Orange County Register

The reaction to Francisco Rodriguez’s comment the other day that he is “probably” in his last season with the Angels has been startling.

The overwhelming vocal majority of fans clicking on the poll on this web site asking what to do about Rodriguez’s contract situation voted to send him and his trademark goggles packing — 166 of 263 respondents voted to trade him now before it’s too late.

That seems to be a knee-jerk response from fans tired of (a) millionaire ballplayers complaining about their multi-million dollar contracts; (b) waiting for Manny Ramirez’s ALDS home run to come down and (c) Rodriguez’s propensity to walk one, strikeout one, wild pitch the runner to second, walk another, strike out another and go to the full count each time before recording the save.

Given that saves might be the most overrated statistic in baseball, it’s still important to remember that Rodriguez is one of the best closers in the game and finding someone else who can convert 132 of 147 save chances in a three-year stretch won’t be as easy as you think. Remember — Scot Shields struggled far more than Rodriguez in the second half last season and bullpens around baseball are littered with setup men who couldn’t handle the transition to pitching the ninth inning instead of the seventh or eighth.

Keep this in mind, too. Any team trading for Rodriguez would very well know they were “probably” only renting him for a season before he became a free agent, thus limiting what Angels GM Tony Reagins could get in return.

That is not an option Reagins will admit to having on his ‘to-do’ list. The new GM was asked the other day about the possibility of trading Rodriguez at some point this season in order to get some value in return (besides a draft pick as free agent compensation).

“He’s going to be a part of this club and an important piece of us trying to reach our goal,” Reagins said.

When pressed, he said “Our plan is to have him here the whole season.”

But at another point in that same conversation, Reagins had said “You never say never.” At the time, he was talking about the possibility of negotiating a contract extension with Rodriguez during the season. But the caveat applies.

From Rodriguez’s perspective, he (and his agent) have reason to look down their noses at the Angels’ last multi-year offer — three years, $34 million — given the recent market for free agent closers. Just this past winter, Francisco Cordero got $46 million over four years from the Reds. A year earlier, the Blue Jays committed $47 million over five years to B.J. Ryan.

Neither has a track record as impressive as Rodriguez. Even on a free-agent market that might also include Twins closer Joe Nathan next winter, Rodriguez would almost certainly have better offers than three years for $34 million.

– BILL PLUNKETT/The Orange County Register

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.