldo Parra (which is not a bad return in it of itself) The Diamondbacks were NOT willing to trade Scherzer for Jackson straight up.
So think of it as two trades really
E. Jackson for Schlereth-(which is better than what was initially proposed by subtracting Laird)
and
Curtis Granderson for A-Jax, Scherzer, and Phil Coke
Thats a pretty impressive haul for Granderson and a what they would have gotten for E. Jackson anyway.
The only way they got Scherzer and Schlerith was if they traded Graderson to Yankees who sent Ian Kennedy to D-Backs so it wasn’t A. Jackson and Coke for Granderson.
They replaced Fernando Rodney (signed with Angels for 2 years/$11 million) with Valverde. I know they gave up the draft pick (that doesn’t matter as much to a team who is willing to draft over slot) but I think the Tigers did well here. Valverde is much better than Rodney, and he only got $3 million more. With that said, the Tigers didn’t want to pay Granderson $13.75 over the next two years, but they’ll give Valverde $14 million?
Seeing as how the world is ending in 2012, I like that they made it an option year.
Ya that shouldn’t matter since the world is not going to end.
LOL
You just made my day. 😀
Way to much, but its nice as a Sox fan to see Detroit throw away that much money.
I think the Tigers had to go two years to have a chance to sign him. If we start talking 1 year $5 million you would see a lot of teams step in and sign him in a set-up role at that price (Yankees, Mets, Cubs). Don’t think Tigers mind two years at the price because 1.) It is very tradeable and 2.) They don’t have to be in the market for a closer for the next two years when they will have a better chance of contending. Zumaya had no business closing and Perry probably wouldn’t be ready until next year but now can take his time in the set-up role. I love the signing for the Tigers who have not had a dominate closer since Wille Hernandez.
dont forget about Daniel Schelereth and Phil Coke though, both potential closer candidates.
I don’t mind the move. This year they will pretty much just tread water then they will reload in the next off-season once useless guys like Magglio, Dontrelle, and Robertson are off the books. They will already have a good closer on their team for a year and will have money to spend on other premium positions and should be right back in the hunt.
Maggs had some very difficult personal issues through the first half of last year. Once those were resolved he came around and had a very good second half. Now I don’t expect him to hit any more than 15-20 homers in a season but I do expect him to hit over .310.
hey i think maggs still has it too like game 163 check that out homer to tie when we needed it
hey i think maggs still has it too like game 163 check that out homer to tie when we needed it
As fun as it was seeing Valverde pitch, I’m glad we’re moving on and not overpaying for him. Don’t let the numbers fool you, I held my breath every time he came to the mound. He’s so slow between pitches, and if he has a two run lead, you can pretty much bet he’s giving up a solo homer. Wishing him the best, but at the same it’s a huge win for the Astros to getting rid of him and adding two draft picks.
Maybe he gave up so many HR’s is because minute maid park’s LF is about as deep as my high school LF.
I don’t get all the Astros fans acting like they’re glad to be rid of Valverde. Sure, the draft picks are awesome, and we have no need for him since we need to rebuild, but the guy was a lock-down closer. He gave up 5 homeruns last year in 52 games. He had a terrible April, and was absolutely elite for the rest of the year. As an Astros fan, it is embarrassing to see all these clowns acting like he wasn’t any good.
I’m not saying he’s not good, I loved seeing him out there pitching, but look at all the players we signed because of all the freed up money. Having an elite closer for 52 games doesn’t do much when you’re 74-88. It was for the benefit of the team and moving forward that me moved onto the Tigers. And you can’t say he didn’t give up the longball, he wasn’t that clutch. I’ll always remember when the comebacker got him in the face and he finished the inning and picked up the save.
The stupid move wasn’t signing him.the stupid move was giving him 2 guaranteed years and about 2 million more than his worth.No one else wanted him. The Cards didn’t seem willing to commit any decent amount of money to him. 1 yr 5 mill with a 5mill team option probably could have gotten it done.
At 1yr 5 million I think their would be a good chance that we could see a lot of teams get involved in his services as a set-up man. Could see Yankees or someone of that ilk getting involved.
At 1yr 5 million I think their would be a good chance that we could see a lot of teams get involved in his services as a set-up man. Could see Yankees or someone of that ilk getting involved.
The stupid move wasn’t signing him.the stupid move was giving him 2 guaranteed years and about 2 million more than his worth.No one else wanted him. The Cards didn’t seem willing to commit any decent amount of money to him. 1 yr 5 mill with a 5mill team option probably could have gotten it done.
I hate sox, valverde was a good signing. in 07 and 08 he had more saves then any closer with an exception of K-ROD.
look at k-rod’s contract with the mets. I’d take Valverde at MAX 3 years 23MM over K-Rod at 3 years 38MM, with an option to make it 4 years 52MM. K-Rod is making 5MM more per year than Valverde. While he is a better pitcher than Valverde, in my opinion, he does not merit 5MM more per year. Valverde is one of the top 5 closers in the game rgiht now.
1) K-Rod
2) Papelbaum
3) Rivera(only because of age)
4) Joe Nathan
5) Valverde
an argument could be made for Heath Bell, Andrew Bailey, Huston Street, Brian Wilson, Joakim Soria and Jon Broxton but they havent proven themselves as much as the prior-listed.
TREVOR HOFFMAN??? HE’S LIKE 90 AND STILL KILLS IT ON THE MOUND
good news for the Red Sox. Not that the Braves were likely going to yank Valverde, he was the last of the 3 Type As that the Braves could have signed to knock the #20 pick for Wagner to the second round. And with all the type A acquisitions the Sox took, it’s always good to have a first rounder tucked away for a rainy day.
As a Pirates fan, this is terrible news. Not that I was hoping the Bucs would sign Valverde, but the fact that the Astros gained two very valuable picks in the upcoming draft. With some smart scouting, the Astros farm system could jump by leaps and bounds after this June.
There are two additional benefits to this deal:
1) It shows the current Tigers that management plans on competing this year. After the Granderson/Jackson trade (which I believe was simply a case of selling high) the current roster might get the idea that they are not expected to contend for the A.L. Central this year. Signing Valverde, a top tier closer, is proof in my opinion that they don’t plan on packing it in this coming year. How demoralizing would it be to go into a year knowing that management does not have faith for you to compete?
2) If the Tigers are not contending by the All-Star break they can trade Valverde and assuming that he is doing well they can fetch a decent return. Perhaps even more than what they got him for.
good call. I really think that the Tigers could compete this year. Minnesota’s pitching doesn’t scare me. White Sox screwed themselves over big time taking Rios over Figgins and lost a ton of their power in Jermaine Dye and Jim Thome. Cleveland and KC, well we all know the story there. If Guillen and Magglio come back and hit .300 which they are far more than capable of, Tigers really could compete. A lot of people believe that Scherzer’s better than E. Jackson. The real losses are Granderson and Polanco. But I think while they will lose some power with Granderson gone, they are now experimenting with 2 guys who could hit 1st and 2nd in the lineup with higher averages than Granderson in Sizemore and A.Jax. It will be an interesting year in Motown for sure.
As an Astros fan, I am sorry to see Valverde go, but he wasn’t worth $14M over 2 years. Seemed to go along just fine stringing saves, but once we came to a “key game”
he would blow it. Tigers fans will need to watch for the wild stretches of not finding the strike zone, and propensity to give up the long ball. If we’d got him for $5M per that would have been about right. We overpaid for Lyon, but also got two first rounders from the Tigers for Valverde which was better than what we would have got had we signed and traded him.
I’d take him, schlereth, and coke over rodney, lyon, and dolsi ANY DAY of the WEEK>
I honestly believe that Detroit and Houston won this signing.
Houston: Their farm system is getting better but it lacks depth still. Hopefully, Houston will draft someone good with this pick. I think a P and a 1B is a priority.
Detroit: Sure Tigers lose their first round pick, but I think Valverde s a perfect fit and Tigers fans got a lights-out closer.
So, both teams won.
Much rather have Jenks than Valverde, rumors of Jenks’ decline have been exaggerated. He played through injury last year and even so, only had one bad month. His can still get his fastball in the upper 90’s.
Valverde’s probably an upgrade over Rodney but we’ll see as he faces AL lineups.
Much rather have Jenks than Valverde, rumors of Jenks’ decline have been exaggerated. He played through injury last year and even so, only had one bad month. His can still get his fastball in the upper 90’s.
Valverde’s probably an upgrade over Rodney but we’ll see as he faces AL lineups.
Question: If a team declines a club option, can that player be offered arbitration?
at first, I was annoyed with this signing. they traded away one of my favorite players, curtis granderson, at the same price as valverde. and then went and signed him. however, looking at A-Jax, I see the center-fielder the Tiger’s wanted out of Granderson. A little Less power (15-20Hmrs), but better baserunner, better speed, and more plate patience is what the consensus belief is while comparing A-Jax to Granderson, defensively very similar. The tigers need a guy who can get on base, steal bases, and play defense similar to Granderson. And that’s what they got in A-Jax. Additionally, trading Granderson enabled them to pry Scherzer AND Schelereth from Arizona. Scherzer really can be better than E. Jackson and is cheaper. He will benefit from playing at spacious Comerica. As will Valverde, who played at hitter-friendly Minute-Maid park. I am not saying that in 2010 A-Jax becomes the 20-20 .290 hitter Detroit is hoping for, Valverde saves 40 games this season, Scott Sizemore fully replaces/exceeds Polanco, and that the Verlander-Scherzer-Porcello combo becomes the best in the league. However, all of those have beyond a decent chance to occur in 2011, where they also will have money to spend.
not only that, but they replaced their inconsistent bullpen with a sure-fire closer and 2 prominent up-and-coming relievers, one with PLAYOFF experience in Phil Coke and Schelereth.