Brewers: Five years, $100 million, with significant deferred money, and indications the Brewers would go to six years, $110 million or so -- with opt-outs and other perks -- if it would get the deal done.
Going from 5 years and 100 million to 6 years and 110 million dollars wouldn't be too big a deal from the Brewers perspective, since it likely means lowering the annual salary in most years of the contract. It's also probably not close to enough to get the deal done. The scary part of that blurb is the bit about offering an opt out clause as a perk to CC.
Allowing a player the opportunity to opt out of their contract sounds simple enough. After all, it can make a contract shorter, which is pretty much always a good thing, right? Well, not in this case. By giving a player the option to dissolve their contract somewhere in the back half of it (one would assume that the clause would probably be given for after the 3rd or 4th year of a 6 year offer) the team assumes the risk of poor performance at the back end of a deal while assuring themselves that if they do get lucky, the player is still productive and the team would actually be getting value, they will leave for a better offer elsewhere. Also, most opt out clauses do not allow the team to offer arbitration to the player, which means no compensation picks.
One can only hope that the Brewers offer isn't competitive enough to actually make CC consider taking it, because that sort of a deal leaves the team exposed to the same sort of risk associated with the full value of the contract, without the potential benefits of it working out.
- Tim Dierkes at mlbtraderumors.com has the Brewers listed among the suitors for Randy Johnson, who at age 45 is looking to hit a couple of milestones to fill out his career resume. If the price is anywhere near reasonable the Brewers have to hope that Johnson remembers how he was treated by Crew fans last year when he moved into second place on the career strikeout list and wants his swan song to take place in Milwaukee. He's no longer a front line guy, but he's perfectly capable of being a solid mid-rotation option for a team needing to fill out it's starting staff. It's also a chance to get a guy whose production would probably warrant a multi-year deal for a single year because of his age.
- Starting in a few weeks, the writers of Between the Green Pillars will begin running our top 25 prospect list in conjunction with the writers at Bernie's Crew. Be on the lookout for that down the road.
(H/T to Brewerfanx1 for finding the links for the first two items on the list)