(Updated) Mets Will Have The 12th Pick In The Draft Next June

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• alex68 September 30, 2011 at 9:35 am

  talk about WINNERS around the trading deadline was the brewers, they got a really good closer to be their set up man, pitched his way to a 4-0 record with a 1.86 ERA, 33 k’s in 29 innings, while only allowing 33 men to reach base, to a 1.13 WHIP… AND ALSO NETS THE BREWERS 2 DRAFT PICKS.
  • alex68 September 30, 2011 at 9:38 am

    the brewers PLAYED out sandy alderson… lmao.. wow.. but hey, we save $17.5 million for next year that we might not even use to get a good player to come to flushing…
  • Seligman September 30, 2011 at 9:41 am

    While I consider the Beltran trade a great move for the Mets, the Krod trade looks like a real stinker especially when you consider he had switched to Boras and wanted free agency.
    • alex68 September 30, 2011 at 9:45 am

      seligman, why was the beltran trade a “GREAT MOVE” by the mets? because we nettes a single A pitcher with “high celining”? we won’t know for at least 4 years whether that was a great move or not. also, agree on the krod trade, milwaukee played alderson, but, again, ppl here are more concern with payroll and saving money than winning. the mets blew exactly 13 games after aug 1st. we won 77 games, and the wild card winner won 90 games. go figure.
      • Original Mets Fan September 30, 2011 at 10:06 am

        If I may answer, it was the equivalent of the Mets trading Matt Harvey for two months of Lance Berkman. Would you do that trade? That’s why it’s a great move.
        • t agee September 30, 2011 at 10:56 am

          The Brewers didn’t really play Sandy Alderson they just took advantage of a great opportunity.

          We couldn’t get K-Rod to become a free agent, the Brewers easily could. They did us a favor by getting us out from under a 17 M contract that we wouldn’t have been able to risk offering arbitration as a base salary in 2013 anyway, and for their trouble got two high draft picks that we had no shot at and a good bullpen arm.

          Just opportunity, the kind of thing Boston looks to do every year. Boston has repeatedly added guys a year and a half from free agency all the way down to a month, let them go and grabbed the picks.

          I can’t ever remember anyone other than myself complaining about the Wagner deal but that deal didn’t have to be done. Wagner was owed nothing for 2010, just a buyout. We sold Wagner to pay 1M of his salary, his 1.5 M dollar buyout and save 3-4 M on the two draft picks signing bonuses. 6.5 M tops is what Wagner got sold for and you know that order came from the Wilpon. Not to say we couldn’t have played the situation a lot smarter but Minaya was put in a corner on that deal. This trade saved about 17 M. Think it was Alderson that wanted out of that contract? Now he has to go find a closer. It is as clear as the day is long that it was the Wilpon that wanted out of that contract, just like Wagner, Kaz Matsui, Jeremy Burnitz, David Weathers, Kevin Appier, Roberto Alomar, Mel Rojas, Todd Zeile, Robin Ventura, Roger Cedeno, Vince Coleman and 100 million other guys they’ve signed through the years. Their always in the position of trying to unload salary and they always do it. K-Rod was just the latest and largest.

          They buy high every year, almost always in January and seek to dump salary, for nothing, in July. Been doing it for years, as a business plan. Running the team on a year by year basis with no thought toward actually stockpiling a lot of talent over a period of time preferring instead to excite a gullible fan base by grabbing some back pages right at ticket selling time.

          We have repeatedly turned #1 and #2 draft choices into “salary relief” or let them go without offering arb and getting the picks (Alfonzo and Floyd) or seeing them leave or retire (Pedro, Alou) and get nothing going forward.

          Hampton and Glavine (and now Beltran) were the only free agents we’ve ever signed where we actually got something going forward after they left and if we hadn’t we’d have that many more “holes to fill.”

          The one thing the Wilpon has excelled at through the years is obtaining “salary relief” for guys they gave up #1 and #2 picks for. K-Rod was just the latest example of this.
          • alex68 September 30, 2011 at 11:02 am

            and the second guessing continues..
            • t agee September 30, 2011 at 11:50 am

              What second guessing?

              A factual analysis of the way the Wilpon has run the Mets over the last 15 years is not second guessing. It’s simply a historical review that reveals their preferred philosophy over a lengthy period of time.

              A philosophy that keeps us poor in terms of providing our own long term solutions. The typical free agent you give up a #1 pick for fills a need on average 2-4 years and is no sure bet to even fill it adequately or even give you 2-4 years.

              There really is no way to even plan ahead for which players or positions are going to be available two or three years ahead. It’s really just winging it.

              Hmmmm, let’s see who we can get for these 8 positions every November? Yeah that’s the way to run a team.

              Met Fan’s should be outraged at the number of #1 and #2 picks we’ve cashed in and then traded for “salary relief” through the years. This is what has kept us poor in terms of having “holes to fill” every year or nothing to trade mid season.

              It’s really no different than buying something at top dollar and turning it into a pawn shop 5-18 months later. Eventually your going to go broke and it’s really nothing more than a shell game to get your money in January and then cash out in July.

              It’s a scam job that saves money for the owners over the 5 years or so it takes to develop a player with no possible return on investment during those 5 years while putting the investment into something that could return a big dividend right away but frequently doesn’t. Then they cut bait and have to start from scratch.

              Minaya is really the only guy who ever attempted to do both the Majors and minors at the same time but his pendulum became pointed way to much at the Majors and he consequently ran out of players. If his pendulum was pointed way toward the minors there is no doubt in my mind that he would have TONS of talented players all vying for starting positions already up here and they would have been backed with even more of the Familia’s, Harvey’s and Mejia’s, Puello’s ect. and come November we’d be looking for 1-2 spots, not 8-10.
              • alex68 September 30, 2011 at 11:57 am

                more second guessing..
                • Donal September 30, 2011 at 4:54 pm

                  So, he’s second guessing, but you still talking about the Rodriguez trade isn’t?
                • Sloatsburg Mets Fan October 1, 2011 at 10:06 am

                  Alex,

                  I used to find you humerous now you just come off as bitter and someone with an ax to grind! You’re completely entitled to your opinion on any matter (not just Mets related) but some objectivity every once in a while would freally be refreshing and would absolutely add to your credibility.

                  What is your problem with Sandy and Co.? Did they bully you in school? Did they steal your lunch money?

                  Before he came here all I knew about Sandy was his reputation of being very organized, building from within, basically an intelligent man that knows how to run an organization and build stability in it. Not a miracle worker or hired gun, win now at all cost type. That is exactly what he appears to be doing now and I for one, welcome that!I want a team that I can root for every year into October, for that you need DEPTH, not a sprinkling of stars (or former stars) surrounded by a bunch of role players.

                  Regarding his sabermetic approach, Sandy is NOT the high priest of this philosophy, that mantle belongs to Bill James and Billy Beane. He practices it along with organized well thought out scouting, projecting and well thought out development. Now Alex, if you are turned off by this approach, I ask you to take a look at the past 10 years and tell me the teams you that won or competed (Wild Cards, Division, Leagues, and Championships) consistently that did NOT practice that exact approach?

                  Call me crazy, but I for one, would rather have a $100million payroll of players with a future and that play the game the correct way that love playing for their fans and take pride in what they do instead of a team with $150Million payroll with a few players that are fat and happy and get treated with kid gloves because of their contracts surrounded by a bunch of players over their heads or over the hill.

                  I ask you Alex, what would you have logically done differently? Another question, who would you have preferred that was available?

                  Please do not view this as anything more than what it is. As I said, I used to look forward to your posts now you sound like a crusty cromugeon (I cant spell) that isn’t happy unless they’re unhappy and disagrees simply because they have the right to and not because they have a more logical solution. You’re like the John Boehner of this forum. Just Kidding! I would love to hear your explanation.
                  • JoeD 1966 October 1, 2011 at 11:46 pm

                    Well said Sloatsburg! These anti Alderson guys are rooting against him just to try and prove a point.I wish they’d do a little research so they would realize that Beane is the one who created Moneyball.Alderson had a top 5 payroll when he ran the A’s.
                  • alex68 October 3, 2011 at 11:25 am

                    sloatburgjh,

                    the man hasn’t won crap in the past 6 years as a gm, while in san diego he left the team, also, i am not sure whether you are aware or not, but the man in every interview or conversation he has NEVER uses the word championship or even world series, he’s not here to build a championship, he’s here to cut payroll, then bolt when things get tough. yet, he’s got a legion of fans who see nothing wrong with what he does, his moves are the same omar used to get hammered for, yet, he gets a pass, again, look at his record again as a gm, tell me if track record indicates he’s up to speed with today’s savvy gm’s. i am not second guessing, i rather im wrong and we win a championship under him, my that’s far fetch, and my predicition will be he’ll be gone after next year..
• Dan September 30, 2011 at 10:08 am

  Beltran actually won’t net the Giants anything — he had that clause in his contract that prohibits his team from offering him arbitration. So getting ANYTHING for him was a big win and, with luck, Wheeler will turn out to be valuable.
• Jeff September 30, 2011 at 10:27 am

  It’s been well chronicled that the Giants won’t get any picks for Beltran.
  • Craig Lerner September 30, 2011 at 10:35 am

    Thanks guys, I knew that but in my haste completely forgot to include it. I’ve corrected my post.
• OmarFan September 30, 2011 at 10:44 am

  We get the 12th pick of the first round. Too bad we have Depodesta in charge of the draft.

  If only we had someone who knew what he was doing in the draft…….
  • alex68 September 30, 2011 at 11:05 am

    omar,

    you mean the guy who’s drafted nothing but busts and a bench player named blake dewitt is his biggest accomplishment!?!?
    • OmarFan September 30, 2011 at 11:33 am

      Exactly, Alex. Depodesta gets a job because he went to an Ivy League school like his boss Sandy did. The man has had a collection of GARBAGE drafts for the Padres and Dodgers. He has NO CONTACTS in Venezuela or the Dominican Republic to speak of, so his IFAS are a waste of time.

      THIS is going to build up our system? And people wonder why I expect NOTHING out of Nimmo. I hear that name and sense a decade long joke coming…SMH

      Meanwhile, a draft and IFAS guru was fired by us last year over politics.

      Only the Mets…..
      • any September 30, 2011 at 11:55 am

        They do still have international scouts, and someone running that area. Yo think all the GMs are using all their buddies back in the old country to get the best talent? Besides, where are all the stud IFAs that Omar brought in?

        And he was not fired over “politics”.
        • OmarFan September 30, 2011 at 7:31 pm

          The kids Omar signed are making their way thru the system. 16 year olds take at least 5-7 years to grow into big leaguers. Ruben Tejada is one of them. The rest are on their way. Omar’s history is unmatched by Riccardi, Depodesta and Alderson COMBINED when it comes to IFAS. Learn your history.
      • t agee September 30, 2011 at 12:24 pm

        Minaya wasn’t fired over politics. If that were the case he would have been fired over Bernazard/Rubin. He wasn’t. He was fired because the minor leaguers he was counting on as the 2nd wave to his big free agent signings took too long to develop or stagnated all together and the owners were losing millions of dollars and could simply no longer keep funding the 25 by throwing good money after bad.

        Since 2007 his expensive free agent signings or trades were pretty bad overall from a pure baseball production standpoint. Even guys like Alou who hit great couldn’t stay on the field. 100 games out of 320 left a big void and no question cost at least a game or two over the 2007 and 2008 seasons. Schowenweiss at 3/10 was a disaster, Mota not good at 2/5 M, Schneider at 5M a year a complete bust, Church not good. Perez, Castillo and one last double down in Bay the last straw.

        Santana and K-Rod the only one’s really holding up their end of things but the rest was a lot od cash for a lot of poor performance that cost big time at the gate.

        Now Omar did make the Wilpon’s a LOT of money with three years of the best attendance we’ve ever had so the bad contracts shouldn’t have cost the owners money but they probably lost that money with Madoff, so it was they that couldn’t hold out by continuing to add more and more payroll in order to fix the 25. They had to get someone in who could squeeze the most wins out of the payroll and attempt to keep the team competitive while waiting for the kids to get up here and the Madoff thing to be resolved.

        I would have bet that Omar was exactly that kind of guy back in 2005 but his actual work done up here on the 25 shows exactly the opposite. Some of that no doubt was the Wilpon looking to quickly cash in on every buck they spend but a certain large part of that was Minaya himself. He said “you have to have big stars in NY” and the Wilpon could no longer fund that approach after getting no return on their investment over the prior two years.

        No politics here.
        • OmarFan September 30, 2011 at 12:55 pm

          Like I said, Omar was fired due to politics. The checkbook was taken away after the 2008 season. The team was already suffering from Madoff in 2008 unless the Madoff thing took the Wilpons and other investors by surprise (it didn’t they knew it was coming).

          Nobody develops a system in less than 4 years. It simply does not happen. And since Omar had to trade what few prospects the system had in 2005 and 2006 to create a STRONG team, there wasn’t anything coming in before 2008. The fact that Pelfrey and Murphy DID help is testament to his draft skills.

          No GM survives injuries to their front line pitchers and starting players. The Braves successfully engineered the BIGGEST COLLAPSE in BASEBALL HISTORY because they could not overcome injuries. That’s sports. There’s nothing Wren or Schuerholz could have done to prevent it. Much like there was nothing Omar could do to prevent their 2007 collapse.

          And 2007 was more Sanchez never returning and Pedro unable to overcome surgery. These were two HUGE reasons the Mets were a successful squad in 2006. Sanchez was the bridge they have not been able to replace since 2006. Your reasoning is flawed. To focus on bit pieces like Castillo, Perez, Schneider, others is a joke. The aforementioned were trades. Ryan Church never recovered from his concussion and is out of baseball completely. Things happen. The 2009 team was devastated by injuries. Things like that are NOT Omar Minaya’s fault. Just like Bernie Madoff isn’t Omar’s fault. The 2010 and 2011 Mets were competitive teams which were not helped by a diminishing payroll. Injuries to Johan and Reyes in 2010, along with other guys like Beltran earlier in the season, killed our chances in ’10.

          The Braves didn’t choke because they signed little scrubby pieces to their bench. They lost because they suffered major injuries to key players. That’s the way the cookie crumbles.

          The Wilpons decided to cut off Omar Minaya to appease their dwindling fan base. It’s called window dressing. Whenever you insert INFERIOR GMs to run an organization (Alderson and Depodesta respectively), just to change things around and make it look like you needed and wanted a change, you are destined for failure.

          And fail we will unless Omar’s draft picks and IFAS turn out to be impact players. You cannot sit there and vouch for the scouting skills of the current regime. You’re not being realistic. Much like you’re not being realistic if you think Omar was fired for baseball reasons.

          The Wilpons set a terrible precedence when they fired Tony Bernazard. They caved in to media pressure and did the unthinkable. They made a change to their organizational staff to appease the media and the fans who were negatively influenced by them. How does that firing improve your team? Even worse, it fueled them to remove Omar to further prove to their fan base that they’re interested in making them happy, irregardless if it hurts the team in the long run. Replacing Omar and inserting inferior GMs like Riccardi and Depodesta is not the answer. It’s pure politics in every sense of the word. Are they inferior? Look over the last 10 years and tell me what impact players the current Met leadership is responsible for via the Dodgers, Blue Jays and the Padres. You’re looking at a desperate group of mostly non-playoff teams with little to no impact players from the IFAS and meager returns from the MLB draft.

          Very sad times indeed ahead if Omar’s young kids don’t rise up and lead this franchise. The guys in charge haven’t proven their worth except for shoving their Ivy League college degrees in everyone’s face. That doesn’t get it done.
          • any September 30, 2011 at 8:11 pm

            That’s true. I just hate the way Sandy starts every news conference by announcing “I’m a genius and went to Harvard. You aren’t and you didn’t”. Just seems tacky.

            Bernazard got fired for doing a terrible job. The farm was in disarray, and there did not seem to be any coherent player development strategy. And that was his responsibility.

            BS he got fired to appease the media. if anything, he lasted too long.

            Omar got fired because the team tanked and was losing, and his moves did not help. Nature of the job.

            And hate to tell you, every new GM spends the first few years primarily suing inherited guys.
          • t agee September 30, 2011 at 9:45 pm

            Well I’ll say that I wouldn’t have fired Bernazard for what he was fired for. Things happen in sports lockerooms. It’s not like a boardroom but I don’t feel he did a very good job at all. There really are only a couple of guys, Murphy and Davis who played well in their first go around up here. Most guys were horrendous their first time up. Everyone looked overmatched, some guys didn’t even run out infield flies. Like it or not that’s a reflection on the player personel director.

            FA signings or trades, bit pieces ect, doesn’t matter. When your margin of error is one game two years in a row, everything matters.

            I will agree that four years is too short a period of time to develop your own solutions but plenty of those solutions were never acquired because the picks went to immediately prop up the Major League team via free agents.

            I’ll also agree about 5-7 years for IFA’s. It takes time. The IFA’s AND the free agents together, added TO the draft picks not spent on free agents in 2005-2009 is what would have provided a Championship caliber team. Not all FA’s, followed by some later round draft choices and followed up by the IFA’s. All of them together at the same time.

            I also agree how much Sanchez not coming back hurt. probably cannot be overstated although I don’t think he was going to maintain the pace he was on in 2006, still your right. He’s never been replaced.

            We did spend in 2009 (K-Rod) and 2010 (Bay) potential commitments of 134 M. Almost an entire annualized budget.

            Omar did a lot of good here but he tried to build it up too quickly. Before the foundation had cured. he also did have some bad luck. Sanchez, the undermining of Randolph, Injuries to Beltran, Reyes, Church, Rubin. A guy like Schneider handed a golden opportunity just flat out rejecting it and Madoff coming along.

            I’ve always said he could have done it but you cannot quickly build up both the 25 and the minors at the same time. it’s simply impossible because many of the moves that help one, hurt the other. You just can’t do both at the same time. Not starting from where he was on both fronts. No one could have done it.
            • t agee September 30, 2011 at 9:56 pm

              I will defer to you about the media though since different people see different things and I wasn’t looking for or even intune with some of those things but I will say in NY, everyone gets it. Billy, Reggie, Thurman, Willie, Jerry, Omar, Ray Handley, Isaiah, Dolan, Valentine, Walt Michaels, Joe Walton, lots of guys.

              Still and all I cannot say I was looking at it through anyone’s eyes but my own so……
      • t agee September 30, 2011 at 12:37 pm

        The Mets have signed a few IFA’s since Alderson got here including Jose Garcia the #25th rated prospect and #3 ranked catcher available this past July. He’s also signed a very highly rated pitcher the moment he became eligable after being caught about his age as well as a few others. What will come of it no one can know but that spigot was turned off in 2009 on Minaya anyway and in fact Minaya fired his director of international scouting and top scouts back in 2009 (Pena, Cruz, Martinez who are now with Cleveland) Furthur he was given a budget less than almost any other team in MLB to work with in the draft which just defies any common sense at all especially for a big market team.

        Here was a guy who’s strength was in prospect evaluation and yet he wasn’t afforded the cash to go out and draft the best available talent. The very thing he was good at but that’s the way it’s always been under the Wilpon ever since they became full 50% partners in November of 1986.

        They’ll pay a lot more but want a quick return on their investment instead of paying a lot less and funding the team over time and reaping a much larger financial benefit 6-10 years down the road.
        • OmarFan September 30, 2011 at 1:08 pm

          You’re spinning again, Agee. The reason Omar had to let his crew go is NOT because of their lack of skill. Once again, it’s political. Read between the lines.
          • t agee September 30, 2011 at 2:02 pm

            Your welcome to your opinion OmarFan about the firings of the International Scouting Staff but all I said was that the connections that Omar had put in place had been disturbed and in the IFA game connections, relationships and the willingness to make committments form the biggest part of your success and that holds true in Asia as well as Latin America. It is an undeniable fact that Minaya’s connections were disturbed regardless of the reason.

            Now if you want to get into the reason I can appreciate where your coming from. The stated reason for firing Ramon Martinez was that he was running the DWL Gigante de Cibao. How that would upset anyone in Met management is beyond me. I would want my scouts/scouting directors seeing as many players as possible even if their already professionals in other teams systems but maybe that’s just me.

            It was shortly after the Bernazard firing so it’s not hard to draw the conclusion that it was a warning a shot (like Rick Downs w/Willie) and Minaya was forced to do it but we don’t know that for a fact. It was right after Madoff hit so maybe the Wilpon’s decided they weren’t going big in the IFA market and to downsize there. Maybe it was due to having spent relatively big already and wanting to slow down. Maybe it was disatisfaction on the part of the impatient Wilpon. Maybe it was something else or a combination of all these things.

            At that point, winter 2009 Fern was more than holding his own as a 19 year old in AA but maybe the Wilpon didn’t realize how young for the league he was and thought he was underperforming. His numbers were great for being 19 but they weren’t great for AA.

            Mejia, Flores and Tejada and Familia were in low A ball. Perfectly understandable but maybe not to them. After all Reyes was here at 19. Pena, Lagares and Marte hadn’t really shown any signs of life and the fact is Urbina was the last guy they spent any money on and he had probably already been identified and the Venezulean scout took care of the deal so there’s any number of possibilities of why. I believe it was because of Madoff and a warning shot but still and all I wasn’t discussing why, I simply stated that that the connections had already been disturbed and very recently at that.
            • OmarFan September 30, 2011 at 2:56 pm

              Fair enough, but we both can figure out that Omar’s firing of his staff and himself was not baseball related. It had more to do with politics with the excuse of money engineering the whole event.

              We’re NOT better off with the current leaders is my point. Tell me someone like Pat Gillick is running things and we’re in business. The guys in office now are window dressing via politics.
              • t agee September 30, 2011 at 9:05 pm

                That’s not my opinion. My opinion is that the Wilpon lost a ****load of money and decided they needed to go with a GM who provided solutions that didn’t involve huge money deals.

                The Madoff thing hit in Dec 2008. They stuck with Minaya till October 2010. Even spent large on one last free agent only to see that one bust too.

                After paying so much to so many guys that didn’t get it done and facing both huge payments on the Stadium and Network and falling WAY short in revenue projections, the loss of a lot of money they thought they had and a downturn in their principle business they went in a completely different different direction. The shame of the thing is if they had gone in that direction initially, with Minaya, I think he would have had a star studded young team up here right now that would be packing Citi Field every night but he did things the way the Wilpon preffers. The big box office attraction.

                I do agree that the firing of Bernazard and the International Scouting Dept was the beginning of the loss of autonomy by Minaya but I don’t see politics as the reason. I see dissatisfaction and austerity as behind those moves.

                Even if Minaya had stayed I don’t see what he could have done to make any kind of a difference and the meddling and overseeing would have just crippled this organization and ultimately Minaya would have been on the death watch the way Randolph was in 2008.

                That wouldn’t have been good for anyone, especially us Fans.
• any September 30, 2011 at 12:01 pm

  amazing that some people still don’t realize (or maybe accept) that the K Rod situation was comepletely different with the Brewers. The Mets, if they had kept him could NOT have gotten any picks for him. His option would have vested instead, and they would have been paying him the money next year that could otherwise have gone to Reyes or more SP.

  and the option was not being waived for 500K with the Mets. That was a scam to not run afoul of the CBA. It was worthless to K Rod once he got traded (and was actually a hinderance, since it eliminated any chance of getting save ops).

  So with the Mets, it was worth 14mill (he was getting a buy out anyway). With the Brewers, next to nothing, since at that point he was guaranteed to hit FA.

  Actually, it is not a given that K Rod will get offered arbitration. The Brewers might not want to take a chance on having him back for 10mill+ next year to set up. And he just might accept if the multi year deal market for him does not develop.
  • kevin September 30, 2011 at 12:59 pm

    They never spoke, called, faxed, emailed, wired, snail-mailed, telexed or sent a telegram to Scott Boras when Krod fired his older agent.
    • kevin September 30, 2011 at 1:01 pm

      WHAT DO YOU NOT GET ABOUT THAT???

      THERE WAS NO CONTACT THEREFORE NO DENIAL THEREFORE THE SITUATION WAS THE SAME.

      BORAS GOT NO COMMISSION ON THE OPTION – HELLO – EARTH TO DISILLUSIONED METS FANS!
      • NJstuckinTX September 30, 2011 at 1:27 pm

        it’s Krod’s call, not Boras. Boras works for Krod, not the other way around.
        • kevin September 30, 2011 at 1:36 pm

          Exactly!!! Krod told Collins he wanted to get rid of the option!!!
          • NJstuckinTX September 30, 2011 at 2:44 pm

            right… Krod wanted to get rid of a 17.5 mil option for one year and then hit FA after that while still in the general vicinity of his prime? While not impossible, it is not highly probable.
          • Donal September 30, 2011 at 4:57 pm

            Collins doesn’t make those decisions. Did Rodriguez forget who the GM was?
  • Metsie October 3, 2011 at 11:33 am

    Any I think you miss the fact that K-Rod wanted to be a closer more than he wanted 17 Mil. He knew if he stayed a closer he would get that money one way or another!

    The leverage you think the Brewers had was actually less than we had before the trade.

    he was willing to waive the vesting option before he got traded because he knew full well that ANY trade was going to be to a team who was not going to use him as a closer. And as such would not have the numbers POST-WAIVER of the option to garner a big payday in Free Agency.
    If he waived his option with us he would have remained the Closer, continued to score in the Ave Stat column and in free agency would garner more money than he will now with set up man numbers.

    He had MORE reason to waive it for us because it was GUARANTEED he would be the closer if he did.
    There was NO guarantee that he would ever close a game waiving it once he got traded.

    Boras had an even BIGGER vested interest since he makes no money until K-Rod signs a new contract. And as I have pointed out, that contract would be much richer for a guy who ended with a full season’s worth of saves than it will be now.

    So Both K-Rod and Boras had more to gain by selling off the option with us than they had once they got sent to the Brewers.

    you and many others are making the mistake in thinking that 17 Mil for one year is more money than a 4 year 12Mil per deal that they will get if he led the leagues in saves as a closer.

    Bottomline here is they waived itonce he was traded so they could get off that team where he can’t be a closer.
    If they had waived it with us he would have BEEN a closer AND still be a free agent at the end of the year!
    That is why he had more reason to waive it with us and why we had more leverage than the brewers did.
    because we could give him EVERYTHING K-Rod and Boras wanted. Best the brewers could give him is his freedom at the end of the year. a freedon that is worth less than if he had finished the season with us and had a ton of saves on his record to negotiate with!