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Francisco Rodriguez

Brewers To Decline Options On Rodriguez, Betancourt

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A Brewers spokesperson confirmed that the club has declined the $17.5MM option on Francisco Rodriguez and the $6MM option on Yuniesky Betancourt, tweets MLB.com's Adam McCalvy. The pair will receive buyouts of $3.5MM and $2MM, respectively.

The Brewers acquired Rodriguez from the Mets in a July deal that saw Adrian Rosario and Danny Ray Herrera shipped off the New York as players to be named later. He excelled in 29 innings for the Brew Crew, posting a 1.86 ERA and a 10.2 K/9. It was reported at the time of the trade that the Mets would be responsible for the $3.5MM buyout on Rodriguez's deal.

Betancourt, 29, came to the Brewers along with Zack Greinke in last year's deal with the Royals. He acted as the starting shortstop for the NL Central champs all season, hitting .252/.271/.381 in 584 regular season plate appearances before heating up in the playoffs (.310/.326/.500).

While there should be some interest in Betancourt as a part-time player, it seems unlikely that he'll land another full-time job this winter. It's even less likely that he'll match the guaranteed money he earned when he signed his last contract, a four-year, $13.75MM deal. Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel tweets that the Brewers would consider bringing him back at a lower price.

To follow the status K-Rod and Betancourt, along with the rest of the 2012 free agents, check out our Free Agent Tracker.

MLBTR's Luke Adams contributed to this post.

Free Agent Closers’ Usage

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The upcoming class of free agents figures to present an interesting study in the way teams are evaluating relievers these days. After Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder, many of the most recognizable names are closers or relievers who have previously closed.

Modern analysis suggests it's foolish to invest heavily in relief pitchers due to their limited contributions and volatility in year-to-year production. But someone has to get those crucial late-inning outs, and the temptation for a team that thinks it's a contender to throw a lot of money at a guy who's coming off a year in which he posted a minuscule ERA or eye-popping strikeout rate is often too great.

Undoubtedly, suitors will use a variety of criteria to evaluate free-agent closers, one of which will be usage. Because usage can encompass so many things — innings, appearances, pitches, "high-stress" pitches, and so on — it's tough to say which is the most accurate reflection of a pitcher's workload; of course, this debate continues on for starters, too.

During the season, with the launch of CloserNews.com, we began keeping an eye on relievers who had pitched on three (and four) consecutive days, as that seems to be the breaking point for when most relievers must be rested. We've tallied that up here in a spreadsheet, along with a few other measures (standard and otherwise) of reliever usage, for the upcoming class of free-agent closers.

The objective here isn't to make any bold proclamations based on who threw the most innings; I may as well pen the inevitable mea culpa right now if it were. Rather, there are some interesting tidbits of note here, a few things to file away as these relievers ready themselves for free agency and teams prepare to bid.

  • Heath Bell and Francisco Cordero were the only two of this group to pitch on four consecutive days in 2011. Bell is the only one to do it twice.
  • Bell's abundance of pitches certainly seems to correspond with his dip in strikeout rate (7.32 K/9 in 2011 vs. 9.22 for career). Looks like he was having trouble putting away hitters, at least relative to his past performances.
  • Francisco Rodriguez paced the group by pitching on three consecutive days six times. 
  • Heavy usage is not unusual for K-Rod, though. He's pitched fewer than 65 innings only once in his nine full big league seasons, the red herring due to an off-field incident in 2010.
  • Info was culled from Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference.

Melvin On Brewers’ Offseason

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The Brewers’ season is over and while GM Doug Melvin wishes his club were in the World Series, he’s proud of its accomplishments. "There's just too many good things that happened this year for me to be hanging my head,” he said, according to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Here are more details from today’s press conference via Haudricourt:

  • Melvin and Brewers owner Mark Attanasio will meet in early November to discuss what kind of offer they can make free agent first baseman Prince Fielder.
  • The Brewers aren’t concerned about Shaun Marcum’s health, though the right-hander struggled in the postseason.
  • Melvin said Yuniesky Betancourt was “a better player than what his critics said.” The Brewers have a $6MM option ($2MM buyout) for the shortstop in 2012 and Melvin declined to say whether they'll pick it up.
  • Melvin explained that he would like to improve defensively without sacrificing on offense.
  • He said the Brewers will seriously consider giving Mat Gamel a chance to make an impact in the Major Leagues if an opportunity emerges (i.e. Fielder signs elsewhere).
  • The Brewers haven’t talked about moving Corey Hart to first base.
  • Melvin said he’ll check in with free agents LaTroy Hawkins and Takashi Saito. Francisco Rodriguez is likely to sign elsewhere, probably as a closer.
  • Melvin said Casey McGehee can still be a good player, despite his disappointing 2011 campaign.
  • Craig Counsell hasn’t told the Brewers whether he intends to play again next year, but it sounds as though Melvin would have some interest in re-signing him. Melvin also expects to speak to Jerry Hairston Jr. and his representative.
  • Mitch Stetter, Manny Parra and Josh Wilson are non-tender candidates, as MLBTR's Tim Dierkes explained this week.

Heyman On Pujols, Fielder, Mets, White Sox

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Albert Pujols' impressive postseason performance has increased his free agent stock, Jon Heyman writes at SI.com. Some say the Cardinals won't improve their offer from nine-years and a bit more than $200MM, but their postseason success may help their chances of re-signing the three-time MVP. Here are the details and more of Heyman's notes from around the league:

  • MLB executives tell Heyman that they expect Pujols to sign for more than Prince Fielder despite Fielder's youth (he's four years younger than Pujols).
  • Heyman's sources generally expect Pujols to stay in St. Louis, but predicting Fielder's next team is much more difficult.
  • Some of Heyman's sources expect Fielder to sign a deal similar to Adrian Gonzalez's seven-year, $154MM extension. I don't think it's a great comp, since Gonzalez didn't sign his deal on the open market.
  • Heyman reports (on Twitter) that the Mets have hired former A's manager Bob Geren as their bench coach. Interestingly, the A's hired manager Bob Melvin after a stint with the Mets.
  • The White Sox didn't seriously consider anyone other than Robin Ventura once they decided they wanted the former third baseman to be their next manager.
  • Francisco Rodriguez told Heyman that he'd like a three-year deal.
  • The Pirates are looking for starting pitching. It appears that they'll decline Paul Maholm's option for 2012.

NL East Notes: K-Rod, Riggleman, Geren, Walker

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Ten years ago today, the Braves signed 16-year-old right-hander Jose Ascanio out of Venezuela. Six years later they traded him to the Cubs for Omar Infante and Will Ohman, and two years after that he was part of a package for Tom Gorzelanny and John Grabow. Here are some links from the NL East…

Free Agent Stock Watch: Francisco Rodriguez

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Lurking among the ranks of the elite impending free agent closers is the Brewers' Francisco Rodriguez, who in fact has served as a setup man (more on that in a bit) in Milwaukee since being acquired from the Mets in a midseason trade. K-Rod is an accomplished, compelling, and perhaps controversial figure, and his second venture into free agency should be fascinating.

Though he rose to prominence a decade ago during the Angels' run to a World Series title in 2002, K-Rod is only 29 (he'll turn 30 in January), so his new agent, Scott Boras, can still sell the right-hander as being relatively close to the prime of his career to potential suitors. And although Rodriguez's strikeout rates have dipped from where they were in the mid-aughts (from a high of 13.18 K/9 in 2005 down to 9.66 in 2011), he's posted sub-3.00 FIPs in each of the past two seasons, so he's still effective. He's just finding different ways to get it done.

In addition to having age and effectiveness on his side, K-Rod has also proven durable throughout his career, pitching fewer than 60 innings only once. However, that blip came in 2010 on account of an off-field incident in which the right-hander was involved in a violent altercation with his girlfriend's father. Rodriguez injured his hand, was lost for the season's balance, and forfeited a chunk of his salary upon being placed on the disqualified list by the Mets, his employer at the time.

It didn't do any favors toward changing Rodriguez's image as a volatile type, and though he reported to camp this spring in good shape and with a new attitude, he recently drew some criticism for voicing his displeasure about his role with the Brewers:

"I'm not fine," Rodriguez said. "They told me I'd have the opportunity to close some games, and we've had 20-some save opportunities since then and I haven't even had one."

As one AL exec recently told Buster Olney of ESPN.com, K-Rod's oddly timed comments probably won't help him in free agency this winter. So, where does all of this leave him?

Firstly, it seems highly unlikely the Brewers will offer Rodriguez arbitration, seeing as he earns $11.5MM this season. Most free agents typically eschew arbitration in favor of pursuing long-term deals, anyway, but it's a risk the Brewers won't want to take, because if he were to accept, he'd see a raise that would bring his salary to upwards of $13-14MM. That's a number Milwaukee won't want to pay, and since he'll be competing in free agency with the likes of Jonathan Papelbon, Ryan Madson, Heath Bell and several other accomplished relievers, K-Rod might very well accept.

Instead, with his suitors limited in a deep market, K-Rod may end up seeking a one-year contract — perhaps to set up — so that he can hit free agency again after 2012, when the market won't be as favorable for buyer's (one executive even suggested this scenario to Jayson Stark of ESPN.com). Last offseason, two righties with closing experience signed to set up. Bobby Jenks got two years and $12MM from the Red Sox, and Rafael Soriano got three years and $35MM from the Yankees. While K-Rod and Boras would be ecstatic with a contract like the one Soriano signed, that deal is probably the exception. The midpoint for Jenks' and Soriano's average annual salaries is roughly $9MM, and that seems a reasonable number for K-Rod's services on a one-year deal.

Quick Hits: Draft, White Sox, Rodriguez, Nationals

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On this date nine years ago, Curt Schilling struck out his 300th batter of the season, joining Randy Johnson to become the first teammates to each strike 300 hitters out in the same season. Here are the latest links from around MLB…

  • Conor Glassey of Baseball America took an early look at the top 50 prospects for the 2012 draft (subs. req'd). Stanford right-hander Mark Appel tops the list, and Glassey says he has "Justin Verlander upside."
  • Ozzie Guillen will decide his own fate, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today (on Twitter). He can return to the White Sox if he wants to and if not the Marlins would love to have him.
  • One executive told ESPN.com’s Buster Olney that Francisco Rodriguez’s public comments about his displeasure setting up aren’t going to help him in free agency. ”Everybody is going to think he is a me-first guy, totally selfish,” the person said. “Why would you say those things right now?"
  • Bill Price of the New York Daily News wonders if the Mets might be better off without Jose Reyes and David Wright.
  • GM Mike Rizzo told the Philadelphia Daily News that the Nationals feel that they're going in the right direction. "Our young players are getting opportunities and we're progressing. So I think it kind of shows not only our fan base, but the organization itself that we are improving," Rizzo said.
  • Paul Hagen of the Daily News wonders if Ryne Sandberg could end up managing in the Major Leagues next year.

NL Central Notes: Berkman, Cards, Myers, Pagnozzi

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Some news from the NL Central…

NL Central Notes: Astros, Rodriguez, Carpenter

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The Pirates lost to the Cardinals today and Pittsburgh clinched a 19th consecutive losing season in the process. Here are today’s NL Central notes…

  • The Astros also lost a historic game today. They fell to the Phillies, setting a franchise record with their 98th defeat of the season.
  • Chris Carpenter told Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he didn't want to pitch anywhere else and hopes to finish his career in St. Louis. The former Cy Young winner realizes he's no Hall of Famer, but says he's proud to have become a fixture for the Cardinals. The Cardinals locked Carpenter up to a two-year, $21MM extension this week.
  • Francisco Rodriguez told Scott Miller of CBS Sports.com that he's disappointed that the Brewers haven't provided him with the chance to close games. "I'm not fine," Rodriguez said. "They told me I'd have the opportunity to close some games, and we've had 20-some save opportunities since then and I haven't even had one." It’s worth noting that closer John Axford has converted his last 39 save chances.
  • MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes provided the latest Cubs updates this morning and I examined possible suitors for Aramis Ramirez this afternoon.

Stark On Madson, Astros, Beane, Nationals

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MLB is building momentum toward two 15-team leagues with three five-team divisions per league, according to ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark. It doesn't appear that the players’ association will agree to expand the postseason unless owners agree to more balanced schedules and divisions, Stark reports. Here are the rest of his rumors…

  • It appears that the Tigers and Rays will pick up their options for Jose Valverde and Kyle Farnsworth, respectively, this offseason.
  • Two MLB executives predicted to Stark that Ryan Madson will sign a deal like the one Valverde obtained two winters ago: $14MM over two years plus an option.
  • Multiple teams have expressed concerns about Francisco Rodriguez’s off-field “baggage,” though K-Rod stands out as one of the best free agent relievers of the winter.
  • Stark hears that MLB has been slow to approve incoming Astros owner Jim Crane in order to apply leverage on Crane so that he’ll agree to move the Astros to the American League. Earlier today, Bob Nightengale of USA Today had a report that conflicts with Stark’s article.
  • Friends of Billy Beane say the A’s GM has legitimate interest in the Cubs GM job, though he has an ownership stake and lots of freedom in Oakland.
  • Nationals GM Mike Rizzo will interview managerial candidates this offseason before deciding whether Davey Johnson will return as manager in 2012.
  • First base doesn’t appear to be a priority for Washington, but Rizzo says "you never want to say never” when it comes to possible offseason moves.
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