11:03pm: Rodriguez has accepted arbitration, tweets McCalvy.
9:45pm: Agent Scott Boras says his client is still mulling his decision, tweets MLB.com's Adam McCalvy. Rodriguez has 75 minutes until the deadline.
9:29pm: Francisco Rodriguez will likely accept the Brewers' arbitration offer, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter). Marcos Grunfield was first to report that the reliever is expected to accept (Twitter link).
Milwaukee's decision to offer arbitration to Rodriguez was somewhat surprising, considering the right-hander earned $13.5MM last year and the team could only offer him a setup role. Given the dwindling number of teams who appear to be interested in spending big bucks on a closer, the market for K-Rod may have been limited.
CyYoungSuppan
fml
aisored
fffffffuuuuuuuuuuuu
TophersReds
Interesting…
JacksTigers
Damn. The Brewers are screwed.
TophersReds
So much for any of their offseason plans.
SunsetStripper
Yup, their done. They’ll probably offer Betancourt a contract after this, and that will be the end of their offseason. How disgusting. You can forget about Aramis Ramirez now.
bjsguess
Oops.
Fizzzay
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
Conebone69
If I could insert a “He Mad” picture, I would. Much like Ortiz, no one was about to give him what he wanted.
If Rodriguez remains the set-up man, he will be requesting to be traded by the all-star break.
Ferrariman
epic fail by Brewers. 13mil for a set up man.
bustinsuds
This is not good.
Phillies_Aces35
Can still trade him but what I think it’s safe to say that decision backfired.
RationalSportsFan
Not for a while, I believe. You can’t trade players who have accepted arbitration until a couple months into the season (sorry, I do not remember that exact date). By then, the Brewers will have ponied out 3-5 million.
But, agreed, that decision certainly backfired.
dudemanbro
didn’t rafael soriano accept arb in the 09 offseason before getting sent to the rays?
JacksTigers
Yep. Not possitive what he’s reffering to. Maybe I missed something in the new CBA?
RationalSportsFan
I am not sure what exactly happened there. Maybe you can be traded after accepting arb., but before the arb. hearing, and the team that traded for you assumes the offer of arbitration. That is what it looks like happened in that case.
BTW, what I said in the post above is based off information provided by MLBTR concerning the Heath Bell in-season saga.
RationalSportsFan
Okay, I went back and read about the Soriano and Bell situations. It seems that you can’t trade a player who accepts arbitration until June 15th….UNLESS you get that player’s permission (Soriano gave his permission before the Braves put him on the market, and the worry with Heath is that he said he wanted to be in San Diego and would not give his permission for a trade). So, K-Rod would have to give his permission (which seems likely, if he were given the opportunity to close for his new team). So….disregard what I said in my first post above, as he can be traded with his permission, and he is extremely likely to give his permission (if it would give him a chance to close).
BuyBuyMets
So then, what is rational about you?
RationalSportsFan
I made a claim based on evidence I had acquired. Upon questioning, I investigated further, clarified the issue, and retracted my initial statement.
Being rational does not mean always being correct. It means drawing the proper conclusion from the evidence before you. I was not aware of the Soriano situation. Someone made me aware of it, and I amended my beliefs.
(P.S. I love your avatar. When I heard he died, I was shocked to find out he had lived as long as he did.)
alxn
ouch
dudemanbro
har har har
dylanp5030
This is bad news bears (Walter Mathau) for the Brew Crew. I mean good for having a great 8-9 combo, but bad for spending 13 mill on a set up man. In reality, they are actually paying like 13.5 mill on 8-9th inning, which isn’t horrible, but in their case, it was not where they wanted to spend their money.
sharenski
Arbitration contracts are not guaranteed, that being said it will hurt Melvin’s crediiblity if he ends up cutting K-Rod.
jbryant93
They can only cut him if he fails to make the club out of Spring Training, which won’t happen. If they cut him anyway, player’s assoc will file a grievance which will result in Brewers paying him his salary.
JacksTigers
If the Brewers want to throw in $10MM and don’t want anything except a 24 year old A player, I’d love for the Tigers to take him off their hands.
NickinIthaca
Valverde wasn’t perfect enough for you last year?
JacksTigers
Could you kindly point out where I said “make him the closer” in my comment? I didn’t. So why are you saying I did? I just want the best set up man out there.
NickinIthaca
Fair enough… I wouldn’t necessarily want him as a set up man when he was so vocal with his displeasure down the stretch, but if he’s resigned himself to that fact enough to accept arbitration, I can see your point.
bobskube
Or they could just cut him for around $2.5M. Seems like a better option tHan your plan.
JacksTigers
What? You can’t just cut him for however amount you want. If they realease him, it will be for about $13MM. They already offered him arbitration. What’s done is done.
Amish_willy
Bob is talking about the situation like the Padres with Todd Walker four or five years ago. The Padres had a better case in that they already had acquired another 2b, who had a good spring, so cutting Walker had some merit. Walker later recieved an undisclosed amount from the Padres after he filed a grievence.
Considering the Brewers traded for F-Rod when they already had a closer, not sure they’ll be able to pull the same stunt. That said, like Soriano accepting the Braves offer, the Brewers could trade F-Rod prior to his arbitration hearing. They won’t get much back, but some team shoud give up an expendable prospect for him. I’d look for that to happen.
bobskube
That’s my wishful thinking anyway. 😉
JacksTigers
Not to mention that he doesn’t seem like a guy that would help the team like that.
bobskube
Only 1/6 of his salary is guaranteed. Not sure Melvin would cut him, but he could.
JacksTigers
How is only 1/6 guaranteed? Where are you getting this stuff?
RationalSportsFan
Well, K-Rod has entirely selfish reasons to accept a trade, as it could give him the opportunity to close. If he closes next year, he is likely to get a bigger deal in 2013 and beyond than if he is a set-up man. (Not saying he SHOULD get that bigger deal, but just that that’s what would happen.)
bobskube
Or they could just cut him for around $2.5M. Seems like a better option tHan your plan.
Civilization
Rafael Soriano pulled a similar stunt with accepting arbitration against the Braves. Perhaps this was more (or at least should of been) a move that was expected because the market for closers is just close to non-existent. The Brewers will likely look to dump the contract off on someone for pennies on the dollar too.
cards2WS
“I’m not happy. That’s the bottom line for me.”
I’m guessing that bottom line changed. I think he’ll be a little happier
Q
Really thought he would land somewhere else, but since Hawkins is probably signing elsewhere and Satio has pleanty of teams interested we at least get someone in the pen. Although it might be 8th inning only and that money would be nice to spen elsewhere. Not a bad chip to have at the trade deadline.
mondaymorninggm
being a cardinals fan i luv this…the brewers spend 13 mil on the eighth inning and lose fielder this offseason. meanwhile the cards bring everyone back and add an ace in wainwright…love it
bobskube
People obviously don’t understand how this works. It’s a $3m mistake worst-case. Not great but not the end of the world.
Bob George
And the Cards handicap their organization for a decade if they resign Pujols to that ridiculous contract. Seriously, just because Cards fans want to see him play his entire career with one team isn’t a reason to make an awful deal like that. Offer him 5 years, max, if he can sucker another team into a long term deal, good riddance.
3locos
im sure you do…but wait until you eat that 220mil pie youre buying for the next ten. ill take a inflated 8th guy and a damn near free closer for a year before i take a soon to be grandfather making 22+
Charliesmithm
Good deal he did amazing in the rotation. Better then ever
tacko
I think you mean bullpen. I don’t mean to sound picky, but rotation = starters, bullpen = relievers.
Charliesmithm
Good deal he did amazing in the rotation. Better then ever
bobskube
I’m grasping for straws.
Bob George
This might be one of the few times we see a player agree to arbitration and get released during spring training. Todd Walker was cut by the Padres a few years back after winning his arbitration case. I can’t think of any other examples.
For a non-guaranteed contract, which is what a contract awarded through arbitration is, a team has to pay either 30 days salary or 45 days salary depending if he is released before/after 16 days before the season starts. If they release a player during the season the entire contract is due.
tacko
That’s just not true at all. During arbitration, a contract is settled, meaning guaranteed money. Unless it’s a minor league deal and there’s a clause stating that the player could choose to be released if they don’t break spring training with another camp so they could sign with another team, you can never release a player just so you could avoid paying them guaranteed money.
EDIT: Hey buddy, if you want to edit your post after someone responds to it, at least note it. That’s just bad etiquette. And by the way, once K-Rod accepts arbitration and a salary is settled, it would have to be a guaranteed salary.
bobskube
Wrong.
Mikelo22
Hahahaha. Brew Crew got HOSED on this one. Talk about a plan backfiring.
jbryant93
That’s not how it happened. He went to Spring Training, performed very poorly and lost his 2B job. The player’s assoc still filed a grievance after the cut him. Brewers can’t cut him unless he fails to make the team out of Srping Training.
bobskube
A grievance Walker lost. Brewers can cut him. They could lose the grievance though. Risky business.
jbryant93
That’s not how it happened. He went to Spring Training, performed very poorly and lost his 2B job. The player’s assoc still filed a grievance after the cut him. Brewers can’t cut him unless he fails to make the team out of Srping Training.
Justin
Not only do we have to pay Krod, but we dont get any draft picks in return. YAY. I guess it could be worse, Shitcago Scrubs fans
Conebone69
Bitter Beer Face
jbryant93
That’s not how it happened. Walker had a bad Spring and lost his starting spot at 2B. At that point, Pads had justification to cut him. Brewers have to pay F-Rod unless he fails to make the team out of Spring Training.
jbryant93
Walker had a bad Spring and the Pads had justification for cutting him. Even then, players assoc filed a grievance. Brewers have to pay F-Rod unless he fails to make the club out of Spring Training.
jbryant93
F Rod was type A but was not going to cost his new team a draft pick per the collective bargaining agreement change.
No one will want to pay him $13M to close for one yar unless the Brewers eat 5M