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By Cork Gaines [March 3, 2008 at 9:30pm CST]
Troy Renck of the Denver Post is reporting that the Rockies and Brad Hawpe have agreed to a three-year deal with a fourth-year option. The contract is worth $17MM with the 2011 option expected to be close to $10MM. The deal will lock up Hawpe for each of his arbitration seasons while the team option could eliminate his first year of free agency. The right fielder hit .291-29-116 with a 129 OPS+ in 2007.
The Rockies who won the NL last year with a payroll close to $52MM have now committed $91MM to four of their core players this off-season. In addition to Hawpe, the Rox have given long-term deals to Aaron Cook, Troy Tulowitzki and Manny Corpas. Colorado will see their payroll rise to $70-75MM in 2008.
By Cork Gaines
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Good to see the Rockies spending some wise money on guys that are the future of the ball club. Hawpe does not get a lot of national recognition, but being a D-backs fan I see this guy 18-19 times a year and he's for real - dbacksbuzz.com
Posted by: dbacksbuzz | March 03, 2008 at 10:37 PM
Agreed. Good deal for this guy. I love the option from the team's perspective. If he flames out then you have limited liability. If he is the bomb then $10m is cheap.
Posted by: bjsguess | March 04, 2008 at 01:23 AM
He just needs to start hitting leftys and he would be great.
Posted by: Laputian | March 04, 2008 at 01:44 AM
Nice signing. Hawpe is a strong hitter, and if he ever figures out lefties he'll be a monster. I drafted him around the 13th round in my fantasy league last year and was told I'd wasted a pick. He turned out to be one of the steals of the league.
Posted by: metafrantic | March 04, 2008 at 06:39 AM