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Francisco Rodriguez Trade Links

By Tim Dierkes [July 13, 2011 at 9:39pm CST]

Shortly after the All-Star game last night, the Brewers came out of nowhere to acquire Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez and $5MM from the Mets for two minor league players to be named later. The deal came together quickly, tweets ESPN's Adam Rubin. The Mets couldn't afford to wait much longer, because K-Rod has a $17.5MM option for 2012 that vests with 55 games finished, and the reliever racked up 34 closing for the Mets. Details and links on the deal...

Agent Paul Kinzer never submitted the list of ten teams to which Rodriguez could block trades, according to David Waldstein of the New York Times. The Mets didn't want to lose the freedom to deal Rodriguez anywhere, so they made the deal once Rodriguez switched agents to Scott Boras. The Mets thought Boras would submit a list of ten teams or file a grievance in an attempt to do so.
Brewers GM Doug Melvin told Jim Memolo and Mel Antonen of MLB Network Radio that the list of five minor league players the Mets will choose from in September does not include the Brewers' "top top guys," but they are "players that could play in the big leagues."
The Brewers were not among the ten teams to which Rodriguez could block a trade, report Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. That comes as no surprise, because new agent Scott Boras had indicated recently that his client would not approve a trade to set up if the team was among those ten. The smart money is on K-Rod setting up for Brewers closer John Axford, though there's room for the new acquisition to safely finish ten or more games.
Though the agent had no influence on the trade, Rosenthal and Morosi note that it benefits Boras to get Rodriguez to free agency after the season, commission-wise. I imagine Boras found all of this to be the likely scenario when he began representing K-Rod.
The Mets called around and offered similar deals to other teams, including the Yankees, tweets ESPN's Buster Olney. He says the Brewers were willing to take on more money than any other team. Alderson told the Brewers they had other deals for Rodriguez, so they'd have to pull the trigger now to get him, tweets Andy Martino of the New York Daily News. The Yankees declined because they were wary of having two emotional relievers - K-Rod and Rafael Soriano - working before their preferred ninth inning, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post.
Joe Pawlikowski of FanGraphs says the trade is a big bet on Axford for the Brewers.
ESPN's Keith Law says the Brewers should have gone after a reliever who misses more bats, given the team's porous defense. With all due respect to Law, I can't find an available reliever with a higher strikeout rate than Rodriguez's 9.7 per nine, outside of Koji Uehara.
K-Rod will diminish his free agent value if he makes any waves about his role with Milwaukee, writes Rosenthal.
Mets GM Sandy Alderson had to be the adult in the room and make this deal, writes Joel Sherman of the New York Post.
Dan Mennella discusses the fantasy baseball ramifications of the trade over at CloserNews.