Melvin To Speak With Francisco Cordero
Brewers GM Doug Melvin has been talking about keeping Francisco Cordero in Milwaukee since at least mid-September. Jason Isringhausen is off the market, though he didn’t get an extension. Cordero’s agent, Bean Stringfellow, might be wise to wait and see what Mariano Rivera signs for first. Said Stringfellow (via Buster Olney):
It’s a good time to be Francisco Cordero.
Stringfellow snagged Billy Wagner a four-year, $43MM deal in November of 2005. He’ll probably seek something similar for Cordero, who doesn’t quite have the track record of dominance that Wagner had.
Olney mentions that Melvin will meet with Stringfellow this week and believes the Brewers have a legitimate chance to sign him. They definitely have room in the budget for Cordero and then some.
Brewers Hope To Keep Cordero, Linebrink
A couple of high-priced pieces of Milwaukee’s bullpen have reached free agency – Francisco Cordero and Scott Linebrink. According to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Brewers will make an aggressive offer to Cordero and hope to retain Linebrink as well.
My hunch is that both players leave for greener pastures. Cordero seems likely to earn at least a four-year, $40MM deal. That’s elite closer territory. Linebrink should be compensated in the three years, $15-18MM range. While backloading is possible, the Brewers would be looking at adding $15MM per year on average to keep this pair.
My back of the napkin math says the Crew has around $60MM committed for ’08. Only Ben Sheets will make more than $10MM. The Brewers’ Opening Day ’07 payroll was about $71MM, so there is room in the budget for both Cordero and Linebrink. The team’s core players are very good and very cheap. The time to strike in free agency is now, so I actually endorse some pricier bullpen/rotation signings to get the team over the hump next year. I might go after Cordero but let Linebrink go. The Brewers could take payroll to a mere $80MM and have the best team in the NL Central.
Brewers Hope To Retain Francisco Cordero
This may just be feel-good lip service, but both Francisco Cordero and Doug Melvin are talking about keeping the closer in Milwaukee.
There are a decent number of free agents with closing experience. But if you take Mariano Rivera and Jason Isringhausen off the board, Cordero’s the best available. As pitchers often do, Cordero’s improved his control and strikeout rate coming over to the NL.
In a market where setup men are priced at three years and $5-6MM annually, Cordero figures to cost $10MM over four years at the least. It’d probably make sense for Cordero to wait and see what Rivera and Isringhausen get in terms of average annual value. Cordero’s agent Bean Stringfellow got Billy Wagner his four-year, $43MM contract in November of ’05.
ESPN: Carlos Lee To Rangers
Breaking news from ESPN’s Keith Law:
"The Milwaukee Brewers are trading slugger Carlos Lee to the Texas Rangers as part of a multi-player deal, ESPN.com learned Friday.
The Brewers are sending Lee, minor-league outfield prospect Nelson Cruz and a player to be named later to the Rangers for relief pitcher Francisco Cordero and outfielders Kevin Mench and Laynce Nix."
Initial opinion: Jon Daniels got the best of Doug Melvin here. Daniels gets a player comparable to Mench in Cruz, only cheaper. He adds a huge addition to the middle of the lineup for the stretch run in Lee. Mench is at a crossroads, Cordero is really just an OK 31 year-old reliever with saves under his belt, and Nix has been long on promise but short on results. It seems that Melvin is trying to stay competitive and get some players for the future for Lee at the same time, so Brewers fans have to respect that.
Interesting side note: according to Baseball Prospectus, Kevin Mench‘s most comparable player is Carlos Lee. I wonder how often a player has been traded for the player most similar to him?
I’ll have fantasy analysis of the trade on RotoAuthority sometime this afternoon.