Aaron Rowand

[TheBrewer]

Its odd that people actually really think Braun will be moved to the OF. Just like with Weeks in the past. I think when the General Manager and the Manager of the Milwaukee Brewers says that he will not be moved, I think you can count on that. There would probably be about a 5% chance that would happen. So forget about Braun moving to the OF.

 

I like Rowand because he's a tough guy, very good defender, almost all out play, he's done well offensively... but however theres a very good chance he'll regress to his 05 or 06 numbers. Or he could do a median of that .280/12-15HR/10SB maybe.. I don't think I'd wana spend that much on him, when I say much I'm thinking around 40 Million over 4-5 years. If Matthews got 50 Million last season based upon one OK / Good season while having a very unproductive past.. I think Rowand would be at least around 50-70 million. I keep 50 million in there because everyone thought Matthews' contract was very high.. But I think some team maybe the Cubs will sign him to a 50-70 million dollar deal.. I think Melvin will explore options via trade.

[TooLiveBrew]

Is Rowand that good at CF? I know its generally accepted that he is and fielding stats aren't great, but his RZR the last two years in CF is not good. In 2006, his .882 is good for 17th out of 21 qualified players, and in 2007 he only had an .861. That's 15th of 17th qualifiers and just slightly better than Hall's .846. What gives?

 

His rCIW (Revised Crash Into Walls Rating) is at 1,000,003%, best in the NL. Plus, he's had decent to good OOZ ratings twice in his career, thus leading folks to view him as a guy that gets to 'everything,' as they see him on Top Plays & Web Gems, where the announcers fawn & call him a devensive whiz. That'd be my guess (not aimed at anyone on this board).

[brettac1]

Well, it would be a cascading move, though. You take Hall, who not as good of a CF as Rowand, and move him to 3B where he is a pretty large improvement on Braun.

 

I don't think I'm for it, though, but I'm not for giving any 30 year old hitter a long-term high dollar contract, especially one that isn't exactly a "consistent" hitter.

[MNBrew]

That's just the market value nowadays, and we can either accept it, or be totally against all free agent pickups no matter who the player is...

Just an aside, but NDOG, I think in the latter part of that little excerpt of your post, you articulated the recent FA history of the MN Twins in a nutshell.

[Postseason2006]

Rowand's current value on open market after last years FA - at least $12million.

The length of contract he'll be getting after last years guys - at least 4 years.

The fact we think we are getting him after Suppan and Cordero yet signed - priceless...

[endaround]

Cordero isn't going to be signed. The Brewers aren't giving him 4yr$40 million

[sbrylski]

Cordero isn't going to be signed. The Brewers aren't giving him 4yr$40 million

Never know. If we can find a nice trade for a LFer, we do have the funds. Maybe a different priority than many of us would like to see, but I think its definately possible.

[Gopher74]

Cordero isn't going to be signed. The Brewers aren't giving him 4yr$40 million

I'm curious where that comes from?

Melvin took him out to breakfast to tell him he was going to make a good, sincere effort to sign him. I doubt he was thinking that Coco would ask for 3 years and 21 million. I think he new full well at that point that he'd get a 10 million dollar a year contract.

 

Coco's also said that he'd want to remain here given the chance. That Milwaukee gave him a chance, he feels it's got a great young team, and he just said it was a great situation.

 

We'll see, but I see a 3 year 30 million dollar deal with a 4th year at about 12-13 million as an option year, and then a 1.5 million dollar buyout.

3 years-10.5 million per.

[endaround]

He'll get the same effort Carlos Lee got and then let go.

[Gopher74]

He'll get the same effort Carlos Lee got and then let go.

I think they've made it pretty clear that he's going to get a stronger effort.

 

I'd be curious as to what suggests that he'll be let go.

 

I mean, as far as I know, Melvin never took Lee out to make a point of telling him that they'll try their best to re-sign him. In fact, the fact that Lee was traded during the season, a season in which the Brewers were in a playoff race should tell you the two are very different situations.

 

Plus, we dont' have any young relievers coming up who can at least soften the blow like Hart could.

 

[TooLiveBrew]

He'll get the same effort Carlos Lee got and then let go.

I think they've made it pretty clear that he's going to get a stronger effort.

 

I'd be curious as to what suggests that he'll be let go.

 

I mean, as far as I know, Melvin never took Lee out to make a point of telling him that they'll try their best to re-sign him. In fact, the fact that Lee was traded during the season, a season in which the Brewers were in a playoff race should tell you the two are very different situations.

 

Plus, we dont' have any young relievers coming up who can at least soften the blow like Hart could.

 

To point number one - his 4 year/$40 mil. price range.

To point number two - interesting point. http://static.yuku.com//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/smile.gif Weren't we still in first when the trade deadline passed this year, and roughly 5-10 games out in 2006? That would be a different scenario.

[Gopher74]

He'll get the same effort Carlos Lee got and then let go.

I think they've made it pretty clear that he's going to get a stronger effort.

 

I'd be curious as to what suggests that he'll be let go.

 

I mean, as far as I know, Melvin never took Lee out to make a point of telling him that they'll try their best to re-sign him. In fact, the fact that Lee was traded during the season, a season in which the Brewers were in a playoff race should tell you the two are very different situations.

 

Plus, we dont' have any young relievers coming up who can at least soften the blow like Hart could.

 

To point number one - his 4 year/$40 mil. price range.

To point number two - interesting point. http://static.yuku.com//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/smile.gif Weren't we still in first when the trade deadline passed this year, and roughly 5-10 games out in 2006? That would be a different scenario.

Well, actually, you're right, we were 5 games out of the WC which was Cincy.

 

However, the market for a power hitting OF'er was/is MUCH stronger than it will be this off-season for a closer.

 

In fact, assuming that River re-signs with the Yanks, who do you think are the teams that are going to go after Cordero? Teams with a significantly higher payroll that is.

 

[molitor fan]

According to a writer named Miller in Phily, Rowand is asking for a 4/54 contract.

[SoCalBrewfan]

Saw this elsewhere...

 

Hoping to build a foundation for a new deal, Phillies management had a recent chat with Rowand's agent, Craig Landis, and was floored to discover Rowand is seeking a six-year, $84 million contract.

 

The Phils think Rowand's value is in the three-year, $30 million range, and it's believed they'd be willing to go there, maybe even a little higher. But unless Rowand comes way off his $14 million-per-year asking price and cuts the years in half, the Phillies will spend the money elsewhere.

 

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/102-10122007-1422472.html

 

You gotta figure he's looking at last year's CF contracts, which include Matthews (5/$50M) and Pierre (5/$44M)...he's got a better track record than either guy, and he's only 30. (Younger than Matthews, older than Pierre.) Other comps include Damon and Matsui (4/$52M starting in 06), maybe JD Drew (5/$70M). Or, as a boundary on the high end, Vernon Wells (8/$126M starting 08)...he obviously won't get the years, but he might get the average yearly salary. Beltran a couple years back got 7/$119M, averaging $17M/year, and that's also more than Rowand will get, but it provides some context.

 

The 3/$30M mentioned in the article (and some posts above) is cheap for free agents...though Giles got that as did Eric Byrnes recently. I'd go a bit higher on Rowand, but I don't see the Brewers giving him as much as somebody out there will. He will probably have to wait for the other CF chips to fall (Jones, Hunter), but he'll find a home and I'd guess that he'd get the 5 years that Matthews and Pierre got and a higher annual salary, maybe 5/$60-65M? Too bad, because I'd love to have him.

[SoCalBrewfan]

As for Cordero, he and his agent will presumably be starting from last year's top FA relievers: BJ Ryan (5/$47M) and Wagner (4/$43M). There haven't been that many $10M closers (Gagne was at one time, Rivera was one on his previous deal), but that's the way the market's headed and I think Cordero will join the club coming off this past year. The Cards exercised Izzy's $8M option promptly, for example, and F. Rodriguez in Anaheim got $7M in arby for his fifth year in MLB, suggesting he'll be close to $10M this year.

 

I don't know that I'd give any reliever 5 years, and I'd have to think long and hard about even 4...but the market surprises me every year. I could see Cordero getting 4/$44M or more though I wouldn't do that.

[dadofandrew]

If Rowand gets $84M, Hall is a bargain and a half for what he's getting.

 

Dare I say, Gwynn for $350K looks mighty attractive as well, and especially will for the bottom 10 payroll teams.

[danzig6767]

I'm not saying we should sign Rowand or that he's worth 14 million a year,but people do have to realize that there is alot of money available in the game right now and what often seems like crazy contracts is just a reflection of money that's out there to spend.

 

Not that long ago,10 million a year got your team an upper tier player/free agent,now 10 million a year gets you Eric Byrnes.Fans can complain that it's crazy to pay non-special players that much cash,but the market is what it is now and salaries will only go higher,not down.

 

One thing it does do is increase the value of young players even more than they already were.Guys like Braun and Hart are like gold,productive and make pocket change.

[kgbaseball]

yeah, but just because the market makes bums like Juan Pierre and Aaron Rowand rich doesn't mean it's necessary to spend on players like that. There's always alternatives, and a smart GM knows that.

[TooLiveBrew]

Well said, kgb.

 

If Rowand gets $84M, Hall is a bargain and a half for what he's getting.

Please do correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the majority of Hall's contract covering his arbitration years? Was it 2010 that was Hall's first year for arbitration? Or 2009?

[endaround]

Well said, kgb.

 

If Rowand gets $84M, Hall is a bargain and a half for what he's getting.

Please do correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the majority of Hall's contract covering his arbitration years? Was it 2010 that was Hall's first year for arbitration? Or 2009?

You mean FA year? That would be 2010. Hall's contract bought out his arby years, a FA year and an option on another FA year.

[TooLiveBrew]

Whoops, yep - you're right end, I meant FA. Thanks for that. I thought that the contract only covered a year or two of his FA years.

[Weirdos19]

I think that if Rowand signs here, Billy Hall is turned into 2 solid relievers.

 

The management here can't be happy about the Hall situation.

 

1. Billy is not an outfielder. He wasn't horrible out there, but wasn't good either.

2. He is signed to a multi year deal.

3. There is no room for him in the infield. Braun will stay where he's at.

4. He looked like a different player before his contract.

 

Hall could be gone anyway.

[endaround]

Trading Bill Hall for relievers who be the biggest waste of talent since Cincy gave up two position players for bullpen help.

[Zycho32]

Only if Bill Hall comes back to his 35 HR status, Endy.

[SmartBall]

Rowand had his career year by far this year while playing in an incredibly hitter friendly park. I love Rowand, but I would be upset if they signed him for a ton of money and let Billy go to waste. Billy had a bad year, but has some indicators suggesting he can bounce back. I also think that he made good strides in Center this year, and I think he will have a good season next year both offensively and defensively. The money Rowand would command could be put to much better use somewhere else.