Brewers sign Weeks to 5 year/$50M extension

[Homer Bailey]

Source: Weeks deal with #Brewers is 5 yrs., 50M. #MLB

Per Ken Rosenthal.


That's some serious cash. Confirms what we already knew, that Prince will not be in a Brewer uniform next year.

[Redsfan320]

Wowza. That is some big-time dough for Rickie Weeks. So is he worth that much or not?

320

[Homer Bailey]

He was a 6 win player last year in his first ever completely healthy season. Talent wise, I'd say he's worth it, but he's always an injury risk. He's only 28. A risk the Brewers likely had to take.

[mbgrayson]

ESPN has the details (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2011/news/story?id=6128467)a little different:


Second baseman Rickie Weeks and the Milwaukee Brewers have agreed to a $38.5 million, four-year contract that contains a 2015 option which could increase the value to $50 million, a person familiar with negotiations tells The Associated Press.


How many of these years were free agent years?

[Johnny Footstool]

Seems like they locked him up at a decent rate through his prime years. I'm a fan of deals like this, even if they just buy out arbitration.

[Quatitos]

How many of these years were free agent years?

This was his last arbitration year, so it bought out 3 (or 4 with option or whatever that fifth year is).

[Homer Bailey]

ESPN has the details (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2011/news/story?id=6128467)a little different:



How many of these years were free agent years?

Rosenthal tweeted that the Brewers can "get out" of the 5th year if he isn't a regular in 2013 and 2014, so I assumed it has a games played clause.

And he was set to be a free agent after this year.

[RedsManRick]

Wowza. That is some big-time dough for Rickie Weeks. So is he worth that much or not?

320

Basically depends on the degree to which you think 2010 is a better reflection of his true talent than 2009.

He was a bit hit lucky last year, which boosted his rate stats some. But even if you regress his BABIP, everything else looks legit. Really, 2010 was basically the same season as 2007 but with more batted ball luck, slightly better defense and a full season's worth of plate appearances.

I see him as a ~4 win player on average over the next 5 years, which would mean the Brewers got a pretty darn good deal. That said, we're talking about a guy who had never made it through a full season healthy until last year. I'd be much more worried about that than I would about what he can do on the field when healthy.

[lollipopcurve]

Rickey can hit. He can't field much, but he can hit.

[hebroncougar]

Wow.......I heard speculation this morning of a 4 year $28 million. This is way over that. With no real position he's good at, and the fact that he's beyond injury prone, I'm not sure this was a wise investment at all.

[klw]

Somewhere Brandon Phillips' agent said: "Well Brandon is only 1 year and 3 months older than Weeks."

[Griffey012]

Somewhere Brandon Phillips' agent said: "Well Brandon is only 1 year and 3 months older than Weeks."

The deal is pretty similar to the extension we gave Phillips originally. Except Phillips had more than 1 arb year to buy out. As far as the 11 million salary once Phillips hit FA and the 12 million dollar option, I'd say its pretty comparable.