Yovani Gallardo renewed for 2010

[Invader3K]

Reports Tom Haudriourt on JSOnline. No salary announced yet. What this means is that the two sides weren't able to reach a mutual consensus, so the Brewers renewed him on their scale.

[RockCoCougars]

In theory, I'm not a big fan of this, because renewing seems to poison the relationship with players somewhat. That said, the Brewers hands could have been somewhat tied here if Gallardo didn't have reasonable demands. Hopefully, he doesn't pout for an entire season and have a down year a la Prince.

[TooLiveBrew]

My tin-foil-hat theory is that Yo & his representation wanted a multi-year deal instead of a one-year deal, and the Brewers didn't want to commit to that just yet. I have absolutely nothing to back that up.

[Invader3K]

TLB, you could very well be right. I think I remember something that said the Brewers had sent his agent tentative feelers on a multi-year deal, but that they were well apart on the structure of something like that.

 

My feeling is that it's probably too risky at this point to offer him a large multi-year deal. Yes, I know he's our best SP right now, etc. But he's still quite young, and only has one full season under his belt as a starter. I would give him this season to prove whether he is a solid #1 or more like a very good #2. Then after this year I would try to work out a four-five year deal with him, paying him accordingly.

[davemakovec]

I think the big thing for management should be to see if he survives this season after he got over-worked in 2009.

 

That should be more the concern than if he is a #1 or a #2. He'll grow into it if his shoulder doesn't explode.

[Invader3K]

Yes, durability is definitely a concern. Hopefully the upgrades to the rotation and bullpen will help alleviate any problems with his workload this year.

[joepepsi]

I agree they need to see how he does this year before signing him long term. However, I don't think he was abused last year. He pitched 185 innings, just 50 innings the last 9 weeks of the season. In 2007 he threw 188 innings between majors and minors.

[thebruce44]

I agree they need to see how he does this year before signing him long term. However, I don't think he was abused last year. He pitched 185 innings, just 50 innings the last 9 weeks of the season. In 2007 he threw 188 innings between majors and minors.

You skipped 2008 in there when he pitched 40 innings. That kind of jump back up is pretty unorthodox. Also, I think it was fairly obvious that Yo was gassed in the second half last year which would seem to indicate that the year off did negatively impact his built up stamina. Sure he had 188 innings in 2007, but the layoff in 2008 sure had an effect from observation and a statistical analysis. I like the wait and see approach at this point, and would be ecstatic if Yo threw right around 200 IP this year.

[davemakovec]

It's not just the innings, it's the number of pitches. I cannot find any statistics to back this up, but I remember reading that he was in the top five in the majors in pitches thrown. That's probably more important than IP, and he threw a lot of pitches.

[battlekow]

It's not just the innings, it's the number of pitches. I cannot find any statistics to back this up, but I remember reading that he was in the top five in the majors in pitches thrown. That's probably more important than IP, and he threw a lot of pitches.

Per FanGraphs, Gallardo threw 3202 pitches last year, good for 39th in MLB; he was 52nd in terms of raw innings pitched.

[thebruce44]

http://www.baseballprospe...able/index.php?cid=68783

 

He was also 14th in Pitcher Abuse Points. Perhaps someone with more knowledge of this metric could explain it in more depth.

 

OT, I would not want to be a young pitcher for the Tigers.

[logan82]

Not a big deal. Fielder was renewed every year.

[Ennder]

Gallardo was up around the top 5 when they shut him down. If he had thrown 4-5 more starts like some of those guys ahead of him he'd have ended up a lot higher in the list.

[thebruce44]

Not a big deal. Fielder was renewed every year.

 

And that cultivated a great relationship.

[logan82]

Not a big deal. Fielder was renewed every year.

 

And that cultivated a great relationship.

As good or better than I would have expected with Boras as an agent.

[Invader3K]

Of course what is never mentioned is that the Brewers did offer Fielder a sizable long term contract, with Boras turned down. So if there is any sour grapes, it's not on the Brewers.

 

I really can't see any bad blood between Gallardo and the Brewers developing yet. Hopefully next off season both sides will look at a long term deal. I'm sure Gallardo realizes the situation he's in.

[endaround]

That's not why Fielder got upset. He was upset because he though he was going to get a bigger raise than what he did. After his first year the minimum contract in baseball went up to $425k. The Brewers generally pay their performing controlled players on a scale based on how well they've done. Fielder was expecting to get this raise over the minimum raise everyone was getting, he didn't. He was offered $450k when he thought he was going to get like $550K.

[Invader3K]

OK, you're talking about 2007. I thought logan and bruce were more referring to how Prince was quoted as being very upset in ST 2008. My bad.

[BrewCrewForever]

I just have a gut feeling that if Gallardo has a good year in 2010, which I think most of us expect they may sign him to a 2 or 3 year deal before 2011. Buy out arbitration years.

[logan82]

I wasn't really referring to anything specific. I know Fielder was upset and let his contract be renewed almost every year(as has Hart I believe). In the first year of arbitration Fielder signed a 2 year deal instead of being a pain and going to arbitration. I wasn't really surprised that Bopras/Fielder didn't go to arbitration, but the 2 year deal was kind of shocking. Honestly if I was a player, I wouldn't sign a contract in any year and just let them renew me.

[monty57]

I read somewhere (milwaukeebrewers.com I think) that the Brewers' offer was lower due to their formula giving a negative for missing a year. Gallardo and his agent (Bobby Witt) didn't think he should get docked for missing a season. That's why the two sides couldn't agree on a value. The same article made mention to the Brewers having intial discussions on an extension, but the sides were too far apart to reach a common ground.

 

To me, it doesn't sound like the Brewers are afraid to extend him, it sounds like they aren't willing to extend him to the price that Gallardo and Witt are looking for. The optimist in me hopes that the Brewers are low-balling due to the missed season, and will come up when Gallardo shows durability. The pessimist in me thinks that Gallardo may be asking for far more than someone of his experience/ability should reasonably be asking for, which would lead to year-to-year arby proceedings followed by free agency.

 

If I were a betting man, I'd guess that the Brewers will once again approach Yo/Witt in the not-too-distant future (i.e. after the Fielder discussions have played out) and make an offer closer to what Yo/Witt are looking for once Yo's shown that the freak injury he suffered against the Cubs has no long-term effects.