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

[umphrey]

If he has an injury there is a good chance we still sign him to a 1-2 year deal

[AdvantageSchneider]

Aside from the small effects of inflation, I never understood the reasoning behind backloading so many deals.

 

To me, it reeks of financial irresponsibility. It's how you end up having to budget $16M for Aramis Ramirez for one season. Unless you expect your payroll to increase proportionately by that much, don't be constantly taking our mortgages on your future to pay for the present. It will catch up.

 

If Garza is getting $13M a season, pay him $13M a season. These are guaranteed contracts. You're paying all of it one way or another.

 

Its about the time value of money. Mark A is a finance guy so he gets it. When you get into big money it really makes a difference paying a 3 million differential in 2016 rather than 2014.

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

Interest rates are low so it should be less of an issue.

[PrinceEatMeat]

I bet the deal gets finished tomorrow, and he gets introduced at Fan Fest as an added attraction.

[JohnBriggs12]

Interest rates are low so it should be less of an issue.

 

Exactly with interest rates at almost zero, it barely figures into the calculation but that's true on both ends so it's ridiculous for it to cause a hangup. Plus all teams are getting an extra $26 million from new tv contract so they should have cash available to handle it.

[torts]

This is just so weird. An entire day goes by and we hear absolutely NOTHING. Just bizarre. Nobody that reported on it yesterday really even offered an update. I would think this has to be move than salary breakdowns, as that wouldn't seemingly take this long to hash out. It's made me really leery that this deal will ever actually happen

 

[sarcasm]everything was probably good to go until Doug asked him if he's ever played first base before[/sarcasm]

[RightFieldCoder]

The current inflation rate is ~2.93%. If that holds steady, $13M in 2017 would only be worth $11.89M in today's dollars. The Brewers would basically be saving over $1M of today's money value if they can pay the salary later. It's not about having the cash on hand or taking out a loan, it's about the finance guy knowing the valuation of the monetary system.

[remfire]

This is just so weird. An entire day goes by and we hear absolutely NOTHING. Just bizarre. Nobody that reported on it yesterday really even offered an update. I would think this has to be move than salary breakdowns, as that wouldn't seemingly take this long to hash out. It's made me really leery that this deal will ever actually happen

 

[sarcasm]everything was probably good to go until Doug asked him if he's ever played first base before[/sarcasm]

 

 

I laughed so hard, I spit my coffee all over my computer. Great post torts! Absolutely hilarious!

[StearnsFTW]

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.

 

Amen.

 

Of course I hope this deal falls through and we sign no one, so I'm clearly in the minority there.

[jjkoestler]

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.

 

Amen.

 

Of course I hope this deal falls through and we sign no one, so I'm clearly in the minority there.

 

Why?

[sveumrules]

On the bright side our pick is 12.

 

On the less than bright side last time BS drafted that high he passed on Jose Fernandez in favor of Jungmann and about a half dozen other highly regarded arms in favor of Bradley a few picks later.

 

In regards to Garza, it will be interesting to see what comes out, if anything today. You hope it's just something in the language/$$$ distribution, but with his history you can't rule out something in the medicals regardless of what the FO tells McCalvy/TH.

 

As much as I'd like to see Nelson, Thornburg and Smith fight it out for the 5th spot in spring, I'd feel better with Yo/Lohse/Garza/Marco/Wily & Nelson as the 6th in Nashville and a bullpen of Henderson/Kintzler/Gorzo/Smith/Thornburg. Stash Wang as the long man and sign a cheap vet (KRod yet again?) or let W00t3n, Figaro, etc fight it out for the last BP spot.

[RockCoCougars]

I'm with those that think this has something to do with the insurance company finding something on the physical that they didn't like. My initial reaction to this whole deal was that I thought it was a great move. At the same time, you have to wonder why Texas and/or the Cubs didn't show interest, they should have been able to beat this deal with pocket change. There had to be some reason that they weren't interested.

 

I agree that the major concern here is that this falls through, and then the Brewers make the epic mistake of giving big money to the likes of Jimenez or Santana to save face. I would be furious if they did that.

[StearnsFTW]

Amen.

 

Of course I hope this deal falls through and we sign no one, so I'm clearly in the minority there.

 

Why?

 

My opinion is basically worthless because I despise how this franchise does business. Signing players (particularly pitchers) to big dollar contracts when you're clearly undermanned to begin with is insanity in my opinion. What does Garza do over a 4 year span? There's no help coming and we're clearly not in the top 3 in the division with him, nor will we likely be during his contract. Just because our payroll was $88M last year doesn't mean it has to be this year.

 

 

What I would love to see is the whole scouting department gutted, get someone in there who knows what they're doing, add $ to Latin scouting/signings and draft and develop like a small market team should.

 

None of which matters because it won't happen.

[brewmann04]

I am not sure i have much Faith in the Brewers and their Draft process ,also especially when it comes to pitching.

[3and2Fastball]

Amen.

 

Of course I hope this deal falls through and we sign no one, so I'm clearly in the minority there.

 

Why?

 

My opinion is basically worthless because I despise how this franchise does business. Signing players (particularly pitchers) to big dollar contracts when you're clearly undermanned to begin with is insanity in my opinion. What does Garza do over a 4 year span? There's no help coming and we're clearly not in the top 3 in the division with him, nor will we likely be during his contract. Just because our payroll was $88M last year doesn't mean it has to be this year.

 

 

What I would love to see is the whole scouting department gutted, get someone in there who knows what they're doing, add $ to Latin scouting/signings and draft and develop like a small market team should.

 

None of which matters because it won't happen.

 

I pretty much agree with all of that. We have an owner who is paranoid about losing fans if we are viewed in rebuilding mode (and he probably has some logical right to feel that way). We do need some bigtime changes in the way we do things. For instance just the simple fact that not one Brewers coach or front office person could see that Axford was tipping his pitches. Then as soon as Axford gets to St Louis they fill him in on how he's been tipping his pitches and he improves dramatically.

[Thurston Fluff]

Then as soon as Axford gets to St Louis they fill him in on how he's been tipping his pitches and he improves dramatically.

 

I'm not sure how tipping your pitches makes you miss the strike zone by three feet.

[Warning Track Power]

My opinion is basically worthless because I despise how this franchise does business. Signing players (particularly pitchers) to big dollar contracts when you're clearly undermanned to begin with is insanity in my opinion. What does Garza do over a 4 year span? There's no help coming and we're clearly not in the top 3 in the division with him, nor will we likely be during his contract. Just because our payroll was $88M last year doesn't mean it has to be this year.

While I disagree with you, I understand your opinion. This deal would be so beneficial for the Brewers on multiple levels, provided Garza remains injury free. While on paper the Brewers in 2014 may look like at most an 85 win team, they could conceivably play a little above their head and reach close to 90 wins. I don't think they have a shot at this without Garza. Now they could also play below average and win 77 games. Garza's contract, provided health and pitching to his form, is a very trade able contract and could bring back multiple prospects, see the Cubs-Rangers deal last season.

 

I just see this as a win-win deal.

[And That]

Then as soon as Axford gets to St Louis they fill him in on how he's been tipping his pitches and he improves dramatically.

 

I'm not sure how tipping your pitches makes you miss the strike zone by three feet.

 

Agreed. He was tipping his curve by throwing it. No reason for anyone to swing at it when it's missing almost every time.

 

And somewhere earlier in the thread, someone blasted the Brewers medical staff, with something to the effect of "If Garza was injured, the Brewers might not even figure it out." The Brewers have one of the best regarded medical staffs/organizational health philosophies in the game. BA (or maybe MLB.com?) did a feature article on them about a year ago. The Brewers make all manner of questionable personnel moves, but making uninformed remarks about the organization is dumb.

[JackNicholson1974]

When is this deal officially dead?

[dpapo]

Latest information from Haudricourt and Doug Melvin,

 

"There's nothing to report," said Melvin. "I can't really comment on it. We're just waiting."

 

The big question is: Waiting on what? There have been no revelations from either side since reports surfaced Thursday saying the Brewers had a four-year, $52 million deal in place with Garza, pending a physical. Garza took that physical and there has been no indication that a medical red flag went up, making the delay even more puzzling.

 

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/241980611.html

 

Let the speculation continue.

[502 to Right]

The story that is about distribution of the money seems more and more like [expletive deleted].

[MillerParkSouth]

Whatever it is, I'm shocked it's taking this long to resolve one way or another. If they don't announce at On Deck tomorrow I will officially be worried.

[brewmann04]

Well if falls through just move on with their original plan. Maybe their a move that is pending before the Garza deal

[owbc]

A medical issue is the only logical explanation.

 

It seems that the Brewers might have a reduced offer on the table, but Garza is now entertaining offers from other teams again.

[jerichoholicninja]

If it was medical it would be officially dead by now. It's probably that when teams found out how much it was more they immediately called Garza's agent and offered him more money.