A Brewers spokesperson confirmed that the club has declined the $17.5MM option on Francisco Rodriguez and the $6MM option on Yuniesky Betancourt, tweets MLB.com's Adam McCalvy. The pair will receive buyouts of $3.5MM and $2MM, respectively.
The Brewers acquired Rodriguez from the Mets in a July deal that saw Adrian Rosario and Danny Ray Herrera shipped off the New York as players to be named later. He excelled in 29 innings for the Brew Crew, posting a 1.86 ERA and a 10.2 K/9. It was reported at the time of the trade that the Mets would be responsible for the $3.5MM buyout on Rodriguez's deal.
Betancourt, 29, came to the Brewers along with Zack Greinke in last year's deal with the Royals. He acted as the starting shortstop for the NL Central champs all season, hitting .252/.271/.381 in 584 regular season plate appearances before heating up in the playoffs (.310/.326/.500).
While there should be some interest in Betancourt as a part-time player, it seems unlikely that he'll land another full-time job this winter. It's even less likely that he'll match the guaranteed money he earned when he signed his last contract, a four-year, $13.75MM deal. Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel tweets that the Brewers would consider bringing him back at a lower price.
To follow the status K-Rod and Betancourt, along with the rest of the 2012 free agents, check out our Free Agent Tracker.
MLBTR's Luke Adams contributed to this post.
