July 20th: The Brewers offered Greinke a five-year deal worth $100MM-plus sometime in the past few weeks, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports. However, there's no indication the right-hander will sign quickly. One person told Heyman the proposed extension was worth close to $112.5MM — Matt Cain territory.
July 13th: The Brewers are believed to be willing to offer Zack Greinke an extension worth close to $100MM over five years, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports. However, people close to the team aren’t particularly hopeful that the right-hander will bypass free agency with just half a season remaining on his contract.
Brewers president of baseball operations Doug Melvin declined to discuss Greinke’s situation in detail, but he acknowledged that “players at that level who get this close to free agency do tend to test the market.''
The Brewers open the second half of the season with series against three NL Central rivals: the Pirates, Cardinals and Reds. If they don’t establish themselves as contenders within ten days or so, they could explore trades for Greinke. Clubs such as the Rangers, Angels and Braves have already expressed interest in the right-hander.
Matt Cain’s five-year, $112.5MM extension figures to be a point of reference in talks between the Brewers and Casey Close, Greinke’s representative. Cole Hamels, another prospective free agent whose name has surfaced in trade talks, can reportedly expect a major offer from the Phillies in the near future.
Probably need to go to 6/120 at least to get something done now.
An here comes the thundering disappointing echoes of, “NOOOOOOOOO” by millions of Rangers, Braves, and Cardinal fans.
Seriously doubt 5/100 gets it done.
100 million wont get it done, minimum of matt cain money, and more than that cause bidding will get him minimum of 120 mil.
I’m a Rangers fan…and I wouldn’t care.
Wont get it done, but wouldnt be good news for theo and Jed if it did
No way Greinke should make as much as Cain… .
…And you make this comment based on what? your opinion?
ERA? WHIP? Consistency?
I like Greinke but people be getting carried away with their worship of xFIP. Dude only has one elite season from a results perspective.
And how many “elite” seasons has Cain had? High is a 5.2 WAR, which is very good of course, but is it “elite”?
That’s because Cain consistently outperforms his FIP/xFIP, which is my point. Cain’s ERA/WHIP have been substantially better than Greinke outside of 2009. I’m not anti-advanced metrics, but that’s quite a gamble when we’re talking about $100,000,000.
Yes! I agree with those saying how can you compare Greinke to Cain. Cain has been a top ten starter in the bigs who is an absolute HORSE! Greinke is above average, but come on what’s special about him? Can anyone answer that ? He’s had one great year and won the CY with only 16 wins. You want to talk about him in conversations with the top pitchers in this league come on now… That’s the problem with these analyst they talk about players in absolutes which blow players up.
Greinke is a starting pitcher who should be payed at a top top value of 100 million; that’s the ceiling of what he should get.
6 yrs $100 mil. w/ $19 mil vesting option.
Doubt Brewers are at 5 yr for $100 that’s generous
Greinke has the anxiety disorder to right?
Wins? Wins? Are we talking about Wins?
wins are out of a pitcher to control you’re looking at the wrong numbers!
This looks like posturing to me.
Nice strategy by Melvin and Attanasio. Just enough of an offer to look good and for them to be able to say they tried, but just small enough of an offer for them to know Greinke won’t take it.
We all know it’s gonna take more than that. I think the 6/120 I saw earlier in this comment section is probably what he wants, if not a bit more annually. Brewers won’t do that. Thus, if they don’t come out of these next 9 games in good shape (as in, 6-3 or better), they will deal Greinke.
I don’t see how Greinke is worth 6/120. He pitches like an ace, but he’s enough of a headcase that the big market teams aren’t going to bid on him which will reduce his market value
As a Brewers fan I wonder what the market will be for Greinke. There should be a decent amount of teams bidding on him but with the new rules and the new team not getting any picks will be interesting to see what they can get
I could see Greinke giving up some money for full trade protection and/or more years. Whatever he ends up with probably won’t be far off Cains extension.
Hope the Brewers don’t sign him. I like Greinke, but the number of pitchers that it’s a good idea to sign to 5-year contracts is probably one-name long and involves a short-range time machine (Roy Halladay 5-10 years ago).
Trade him for 5 top 10 prospects in a 5 team trade. Wait, I thought this was Dwight Howard’s thread.
You posted yesterday that there was a trade in the works with an AL team, any updates or can you mention what team it was?
Nothing new on that. It is suspected the Brewers are making one of their “we tried” low ball offers to say they tried to sign him, much like Fielder and CC. I don’t see any way he resigns prior to free agency. If he is traded, 100% it will be a multiple player deal to get better prospects. There is a NL team that think they can sign him long term and would be willing to give up several prospects. It’s not known if the Brewers like the prospects this team has.
Even the Royals didn’t get that much when they traded him..
Jake Odorizzi ..
In my eyes they got a lot.
My guess is Greinke thinks he worth at least Cain money. Not to start an argument on who is better, but just looking at these contracts really tells you how much Jered Weaver left on the table.
Weaver just really wanted to stay with the angels, he is from cali, and benefits from their stadium. I would be really hesitant if i was a gm signing him. He puts together some good years, but he is nowhere near as dominant on the road. His era at home 2.53; on the road is 3.88. Still a good pitcher on the road, but 20M man? definetely not.
Greinke? 6/120? overpay. I don’t care how old he is. I don’t care how well he’s done thus far. There is nobody ouside of CC Sabathia, wait check that, nobody who is worth that much money. Absolutely nobody. You may get 2-3 years, possibly even 4 good years from any pitcher but anything longer than that is ridiculous. Those sports agents are really screwing up MLB.
They are “worth” whatever the market says they are worth, no?
I supposed but I have a hard time with such exorbitant salaries.
So do I, but I have no say in what teams decide to pay him. When he hits free agency, all it’s gonna take is one desperate team for him to make that 6/120. I think most all salaries in professional sports are ridiculous, but it’s much too late to bother with complaining about that now.
Who cares? Someone is going to make that money. Would you rather the owner spend it on something other than the team?
You misunderstand. I’m not complaining about the money being spent, I’m complaining about how much of it is being spent. Salaries for professionals athletes are ridiculous was my only point. I wasn’t saying that the owner should just not spend money. I understand that someone is going to make that money, and there’s nothing I can do about it. If that’s what the market dictates, then so be it, but it doesn’t make the amounts any less ridiculous.
Athletes are paid accordingly
Cy Young and maybe Nolan Ryan in his prime were worthy. Other than that nobody else would I pay I agree with you
I would add Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens to the list.
Cy Young had 827 decisions in his 21 yr career. Today’s starters get 32 starts a year if they make every start. It would take a current pitcher almost 26 yrs without missing a start just to pitch that many games, much less get a decision in every one. Incredible.
Also consider that back then bullpens were nothng like they are today. In 4 seasons he threw more than 400 innings. That is double what most healthy starters get nowadays. 20M would be underpaid for Cy.
Nolan Ryan, in his “prime” years wasn’t even the best pitcher on his team, much less the league.. It was Frank Tananna who could throw just as hard, throw strikes, was LH and had a nasty curve to go with it until he blew his arm out and learned to pitch as a junk baller and still won nearly 250 games total in his career.
Seriously what is the point of having trades theses day if every freaking team is resigning all the good players. SMGDH
Maybe because the new compensation rules cut a lot into the player’s value. Not getting picks if Greinke leaves after the season must have definitely affected other team’s decisions on what to offer the Brewers.
5 years/100mil sounds a lot like the CC offer MIL made a few years ago. I remember how that went… I honestly do not want to see Grienke go, as he’s been the only consistent player outside of Braun this season. I hope Grienke can strike a deal with us and get it figured out soon. So far as Marcum goes, I think we’ll give him an “offer” and see what he does. Something tells me the Brewers wouldn’t mind letting him walk, although I feel he should be re-signed to a lower paying deal. Wolf should take a hike.. at $10 million next season.. gone! Gallardo is making me mad due to his inconsistency this season.. at best I’m thinking he’s a solid No 3 starter. All I can say is… if we lose Grienke, why not go for Marcum on a cheaper deal, get rid of Wolf, and next year’s rotation consist of Gallardo, Marcum, Fiers, Thornburg and Narveson?
I think our plan with Marcum is probably to try giving him a qualifying offer after the season, hope he takes it, and if he does, let him re-establish his trade value and then send him out next season at the deadline. I think we can almost be guaranteed that Wolf’s option will be bought out and he’ll be gone (at least, I sure hope so).
You would offer Marcum 12.5M for one year, when he has a value of 7M tops. That is what is wrong with baseball. lol. Pay someone almost twice what they are worth. Were you negotiating Jeter’s contract last year when teams had him overvalued at 7M if he hit the market and the Yankees gave him 16M. At least Jeter made a dent in that in 2012, but the next year or two could be brutal, when age hits him.
Please feel free to read my comments earlier in this comment section complaining about the amount of money professional athletes are making. I’m not advocating the 12.5M salary, rather advocating to have him back for one more year to re-establish his trade value. I would just as soon have MLB have a salary cap and have these guys not making effing ridiculous oodles of cash, but I can’t do anything about that. My point was, having Marcum back for another year would not be bad and would likely re-establish the trade value he has lost this year because tightness in his elbow.
The odds of Narveson starting next year are VERY low… will be lucky if he ever regains full velocity… felt very bad when I heard it was a torn rotator cuff, sooo much worse than Tommy John.
Realistically, the Brewers can only afford 20mm per season max for an ace-type pitcher, if they fill in #4 and #5 SP with minor league talent (Fiers and Thornburg). They have almost 40mm coming off the books in ’13 (assuming Marcum, K-Rod, Wolf, and Gonzalez are not returning), but arb. raises will eat up around 10mm, and they’ll only have 10mm left to address needs at SS and an awful bullpen. So that leaves 20mm MAX, assuming payroll is maintained… if this is an insufficient AAV to retain ZG, I don’t think it’s the front office trying to low ball him, it’s just not realistic for the team.
Is Rickie Weeks due for an arbitration raise?? Is it possible that we pay him less money next year than this year because of his awful performance?
Weeks signed an extension, so his money is guaranteed. $21,000,000 due through 2014, with an option on 2015. It’s hard to turn your numbers around when you get off to a horrible start, but I don’t think he’s a lost cause yet.
Braves do’t even try if he doesn’t sign, it isn’t worth it