3 years for Wheeler; C.C. option picked up, Rocco declined

The Rays did as expected Tuesday in picking up OF Carl Crawford's 2009 option for $8.25-million and declining OF Rocco Baldelli's $6-million option by giving him a $4-million buyout and making him a free agent after the season, but what was unexpected was a three-year, $10.5-million contract for reliever Dan Wheeler with an option for 2011.
The Rays had signed Wheeler to a $2.875-million one-year contract before the season to avoid arbitration, but the new three-year deal replaces that. Wheeler will get $2.8-million this season, $3.2-million in 2009, $3.5-million in 2010 and either a $1-million buyout or a $4-million salary in 2011. He will also make a donation of at least $150,000 to team charitable foundation.
"We've worked hard to try to address our bullpen situation and we feel like Dan will be an important part of our bullpen going forward and getting important outs late in games for us,'' executive VP Andrew Friedman said. "I think he'd be the first to say last year was not a typical Dan Wheeler season and all parties agree this year and future years will be much better and he'll be an important part of our bullpen going forward.''
Wheeler, 30, started his career with the Rays and after stints with the Mets and Astros came back to Tampa Bay last July in a trade from Houston, going 0-5 with a 5.76 ERA in 25 games. He is targeted primarily for seventh-inning setup work this season, but does have 25 major-league saves. In 327 games, he is 12-26 with a 4.09 ERA.
In a statement released by the team, Crawford, 26, thanked principal owner Stuart Sternberg and indicated he would be interested in staying beyond 2010, for which the Rays hold another option.
“I'm very happy,'' Crawford said. "I would like to thank the Rays organization and Stu Sternberg for believing in me. I'm grateful for the opportunity for this day. I'm looking forward to being here for a long time because I think we're at the start of something great going on here. I want to do well for them and represent the team in a classy manner.”
Baldelli's playing status is uncertain as he remains sidelined by a rare disorder that leaves him fatigued. Friedman said the Rays would hope to keep him in the organization. "The most important thing right now is to address Rocco's health situation and once we're able to move beyond that we'll do everything in our power to keep him in a Rays uniform,'' Friedman said.
Declining the 2009 option saved the Rays about $4-million, since they not only would have had to pay him a $6-million salary but would have been on the hook for another $2-million buyout for future options.

Comments

[raysfan]

uhm... WHAT? 10 mill on a scrub who's 12-26?! did i miss something?!

[DIZ]

Raysfan,before you say anything else, repeat after me: "Shawn Camp, Ruddy Lugo,Seth McClung, Chad Orvella,Shinji Mori,Brian Stokes, and Jon Switzer"

[ben]

ANOTHER brilliant move by the MONEY BOYS. Are you freaking kidding me? What in the ? has Dan FREAKIN Wheeler done? NADA Get some real baseball MEN in the front office. COME ON.

[Riverview Rays Fan]

That sounds like a fair price, given the current market for players in MLB, for an average to slightly above average middle reliever. Plus, announcer Dewayne Staats is Wheeler's father-in-law, so maybe there was some influence there, or something...

[mike]

If he is son-in-law to the great dwayne stats, then Wheeler must be worth at least 15 million.

[Jones]

Wow our "fans" are really really dumb. Scott Linebrink is basically the same pitcher as Wheeler and got 19 million for 4 years from the White Sox

[Jamie]

Raysfan, I'd certainly rather have Wheeler than D'ohman. Last week you were tlaking like D'ohman was something special. Wheeler isn't perfect, but in the right situation he'll be successful.

[Tim]

Listen to you all.. B@#ch if they spend..
B#$ch if they don't.. can't have it both ways..

[Jeff Gilbert]

People that complain about how much a certain ball player makes are very tiring. No matter how bad you think they are, you couldn't do their job. More to the point: unless you understand the market for relief pitching in the big leagues your comments on what someone deserves are worthless. Anyone that looks at a relief pitcher's W-L record doesn't understand baseball. If you need me to explain why you have made my point.

[Kevin C.]

To the blowhard who cited Wheeler's win-loss record as a reason why the Rays are wasting money on a reliever who has proven outside of last year to be a competent and capable pitcher, do you realize how many losses Wheeler had when he was an incompetent young starter here in Tampa Bay the first go around? That record doesn't mean squat. Plus, the fact that he's a middle reliever...you are an idiot. Go root for Miami or something, not like you're buying a ticket or actually watching this team anyway.

[Gene]

Thank you Jeff and Tim. The market is what it is, and you are not allowed to complain that the organization is cheap, and then complain when they are locking up resources that every team in a pennant race is always looking for. Yes, Wheeler's numbers here were disappointing, but he has no serious injury history and has experience in a high pressure position that clearly, the people in that spot last year needed.

[Einhard]

I'll tell you what you are missing, aside from any understanding of baseball. It is a well-accepted view that a pitcher's BB rate and K rate is far more important in projecting future performance than ERA or records, the latter of which are virtually meaningless.

Here are Wheeler's BBs and strikeouts over the past 3 years:
2005: 73.3 IP; 19 BBs; 69 Ks
2006: 70.3 IP; 24 BBs; 68 Ks
2007: 74.7 IP; 23 BBs; 82 Ks

See! His walk rate is not bad and his K rate is excellent. He has done a lot as a reliever, including stepping in for Lidge when Brad tanked in 2006 and picking up 9 quick saves.

Nobody knows if Wheeler will continue his success, but it is an excellent deal for the Rays and further evidence, if anyone really needs it, that they know exactly what they are doing and carrying out their program to build a contender.

[Bodog]

The Dog actually agrees with the Rays on this move with Wheeler. 10 mil for three years, middle releiver, ain't bad. If Wheeler doesn't pan out, release him. He's gonna get 2.8 this year, replace the old contract he signed earlier for 2.87. Rays are finally getting this thing right making a solid effort to solidify the pen. Good move!

[Tuck]

First of all, a reliever's W-L record has very little to do with their performance. Take Jonathan Papelbon's stats last year for example. He had a 1.85 ERA, and 37 saves - a dominant year. Want to know his W-L record? It was 1-3.

Secondly, a $10.5-million contract over three years isn't that much money for a relief pitcher these days in MLB.

Plus, how many games did the Ray's bullpen lose for them last year? And I don't just mean the games that they blew a late lead. You also must consider the games that Rays would have rallied to win, had the bullpen kept the game close.

I like all three moves made today. Go Rays!!!

[Dave]

If you don't think the Wheeler signing was a good one, I'd hazard a guess you don't really follow baseball very close.

All these moves, picking up Crawford's option, declining Baldelli's and extending Wheeler, will prove to be good ones. As will the sending of Longoria to AAA.

[raysfan]

y'all posters on this thread make me laugh. you're talking to the biggest rays fan out there, myself, so don't bring that played out trash about how i don't know baseball or i don't know what i'm talking about. YOU don't know who YOU'RE talking to.

troy percival is making less than wheeler now. scott kazmir is, too. so is aki iwamura. so is marr garza and pretty much everybody else on down the line. you explain to me and everyone on that team who's making LESS THAN ONE MILLION DOLLARS how some washed out scrub in wheeler can command ten times the salary they make. no, seriously, either lay down an excellent argument or shut the hell up because you're wrong.

don't get me wrong. i'm glad they are spending money, but it's misspent this time. unless we're willing to fork over this type of coin to the other mediocre pitchers on the roster, you're looking at some guys who are going to be pretty PO'd (if they're not already PO'd about longoria getting sent down). i get that average-mediocre players are getting huge bloated contracts these days. that doesn't mean we need to follow suit. this is what's known as "WASTED MONEY."

look at wheeer's stats from 2007. none of them knocks my socks off. high ERA; average WHIP. this was a stupid move on a day with 2 otherwise GOOD moves: declining rocco's option and picking crawford's up.

[raysfan]

compare contracts:
http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/2005/01/tampa-bay-devil-rays_112131227267025321.html

wheeler's new contract is not up there yet but you can look at how much we're paying everyone else and make thoughtful comparisons.

to clarify one thing, i am not objecting to the organization spending money on the team; au contraire. but it's too much money on a guy who doesn't deserve it.

[Don]

The signings are what they are. This is a team still in the building stage(s) and over the cost of time, the Wheeler sigining may be a stroke of genius.

On the other hand...I am quite sad to see the (apparent) end of Rocco Baldellli's career. He held such promise and provided a glimpse to the future of an exciting Ray's legacy.

[dy]

I guess some people have trouble reading so I'll help out.

2008
Percival is making 4 million
Kazmir is making 3.785 million
Aki is making 2.4 million
Wheeler is now making 2.8 million

2009
Percival will make 4 million
Kazmir is unsigned
Aki will make 3.25 million
Wheeler will make 3.2 million

2010
Percival is unsigned
Kazmir is unsigned
Aki will make 4.25 million club option
Wheeler will make 3.5 million

Matt Garza is still a few years away from from arbitration/free agency so there is no point bringing up his contract.

[Jones]

Matt Garza doesn't have 30 mlb starts. Kaz doesn't have wheelers service time, neither does aki, and percival is an injury risk. Any more arguments genius? Look at wheelers 05 and 06 numbers every contract isn't based on what you did last year. If that was true We'd would've paid Cantu 10 million for his 05 season

[raysfan]

jones you're not thinking straight. you see a big contract and your thinking goes all fuzzy.

wheeler doesn't have the talent kazmir has. can't compare aki (hitter) to wheeler (pitcher) in terms of talent; i compared their contracts. cantu regardless, we paid pena for his '07 season. you pay a player for what they've done in the past and what you think they'll do in the future. wheeler doesn't deserve this. consider yourself rebutted.

[raysfan]

oh and price doesn't have ONE ML start but he's got a $6m contract last i checked.

[Einhard]

I will repeat that you clearly know nothing about baseball and every post you add proves it. Contracts have nothing to do with actual value. They have to do with the vagaries of the market, with the timing and relative positions of the people bargaining.

Others have said it so I will just highlight. Comparing Wheeler to Kazmir or anyone else like that is totally irrelevant. When his time comes, Kazmir (if healthy) will make 4-5 times what Wheeler is getting. It simply is not his time yet because he is not eligible for arbitration or free agency. Wheeler can enter the market and so his cost rises. As others noted, compare him not to Kazmir but to other middle relievers in his category and with his options: Baez, Linebrink, Riske, Speier, Hawkins, Vizcaino et al.

The criticism of the Rays in the past has been their unwillingness to risk large contracts on lesser players. They were right then not to take such risks, but now, with contention on the horizon, they have to do exactly that to get over the top, and they are doing it the smart way, getting reasonable deals with players like Wheeler (and Shields and Pena) rather than squandering many more millions on the Linebrinks and Gagnes of the world.

As noted, Wheeler is actually making less than Percival, but even were he getting more, again that has to do with circumstance, in this case Percival's age and injury history compared to Wheeler's.

The Percival deal, by the way, was a perfect example of the Rays playing the market properly. Instead of giving huge contracts to injury prone and risky investments like Gagne (1 year at $10 million) or Dotel (2 years at $11 million total), they get someone admittedly also risky but for 2 years at $8 million guaranteed, and only more if he produces.

[raysfan]

I was stupid, sorry.

[Sean]

Yeah raysfan you are an idiot. Signing Wheeler to a long term deal was a smart move. A above average relief pitcher, with closing expirience can command double what we signed him for on the open market.

You can't compare contracts of players who are arbitration and pre arbitration. Carl Crawford is one the top left fielder in the game and up untill we signed him to a long term deal was paid like a rookie because of his age and he was under team control.

As for David Price, if we didn't give him 6 million we wouldn't have signed him. That is the market for stud 1st round draft picks.

[James]

Comparing Wheelers income to that of Kazmir's was very stupid. In due time Kaz will be paid among the leagues highest pither contracts in the $14-$20 Million range. To compare his worth to that of Wheelers new worth was reduiculous. Grow up Raysfan. The Rays are working the system correctly. See Carlos Pena, I'm sure if they signed him for 3 years 15 Million last spring you would've fliped out...then by July you would've been eating crow. Point is, just shut the F Up and enjoy the season and quit portraying to know the game better than those that are actualy invovled in it. Quit playing Dell GM.

[rayray]

The MLB's average salary in 08' for all players is $3 mill...

Stuie's got a briefcase afterall, & he's making it rain...

CC & Wheels says they want to be a Ray for a long time coming b/c they can see the positive things going on. These are the exact type of players the Rays want to have on board & need to attract.

Go Rays!

[Monkey]

Monkey in the rain, big trees, Wheeler, a drip and a spiral in a drain. Today?

[raysfan]

I'm still stupid, sorry.

[realraysfan]

some very mature knucklehead seems to have used my nickname a couple of times. get a life, loser.

[realrealraysfan]

I'm lonely.