How much money comes off the books this offseason?

[kramnoj]

Our "first group" of young talent came along just before the trend of locking guys up early. That started with Braun, Tulo, Longoria, etc.

 

John Hart did this with the Indians in the 90s. Here is a good article discussing the practice: http://www.usatoday.com/s...oversial-contracts_N.htm

 

The Brewers didn't miss out on this. They offered it to Hart and Fielder, and they declined. There would have been no benefit to doing it with Weeks. They did it with Sheets, and then declined to offer him another deal.

[monty57]

Thanks for the link kramnoj. That was a good read. Not surprising that the agent who was quoted against doing the deals was Scott Boras, and it seemed he was mostly upset that the deals bring down the average pay, hurting his commissions.

 

When I mentioned Braun, Longoria, Tulo, etc, I was referring to the uprising of deals done when the player was still in early arbitration. If I recall correctly (and I may not recall correctly), Fielder and Hart were offered the extensions when they were in their final year of arbitration (as Prince was complaining that he got $600k instead of matching Ryan Howard's $900k), which greatly reduces the risk to the team, but also reduces the benefit to the player. That would be more like what we did with Bill Hall than what we did with Braun. After reading the article you referenced, there is obviously no hope that any Boras client will ever sign an extension prior to free agency, but I think the best bet when you are dealing with someone you consider to be a "core player" for your team for years to come is to offer the extension when they still have some pre-arby years left. That adds risk, but allows you to sign a deal like the Brewers got with Braun and the Rays got with Longoria.

 

I'd probably pass on offering a deal to Escobar right now, as he's not showing signs of being elite. He'll likely improve, but I'd wait to extend him until he does. However, I would probably look to lock Lucroy up after this season. Axford and McGehee don't make sense due to their age, as we'll have them through their prime no matter what, and they'll be at the end of their prime when they hit free agency. Braddock doesn't make sense because of injury history (and he's a middle reliever). We'll have a lot of decisions to make on players over the next few years, and I like that the Brewers are willing to take the risk and sign guys early.

 

Again, thanks for the reference as it's good to have a case study in John Hart's 1990's Indians to show how these deals can lead a mid-market team to the Promised Land.

[1992casey]

...still in early arbitration.

 

Based on the rest of your message, do you mean that they were still early in their pre-arbitration years?

[monty57]

Yes, that's what I meant. Thanks

[The Truth]

The Brewers have had little to no success throughout the entire history of the franchise in signing free agents to big money (relative to the Brewers) multi-year deals. I think their success rate in these is probably 20% or lower. I would rather take a chance on the homegrown guys.

Mike Caneron was a pretty good signing.