Yahoo!'s Tim Brown reports that Jose Valverde has reached a two-year agreement with the Tigers. It’s for $14 million, with an option for a third year. I’m a bit surprised that a deal like that was signed this late in the hot stove season.
Indeed, from Valverde’s perspective, this is the best deal any closer has got this offseason. Mike Gonzalez got two years, $12 million. Billy Wagner got one year, $7 million. Fernando Rodney got two years, $11 million. Brandon Lyon got three years, $15 million.
But the real winner in this deal is not Valverde, however. It’s the Astros, who get the Tiger’s first round pick and a supplemental first rounder (query: does simply printing draft picks like Weimar Germany lead to inflation? And does comparing supplemental picks to Weimar Germany mean that someone is Hitler here? I gotta be careful with that lest I turn into a hypocrite).
Anyway, maybe the picks aren’t that much, but it’s better than anything else they’ve done this offseason.