Is Hardy's FA delayed a year?

[bklynbrewcrew]

With Hardy being sent down to AAA does this delay his free agency by a year? Wouldnt JJ have just under 6 years of service time after next season.

[MarquesJohnson2000]

Melvin says he would need to spend 18 to 20 days down to have the time "deleted" from his record and that the move was not made to delay his free agency.

 

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/53052757.html

[Fatter than Joey]

He'd have to spend 20 days at least

[DougJones43]

If I'm calculating right, and if today counts as a day in the minors, calling JJ back up on Sept 1st would give him exactly 20 days at AAA.

[Brewer Fever]

I read 20 days or less and you still get your service year. Calling him back up on 9/1 would mean he spent 20 days in AAA including today. And thus he'd still get his service year.

[Fatter than Joey]

They could just call him up Sep. 2 or something like that.

[Brewer Fever]

They could just call him up Sep. 2 or something like that.

I highly doubt it. For one, I'd bet they already assured Hardy that he'll be back up Sept. 1 to preserve his service year otherwise he'd probably be showing a little more anger over this move. And two, agents and players don't take it too well when moves are made to narrowly allow for putting off a players FA by a whole year. You don't want that reputation as an organization. And Doug Melvin doesn't strike me as the type who would stick it to a player in that fashion.

[DougJones43]

They could just call him up Sep. 2 or something like that.

If they waited an extra day with him, and called everyone else up on 9/1, wouldn't that make it horribly obvious what he was doing? Is that the kind of thing that could draw a grievance with the union? At the very least it would be frowned upon by other players and make Milwaukee look like a cheap-skate bush league operation that screws their guys out of money.

[Fatter than Joey]

And Doug Melvin doesn't strike me as the type who would stick it to a player in that fashion.

 

I agree -- the point I was trying to make, was that if they were going to stick it to JJ they could have either sent him down yesterday, or just keep him down a little into Sep.

 

I agree with you though -- This could cost JJ a lot, although, not as much as his bad play is.

 

None of these moves made today strike me as "Doug Melvin moves"

[Brewer Fever]

It's weird. The initial reaction I was reading all over the place was that they did this today in order to push back Hardy's FA one year. When in actuality it looks like just the opposite. They held off on this move for possibly weeks in order to ensure that a September 1st recall would keep this service year in tact. That sounds a whole lot more like Doug Melvin to me.

[Fatter than Joey]

The initial reaction I was reading all over the place was that they did this today in order to push back Hardy's FA one year.

 

I think that was speculation mostly, although I would think if he was "tired" he could have been as easily DLed.

[Brewer Fever]

It's just odd that no one considered the flipside. That this move was a long time coming. The Brewers were possibly prepared to do this weeks ago but held off until they could send Hardy down when it wouldn't cost him a year. This way they get immediate help at SS (hopefully) and have both Hardy and Escobar on the team in September. I wonder if there's any reason to be upset that they didn't make this move sooner. To me it looks like they held off for Hardy's benefit.

[Diskono]

None of these moves made today strike me as "Doug Melvin moves"

I wouldn't think so either, but his comments about how last night's game "put [him] over the edge" and that he "maybe waited too long on some of these" make me wonder. Maybe Melvin isn't really as laid back and patient as we were led to believe earlier in his Brewer career, possibly because there's more at stake now?

 

Could also be that he's under pressure himself, of course.

[Hate those Rodents]

Well, I sure hope Doug does what's best for JJ Hardy rather than what's best for the organization and make sure to keep his service time this season intact. Sarcasm.

[Brewer Fever]

Well, I sure hope Doug does what's best for JJ Hardy rather than what's best for the organization and make sure to keep his service time this season intact. Sarcasm.

Ask yourself this question. If it was in an organizations best interest to send down players just before they were set to achieve 5 years of major league service time, don't you think we'd see it a little more often? If every team did it, the union would raise hell. And if you were the only team doing it, imagine the way players would look at your organization. You would be akin to the plague.

[joepepsi]

Last night's game pretty much did it for me too. Two games on consecutive Tuesdays that were a complete embarrassment to the organization. That happens once in a while over a long season, but when it happens twice in mid August you can figure any hope for the season is gone. Or at least the present team as constructed is going nowhere.

[Hate those Rodents]

Let me ask you this...Do you think we planned on doing this all year long? Not making the playoffs and having Hardy hit like a AAA player? He needs to go down now, and if he doesn't do well down there and Escobar does alright up here, he can stay down there until his free agency is delayed. I'd like to see proof of other teams' past examples that this is going to tick off agents and keep us from signing the Loopers and the Suppans before I get my pants all filled up.

[Brewer Fever]

If the Brewers were looking to send down Hardy to ensure to that he'd lose a year, don't you think they would have done it a heck of a lot sooner? My goodness people. How often do you think teams send a guy down for exactly 21 days just to put off FA another year. it just doesn't happen. There won't be examples of other teams doing such because it doesn't happen. That should tell you all you need to know about the expected consequences. Do you think it's a coincidence that a September 1 recall will mean exactly 20 days in the minors for Hardy?

 

If there was no price to pay for sending JJ down one or even a couple of days sooner, and only the upside of tacking on another year of control, don't you think that's exactly what Melvin would have done? Apparently you're all smarter than Doug Melvin. Or could it be that he understands there is a price to pay for such a manuever and did what he thought was in the best interests in BOTH the organization and the player.

[Brawndo the Thirst Mutilat]

Melvin just claimed in his press conference that he doesn't know the answer to this question. He said "Gord might know, but I don't." That has to be a lie, right? It took us stupid fans less than a couple hours to figure out that this might be a possible consequence of, or even the primary motivation behind, this move.

[Hate those Rodents]

You're really feeling this issue, aren't you Brewer Fever?

[Crew2323]

You would think that the GM would know all of that stuff. I think he's playing stupid, so as not to make it a big issue. There just seems as if something funny is going on.

[Brewer Fever]

It is in Melvin's best interest to maintain for public consumption that this was performance-based, and had nothing to do with service time either to preserve or strip it.

[DougJones43]

I have to agree completely with Brewer Fever. The deeper we dig into this, it seems pretty clear Melvin waited until this exact day in order to preserve Hardy's service time for this year and ensure he can still be a free agent after 2010. That being the case, I don't like the move at all. Accomplishes nothing but eliminate any chance Hardy can get hot and improve his trade value. He caught fire late in the year last year, and this year he won't get that chance.

[Fatter than Joey]

It took us stupid fans less than a couple hours to figure out that this might be a possible consequence of, or even the primary motivation behind, this move.

 

We aren't "stupid fans" we are "geeks on the internet" and we really get off on this stuff.

[Invader3K]

http://michaelwitzel.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/bobs-big-boy-statue-222x300.jpg

 

That reminded me of this.