Braves extend Dan Uggla, 5 yrs/$62MM [Updated 7/18/2014: Uggla released]

[crewcrazy]

Reported by Ken Rosenthal.

Highest annual value ever for a second baseman. Odds seem slim he'll finish the contract at second base, though.

[PrinceEatMeat]

I wonder how this will affect a Weeks extension? Not saying he's as good as Uggla at this point, with only one good season under his belt, but I'd think this would at least give them something to work off of.

[Hate those Rodents]

I've been thinking 4/40 for a while. Not sure this Uggla contract changes things either way.

[TooLiveBrew]

Do you mean the extension doesn't change anything because the appx. market value for Weeks was already $12M AAV? I don't see much reason for Rickie to not hold out for something around 5/$60M now (if he wasn't already). Talent-wise, he's at least as good overall as Uggla, probably better. And he's 3 seasons younger.

[Hate those Rodents]

I'd have a hard time going over ten million a year for four years based upon one healthy and completely good season. I know that's the minimum it'll cost though. If Rickie misses a third of the year this year due to injury, he's going to gravely hurt his free agent contract. He'd be wise to sign for 4/40 if he likes what we have going here.

[TooLiveBrew]

I would have no problem matching the Uggla deal to sign Weeks. He was one of the best players in baseball last season (one of 16 position players with 6.0 WAR or better); getting him at ~$12M AAV would be a great deal.

[Hate those Rodents]

That might turn out to be a good deal for us TLB, but I maintain that a good negotiator from the team's side should be able to get him to commit to signing here for less. You (or his agent) can point to his WAR from last season as a reason he's well worth that contract. I (or the team) have many more things to point to for why that is an overpay.

[logan82]

I would love to see Weeks extended at 5/$60m as long as it wasn't backloaded to much.

[TooLiveBrew]

That might turn out to be a good deal for us TLB, but I maintain that a good negotiator from the team's side should be able to get him to commit to signing here for less. You (or his agent) can point to his WAR from last season as a reason he's well worth that contract. I (or the team) have many more things to point to for why that is an overpay.

That's all well & good, but from Weeks's perspective, he just plays for FA if that's the Brewers' stance. There's a risk he could get hurt again, just like for any player, but I think multiple teams would be willing to match or beat the Uggla contract for Weeks as a FA. I don't believe the Brewers have the kind of leverage you think they do with Weeks. I'll hope your approach works, though, and the sides agree somewhere between 4/40 & 5/60. That would be a phenomenal deal for the Crew (I just don't expect it).

 

With that said, I do expect the Brewers & Rickie to be able to come to terms on an extension. It'll probably just happen closer to ST like logan said in the Weeks extension thread.

[greeg35]

As much as the Brewers are concerned with Weeks' injury history, Weeks has to be too. Another major injury really damages his chances at getting a big paycheck so both sides are motivated to get this done. I'd expect the 4/40 to 5/50 range to be about what Weeks gets.

[Patrick425]

I have always liked Weeks. I'd love to see them sign him to an extension. I understand the injury concerns. I'm not sure if that makes him "less valuable" than Uggla, but my bigger concern is what are the Brewer's options if they don't sign him and he goes to the FA market? Now the Brewers would be looking at potentially 2 big spots to fill on the right side of the infield. It would be hard to replace the production of both Fielder and Weeks in one off season.

[monty57]

I'm going off memory here, but I think the only other 2B in history to average over $10MM/season is Chase Utley. I'm surprised that Uggla got as much as he did, and I think it limits out ability to extend Weeks. If we're going to pay that much money, I'd much rather extend Marcum and Greinke (assuming they'd be willing to extend for a market-value contract) and let Weeks walk. It just isn't that costly to find a Graffanino-type player who won't be as good as a healthy Rickie, but will be a capable player and will only cost you a couple million dollars. When coupled with the Fielder money coming off the books, the additional $8MM or so we'd save each year should let us keep the Greinke/Marcum/Yo trio together for quite a few years.

[Invader3K]

I think it's an overpay and I can't see the Brewers matching this contract with Weeks. There's just so much risk in a contract like this.

[endaround]

Its an overpay mostly because 2B don't tend to age well. Thats really not a concern with Weeks since he is considerably younger than Uggla.

[joepepsi]

Brian Roberts is signed for 4 years/$40 million, split evenly per season. Contract started in 2010, and he promptly missed 103 games.

[Patrick425]

monty57[/b]]I'd much rather extend Marcum and Greinke (assuming they'd be willing to extend for a market-value contract) and let Weeks walk. It just isn't that costly to find a Graffanino-type player who won't be as good as a healthy Rickie, but will be a capable player and will only cost you a couple million dollars.

Graffanino-type, really? Is this what we want? Graffanino-type at 2B, Greg Brock type at 1B, Betencourt type at SS. I remember the days when the Brewers put this type of lineup out there on a daily basis. It wasn't a lot of fun to watch as a fan.

 

I think the Brewers have the ability to sign Marcum, Greinke, AND Weeks to LT contracts. If your going to go in, go all in. Don't try to patch holes with journeymen type utility players. That seldom works.

[monty57]

I remember the days when the Brewers put this type of lineup out there on a daily basis. It wasn't a lot of fun to watch as a fan.

 

At what point did they have a top of the rotation that matched Greinke, Marcum & Yo?

 

I think the Brewers have the ability to sign Marcum, Greinke, AND Weeks to LT contracts.

 

If they can indeed afford to extend all three, then I'd be really happy. I'm not sure what you're basing the above quoted statement on, as there is a good chance that they can't afford three additional $10MM+ contracts on the books (Braun & Yo will be over $10MM in 2014, and Hart will be at $10MM in 2013). If Weeks demands a $10MM+/year contract, and we can only afford two of Weeks/Marcum/Greinke, then I think Weeks should be the one we let walk.

 

If your going to go in, go all in. Don't try to patch holes with journeymen type utility players. That seldom works

 

In that case, let's re-sign Prince. Plus, Jimmy Rollins & Jose Reyes are available at SS, Carlos Beltran will be available at CF and Mark Buehrle would make a tramendous #5 starter. I don't want to come off as a jerk, but I'm just trying to point out that we do have to worry about player salary. Because of this, we will occasionally have to make tough decisions on popular players. I certainly don't want to go back to the days where we have one decent player and a bunch of scrubs around him, but I think a core of Braun, Yo, Marcum, Greinke, Lucroy, Gamel, McGehee, etc is far, far better then we had through the 90's.

 

I will say that if Corey Hart deserves $10MM in a season, then Weeks probably deserves it as well. However, he has to be compared with other 2B. Crewcrazy's statement "Highest annual value ever for a second baseman" should say something. Should Weeks be paid as the best 2B to ever play the game?

[Invader3K]

Its an overpay mostly because 2B don't tend to age well. Thats really not a concern with Weeks since he is considerably younger than Uggla.

Yes, but he's also been hurt considerably more. If Weeks health for the next five years "averages out" to his career norms, a contract like Uggla's would be a disaster for the Brewers.

[endaround]

How would it be a disaster? Over the past 5 seasons Weeks was worth 56m in terms of WAR

[Invader3K]

Oh god, I knew you'd throw that out there. The Brewers aren't the Yankees and can't pay a guy based on WAR.

[monty57]

Looking at Brewerfan's player salary page, in 2013, Braun, Yo & Hart will take up 26.25MM and Wolf's option would be $10MM (probably will be bought out, but who knows). McGehee and Narveson will be in year 2 arby, and we'd have a bullpen, Gamel and Lucroy in pre-arby.

 

Judging from that, could we afford Greinke, Marcum and Weeks at around $40MM/year or so and still be able to field a full team? That would be around $66MM paid to six players, and possibly $76MM if we still need to hold onto Wolf. McGehee would push us close to the $70 (or $80 with Wolf) level. If Gamel pans out, one of our young CF's takes over the MLB job and the young SPs take over the #4/5 spots, then it is possible that we could afford to extend all three of Greinke, Marcum and Weeks. We would just really need a large group of pre-arby guys to continue to produce at a high level, including probably having to find a pre-arby SS somewhere. Without a strong farm system, that won't be easy. Hart's departure in 2014 would free up another $10MM as players like Gamel and some of the 'pen hit arby.

 

I don't know if it's possible to extend all three. I'll certainly be thrilled if it happens, as Melvin and Mark A know a lot more about the team's finances than I.

[Hsee2006]

Extending Weeks and Greinke I think should be the priorities. If we have room for Marcum then great but it may be tieing up too much in salaries for too long for an injury prone pitcher. If we can do Weeks for 4-5 years for an average salary of 9 million and then do Greinke for 18 million over 5 years (reportedly what the Nats offered), along with the existing deals for Bruan, Gallardo and Hart we would have a real core locked up for much of the next half decade.

 

This would allow us to go for it this year, take two picks for Fielder in addition to the 2 this year to rebuild our Minor League system. 2012 we would then have Greinke, Gallardo, Marcum, Narveson, Rodgers/Peralta/Rivas and hope for Logan Schafer or Kentrail Davis to push for playing time in Center, plug Gamel in at first, Hart, Bruan, McGehee, Lucroy, Weeks in their respective positions and take the money freed up by Wolf and Betancourt coming off the books to sign a relatively cheap shortstop (J.J. Hardy?) and pay arbitration awards.

 

Then hopefully by 2013 we will have a better idea if Gamel is a long-term solution, have rebuilt our minor leagues through 4 early draft picks, allowed the young pitchers to be close, and see if there is a young cheaper position prospect knocking on the door to allow us to trade someone more expensive or fill holes or if necessary move Braun to first and let a rookie play left.

 

Man it is good to be a Brewers fan today and if we could extend Weeks and Greinke I may just have to leave NY and move back to Wisconsin.

[Ennder]

Oh god, I knew you'd throw that out there. The Brewers aren't the Yankees and can't pay a guy based on WAR.

That is exactly how the Brewers have to pay a guy. The Yankees can overpay based on WAR to fill a hole, a smaller team can't afford to pay over WAR to get their man. The Brewers obviously have to pick and choose which guys to throw the money at too but eventually you have to pay some guys what they are worth.

[Patrick425]

monty57[/b]] I remember the days when the Brewers put this type of lineup out there on a daily basis. It wasn't a lot of fun to watch as a fan.

 

At what point did they have a top of the rotation that matched Greinke, Marcum & Yo?

 

 

Yeah, but just because you have good starting pitching doesn't mean you can gut your offense and expect to contend. Braun is not going to produce the same as he usually does without protection behind him. Also, a good offense makes for better pitching. If you surround Braun, Hart, and McGehee with a bunch of guys that would be utility players on most other clubs, then the starters will feel like they have to be perfect every time they pitch. This can often lead to mistake pitches that get hammered.

 

Why is everyone so concerned about Week's injury history, but not so much about Marcums? If it's true that we can't afford all three, I like the idea of trying to LT Weeks and Greinke rather than Greinke and Marcum. I can handle loosing Fielder or Weeks. I would have a hard time loosing both.

[Warning Track Power]

Why is everyone so concerned about Week's injury history, but not so much about Marcums? If it's true that we can't afford all three, I like the idea of trying to LT Weeks and Greinke rather than Greinke and Marcum. I can handle loosing Fielder or Weeks. I would have a hard time loosing both.

I think this should be the priority of the Brewers. I like a superstar pitching twosome of Greinke/Gallardo and probable superstar hitting twosome of Weeks/Braun much better than a three headed monster of Greinke/Gallardo/Marcum and Braun as the only superstar bat. Where would Brauns's lineup protection come from then? Hart or McGehee? Neither of them have the potential to be what Weeks can be in my opinion.