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.
Yuniesky to Minnesota?
Absolutely. I think he would be a great fit for the Twins
As a Royals fan, I would have to agree.
Lol I am also a Royals fan! It would be hard for me to cheer against Yuni. He has a bad reputation because of his low OBP but he was really clutch for us last season
I think he’s got a bad reputation because he doesn’t do anything that makes a ballplayer good.
Is it still considered a reputation if it’s undeniably true? I have ~162 recent examples that I could present as evidence.
because of his very bad offense and defense*
Tigers fan agrees.
I envision Yuni with either the Twins or Giants next season
A poor man’s Renteria.
Ouch.
How much do you think k-rod will get despite his shady background?
there’s a lot of viable late innings arms available this year..
i cant see him getting more than 6-8 million for 2 or 3 years max
Change-up-Rod. He’s a shadow of his former self.
No surprises here…
I think this is proof that the Brew Crew will go after Reyes, Rollins or at least Furcal.
I think it’s proof they want to get rid of a terrible shortstop.
^ !
I wonder if the Orioles would be interested in K-Rod. For one, he is not Kevin Gregg so that is one significant improvement.
I bet they think they can sign Reyes but I wouldn’t want him on my team coming from a Braves fan the only thing good about him is his stats.
Well, if you’re going to have something good about you, it might as well be stats.
KRod will get a $4 million buyout as part of his renegotiation that made the trade from the Mets possible.
Every time I got frustrated with Alex Gonzalez’s inability to hit this year, I reminded myself that we could have Betancourt. He can’t hit OR field.
Or run. Or speak english.
The Brewers’ paryoll came in at $93.1M this year. Next year (less the K-Rod buyout), they have $56M committed to 6 players. Adding Reyes would take that figure to somewhere around $76M. How could they conceivably fill the rest of their roster? He’s too expensive for them, no?
Reyes won’t get 20 mil a year and Prince will not be there and some of the bigger contract from the bullpen will be gone also. And Hart will be traded for either a young pitcher and prospects also Tony Plush could go or move to right if Hart goes and Scheafer and Gomez in center.
yes lets have a terrible hitting cf’er and a head case with no power in right. They’ll platoon again and hart will be staying. I honestly think they will sign reyes, whether right or wrong
I don’t get all the hate for Yuniesky… he only has two defects, just TWO! defense and Offense.
Yuni will still get a major league deal. Shortstop is such a shallow position, and regardless of his abysmal OBP and inconsistent defense, he still shows enough glimpses of talent to keep teams interested. I can see him getting at least 1 year and 3M somewhere. The Giants strike me as the kind of team who would sign him.
Well, the Giants do seem like the kind of team prone to making poor personnel decisions, so I guess Betancourt would be a fit.
Yuni to the Cubs. Soriano back to 2B. That’d be awesome.
Please Mr. Smith do not sign Yunieski Betancourt. That is all.
YA YUNI!! Reppin the title as one of the failed mariners prospects that people on MLB trade rumors wish their respective teams didn’t own!
Can you imagine if a Brewers fan picked him up in Fantasy Baseball before the season…
The odds of the Angels signing K-Rod again?
About as likely as Vernon Wells playing up to his contract!
OK don’t judge me on this trade:
Angels trade Bobby Abreu for Javier Vasquez
Then Angels trade Vernon Wells and Javier Vasquez, for David Wright
Or the Angels can sign Wilson Betimet? They were looking to get him in mid-season
That just might work. Just make sure Sandy Alderson is completely wasted.
The Mets have Sandy Alderson as their GM, not Tony Reagins…
yuni had a really good offensive season for the royals in 2010…… dont get why people hate on him so much… i mean ya as for as the hype on him when he was in the mariners system goes, he has not lived up, but by no means a bust
Have you seen him play? That was rhetorical, clearly you haven’t
Thank you, I agree Andrew Hamer
I can justify under $4 million per year for Yuni during that last contract, but good lord – $17.5 million with a $3.5 million buyout for Rodriguez should definitely be enough to keep Omar from getting another GM job (at least without a primary negotiator).
He struck out half as much as AGonz and was just overall more productive offensively. I would gladly trade Gonzo and his RISP average which was actually negative believe it or not for YuBet and his catchy ass name and a few extra errors per year. If Francoeur can learn to take a walk, anyone can.
I’ll take a strikeout over grounding into a double play any day.
As far as his errors, well….it’s hard to commit a lot of errors when you have the range of a mailbox.
Worst. Shortstop. Ever.
….
Hmmm, Didnt notice the Brewers winning the WS.
It’s as if you enjoy being ridiculed.
No.
Twins, Giants, Mets are top 3 suitors (in order) in my opinion for Yuni
As a Braves fan, I agree.
Good god, I’d rather them go out into the ocean and find Derek “Operation Shutdown” Bell on his boat before Yuni dons the orange and blue.
Yes, if Omar was still GM.
HE JUST WANTS PEOPLE TO KNOW HE’S THERE
bleacher creature = Yankee Fan, which makes the statement even “bad Word here”
12 years 210 million.
As long as we’re dealing in fantasy, we might as well go all in.
Good God, I hope not.
But they’re also the Orioles. Angelos has always believed they were one piece away. I hope for their sake that whoever they hire (as a Jays fan I hope it’s NOT LaCava, but sounds like it will be) actually has a little bit of autonomy.
I thought suitors were teams usually described as pursuing a player, not ones picking out of the trash bin to find one
I thought suitors were teams usually described as pursuing a player, not ones picking out of the trash bin to find one
I thought suitors were teams usually described as pursuing a player, not ones picking out of the trash bin to find one
What are you trying to say?
Yuni is worse than any of those teams’ AAA shortstops. And I can say that without even knowing which teams you’re referring to.