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« Crasnick Polls Baseball Executives | Main | Rockies Rumors: Hawpe, Betancourt, Torrealba »
Red Sox, Wakefield Finalize Two-Year Contract
6:23pm: Full details of Wakefield's contract are here, courtesy of Alex Speier of WEEI.com.
4:29pm: The team has confirmed the signing, according to FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi. Bradford, meanwhile, has some quotes from Wakefield, who admitted to being a little disappointed that they wanted to cut his guarantee, "but in the long run they’re at least guaranteeing me another year.”
1:48pm: Bradford confirmed in an email that the deal has been finalized.
1:28pm: WEEI.com's Rob Bradford says the new deal will guarantee Wakefield $5MM ($3.5MM in 2010, $1.5MM in 2011), with incentives that could push the total value of the deal up to $7MM.
1:26pm: The Red Sox have held (and exercised) a perpetual $4MM option for knuckleballer Tim Wakefield since 2005, but now Tony Massarotti of The Boston Globe reports that the two sides are renegotiating the deal after Wakefield had surgery to remove disc fragments from his back.
Massarotti says the two sides are close to an agreement on a two-year deal with a lower base salary, but incentives that will give Wakefield the chance to earn the same money if he stays healthy. The 43-year-old has made 20+ starts for the Sox for the last seven years, and he's just 17 wins behind Roger Clemens and Cy Young for the franchise record of 192 wins.
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hmmmmm, this is odd....
Posted by: 04Forever | November 09, 2009 at 01:28 PM
Who's 37 yrs old?
Posted by: Cyyoung | November 09, 2009 at 01:30 PM
well i guess its safer for the Red Sox to offer less money but the deal was already cheap enough
Posted by: 04Forever | November 09, 2009 at 01:31 PM
Um, Wakefield's 43 years old. What's up with that?
Posted by: lazyspleen | November 09, 2009 at 01:33 PM
Wake just turned 43. I hope he sticks around until he breaks Clemens/Young's record.
Posted by: start_wearing_purple | November 09, 2009 at 01:34 PM
Glad to see Wakefield coming back, hopefully he can perform like he did in the first half of this year. No chance he stays healthy for an entire season at this point of his career, but when hes healthy that knuckleball is still nasty.
Posted by: redsox22 | November 09, 2009 at 01:34 PM
Wakefield for 200 wins!
Posted by: el clash combo | November 09, 2009 at 01:35 PM
The age was just a typo, it's fixed now. My bad.
Posted by: Mike Axisa | November 09, 2009 at 01:38 PM
Perhaps Wakefield asked for 2 years so he can get the 17 wins and then retire?
Posted by: 04Forever | November 09, 2009 at 01:42 PM
04Forever, that and he probably wants to have a set end date for his career.
Posted by: start_wearing_purple | November 09, 2009 at 01:49 PM
Boy the Knuckleball is an amazing asset.
Posted by: humannature | November 09, 2009 at 02:01 PM
why not let ur plethra of young pitchers fill that role especially with beckett up for free agency next yr?
Posted by: Jspencer8 | November 09, 2009 at 02:03 PM
I guess the back surgery went well. Good for him!
Posted by: jwb | November 09, 2009 at 02:07 PM
one for one Tim!!! Good start!!!
Posted by: NYBravosFan | November 09, 2009 at 02:22 PM
Two years?
If he can keep it up, then good for him. He better pray that knuckler stay's "as-is", 'cause that's all he's got.
Posted by: Tomahawk368 | November 09, 2009 at 02:25 PM
why not let ur plethra of young pitchers fill that role especially with beckett up for free agency next yr?
Posted by: Jspencer8 | November 09, 2009 at 02:03 PM"
Because its dirt cheap. Why wouldn't the Sox do this?
Posted by: 661dodgerblue | November 09, 2009 at 02:27 PM
04 - another reason may be its a bit on the nose of the Red Sox to take one of the cheapest options in human history on a guy who is as loyal as any ballplayer in the last 50 years and try to lower it with a new contract.
This way the Red Sox pay less per year, but Wakefield gets more money guaranteed.
Posted by: quintjs | November 09, 2009 at 02:36 PM
Stock pile as much starting pitching as possible. Does nobody remember the problems the Sox had in the rotation last year?
Posted by: yanks09 | November 09, 2009 at 02:36 PM
"why not let ur plethra of young pitchers fill that role especially with beckett up for free agency next yr?"
Because as the Sox proved last year, you can never have enough pitching.
Posted by: lestercy | November 09, 2009 at 02:46 PM
Oh, wow. Nice bargain there.
Posted by: melonis rex | November 09, 2009 at 03:28 PM
" He better pray that knuckler stay's "as-is", 'cause that's all he's got. "
LOLOL That is all he has EVER had as a pitcher. He was a converted 1B in the minor leagues when he washed out and never tried it as a pitcher for anything else.
Got to love this site lately Tim, getting really slick on some of the posts.
Posted by: johns | November 09, 2009 at 04:05 PM
Best value ever..
Posted by: 661dodgerblue | November 09, 2009 at 04:30 PM
wake deserves to be the winningest pitcher in sox history. he's been a true staple in the organization in an era where those are few and far between.
Posted by: danielpwnz | November 09, 2009 at 04:56 PM
It's a good move but I do think that Wake deserves a little better for what he's done for the Sox.
Is 1 mil that big of a deal for a team with such a high payroll? (8 mil for 2 years with the perpetual option minus 7 mil total with this deal) Especially if the guy has been offering the Red Sox cheap years for like a billion years?
Could have offered a bit more in the incentives department...
Posted by: strikethree | November 09, 2009 at 05:04 PM
Wakefield got jobbed here. He gave the Sox a standing $4M option, which had him well below market. But the BoSox esentially want to buy the guy low for when he's 44 should he pitch well AND they need to get a discount should he not be 100% for 2010. Hard to believe that Wakefield never made more than $5M per year guaranteed with the Sox.
Posted by: Chacho | November 09, 2009 at 05:11 PM
"Could have offered a bit more in the incentives department..."
Agreed, I'm very happy for Wake that he's guaranteed the 2 years but I think it would have been more honorable of the Sox to simply pick up his option for 2011 as well as the one for 2010. But overall I think it speaks to Wake's character, he's a real team player and he's staying where he has roots. I really hope one day the Sox show him a sign of respect by retiring his number.
Posted by: start_wearing_purple | November 09, 2009 at 05:41 PM
"Agreed, I'm very happy for Wake that he's guaranteed the 2 years but I think it would have been more honorable of the Sox to simply pick up his option for 2011 as well as the one for 2010."
Right. Save the money on a few useless Minor league FA's the Sox usually sign, like the entire crop (except Nick Green) the got last year and none were worth anything, like all 20 or so, or Scutaro, the next useless SS Epstein will fall in love with for example not named Alex Gonzalez and he wants to throw 35M+ dollars at.
Give Wake the 1-2M dollars and don't be cheap with the one guy that is everything about Red Sox loyalty above all else.
Posted by: johns | November 09, 2009 at 05:53 PM
what are we going to use him as? starter/relife? We also need to get rich harden for insurance.
Posted by: harrison | November 09, 2009 at 07:53 PM
"what are we going to use him as?"
Starter. Of #5 starers, I'd still peg him at the top in the league.
Posted by: start_wearing_purple | November 09, 2009 at 08:03 PM
Give Wake the 1-2M dollars and don't be cheap with the one guy that is everything about Red Sox loyalty above all else.
Posted by: johns | November 09, 2009 at 05:53 PM
As a Yankee fan, I don't really like many players on your team but Wake is one of the rare exceptions.
The guy gives the Sox nearly 14 years of decent to very good (during the beginning of his Sox tenure) hard earned years and this is how they repay him?
A lot of his salary goes to his charitable organizations and events that he hosts every year. The guy has been nominated to like a billion Clemente awards.
He never seems to attract attention to himself and knows his role on the team. A good guy on the field and off the field.
It's just really disheartening to see that the Sox couldn't spare 1-2 million and make both sides happy.
He could have left years ago and made a lot more than however much he accumulated with the Red Sox. They owed him at least this.
Posted by: strikethree | November 09, 2009 at 09:10 PM
I don't know why some of you are acting like the Red Sox were undercutting Wakefield here; they just guarenteed him more money and included incentives that would exceded the value of his prior contract (up to $10.125m over the 2 year span if he maxes them out).
Wakefield isn't losing any money here. I highly advise reading the contract structure details before bashing it. If he bounces back from back surgery, he has the potential to make more than he would have with the perpetual $4m options and was guarenteed more money than he was in line for in the event that he doesn't.
That's a win for both the player & team.
Posted by: TNS | November 10, 2009 at 08:29 AM
I agree with TNS. Guy cant finish a full season, he has been on DL at the most crucial times and Sox have to scramble to make pitching moves. 2 yrs. ago they had to go out and get Byrd, then last season, lucky Bucholz came through, then had to call back Byrd. Back surgery is serious stuff, I know I had it. I doubt he finishes this season too. 4 million for a half a season is too much. This makes sense.
Posted by: Cyyoung | November 10, 2009 at 08:46 AM
I agree with TNS. Guy cant finish a full season, he has been on DL at the most crucial times and Sox have to scramble to make pitching moves. 2 yrs. ago they had to go out and get Byrd, then last season, lucky Bucholz came through, then had to call back Byrd. Back surgery is serious stuff, I know I had it. I doubt he finishes this season too. 4 million for a half a season is too much. This makes sense.
---------------------
Even last year when he only pitched 121 innings he was still worth over have of what he has been paid. In fact he has been significantly underpaid for the entire rolling option of his contract, but now that it looks like he may not be worth the entire $4m the Redsox renegotiate the contract to save them saves a million. Does seem like a bit of a tight fisted move to me.
Posted by: DeJay | November 10, 2009 at 10:55 AM
*That should be double of what he has been paid
Posted by: DeJay | November 10, 2009 at 10:57 AM
I like Wake as much as any Red Sox fan but I don't think he should be in the 5 man rotation.We all know at some point next year he will get hurt and be on the DL.The sox are in the same div as the Yankees, the only way to beat them is good pitching from all 5 starters.The Yankees rotation isn't very good after CC.The better the 5 man rotation is the better chance we have of getting home field advantage in the playoffs.The season doesn't start for 6 month are the Red Sox already playing for the wild card
Posted by: redsoxfansince84 | November 11, 2009 at 12:11 PM
since 2002, Wake's value has always been above what he's paid. According fangraphs,
year:value/contract (in Mil)
2002:8.6/3.2
2003:11/4
2004:5.9/4.4
2005:9.3/4.7
2006:6.4/4
2007:11/4
2008:8.9/4
2009:8.5/4
Only 3 years was Wake not worth at least twice as much as he was paid (and that 2005 is only .1 off). All I can say is I hope Wake gets some sort of retirement bonus in 2 years - he def deserves it.
Posted by: wakefield4ever | November 15, 2009 at 03:53 AM