The San Francisco Giants agreed to sign closer Brian Wilson to a $15MM deal that buys out two arbitration years. Wilson will earn $6.5MM in 2011 and $8.5MM in 2012 under his new extension. The deal does not affect the one-year $4.4MM Wilson and the Giants agreed to for 2010.
CSNBayArea.com first reported the agreement and Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News added the contract details.
Wilson goes to arbitration four times as a Super Two player, so he'll be under team control for one season after the extension expires and projects to hit free agency after 2013. The deal gives the Giants cost-certainty, but they're not saving themselves money; no free agent reliever obtained a guarantee of more than $15MM this offseason.
poop
so overrated
Really? He has 79 saves in the last 2 seasons. The only other players who have more are Francisco Rodriguez, Joe Nathan, and Mariano Rivera. I think hes pretty damn good.
you would Giant fan
Of course I would. 79 saves in two year is incredible.
Who cares about saves? The guy has a career ERA of 4.24 and doesn’t really have the peripherals to get t much lower than that. He’s not even a top 10 closer.
Actually, his career ERA is 3.73 and since he is a CLOSER, I would imagine saves would have some say in his value as a pitcher. And in terms of getting the job done, he is the fourth best closer in the game
Did you actually just use ERA as a benchmark for a reliever?
Doesn’t have the peripherals? His FIP has never been higher than 4.25, and the only time it was above 4 was during his debut season. His 4.62 ERA in 08 probably came from one or two bad outings (I can’t find split data from 08), as his FIP was 3.93.
Seriously, do some actual homework next time. I’m not a Giants fan, but I’m fully aware that Brian Wilson is extremely underrated.
he is way underrated. and he has nen to teach him. who was imo, the best closer in baseball. he had 315 saves and had to retire when he was 32. maybe me can teach wilson to throw that 93 mph slider.
Last time i checked, the most important stats for closers are SAVES & BLOWN SAVES — Wilson is pretty good at those categories, to put it mildy. Definitely Top 10 closer in the game, could develop into top 5
You haven’t checked the educated stat book for a while.
@R_y_a_n: throwing out generic cutdowns w/o any evidence doesnt make sense. Is the ultimate goal of a CLOSER to save games and avoid blowing games? Yes or No?
There is no debating this. Wilson has done a very good job at that. Are there other stats to suggest who is better / worse? Yes. But what we are talking about is it Wilson is good at closing games. Check
You haven’t checked the educated stat book for a while.
Lol. Who cares about saves? Dude as long as he gets the job done who cares how many hits, runs, or walks he gives up. I just want to leave with a win. Also he had a 2.74 ERA last year, so he can definately widdle down his career ERA.
Not a fan of this deal. Not usually too fond of signing closers to long term deals. And Wilson isn’t even that brilliant
how can you not be a fan of the deal when we don’t know any of the terms yet? how do you know it’s a long term deal?
also, wilson is pretty underrated imo. his control has been improving and he gets a lot of strikeouts, plus he’s durable and has no problem pitching multiple nights in a row. he’s probably the 7th or 8th best closer in baseball.
Im a Giants fan and I wouldnt put him 7th or 8th, hes more like 9th. He needs to start recording some 1-2-3 innings before I’ll put him that high on the list. But hes still a great closer and will only get better. Also heres my list of the ebst closers in baseball…
Rivera
Nathan
Bell
Broxton
Papelbon
Soria
Cordero
Valverde
Wilson
Street
No K-Rod?
Bell above Broxton? I call shenanigans.
Although, I can get that your Giant fandom has a tendency to hate all things Dodgers.
I know, I have the same feeling as a Dbacks fan, but Broxton is better than Bell.
Bell had a 2.42 FIP last year and 3.03 career, while Broxton had a 1.97 FIP last year, and 2.54 career.
Don’t get me wrong, Bell is good, But Broxton is a beast. Figuratively… and probably literally too, actually.
I think youre the right, the fact that I am a Giants fan has probably factored into my list but if I had to choose between Broxton and Bell, Id go with Bell. I just feel more comfortable with him.
I think youre the right, the fact that I am a Giants fan has probably factored into my list but if I had to choose between Broxton and Bell, Id go with Bell. I just feel more comfortable with him.
I would put Wilson right in the middle there. No, he is not the “lights out” type closer, usually letting a runner on everytime he takes the mound, but the guy does get the job done. He has 79 Saves in 92 Chances in the last 2 seasons. That is 12 Blown Saves in 2 years. Broxton has 14 Blown Saves in only 64 Chances in the last 2 years, Bell has 13 Blown Saves in 55 Chances in the last 2 seasons…I would only put Rivera, Nathan, Papelbon and a healthy K-Rod in front of Wilson. After that I think Wilson is just as good as Broxton, Bell and others…
I guess you brought up a fair enough point, but now that I do know the terms, I still don’t like it very much. It isn’t as bad as I thought it would be but still I just don’t trust Wilson to maintain his current level of production.
bochy loves using Wilson in back-to-back game last season it seems…He’ll get the save tonight and usually has to pitch 2 more innings in an extra inning game tomorrow night. Durable, yes. Reliable, perhaps… Giants didn’t/don’t have anyone trustworthy after affeldt
Yeah, Runzler, Romo and Juoquin are terrible….(rolls eyes)
No matter how you slice it, the Giants had one of the best bullpens in all of baseball last season (2nd in ERA, 5th in FIP, 6th in BAA). In my opinion, they only improved upon last year’s crew by eliminating Howry and Miller, and adding a full season of Runzler and Joaquin. Sergio Romo had a fantastic season in 2009 that went mostly unnoticed and Dan Runzler looks like he has the potential to be the closer of the future. You’re wrong on this one…
Perfectly phrased. Wilson is solid, bullpen is solid, why would people not like this?
Yup, this says it all:
link to mercurynews.com
The Giants have more arms than they know what to do with.
Brian Wilson is a great closer! He has a 98 mph fastball, a great slider, a good k/bb ratio, a low hr/9 ratio, and he knows how to get people out. He’s only going to get better with more experience. If anything, this is a 3 year deal (including this year) avoiding aribtration for the next 2 years. He’ll probably be making about 6.5 mil a year, which is not bad for a good closer.
I just watched the Giants game tonight and he was throwing a 85 mph curveball that was straight nasty coming of that 96-100 mph fastball. I think this year that he will be the best closer in the NL or maybe the whole MLB. Just watch Just watch
I’ll say 4/15.
This would have been amazing negotiation techniques by the Giants to have an arbitration eligible player accept less per year than his current contract and give up a year of free agency.
Way too much money in my opinion. Two years isn’t too bad but the money seems pretty outrageous.
Wilson really took a step forward last season. He has no problem going 4 outs, two full innings or back-to-back nights. He’s the most sure thing we’ve had going here in SF since Robb Nen. That said, why is he getting a $2M raise each of the next two years? Isn’t the point of signing arb-eligible players to deals like this to get a little discount in exchange for some security for the player? A 48% raise in his second arb year and a 31% raise ON TOP of that figure is not a discount.
Seems to me that they shouldve just gone year to year with him. He’s under team control an probably wouldn’t have made that money in arbitration. Better hope he stays healthy and doesn’t turn into the brad lidge of last year.
healthy? lol wilson is arguably the most fit player in the MLB..the guy is ripped and conditioned like a beast. thats my boy
Not really sure this deal makes sense…
You already have the guy in control for the next 4 years so why buy out 3 of them at a premium? The Giants are assuming he’ll do just as well or even better than last year for the next 3 years. They are, in effect, forfeiting all of their arbitration leverage. Which = Dumb or Lazy (or both).
Relievers, aside from the very best (Mo), are volatile. Wilson is a good pitcher but why reward him when there is still time? This isn’t Tim Lincecum; Brain Wilson won’t be shattering records here.
I’m trying to understand Sabean’s thinking…
Sabean is hilarious.
Nice morning laugh provided by Brian Sabean, thank you sir.
good closer…!! not great..but descent!
good closer…!! not great..but descent!
but…Sabean still needs to go!!!!no extension!
but…Sabean still needs to go!!!!no extension!
This is getting kind of interesting…Affeldt and Wilson locked up through the 2012 season. There are a lot of quality young bullpen arms that are near, or already ML ready in San Francisco. Dan Runzler and Sergio Romo show promise of being late inning guys really really soon, both with the make up of a closer. Then you have Waldis Joaquin, Alex Hinshaw, Joe Martinez, Kevin Pucetas, Kelvin Pichardo and the list goes on. I would not be a bit surprised if the Giants might leverage some of those younger bullpen arms (Romo or Runzler) as trade bait when they realize they more offensive upgrades.
This is getting kind of interesting…Affeldt and Wilson locked up through the 2012 season. There are a lot of quality young bullpen arms that are near, or already ML ready in San Francisco. Dan Runzler and Sergio Romo show promise of being late inning guys really really soon, both with the make up of a closer. Then you have Waldis Joaquin, Alex Hinshaw, Joe Martinez, Kevin Pucetas, Kelvin Pichardo and the list goes on. I would not be a bit surprised if the Giants might leverage some of those younger bullpen arms (Romo or Runzler) as trade bait when they realize they more offensive upgrades.
I graduated high school with Brian at Londonderry High. Great job Brian…keep it up!!