Brian Wilson has informed the Dodgers that he will exercise his player option for 2015, which will be worth $9.5MM, reports Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish (Twitter links).
The bearded closer-turned-setup-man appeared in 61 games with the Dodgers this season, totaling 48 1/3 innings of 4.66 ERA ball. In what was his first full season back from his second Tommy John operation, Wilson’s fastball velocity dipped to an average of 92.1 mph, and is command faltered a bit, as he issued 5.4 walks per nine innings pitched. He did, however, maintain his stellar strikeout rate, averaging 10.1 punchouts per nine innings.
Wilson’s tenure with the Dodgers began late in the 2013 season when he inked a $1MM big league deal in August and enjoyed a successful late-season and postseason run with L.A. He allowed one run in 19 2/3 innings between the regular season and postseason, striking out 21 against just six walks. That performance earned him a one-year contract that guaranteed him $10MM in 2014 with a $9MM player option that contained incentives based on appearances.
Were Wilson to again test the open market, he’d have gone up against a strong class of setup men that featured the likes of Luke Gregerson, Andrew Miller and Pat Neshek in addition to a few closers who lost their grip on the ninth inning but pitched well in an eighth-inning role (e.g. Sergio Romo and Jason Grilli). Instead, he’ll return to a contending team’s bullpen with a strong salary relative to his peers. Presumably, Wilson will look to reestablish his command and restore his once-excellent ground-ball rate (his 38.1 percent mark in 2014 was 10 percent lower than his career mark) in hopes of cashing in on a larger multi-year deal next offseason.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
What an utterly unsurprising turn of events
The woodland critters that live in his beard rejoice! Magic Johnson shakes his head in sadness.
I’m a fan. Welcome back.
LA. is just having themselves a really bad week.
Ned Colletti, you’re a genius. Give a guy who pitched 15 innings in two years, a $10million deal, and throw in a $9million player option too, brilliant.
The fact that the contract included a player option always baffled me. Why not a club option or a mutual option? At least then if he pitches poorly you can get rid of him.
This is exactly the reason why Wilson wanted a player option, so he could stay if he pitched badly and leave if he pitched well. The Dodgers knew exactly what they were getting into when they offered Wilson this contract.
Only I’m pretty sure they weren’t expecting him to fall off the table and have his heater max out at 87mph. The days of paying the ‘established’ reliever with a ‘track record’ have got to be over, the performance is just too volatile. There is seemingly a Pedro Baez behind every door.
I bet he informed them at 12:01 this morning.
When PitchFX classes your fastball as a slider, because you’ve got no gas, that’s not good.
I thought that Coletti had already fulfilled his obligations to his former team the Giants, with the Jason Schmidt and Juan Uribe contracts, apparently not.
At least Uribe has been pretty good the past two years.
I heard the option includes all the free shoe polish he can rub on that beard. No wonder he didn’t waste anytime on informing the Dodgers on his willingness to come back.
The easiest decision in the history of ever. Yet another reason why the Dodgers will be good but never great until they learn the lessons of wealth management.
Brian Wilson isn’t showing much of a conscience.
While Baez looked good yesterday, how did that bullpen especially Wilson help the Dodger cause this year and in the playoffs?
He used to have filthy stuff and he is an interesting person, however it appears that if he exercises his option, it looks like he is collecting a paycheck.
Why would you expect him to have a conscience? He’s a professional baseball player. It’s how he makes his money. It would be stupid of him to say “no, I really don’t want that much money.” If your employer offered you a guaranteed salary of ginormous proportions for next year regardless of how you did your job this year, would you say “thanks but I don’t deserve it”?
I guess he’s a San Francisco Giant through and through.
He was great in 2010 and was actually bearable when the beard didn’t look like that of a homeless man’s beard. But his act quickly got old.
“Sandbags,” said Don Mattingly. “If we could just get some of these sandbags overboard, I know this balloon will fly.”
This is a good example of why Ned Colletti should be fired. Unlimited resources result in unrivaled stupidity.
The Dodgers deserve him, and Puiggie too
I think
And the hits just keep on coming to the Dodgers
Not a bad wage. 2M per BB/9.
He will be doing the Dodgers a favor. If he payed as much attention to his pitching as he does to his disgusting facial hair perhaps he would have been more successful on the mound. And all of us Dodgers fans wouldn’t cringe while he is warming up in the bull pen.
What does it mean to exercise his option? Stay with Dodgers? or leave?