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Ryan Braun Contract Details

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Tom Haudricourt has the details on Ryan Braun’s new extension.  It’s a tricky one, because it’s not yet known whether Braun will be arbitration-eligible after the 2009 season.  It won’t be known for sure until November of ’09.  If he is arb-eligible at that time he’ll make an extra $6MM.

It’s looking like Braun will earn $4.5MM (including a signing bonus) for his three pre-arb years.  Then he’ll get $18.5MM for his three arb years (less than 80% of what Hanley Ramirez will get for the same slice of his career).  After that Braun gave up his first two free agent years for $22MM.  That’s also significantly less than Ramirez will receive his first two years of free agent eligibility.

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Braun, Holliday, Kouzmanoff, Greene, Sabean

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Let’s take a look at what is being said about some recent rumors, trades and signings in the Blogosphere…

  • Right Field Bleachers sees the signing of Ryan Braun and Corey Hart to long-term deals as a "must" for the Brewers.
  • Brewers Nation sees the Braun deal as evidence that Prince Fielder will not sign an extension even if the two situations are very different.
  • Oleanders and Morning Glories thinks that if Nats’ management was hoping to sign Ryan Zimmerman to a Troy Tulowitzki-type deal, Braun’s deal may have raised the bar.
  • Squawking Baseball sees the recent trend in giving long-term deals to young stars and wonders if the absence of top-level free agents in a few years will drive up free agency prices. If that happens, players may stop signing these extensions and the market will correct itself…The point is valid, but these players will still become free agents eventually. The difference is only that they will be free agents in their age 30 season (approximately) instead of their age 28 season. If there is a correction, it will only be minimal and would only last a year or two.
  • The Tribe Time Report explains why Matt Holliday would be a perfect fit for the Indians even if it is only for a season and a half.
  • Friar Forum does not seem surprised about the notion of the Padres selling off pieces sooner, rather than later. However, they would be surprised to see Kevin Kouzmanoff moved, noting that it is much more likely that the slew of free agents-to-be will be shipped to other clubs.
  • The Southpaw would love to see the Jays make a push for Khalil Greene, but their scenario is contingent on the Padres also dealing Kouzmanoff.
  • Sorry we missed this before, but in light of Brian Sabean’s recent comments, I felt it was worth noting that Bucs Dugout has been running a series of polls to determine the worst GM in baseball. The finals featured Sabean easily out-distancing his opponent, Ed Wade of the Astros.

Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and can be reached here.

Odds And Ends: Rusch, Griffey, Myers, Brewers

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A few more notes for your ogling…

  • This morning we told you that Glendon Rusch declined his assignment to AAA and chose to become a free agent. Troy E. Renck says that the Rockies are already expressing interest in the lefty.
  • Brewers owner Mark Attanasio has given Doug Melvin permission to trade for a starting pitcher noting that there is enough flexibility in the payroll to take on another contract. However, Attanasio also indicated that it was too early to explore those possibilities.
  • The Delaware News Journal takes a look at this past offseason’s crop of free agent starting pitchers and how they are performing so far in ’08. They wonder if any of those arms would have been a better option for the Phillies rotation than moving Brett Myers back from the bullpen.
  • Doug Harris says that the smart move for the Reds is trading Ken Griffey Jr, noting that if they are waiting for him to hit his 600th home run, they could be in for a long wait.

Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and can be reached here.

Ryan Braun Signs Extension With Brewers

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10:50am: More details from Haudricourt. The deal includes a $2.3MM signing bonus that will be paid this year and added to the $455K Braun was already set to make. In addition, there is an escalator clause that would up the value of the deal to $51MM if Braun’s service time were to fall under "Super-2" status following the ’09 season. That is not likely to happen as Braun acumulated only 129 days of service time in ’07 and "Super-2" status usually requires 130-140 days. Also, the first 4 years of the deal include a complete no-trade clause.

10:06am: Haudricourt is now reporting that contract is 8 years in length and will include the ’08 season and will be worth $45MM. This seems to confirm that the Brewers are buying out Braun’s first two years of free agency.

9:08am: Continuing the trend of signing young stars to long-term deals long before arbitration-eligibility, Tom Haudricourt is reporting that the Brewers have inked Ryan Braun to a 7-year deal.

The amount of money is not known yet, but it is expected that the contract will be worth more than the $42MM deal signed by Jeff Suppan prior to the ’07 season. That deal is currently the largest ever given by the Brewers.

Braun, 24 and last year’s NL Rookie of the Year, was promoted last season in a manner that would have kept him just under Super-2 eligibility and he likely would not have been arbitration eligible until after the ’10 season and a free agent until the fall of 2013.

If we assume the 7-year deal begins this season and that one or two years are team options that are eventually picked up, the Brewers have only bought out one year of free agency. Although Haudricourt believes the deal is an extension tacked on to this year’s 1-year deal. That would mean the Brewers bought out two years of free agency.

Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and can be reached here.

Turnbow Heads To Nashville

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Derrick Turnbow has accepted his assignment to Triple A Nashville, rather than forfeit his remaining salary.    Four teams (the Mets not among them) had interest in trading for Turnbow.  Brewers GM Doug Melvin was frank with MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy about the situation – teams wanted him to eat much of the $2.5MM Turnbow is owed, but weren’t offering decent prospects. 

Turnbow passed through waivers because no team wanted to take on his salary while keeping him in the bigs.

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Wells, Griffey, Olney, Tavarez, Edmonds

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A lot of links today, so let’s get to what is being said about some trade and signing possibilities in the Blogosphere…

  • The Darth Boss George Brigade wants Hank Steinbrenner to sign David Wells to prove that Hank is indeed his father’s son.
  • River Ave. Blues says the Yankees are too smart to sign Wells and then goes on to list about 87 pitchers that should be given a shot in the Highlanders’ rotation before Wells.
  • Redlegs Rant feels that Ken Griffey Jr. is behind the recent stories that speculate on him being traded.
  • Mariners Central speculates on some of the names that it might take to land Ken Griffey Jr., noting that the M’s are not likely to part with either of their top two prospects, Wladimir Balentien and Jeff Clement.
  • The Tribe Time Report sees plenty of holes in Buster Olney’s recent theory that Garret Atkins would be a good fit for the Indians.
  • Brewers Nation agrees with Olney that the Brewers should trade Ben Sheets.
  • Sox & Pinstripes doesn’t want to just give away Julian Tavarez but they also note that the bullpen needs help and Tavarez isn’t the answer.
  • Batter’s Box says Brad Wilkerson should fit in well with the rest of the Jays lineup, which also lacks the ability to hit for average or power.
  • One writer at Fanhouse doesn’t understand why Kevin Towers is so disappointed in the play of Jim Edmonds. They feel it was pretty obvious that the Pads were getting a player well past his prime.

Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and can be reached here.

Pirates Acquire Jason Michaels, Brewers Mull Turnbow

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After being designated for assignment back on May 5, Jason Michaels has been traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates for, what else, a player to be named later. As Tim noted on Monday, Michaels has been pretty terrible so far this year. Not that he was so hot during his tenure in Cleveland. He wasn’t able to get his OBP above .330 or his SLG above .400. Not so hot for a corner outfielder.

The Pirates options OF Nyjer Morgan to Triple A to make room for Michaels.  The Bucs now have two open spots on the 40-man roster.  Feel free to speculate.

In other recently-designated news, it is believed that the Brewers have placed reliever Derrick Turnbow on waivers. The former closer was DFA a week ago, so something needs to be done soon. Tom Haudricourt believes he could clear waivers by Friday.

If he clears, he could accept an assignment to Triple A with the Brewers. Otherwise he’d become a free agent and forfeit the remainder of this $3.2MM salary.

Posted by Joe Pawlikowski.

Buster Olney Drops Uncommon Trade Thoughts

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Buster Olney talks trade in his latest insider-only piece. Let’s have a look at the guys he names.

  • Ryan Howard. This is a tough one. Philly is in second place right now, and they should be in contention throughout the year. Howard has started poorly, but you can figure a rebound. While the Phillies might not be eager to pay Howard $25 to $30MM over the next two years, some other team might. I figure they could get a decent haul from, say, the Angels. Still, it’s hard to justify trading away your best power hitter (at least in name) while you’re vying for a playoff berth. The odds are long, very long for this one.
  • Hideki Matsui and Johnny Damon. No way, no how. Then again, Phillies fans are probably saying the same about Howard. The Yanks stagnant offense figures to improve once A-Rod returns next week and Jorge Posada gets back behind the dish next month. But Matsui leads the team in average, OBP, and slugging, while Damon is second in OBP. Unless the Yanks fall out of contention, there’s no way they’re trading these guys. Even so, they’re a pair of 34-year-old outfielders making $13 million a season, with 2009 guaranteed. There’s no way a team will offer anything close to equal value.
  • Ben Sheets. If the Brewers are going to contend this year, they’re going to need Sheets in the rotation. However, they’re 16-17 right now, and likely won’t see Yovani Gallardo for the rest of the season. The Brewers likely won’t keep Sheets after this year, anyway, so if they’re still in the middle of the pack, they can use the oft-injured ace to reload on players that can help them next year. Their lineup is still very young, with only two regulars over the age of 28. An influx of pitching could set them up well for next year.

Joe Pawlikowski writes for River Ave. Blues, a Yankees blog.

Rosenthal’s Latest: Reds, Marlins, Turnbow

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Ken Rosenthal has a new column; let’s take a look.

  • Aside from Adam Dunn and Ken Griffey Jr., Rosenthal suggests Walt Jocketty could look to trade veterans Paul Bako, Scott Hatteberg, David Weathers, Jeremy Affeldt, and Kent Mercker.
  • Most of the Marlins’ best players will reach arbitration for the first time after this season, which could prompt a trade or two.
  • Rosenthal expects collusion investigations to go nowhere.
  • The Brewers don’t plan on paying any of the $2.5MM remaining on Derrick Turnbow’s contract in order to trade him.  They might end up losing him and paying it anyway, however.

Pie-Greene Rumor Denied

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MAY 7th: Bruce Miles of the Daily Herald discussed the Pie-Greene rumor with Cubs officials, and it was "emphatically shot down."

APRIL 30th: Yesterday Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union-Tribune wrote of Kevin Towers’ pursuit of a long-term center field option.  Jim Edmonds remains a question mark, and his contract is up after ’08 anyway.

Krasovic says the Cubs "have kept tabs" on shortstop Khalil Greene, while the Padres are still eyeing Felix Pie.  The Cubs’ win-now approach could lead to that move, as Reed Johnson is doing fine in center field so far.  Greene is signed through the ’09 season.  Trading Greene would leave a gaping hole at the position for the Padres though.  Another point is that the Cubs have gotten fine production at shortstop so far this year.

Krasovic notes past center field considerations for the Padres such as Jeremy Reed and Tony Gwynn Jr.  Reed doesn’t seem to have a future in Seattle.  As for Coco Crisp, Towers balked at Theo Epstein’s asking price of Chase Headley.

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