1.19.2004
Pedro Feliz, Brower Muy Feliz
This just in: two arbitration-eligible Giants have signed contracts. Not surprisingly, Pedro Feliz signed a one-year deal for $850,000, just $100K more than I estimated.
More of a surprise is that Jim Brower signed a two-year deal worth $1.825 M plus nearly half a mil more in incentives. That's pretty sweet cash, although I've argued before that Brower was an unsung hero of the Giants' staff last year. It's a nice enough chunk of change to make a 30-year-old journeyman pitcher happy, and it's not so nice that we're left wondering why that cash didn't go to Juan Gonzalez.
The contract is backloaded: $625,000 this year (plus a $75K signing bonus, so I'll count him as $700K against this year's payroll) and more than a mil in 2005. If he continues to do what he did last year, he's worth it. (Subtract his worst outing of the year -- 6 earned runs in 1/3 inning in garbage time vs. LA in April -- and his ERA drops from 3.96 to 3.43, his WHIP from 1.29 to 1.23.)
One could argue that $700K is a lot to pay for the long man out of the bullpen, but when that long man has proven he can, say, step into the starting rotation and shut down the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium in July when the other starters need a break, the pay seems more than reasonable.
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This just in: two arbitration-eligible Giants have signed contracts. Not surprisingly, Pedro Feliz signed a one-year deal for $850,000, just $100K more than I estimated.
More of a surprise is that Jim Brower signed a two-year deal worth $1.825 M plus nearly half a mil more in incentives. That's pretty sweet cash, although I've argued before that Brower was an unsung hero of the Giants' staff last year. It's a nice enough chunk of change to make a 30-year-old journeyman pitcher happy, and it's not so nice that we're left wondering why that cash didn't go to Juan Gonzalez.
The contract is backloaded: $625,000 this year (plus a $75K signing bonus, so I'll count him as $700K against this year's payroll) and more than a mil in 2005. If he continues to do what he did last year, he's worth it. (Subtract his worst outing of the year -- 6 earned runs in 1/3 inning in garbage time vs. LA in April -- and his ERA drops from 3.96 to 3.43, his WHIP from 1.29 to 1.23.)
One could argue that $700K is a lot to pay for the long man out of the bullpen, but when that long man has proven he can, say, step into the starting rotation and shut down the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium in July when the other starters need a break, the pay seems more than reasonable.
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