Pending arbitration cases -- Weeks, Marcum, Loe [Latest: Loe agrees to $1.25 MM - reply #6]

[Mass Haas]

Since there is already a thread on the Fielder and Parra agreements, and a separate Rickie Weeks thread focusing on a long-term extension, we'll use this thread to focus on the arbitration figures submitted by Weeks, Shaun Marcum and Cameron Loe.

 

Adam McCalvy summarizes things here, and these comments regarding Loe may have been lost in the shuffle of Tuesday's updates:

 

Loe, who drew a $650,000 salary during his four months in the Majors, developed into a key Brewers reliever, posting a 2.78 ERA in 58 games beginning June 1. Agent Page Odle has been negotiating with Karl Mueller, the Brewers' director of video scouting and baseball research.

 

The Brewers offered Loe a one-year deal with an option for a second season earlier this offseason, but the offer was quickly dismissed, Ash said.

 

"There's a significant difference of opinion," Ash said. "I know the money is less and it's a smaller gap, but it becomes a matter of principle. We're prepared to pay at the market rate, but he has shot by the market rate. That one has a very good chance of proceeding to a hearing."

[SenatorShriv]

Is it normal to have the Director of Video Scouting managing these negotiations? I assumed that Ash did most of this himself with Melvin stepping in from time to time on the big ones.

[crewcrazy]

If they all go to hearings, I would think the only case the Brewers have a shot of winning is Loe's. The Weeks number submitted by the club is so low that even if the arbiter doesn't think he's worth $7.2 million, he'd probably pick that number anyway, IMO. Marcum would also have a very good case for his $5 million claim, but I don't think anyone would have a problem with paying him slightly more than the midpoint.

[Invader3K]

Is it normal to have the Director of Video Scouting managing these negotiations? I assumed that Ash did most of this himself with Melvin stepping in from time to time on the big ones.

I think it is normal to have people like that handle some of the "lesser" negotiations. It gives them experience they can use for potential organization advancement.

[kramnoj]

Invader said what I was going to say, but it should also be noted that Mueller is noted as being director of baseball research, as well as the video scouting. That could be a guy that replaces Ash somewhere down the road, so it's good to give him some experience where a failure might result in an extra cost of a couple hundred thousand, as opposed to a million or more in the future because he didn't have preparation for the job.

[Oxy]

If they all go to hearings, I would think the only case the Brewers have a shot of winning is Loe's. The Weeks number submitted by the club is so low that even if the arbiter doesn't think he's worth $7.2 million, he'd probably pick that number anyway, IMO. Marcum would also have a very good case for his $5 million claim, but I don't think anyone would have a problem with paying him slightly more than the midpoint.

I think there are two points to be made in favor of the Brewers for both the Weeks and Marcum cases. The first is the injury history of each player. Marcum is only a year removed from having a season completely wiped out due to injury, and we all know Weeks' issues. Second is the salaries that each made last year: Weeks made $2.75M, and Marcum made $850K. While you usually see big pay raises in the first year of arby for great players without an injury history, I'm not sure if Marcum qualifies for as large a bump as he is asking for. Same with Weeks. $2.75M to $7.2M? That just seems egregious. Granted, I think both Weeks and Marcum are easily worth the numbers they filed for but the histroy of the system disagrees.

[trwi7]

Loe agrees to a $1.25 million deal per McCalvy.

[Funketown]

I'm happy with that deal for Loe. He should be a very dependable guy out of the pen this year.

 

Oh, and one thing - Does McCalvy really need to tell us that the midpoint of $5 million and $3 million is $4 million? :/End rant.

[NYChez]

With the apparent depth in the back end of the bullpen, is it tempting to see if Loe can compete against Narveson and Rogers for the 5th starter / first injury replacement spot, or do you not mess with a good thing?