Jose Valverde's option picked up by Tigers

that being said, I fully expected it to happen.

I would have been okay with resigning him, but at $9 mil for an aging closer with increasing walk rates/decreasing strikeout rates, I’m not very pleased.

at least in terms of saves gave DD little choice

One of the top relievers in the game and one less worry for 2012!!! Papa Grande is back and all is well in the D for the 9th!!!

Not horrible.

I think he’s being a bit overpaid next season. I doubt that if he hit the market, he would be able to find a contract that pays 9M annually or more. He’d probably sign a 2yr/15M deal or 3yr/20M.

That being said, the option secures our closer for another year. He doesn’t have the opportunity to go elsewhere. A lot of people don’t see this as being worth something, but having the guy locked up already is a hell of a lot easier than shopping and competing with the 20 other clubs looking for relief help.

All in all, it’s a good deal. We could probably promote Benoit and have similar success in the 9th, but then we have a problem with the 8th and it keeps trickling down. Until our bullpen is reliable from the 6th inning onward, we shouldn’t be letting arms walk.

I thought the idea of declining and offering arby was intriguing, but ultimately, that comes down to getting a draft pick or keeping Valverde. I wouldn’t trade him for a sandwich pick. Once again, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

The alternative would have been to decline the option and either try to negotiate a multi year contract with El Papa, or let him walk with an offer of arbitration and collect the two draft picks when he declines to get a multi year deal on the open market.

True that closers are over priced by comparison with set up men who often pitch in situations that are just as high leverage as closing. But DD has always, always heavily favored closers, even to the extent that he’d sign a free agent closer when he was hardly signing free agents at all. Valverde’s contract broke a string of three consecutive winters where the Tigers has not signed a single free agent to a multi year contract. That was done in a winter where they traded Scherzer and Granderson to clear payroll so that they could fill some other vacancies, beginning with closer as the chief priority. Urbina, Percival, Todd Jones twice, Lyon, and Valverde were all free agents that were signed as closers, so this should be a surprise to nobody.

While DD has not made a habit of stockpiling compensation picks like other GM’s have done, it’s very likely that Valverde will still be a Type A free agent in a year, so the picks will still be there as long as he is offered arbitration on the way out. But for this season, letting him go would have meant replacing him with another closer, and they are expensive on the open market, or by way of a trade. This really had to be done.

And that’s why he’s not being paid like Rivera. Even with a $2 million raise, he’s still $6 million behind.

Is the Big Potato overpaid? Yep, as are most veteran closers. Is he due to regress? Probably, but it would be silly to expect otherwise after a 49-49 season.

But free agency is a crap shoot, There is no guarantee the Tigers could find a comparable closer for less or equal money. They would probably have to pay thru the nose and give more years than anyone would feel comfortable doing, or gamble on signing a setup man they think could step into the closer role.

And it’s pretty obvious none of the young relievers are near ready to step up. Would you want to go into the season with Perry or Schlereth as the closer? Even if you believe closers are overrated, as I do, I don’t.

Why bother going round and round trying to find a closer when all you have to do with Valverde is sign on the dotted line? Go with Valverde for another season, and see where things stand after 2012. By that time, maybe the Tigers will have an in-house candidate to close, or Valverde will have earned an extension. But until then, I’m fine with the status quo.

With the shape of the bullpen, this means one less arm to worry about. As others have stated, free agency is a spin-the-wheel scenario where you never really know what you’re going to get. Valverde might come down from this year’s awesomeness, but I don’ see him taking any major steps backward.

And on to those ideas that he is a fan favorite and brings some energy to the team, and I think it’s a good move.

Can we do one more game thread since this is the last baseball game of 2011?

I just hope people aren’t too upset in the likely event that the Tigers have an average closer in 2012.