Grant Balfour signs with A's -- A Rare Doug Melvin Trade Miss

[Mass Haas]

San Francisco Chronicle --

 

The A's added depth to their bullpen Friday by reaching agreement with Grant Balfour on a two-year, $8.1 million contract, which includes an option for 2013. The Australian will make $3.75 million in 2011 and $4 million in 2012 with a $350,000 buyout if the option is declined.

 

Balfour, 33, had a 2.28 ERA for the Rays last season (opponents hit .216 off him) and a 1.54 ERA in 2008 (opponents hit .143). He's a Type A free agent, but the A's won't lose a first-round pick as compensation because their 2010 record was in the bottom half of the 30 teams.

 

As a result, the A's will forfeit a second-round pick. As part of their deal, the A's will not offer Balfour arbitration at the end of his contract - assuring that the next team that signs him won't lose a compensatory draft choice.

 

The contract won't be official until Balfour's physical, scheduled for Monday. He'll apparently join Michael Wuertz and lefty Craig Breslow (and perhaps Joey Devine) as setup men for closer Andrew Bailey.

 

***

 

Plenty of Milwaukee connections in that A's pen -- Breslow was a long-ago discarded Brewer farmhand and Bailey came this close to being a Brewer.

 

The A's 2nd round pick would look nice on the Brewers' mantle.

 

Having signed a minor league deal with the Brewers prior to the '07 season, Balfour was just filthy right off the bat with Huntsville and Nashville, posting just insanely dominant peripherals and earning a July callup (Baseball Cube career stat lines and ratios). When Balfour struggled badly in three Brewer appearances, Melvin (who lated admitted he showed a lack of patience in this case) hastily dealt Balfour, who was out of options, to Tampa for Seth McClung.

 

Balfour wasn't very good with Tampa in the remainder of '07, and he was a non-tender candidate that winter. But Tampa tendered him a contract so he could compete for a spot in the '08 pen. In spring training, Balfour was actually designated for assignment and no one, including the Brewers, claimed him on waivers.

 

Excuse us while we note how similar a tale this is to Nelson Cruz, who the Brewers could have also snatched back when he was exposed by Texas.

 

Balfour's 2008 season (refer to the Baseball Cube link) was just amazing, and helped guide the Rays to the World Series. In 81 innings combined between AAA and the major leagues, he allowed 33 hits and struck out 121.

 

We pause here to allow you to truly digest that last sentence.

 

Balfour was then very pedestrian, bordering on poor, in 2009, before reverting back to excellent last season.

 

In some ways, Melvin should be falted more for failing to make an April 2008 waiver claim than he should be with the McClung deal. Either way, he's mentioned Balfour and a bit of remorse in some audio interviews since.

[Eddiehitsthefoulpole]

Another mistake may have been bringing up Balfour when we did. He wasn't ready yet. I don't remember if he was on the 40-man roster or not before we brought him up, but if we had waited to bring him up ( September ?) it would have been easier to carry him on the roster and bring him back in 2008.

[TooLiveBrew]

And another comp. pick for the Rays. They now have 10 picks before the second round, and 12 of the first 90.

 

* 24th (from Boston)

* 31st (from New York)

* 32nd (their own)

* 38th (losing Soriano from MLB)

* 41st (losing Crawford from MLB)

* 42nd (losing Balfour from MLB)

* 52nd (losing Benoit from MLB)

* 56th (losing Choate from MLB)

* 59th (losing Hawpe from MLB)

* 60th (losing Qualls from MLB)

[LouisEly]

Granted it was a very small sample, but I don't know that Melvin had much of a choice - the Brewers were in a pennant race in 2007 and could not afford to have a guy in the pen with a 3.00 WHIP and 4 walks in 2.2 IP. They lost the division to Chicago by two games. Balfour couldn't get an out against Cincy, giving up two walks and a hit in extra innings to lose that game, and promptly untied a game against the D-Backs giving up 3 runs in two innings after a stellar start by Capuano. Those two games cost them a tie for the division.

[jerichoholicninja]

Cruz and Balfour are really the only two guys that Melvin let go that turned out to be mistakes. I think that's a pretty good record.

[mothershipconnection]

As part of their deal, the A's will not offer Balfour arbitration at the end of his contract - assuring that the next team that signs him won't lose a compensatory draft choice.

 

I actually never knew you were allowed to do this. Why wouldn't every fringe type-A demand this in their contracts?

[dadofandrew]

What LouisEly said. Moves like that have to be made when a guy sucks and is out of options...DLR was traded in the same circumstance. If you're in the success cycle at a point other than contention, you can afford to be patient, but when you are contending, you are limited to dealing away ceiling or watching a guy lose games until he rights the ship.

 

Not really a whole lot you can do other than look for teams in this circumstance each year.

[Funketown]

That was so long ago I had forgotten Balfour was out of options. It's really too bad they lost him, though. Could have saved them quite a few bucks over the course of his years in MKE.

 

If I were a reliever, I'd be pretty annoyed by the type a compensation. It really screws relievers who qualify to be type a. I wonder if a reliever actually has a monetary incentive to give up 10 runs in an inning at some point to drop out of type a...

[joepepsi]

That seems like a lot of dough for a reliever who's only had two good seasons out of 7 partial MLB seasons. At the time Doug traded him, it was as likely Balfour would be out of baseball in two years, as it was he'd be signing an $8 million contract at age 33.

 

Relievers are so unprojectable and inconsistent it's difficult to fault a GM for trading one who hadn't yet shown much success, was out options, and was already 29.

[Mass Haas]

Granted it was a very small sample, but I don't know that Melvin had much of a choice - the Brewers were in a pennant race in 2007 and could not afford to have a guy in the pen with a 3.00 WHIP and 4 walks in 2.2 IP. They lost the division to Chicago by two games. Balfour couldn't get an out against Cincy, giving up two walks and a hit in extra innings to lose that game, and promptly untied a game against the D-Backs giving up 3 runs in two innings after a stellar start by Capuano. Those two games cost them a tie for the division.

As already noted by others, outstanding points. It's a shame they couldn't have come up with a phantom injury that would have allowed for 15 days off and another short stint in AAA for rehab. MLB is probably extra careful on scrutinizing those players without options in those situations, I'd imagine.

 

As for the missed 2008 recapture waiver claim, what do they say about hindsight?

[crewcrazy]

The Balfour situation was an unfortunate one which I still peg on Yost. His mismanagement of the 'pen led to everyone being out of gas by the end of July, and before we knew it, Balfour was called up and relied upon to pitch in tight games. Poor guy never had a chance, and when Melvin made the Linebrink deal to bring in a somewhat-fresh bullpen arm, he was the one to go and was out of options.