Francisco Rodriguez arrested for assault of family member

[DannoMac21]

Breaking news on ESPN. Not really any more detail...the guy on the phone (Jeremy Schaap?) on ESPN said that the closest thing to detail that they have is that there appeared to be minor bruising to his father-in-law after this.

Still, during the season, very strange.

[Principessa21]

This organization has been a laughing stock for years. But I have to say regarding Rodriguez, when Mariano Rivera says he doesn't want your locker near him during the All Star game, you know you're a bad apple.

[Invader3K]

I'm glad the Brewers didn't go after him, which many were calling for at the time.

[smbrewersfan15]

Now it looks like he injured his thumb in the fight. It's being reported on Sportcenter right now that the Mets are going to try and void the rest of his contract. This is a mess I'm glad Melvin didn't bring upon the Brewers.

[crewcrazy]

This is what the Mets are trying to get out of, if anyone's curious:

 

2010: Rest of his $11.5 million

2011: $11.5 million

2012: $17.5 million option that vests if he finishes 55 games in 2011 or 100 games finished from 2010 to 2011.

 

Can't blame the Mets for slightly blowing this out of proportion and trying to get out of the contract. What a toxic organization to be a fan of right now, though.

[GAME05]

i ask out of ignorance, but why try to void the rest of his contract? he was having a decent season, so $11M isn't outrageous to be paying a closer. and sure, $17M is absurd for a closer in his option year, but in those cases, i think the GM could give a nod to the manager to make sure he doesn't get too close to finishing 55 games.

[bigredrobbo]

i ask out of ignorance, but why try to void the rest of his contract? he was having a decent season, so $11M isn't outrageous to be paying a closer. and sure, $17M is absurd for a closer in his option year, but in those cases, i think the GM could give a nod to the manager to make sure he doesn't get too close to finishing 55 games.

I'm guessing that the PR disaster of having a violent thug as your closer, who has demonstrated his temper to members of the Mets staff, as well as his own family, is one they'd like to avoid. They overpaid hugely, I felt, at the time for a closer with waning numbers from his peak years, and K-Rod has given them a gilt-edged chance to erase that mistake.

[monty57]

In addition to the "clubhouse cancer" that he could be, the Mets were also struggling a bit financially prior to the season. I remember a story where after the Bay signing, they were having trouble coming up with money to fill the other positions on the team. It could've just been NY media hyping a "woe is me" story, but they could probably use the money to fill more important roster spots.

[Invader3K]

It's amazing that MLB has two franchises in the top two markets (Dodgers, Mets) that both seem to be incredible messes financially.

[jerichoholicninja]

It's amazing that MLB has two franchises in the top two markets (Dodgers, Mets) that both seem to be incredible messes financially.

When you have money to throw around you do it sort of haphazardly if you are trying to compete with your much more successful market-mate. Which is kind of impressive that the Yankees, despite many guys being overpaid, haven't had any total disasters aside from Carl Pavano and Jason Giambi and even he didn't tank till the end.

[monty57]

I know this is going off topic, but since I don't care to discuss a punk who's come into millions of dollars but still feels compelled to beat up his girlfriends 50-something father, I'll continue the off-topic run.

 

The Mets/Yankees scenario does show the difference between business run well and one run poorly. As much as I dislike the Yankees, much of my dislike ironically stems from how well they were run, which gave them a significant financial edge over all other teams in baseball. Most of the advantage isn't from attendence, as they probably don't make much more than the Brewers from ticket sales and parking. The big advantage is in TV deals and branding. Steinbrenner used the system to his (and the Yankees) best advantage. The Mets have fallen into the trap of trying to "keep up with the Joneses," by spending with the Yankees when they don't have equal revenue. This can turn ugly really quickly, as I think the Cubs may be figuring out with all of their horrendous contracts they're stuck with after trying to buy themselves into the World Series. Another example would be the Diamondbacks having to basically give away Dan Haren, who was signed to what seemed to be a pretty team-friendly deal, because they were in questionable financial shape.

 

Relating this to the Brewers, I do think that Mark A has done a good job in trying to maximize revenues, which hopefully will allow for the Brewers to maintain mid-market status. Expenses (contracts) should go down significantly after this year, so we should be able to maintain a financially sound team even if revenues dip due to less ticket sales. We have a benefit of having great sports fans in Wisconsin, so as long as we continue to put effort into building a good team, fans will continue to show up, and with a financially sound team, I believe we'll still be able to field competitive teams. If we stick with this business plan, which I have to believe we will as long as Mark A is the owner, we shouldn't fall back into the "Selig Era Brewers."