Brewers + Matt Garza; 4 yrs, $50MM + incentives, 5th year option

[torts]

I don't know how legit this is, but I was told this morning that the MRI revealed a partially torn labrum in his pitching shoulder. Garza has said it has no impact on his shoulder and he's perfectly healthy. I was told it might kill the deal and Jimenez would become the next target.

 

Don't piledrive me - but the person who told me said he source is quite solid. Take it for what it's worth.

 

 

Latest from Adam McCalvy (via Twitter):

 

Now I'm hearing the holdup on Garza is not related to medical concerns. It's just taking time to wrap up the deal. Stay tuned.

 

 

no offense to you or your friend, but i'll believe Adam McCalvy before your buddy

[brwrsfan]

Something is just extremely weird. It shouldn't take this long to "wrap up the deal".

 

I'd tend to believe it's injury related too, despite what McCalvy says. Hope I'm wrong.

[hawing]

I have ample faith in Adam McCalvy, but I also have faith in foamboy1's sources. Over the last decade-plus, he has contributed information that sounded wild but turned out to be on target.

 

If something messes up the deal, it's probably for a good enough reason to make me conclude that it wasn't meant to be.

[MillerParkSouth]

If there was something wrong with his medicals, I can't believe that word would have gotten out on the contract even, although I could be wrong on that. I like the deal a lot so I hope it goes through and he's healthy. I want no part of Jiminez, we should not be giving up another first round pick.

[logan82]

I think we usually hear about deals before the medical exam.

 

I know what McCalvy has reported but that doesn't mean he was told the truth.

[brwrsfan]

I agree. Who knows who McCalvy's sources are, or anyone on this board for that matter.

 

My guess is that they DID find something wrong and want to get it looked at further before finalizing the contract. I find it a little odd that nobody has an update on it at all today. Haurdicourt or someone. The more time that passes without a deal, the more and more I'm thinking it's not going to happen unfortunately.

[MVP2110]

I agree, hope I'm wrong but the more and more

we wait the more I think it's not going to happen.

And agreed going from garza to ubaldo is a downgrade

In pitching and then having to give up a first. I would much

Rather have garza

[pogokat]

Foamboy's sources have typically been legit in the past, which means this isn't great news...

 

maybe they are trying to revise the contract to reflect the injury revelation rather than dump him completely....

[Raw Biz]

Foamboy's sources have typically been legit in the past, which means this isn't great news...

 

maybe they are trying to revise the contract to reflect the injury revelation rather than dump him completely....

 

Exactly my thoughts. Garza will miss some time as a gesture of good faith, he will sign a 4 year/$4 million deal.

[Warning Track Power]

So let's say the Garza deal doesn't go through and Jimenez becomes the target as Foamboy states and the Brewers lose another 1st round pick.

 

Whew...that would certainly epitomize the franchise.

[narwhalattack]

So let's say the Garza deal doesn't go through and Jimenez becomes the target as Foamboy states and the Brewers lose another 1st round pick.

 

Whew...that would certainly epitomize the franchise.

 

If that happens, I'm gonna lose all faith in the front office.

[torts]

I wasnt aware of foamboys accuracy from his friend, my mistake!

[Warning Track Power]

I find it a little odd that nobody has an update on it at all today.

This has me confused as well. Are Heyman, Rosenthal, Haudricourt, McCalvy, etc... all not following up or is there truly nothing to be reported? If it is the latter, that seems even more odd given how sure everyone was yesterday that the deal was done.

 

Ken Rosenthal tweeted that Garza had taken the physical the Brewers were prepared to hold the press conference yesterday. So what could be the holdup?

[TooLiveBrew]

Sure sounds like this would be health/injury related. If this franchise burns another first round pick, I will be done being a Brewers fan for a while.

[brwrsfan]

It almost has to be health related, but I guess it's something they may want to examine further, get more opinions, etc. I can't imagine they'd bring him here, have a press conference setup and then have it all fall through over minor contract details. That makes no sense at all.

 

It's almost noon and not a single peep from anyone in the media today. Are they just all talking McCalvy at his word and that this will be a done deal? Very odd.

[torts]

well melvin is pretty tight lipped about any deal, right? so it could be he put the end to any information being leaked

[hawing]

I wasnt aware of foamboys accuracy from his friend, my mistake!

No worries. To me, his most memorable solid call was predicting the departure of then-president Ulice Payne in the 2003-2004 offseason, which was well before your arrival on the BF scene, torts.

[sveumrules]

Sure sounds like this would be health/injury related. If this franchise burns another first round pick, I will be done being a Brewers fan for a while.

 

I'd rather we burn the pick by signing a player that has proven he can play in MLB than burn it by allowing Bruce Seid to make the selection.

[Warning Track Power]

I'd rather we burn the pick by signing a player that has proven he can play in MLB than burn it by allowing Bruce Seid to make the selection.

 

Well played Sveum! Well played!

 

...and now I am sad because it's true!

[foamboy1]

Thanks for the love - I still have some old school cred! Hawing busting out a Ulice Payne reference!

 

I tend to only report things I know first hand - and this is second hand but I know the source. Plus, something unusual seems to be happening.

 

I could be completely wrong - and if I am I apologize.

 

I'd like Garza, surely over Jimenez - but it's odd that the deal leaks and his medical evaluation occurs - and then silence and backpedaling - and more silence.

[foamboy1]

Foamboy's sources have typically been legit in the past, which means this isn't great news...

 

maybe they are trying to revise the contract to reflect the injury revelation rather than dump him completely....

 

Thanks, Pogo.

 

The ability to insure the contract could be an issue - say Milwaukee has access to past scans and notices the condition has been there awhile and still wants to move forward - now that it's been discovered, it could make the contract uninsurable (most contracts are insured in some fashion). That could be a consideration.

 

Also, if Garza insists he's healthy, they may be seeking additional medical opinions.

[JackNicholson1974]

I, too, can attest to foamboy's credibility, back in the day he nailed plenty of rumors.

[JohnBriggs12]

Given history I like the idea of signing starting pitchers to below market deals and spending higher draft picks on hitters...

 

I get where you are going with this, it's not the first time I've seen the idea floated around, and I think it could work for large market teams, but unfortunately not for the Brewers... not if we're talking about trying to win a championship. If the bar is set at a Wild Card appearance, then maybe.

 

You can win a ton of games with mediocre pitching and a top tier offense, but no one has won a World Series with that kind of setup. Conversely teams like the Giants and Rays have won or gotten to the World Series with a pretty average offensive team but elite pitching.

 

Baseball is about pitching, your pitching sets the ceiling of your team. If you're the Brewers and the best you can afford in FA is averagish/older/declining pitchers, then the ceiling of your team is that of a pretender. Garza is a fine pitcher, obviously with my affinity for the Rays he's been on my radar for a very long time, but he's not a top of rotation starter anymore. He hasn't been healthy in years, but the flip side is that he's about the best kind of talent the Brewers can afford to target in FA. He's still a #2 best case when healthy and effective but in reality he's more like #3, and we unfortunately still don't match-up unless someone like Peralta takes a big step forward. Even if he does what if Lohse starts to slide? Or Gallardo continues to lose velocity?

 

Recent Brewer teams have been littered with upper tier offenses and mid tier to below average pitching... how far did any of those teams get? We need young impact pitching (actually we need young impact players in general to balance out the payroll), and if we aren't able to draft and develop it then we better figure out a way to trade for it, because we aren't getting that kind of talent in Free Agency.

 

To me this signing is more about ticket sales anything else... bring in a "name" that people know and hope he stays healthy enough to contribute. He's just this year's version of the same recurring theme... Ramirez, Lohse, and now Garza if he signs. None of these guys are good enough to put the Brewers over the top, even as a group. Much like the Lohse signing the organization continues to just tread water, there's a reasonable chance that the Brewers will be significantly better than last year, but that's a far cry from being a legit contender.

 

I would much rather be the Cards or Pirates... I think the Reds are nearing the end of their run, they are about the same place as the Brewers were in 2010... A roster that's starting age with little help coming from the farm, though if Stephenson stays healthy he's going to be a beast and has the ability to bolster the rotation by himself. The Cubs are the wild card in the division, they have very little pitching coming, but they have the most impressive core of hitters any team has had in a long time. If those hitters turn out way that our first wave of hitting prospects did (Fielder, Hardy, Hart, Weeks, Braun) the division is in serious trouble, because the Cubs can buy pitching in FA and they will also have surplus hitting talent to trade for an impact pitcher.

 

I don't see how adding Garza bumps the Brewers up from the 4th best team in the division now or in the immediate future. The Reds, Pirates, and Cardinals all have better MLB rosters today. Over the next couple of seasons the Pirates and Cardinals have enough young talent to continue to ascend, the Reds will likely start to slowly slide, the Brewers will probably continue to tread water with FA patches, and the Cubs could explode. Being the 3rd best team in your own division (best case) isn't a recipe for success, even playing in the best division in the NL, it's pretty difficult to get enough wins to get a Wild Card spot, and yes I do remember that both WC teams came the Central last year. It's much easier for the 2nd place team in weak division to get those wins... like the 2nd place team in the NL Central when our division was pretty awful and it was just a 2 horse race for the division crown every year.

 

I don't know what roster you are looking at but the Pirates and the Reds aren't better. Pittsburgh is without Burnett, and the chances it's bullpen can repeat it's level of performance two years in a row is almost nil. The Brewers still have an edge on the Pirate lineup too. Now that may change in another year or two as a couple of their young players arrive, but that's all the more reason to go for it sooner rather than later. As for the Reds unless Billy Hamilton can steal first base, the loss of Choo and innings eater Arroyo will affect them. Maybe their rotation is good enough to overcome that, but maybe not. Their lineup is top heavy.

[brwrsfan]

I just stumbled across this, not sure how reliable this is or not. If this is really the case, Doug needs to go to Mark A and make this happen. You can't lose a player simply over the distribution of the salaries:

 

 

The only other thing I could think of was that it then had something to do with the contract language so I reached out to a source who confirmed that it was at least part of the situation if it wasn’t all of the snag.

 

The issue, according to a source, is that the Brewers and Garza are haggling over the distribution of the contract. In other words, how much is paid in which seasons.

 

They agree on the length and overall value (which they met in the middle on, I’m also told, as the Brewers originally hoped to pay 4yr/$48MM and Garza wanted 4yr/$56MM), but they haven’t yet come to an accord on how the money will be paid out.

 

Garza is asking for a mostly even average value (which precisely would be $13 million per year) and the Brewers are looking to backload the deal somewhat in order to pay more of it when it’s more affordable. That of course being when the contracts of highly-compensated players like Rickie Weeks and Aramis Ramirez should be off the books.

 

This hang up in negotiations was described to me as “overcome-able” but deals have also fallen apart over less so nothing is official until the contract is formally announced

 

http://brewernation.mlblogs.com/2014/01/24/hot-stove-report-whats-holding-up-garzas-contract/

[torts]

honestly, that makes me feel MUCH better than anthing that could potentially deal with medical information