The Brewers are on the hook for a likely salary in excess of $11.5MM for reliever Francisco Rodriguez next year, after K-Rod accepted their arbitration offer. The latest on the team after GM Doug Melvin met with reporters:
- Melvin said he doesn't have to trade Rodriguez to clear payroll space, writes Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. The Brewers feel good about the back end of the bullpen now, and Melvin noted that Rodriguez's added cost should be considered less the $3MM he would have had to spend to sign two compensatory draft picks. That estimate doesn't hold water if you assume the Brewers would have received, say, the Padres' second-round pick plus a supplemental choice. Slot for two picks of that nature would probably total $1.25MM.
- Asked about Aramis Ramirez, Melvin said, "Anybody that's still a free agent is a possibility."
- Melvin hopes to zero in on a shortstop early next week. Yuniesky Betancourt, Alex Gonzalez, and Rafael Furcal are the candidates, writes MLB.com's Adam McCalvy.
- Melvin gave some parameters to Takashi Saito's agent Nez Balelo, which didn't change post K-Rod. It's not an official offer, but Melvin expects Balelo to try to get more from another team. Six to eight teams have shown interest in Saito, Balelo told WEEI's Alex Speier yesterday.
Honestly, K-Rod is definitely not the worst thing that could happen to a team. However, with Pujols leaving, the NL Central is wide open the next few years, and I hope K-Rod’s acceptance doesn’t prohibit Melvin from making moves that might benefit the team for years to come.
may not be the worst thing, but its pretty close.
What could be worse, short of K-Rod and Prince both accepting? This is a disaster for their payroll unless they can trade him without eating a ton of salary. If they can’t, kiss next season goodbye. Another year of Yuni B, Casey McGehee and Mat Gamel at first. 3rd place team at best.
WOnder if the Pads and Brewers could work out a Bartlett deal ?
I would be okay with this.
I would be okay with this.
Umm… not having extra draft picks is not a GOOD thing, sir. Pretty funny attempt at spin.
He can’t come out and say “Yeah, we really screwed that up, huh?” so he’s gotta say something.
Having said that, they couldn’t possibly have offered K-Rod arbitration without some sort of plan on the off chance he accepted it.
Even with pujols leaving the cards are still a very strong team
Just throwing this out there. Any way Prince signs a short-term contract with Brewers seeing as the market seems to be shrinking for him?
Anything is possible, but chances are somebody is going to offer him a 6-7 year contract in the 120-150 range. Problem is, keeping K-Rod means they can’t afford even one season of Prince at 20+.
Who in their right mind would give Prince a 6-7 year contract for that much money? Highly doubtful for an NL team to do it. Perhaps an AL team would, but still a huge risk. Somebody would have to be willing to overpay big time. Who knows what Prince’s condition will look like in 4-5 years. Lord knows his glove isn’t going to upgrade any infield. I love Prince and maybe you’re right, but in my opinion it’s gotta be a team with money to gamble. If the Marlin’s aren’t willing to dish it out, who the hell is?
KRod has a career ERA+ of 172, coming off a season of a 212 ERA+, and Saito has a career ERA+ of 199, and is coming off a 195 ERA+ mark. But KRod will get 4x the salary that Sammy gets. Baseball is a funny sport.
Saito is also 41 years old coming off an injury plagued season. Granted, none of the injuries was to his arm – but back and oblique injuries forced him to miss about the first half of the season.
True, but I’m now looking at Sammy’s terms. $14MM vs $1.75MM?
Saito’s a better deal
“You just got punk’d!” – K-Rod
Saito has the 5th lowest ERA amonth relievers over the past 6 years. Saito has averaged less than $2 million per year over that span. If I were Saito, I would find a new agent.