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Angels Open To In-Season Talks For K-Rod
Angels owner Arte Moreno said today that the team is flexible and is willing to negotiate a contract extension with closer Francisco Rodriguez during the season. K-Rod and his agent were strongly leaning toward putting talks off until after the season after an agreement could not be reached by Opening Day.
Twins closer Joe Nathan inked a four-year, $47MM deal in March. The total is the highest ever for a reliever, though Mariano Rivera earns $15MM annually on a three-year pact. Another comparable is Francisco Cordero's four-year, $46MM deal. Nathan and Cordero both have fifth-year club options.
Assuming they hit the open market, the big name closers for the winter of 2008-09 are K-Rod and Brad Lidge. Will one top the $50MM mark or get five guaranteed years? Brian Fuentes and Brandon Lyon seem to fit into the second tier of free agent closers.
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I don't care what other closers are getting, I would never sign any pitcher to any deal longer than four years.
Posted by: revrobby | May 17, 2008 at 01:47 AM
I agree with you, I wouldnt give any pitcher to a 5 year deal or more either, under any circumstance. It makes me sick to my stomach to think about Johan Santana's contract in a couple of years. He seems to already have lost a few mph on his fastball and though his numbers are good, I am not impressed. He is throwing a ton of pitches and giving up a ton of homeruns. Did the Twins call no give-backs on that deal?
Posted by: nrmax88 | May 17, 2008 at 12:42 PM
I wouldnt sign** any pitcher
Posted by: nrmax88 | May 17, 2008 at 12:48 PM
A big reason Santana gives up homeruns is because he is always around the zone. Giving up a bunch of solo shots is not going to hurt your team or your ERA. He will only be 35 when the contract is done and hasn't shown a propensity toward injury, and neither are his mechanics an issue.
As for K-Rod, it is good to see the Angels are coming around on this. They realize Speier is not good enough to close and Shields does better as a setup man as well. Arredondo is interesting, but he doesn't have Frankie's dynamic hooks and is only 2 years younger. Most people forget that Frankie is only 26 years old and hasn't shown a single sign of arm problems. He had the ankle issue earlier this year, but even that seemed to make him into a better pitcher, as he stopped overthrowing his fastball and it has started to develop a sink and hits the strike zone more. He damn well should get a 5 year deal.
Posted by: AA | May 19, 2008 at 02:10 AM
Anything more than what Joe Nathan got and this will be a complete disaster. As an Angels fan I'm terrified of seeing a 5/55 type deal being offered.
K-Rod, simply, is not that good.
Posted by: bjsguess | May 19, 2008 at 11:36 AM
"K-Rod, simply, is not that good."
What in the world are you talking about? As a full time closer, K-Rod has never had less than 40 saves. Outside of his true rookie year, when he was being used in a role similar to that of Rivera early in his career, Frankie hasn't posted an ERA of over 2.81 and has never issued more than 35 walks. He already has converted 17/18 this year, and the Angels have only played 27% of their games. All that, and he has never had even an inkling of an arm problem. 5 years, or 4 with at least 2 options, is a good thing.
Posted by: AA | May 19, 2008 at 02:20 PM