Gallardo extension coming today? -- Latest: 5-year, $30M extension

[CheezWizHed]

Yahoo reportsits a club option

 

Milwaukee holds a $13 million option for 2015 with a $600,000 buyout.

[Yeti73]

Good deal. If I were Prince, I'd wait to see what happens during the course of this year. If they can get Alcides and Weeks to extend, you'd have to think that Prince would be upbeat about the long-term future of the team. Not sure why Weeks' status isn't discussed more, but I'm sure there will be suitors even if he is oft-injured.

[Invader3K]

I doubt they're in a rush to extend Escobar. He's still a rookie...I would think they would like to see what he can do for a full season before extending him.

 

As far as Weeks, I can understand their reluctance to do anything, given his injuries. Maybe after the season they can work something out. Really, I don't think either guy's status should have much impact on whether or not Prince signs long term.

[Oldcity]

I'm always leery of these extensions for pitchers. Guaranteeing money for a pitcher when he has three years of arbitration ahead of him is quite a risk. What it boils down to is the Brewers gambling that Yo will stay healthy. If he does, he'll almost surely outperform his contract.

 

I suppose this is probably a good gamble to take, though.

[kramnoj]

If the Brewers want to have Braun, Yo and Prince on the team in 2014, they have to have a lot of cheap players. It's not too hard to see a scenario where the Brewers can afford those 3 with a lot of cheap talent around them, but it becomes more difficult to have Weeks making $8M or $10M as well. The Brewers need to count on Lawrie or possibly someone not even in the system yet to have that position in 2014.

[thebruce44]

I'm always leery of these extensions for pitchers. Guaranteeing money for a pitcher when he has three years of arbitration ahead of him is quite a risk. What it boils down to is the Brewers gambling that Yo will stay healthy. If he does, he'll almost surely outperform his contract.

 

I suppose this is probably a good gamble to take, though.

I wonder if the Lincecum signing made a difference. Elite young pitchers are going to get paid during their arby years either way. Might as well lock down a FA year or two.

[TooLiveBrew]

The thing I like about the Brewers' situation is that they project to have that cheap talent all over. You may be right that Weeks is a luxury the team will have to forgo (I weep at the thought), but there are viable & cheap options at catcher, 2B (if Lawrie can stick there), SS, 3B, OF, & there's a good chance we'll have pitching of all kinds on the cheap. Melvin & Co. have certainly done a nice job building up a stable of complementary players through the farm.

EDIT: FanGraphs already has a post on the deal. I found this part interesting:

The deal represents a near duplicate of the extension Jon Lester signed with the Red Sox before the 2009 season. Both Lester and Gallardo had a bit over two years’ service time at the time of extension, and the payout seems similar, as all figures are within $500,000. Boston negotiated a smaller buyout of the sixth year, $13 million option, just $250,000, but these are essentially identical. In addition to similar service time, they also pitched a similar number of innings upon signing, 354.2 for Lester and 327, including Monday’s seven-inning start, for Gallardo.

I love Gallardo as much as anyone, but Lester is probably the better pitcher -- bigger velocity, probably better stuff overall, & certainly better control to this point... not to mention better results in the toughest division in MLB. Interesting that Yo was able to get basically a carbon-copy deal.

[prophet]

This is an interesting clause from the AP. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5067405

 

Gallardo could void the option if he accumulates six points under a system in which he earns five points for winning a Cy Young Award, three points for finishing second in voting and one point for finishing third.

 

I for one really hopes he accumulates 6 points. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

That is pretty creative. I really can't wait to see the official specifics on this deal.

I'm a little bit confused. If he accumulates the points, does that mean the option is automatically picked up, or does void the option mean he can become a free agent?

[paul253]

I honestly don't think it's reasonable to expect the Brewers to sign Fielder anymore. They'll make an honest effort, but it will get blown out of the water by someone else. The Yankees may sign him just to spite Mark A. I'm really glad they got a deal done with Yo though. I honestly think he is more important to the future of the Brewers than Prince is, even more so if they can get a decent return for Prince.

[zzzmanwitz]

I'm a little bit confused. If he accumulates the points, does that mean the option is automatically picked up, or does void the option mean he can become a free agent?

 

If it is in the contract, it means that he could potentially void the club option and allow him to enter FA in 2015. If he performs well enough to earn "6 points" then he would obviously be worth more than $13 million at that point.

[berniebrewer4life]

I'm a little bit confused. If he accumulates the points, does that mean the option is automatically picked up, or does void the option mean he can become a free agent?

 

If it is in the contract, it means that he could potentially void the club option and allow him to enter FA in 2015. If he performs well enough to earn "6 points" then he would obviously be worth more than $13 million at that point.

That's how i read it. However, if he gets 6 points before the option year, i fully expect the Brewer Brass to be signing him to a new extension by that point.

[battlekow]

I love Gallardo as much as anyone, but Lester is probably the better pitcher -- bigger velocity, probably better stuff overall, & certainly better control to this point... not to mention better results in the toughest division in MLB. Interesting that Yo was able to get basically a carbon-copy deal.

Lester signed his deal before last year, before the huge jump in his strikeout rate.

[logan82]

I don't think Gallardo will get the 6 points he needs to void the option. I also think we really didn't save much money. The only real benefit is the FA year we bought out. I wish we had bought out at least 2 with an option. Overall not to bad of a deal. We are taking on quite a bit of risk for minimal benefit in my opinion.

[battlekow]

I also think we really didn't save much money.

Peter Hjort has them saving quite a bit:

The Brewers saved at least $10

million. And that's using my win curve still calibrated to $3.44 M/win.

I had market value on Gallardo (factoring pre arb,

arb, and FA status when appropriate) at $43.3 million over five years.

[derflotr]

Great, great move here. Lots of optimism for the Brewers in the near future.

[trwi7]

Press conference is on live at brewers.com right now.

[Bombers]

Another comparison for having $40 million or so tied up in 3 players (which, if the Brewers can sign prince is what they will be looking at in a few years) is the Cardinals. Pujols, Holliday and Carpenter make $47.6 combined which is 50% of their $95 million 2010 payroll. So signing Prince is still doable.

[yoyo49]

mauer, morneau, and nathan will make a combined 48.25 in 2011 and who knows how nathan will bounce back

[JJHardy7]

Isn't the deal really worth $41.25 million? That is if the Brewers pick up the option/Yo doesn't void it...

[diener34]

Like the Move.

 

I would love to see Melvin publicly offer Fielder a big deal, as big as Melvin thinks is reasonable, and if he takes it, great. If he doesn't take it, start working on trades.

[trwi7]

Isn't the deal really worth $41.25 million? That is if the Brewers pick up the option/Yo doesn't void it...

He gets a $1.25 million signing bonus this year.

[JJHardy7]

He gets a $1.25 million signing bonus this year.

 

I missed that piece...so if the option is picked up/not voided it is essentially a 6-year deal for $42.5 million, correct?

[EdgarDiazRocks]

don't get hurt, don't get hurt, don't get hurt, don't get hurt, don't get hurt, don't get hurt, don't get hurt.

 

 

*sacrifices a Teddy Higuera rookie card*

[Mr QL]

Lock up Prince and I'll be optimism abound

[trwi7]

During the press conference they talked about injuries and how it's a risk with pitchers and Ash said that his delivery gave them a comfort level because there are no red flags there. Peterson also said they made a few minor adjustments in his mechanics that will help lower his walk totals.