5:05PM: Rodriguez's buyout will now increase from $3.5MM to $4MM with the Mets paying the original buyout and the Brewers paying the remainder, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. K-Rod's vesting option now kicks in with the same 55 games finished, though the clause is now meaningless (via Twitter).
4:10PM: Francisco Rodriguez has agreed to waive his $17.5MM vesting option for 2012 in exchange for additional compensation, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter). The reliever will hit the open market at the end of the 2011 season.
The Brewers can now use Rodriguez without worrying that they'll have to pay him $17.5MM in 2012. The reliever's option would have become guaranteed for that amount if he had finished 55 total games this season, and he finished 34 with the Mets before heading to Milwaukee.
Rodriguez had the Brewers on his no-trade list, but his former agent did not properly submit the list, so it was not in effect when the Mets sent the 29-year-old to the Brewers. Rodriguez recently hired Scott Boras, who will represent him this fall. The last time the closer hit free agency, he signed a three-year $37MM deal with New York on the heels of his 62-save season.
