K-Rod (and cash) acquired; The cost? LH reliever Daniel Ray Herrera and low-A RHP Adrian Rosario

[topper09er]

I'm blown away how many people in the media and on Twitter think K-Rod is the new closer. Yes, K-Rod will likely get a handful of saves, but he's a set-up guy for the rest of this season and it should be fully obvious to everyone.

Yea you can tell the uninformed guy in charge up writing up a little fluff piece about this looks at it and thinks "Well K-Rod has the all-time single season save record and Ive heard of him and was in NY so he must be great, lets see who the Brewers have now...John Axford? Hmm never heard of him he must be some guy who sucks who the Brewers are having close only because there are no better options. This must be why they traded for K-Rod"

[FVBrewerFan]

Can we please put the following to rest, once and for all:

 

1) KRod will not be the closer. Sure, if Axford pitches 2-3 days in a row, KRod will get occasional save opportunites. But nowehere close to 21. More like 5.

 

2) Even though it's been explained over and over, top prospect names keep showing up here every time some uniformed member of the media mentions a name. PTBNL will not be Gamel, Green, Gindl, Thornburg, are anyone else at or near that level.

[1992casey]

Does anyone know whether KRod's 55 games-ended vesting option includes playoff games, or is it regular season only?

I'm 99% certain that vesting options cover the regular season only.

[smetana34]

(Speaking of risk, if he blows a lead in the 8th on the road, and no one pitches the bottom of the 9th, does that count against the 55?)

 

I would think he would get yanked immediately after blowing it.

[Nader Raider Tim]

I know this isn't likely but one of my first thoughts with this deal was that the Brewers might be in a nice position to flip KRod at the trade deadline if the rest of the Bullpen gets it's act together. My logic is the Brewers have enough arms in the pen that if they all perform at a level that is reasonable to expect them to then KRod becomes a true luxury. At the 31st deadline assuming Krod gets no "Finishes" in the meantime it would make it unlikely he could hit the vesting option. With him not being on pace to hit the vesting option his value skyrockets. The Brewers then could look at the option of trying to work out a 3 way to get other pieces.

 

KRod to the Yankees, Yankees prospects to Baltimore, Hardy to Milwaukee.

 

It's fun to dream.

[SoCalBrewfan]

Yeah, the level of 'analysis' is somewhere between amusing and appalling. Brewers deal Jungmann and Thornburg for a new closer! Maybe you expect that from fans but the professionals ought to have a bit more of a clue.

 

But this does upend the normal paradigm...the famous guy with the big contract closing in the big city is just not as good as the guy making $442K in Milwaukee. The Brewers add quality depth for close to free because New York can't afford the contract mistake they made and are desperate for salary relief.

[topper09er]

Umm look at this!

 

Buster Onley on twitter:

"Milwaukee was willing to take on more money than any other team, so the decision was simple for the Mets."

 

This is ALL on Mark A being awesome and the fans showing up enough for him to feel comfortable doing it

[topper09er]

I know this isn't likely but one of my first thoughts with this deal was that the Brewers might be in a nice position to flip KRod at the trade deadline if the rest of the Bullpen gets it's act together. My logic is the Brewers have enough arms in the pen that if they all perform at a level that is reasonable to expect them to then KRod becomes a true luxury. At the 31st deadline assuming Krod gets no "Finishes" in the meantime it would make it unlikely he could hit the vesting option. With him not being on pace to hit the vesting option his value skyrockets. The Brewers then could look at the option of trying to work out a 3 way to get other pieces.

 

KRod to the Yankees, Yankees prospects to Baltimore, Hardy to Milwaukee.

 

It's fun to dream.

If we can use KRod to directly get Hardy then it would be good but otherwise we would be better off keeping him because we will get 2 nice draft picks when he leaves via free agency. He will not accept a 1 year arbitration deal to be a setup man

[Warning Track Power]

I know this isn't likely but one of my first thoughts with this deal was that the Brewers might be in a nice position to flip KRod at the trade deadline if the rest of the Bullpen gets it's act together. My logic is the Brewers have enough arms in the pen that if they all perform at a level that is reasonable to expect them to then KRod becomes a true luxury. At the 31st deadline assuming Krod gets no "Finishes" in the meantime it would make it unlikely he could hit the vesting option. With him not being on pace to hit the vesting option his value skyrockets. The Brewers then could look at the option of trying to work out a 3 way to get other pieces.

 

KRod to the Yankees, Yankees prospects to Baltimore, Hardy to Milwaukee.

 

It's fun to dream.

If we can use KRod to directly get Hardy then it would be good but otherwise we would be better off keeping him because we will get 2 nice draft picks when he leaves via free agency. He will not accept a 1 year arbitration deal to be a setup man

The best thing in my opinion about the K-Rod deal is that while we could trade him to get a SS, we don't have too. His salary is paid by the Mets and the prospects we gave up won't inhibit our ability to pick up JJ.

[Hate those Rodents]

Quick KROD scenario:

 

We are on the road. We are losing 3-2. We use KROD in the 8th inning and he successfully completes the inning for us. We fail to score in the top of the 9th. The game is over and we lost.

 

Does this count as KROD finishing the game in terms of his contract?

[Raw Biz]

Quick KROD scenario:

 

We are on the road. We are losing 3-2. We use KROD in the 8th inning and he successfully completes the inning for us. We fail to score in the top of the 9th. The game is over and we lost.

 

Does this count as KROD finishing the game in terms of his contract?

I would assume so since finishing the game means being the last pitcher on the team used.

[PeaveyFury]

It certainly eats up a portion of whatever finite financial resources Melvin has to play with. Perhaps Melvin already has a plan for upgrading SS but if he doesn't, his options are more limited now than they were before. There's really no way around that.

 

Sure there is- Mark A tells Melvin to upgrade SS, and cost is no object. As I said, people keep trying to quantify what the Brewers have available to spend as some sort of 'hard' cap number, while Mark A has consistently gone over and above those expectations in his time here. Until he publicly says 'we can only spend x at the deadline this year,' we have no way of knowing what Melvin REALLY has available to him.

[brewmann04]

I love the Ideas of getting all these draft picks for 2012 and would like to thank Mark for stepping up and approving this deal.

Now the Players need to excutue and get it done. BTW DM still need the SS

[Raw Biz]

It certainly eats up a portion of whatever finite financial resources Melvin has to play with. Perhaps Melvin already has a plan for upgrading SS but if he doesn't, his options are more limited now than they were before. There's really no way around that.

 

Sure there is- Mark A tells Melvin to upgrade SS, and cost is no object. As I said, people keep trying to quantify what the Brewers have available to spend as some sort of 'hard' cap number, while Mark A has consistently gone over and above those expectations in his time here. Until he publicly says 'we can only spend x at the deadline this year,' we have no way of knowing what Melvin REALLY has available to him.

Not to mention he is basically free this year with the 5 mil coming over. We can just factor in the 3.5 mil buyout into the payroll for next year.

[topper09er]

Here are all of our games finished. If K-Rod gets used like Loe was for basically the entire first half - minus last week, we would only expect him to get around 10 GF. Those bottom of the 8th, give up the lead and then lose on the road do not happen that often.

 

Pos		W	L	ERA	G	GF ?	SV	IP
CL	John Axford	2	2	2.83	42	35	23	41.1
RP	Kameron Loe	3	7	4.50	46	10	1	44.0
	Sergio Mitre	0	1	3.27	22	8	0	33.0
RP	Marco Estrada	2	6	4.71	26	7	0	57.1
	Mike McClendon	3	0	2.63	9	7	0	13.2
	Tim Dillard	1	1	5.00	15	6	0	18.0
RP	LaTroy Hawkins	0	0	1.08	27	5	0	25.0
RP	Zach Braddock*	0	1	5.19	24	4	0	17.1
	Brandon Kintzler	1	1	3.68	9	3	0	14.2
	Sean Green	0	1	5.40	14	3	0	11.2
	Mitch Stetter*	0	0	5.14	16	2	0	7.0
	Mark DiFelice	0	0	12.00	3	1	0	3.0

The reason we only have 91 GF and 92 games is because Yo does not get a GF for a CG he threw, you dont get a GS and a GF in the same game, just like you can get a W and a SV in the same game.

[And That]

Some people are way too fixated on WAR. Watching this team, it's obvious that bullpen was the primary need, followed by SS.

I disagree, and I've watched this team plenty. I get that the bullpen has blown some games, but the problems at SS and 3B have been a long, slow death. Maybe not as apparent in any certain game, but over the course of the season, those two positions will be far more disastrous (IMO) than the bullpen.

[Joseph]

From the outside, this looks like a huge get for you guys. Congrats.

[brewmann04]

SS will be next to be solved i am sure ALL IN MEANS ALL IN.

[kramnoj]

Until he publicly says 'we can only spend x at the deadline this year,' we have no way of knowing what Melvin REALLY has available to him.

 

This really needs to be emphasized.

 

Cots's has the Opening Day payroll about $7M less than last year. With this trade, the Brewers still haven't hit that number, AFAIK. If the Brewers need to borrow from future payroll dollars to get this team closer to the World Series, I'm going to guess that Attanasio will approve that.

[RockCoCougars]

Some people are way too fixated on WAR. Watching this team, it's obvious that bullpen was the primary need, followed by SS.

I disagree, and I've watched this team plenty. I get that the bullpen has blown some games, but the problems at SS and 3B have been a long, slow death. Maybe not as apparent in any certain game, but over the course of the season, those two positions will be far more disastrous (IMO) than the bullpen.

The bullpen has 20 losses already at this point. That's huge at this

point in the season. In nearly every case, that means that either a

lead or tie was given up.

[Dragonbait]

The bullpen has 20 losses already at this point. That's huge at this point in the season. In nearly every case, that means that either a lead or tie was given up.

 

That statement really needs to be put in to perspetive.... if we just win half of those.........

[Roderick]

I would be very surprised with Boras as his agent to see K-rod accept arby, especially since he's 29. His chances at the best long term deal are this offseason if he performs well.

I assume he would get around $12M in arby?.... If so, how much are you thinking for a long term deal? Are we talking 3 years for a total of $24M? With that scenario I can see him taking the arby and trying for a contract the next year - especially if he doesn't think he is going downhill. If you think he will make more than $8M/per season on a long term deal, than I would assume he would take the long term deal.

[RockCoCougars]

The bullpen has 20 losses already at this point. That's huge at this point in the season. In nearly every case, that means that either a lead or tie was given up.

 

That statement really needs to be put in to perspetive.... if we just win half of those.........

Exactly. Additionally, look at the ERA in innings 6-8

 

6th: 5.28

7th: 4.5

8th: 4.11

[ramssuperbowl99]

Adam McCalvey's Twitter:

RRR says both K-Rod and @JohnAxford will close, and both will set-up. I'll have a story with his comments on Brewers.com.

Arrggghhh!!!! Only RRR could screw this up. And since K-Rod is a former Angel, nothing he does wrong will demote him from partial closing duties.

[BrewerBrent]

Adam McCalvey's Twitter:

RRR says both K-Rod and @JohnAxford will close, and both will set-up. I'll have a story with his comments on Brewers.com.

Arrggghhh!!!! Only RRR could screw this up. And since K-Rod is a former Angel, nothing he does wrong will demote him from partial closing duties.

If he comes close to the remaining 21 finishes because of this Roenicke should be fired immediately. That's just asinine, there's no reason to do this.