Why didn't the Brewers make a similar offer?
"Blue Jays agreed to terms with RHP Tomo Ohka, who had been with the Brewers, on a one-year, $1.5 million contract."
Sure, he has some injury issues, but at that price, a gamble for a stop gap type starting pitcher seems like a good idea. Besides, Uecker and Powell agree that he's a good clubhouse guy, for what that's worth. I would have like to see old crazy arm vein back if for nothing but the occassional Asian jokes that he supplied to our local broadcasters. With the contracts we've seen this winter for mediocre starting pitchers, $1.5 mil seems like pennies.
posted by $lash @ 7:46 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Agreed, Slash...I'd take Ohka for that price in a second. Curious as to why the Crew wouldn't try to extend him for at least another year for similar money...I'd have to say he's a good number of wins better than Gil Meche. In my mind, all free agent pitching contracts this offseason will be compared to Meche, and for $1.5 mil, Ohka is a steal. Shame on Doug Melvin for this one, since we all know you need at least 7 starters on a roster these days.
This move actually helps explain Melvin's decision to me. I was pissed off that the Brewers didn't offer Ohka arbitration, figuring that he'd either refuse and give the Brewers 2 extra draft picks in the second/third round or he'd accept and the Brewers would have him back. But, clearly, the Brewers didn't want to pay him the $6 million he would have gotten in arbitration. Looking at this we know he would have accepted the offer. The Brewers would have been paying him $4.5 million over the market rate. Concerns about his health are obviously huge.
So we know why he wasn't offered arbitration now. Under the old collective bargaining agreement, the Brewers could not have signed him until May 1 if they didn't offer him arbitration. I don't think that rule exists under the new CBA, so the Brewers presumably could have signed him to a $2M deal or something like it after refusing him arbitration. It looks like we're pretty much in agreement that they should have done that. This is a risk-reward analysis. If he pitches great, he's one of the best values in the league. And, the Brewers would probably be able to get two extra draft picks for him, possible first rounders, after the 2007 season.
Thee fact that the Brewers didn't sign him makes me wonder about his shoulder, though. But, I question Melvin and Co.'s judgment considering how much of a ridiculous premium they placed on a "pitcher who can make 35 starts." On this note, I think we should do a community projection for Jeff Suppon.
I am in agreement with Jimmy here. Clearly, if the Ohk Dawg only received 1.5 mil on the market, he is not perceived to be a starting pitcher by any major league team. Keep in mind that the 1.5 million dollar contract offered was likely the best offer he received. The brewers would have paid a steep premium (percentage-wise not dissimilar to the premium paid for Il Pederast).
Frankly, this team cannot afford to rely on Tomo Ohka this year given the injury concerns around Ben Sheets. Ohka may have been a nice addition with Suppan already in the fold, but at that point, what's the use? Losing two starting pitchers last year was disastrous for the team, and assuming that sheets is going to go down at some point, it would be crippling this year, probably costing yost and perhaps melvin their jobs.
We can't afford to spend another season scraping through the minor leagues for players that may or may not be mentally prepared to handle pitching at the major league level. Gallardo is likely ready, but it behooves the Brewers to give him some extra preparation in the minors while simultaneously staggering his arbitration period.
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