USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets “Brandon Webb’s rehab is going well, but the Dbacks don’t plan to pick up his $8.5 million option. They will try to negotiate a 1-year deal.”
The problem with a 140-character limit is that it prevents a guy like Nightengale from explaining why a team would pass up on the chance at a healthy Webb for $6.5 million. And it is only $6.5, because if they decline the option they’re still on the hook for the $2 million buyout. Yes, the guy had surgery, but if he’s even remotely effective next year -- and it’s not like he’s coming off of Tommy John surgery here -- he’s a bargain at $6.5.
I suppose the Dbacks could know something about his health that we don’t know, but if so, why then would they be trying to do a 1-year deal rather than just letting him walk? And how much cheaper is that 1-year deal likely to be? If they screw him into the ground and no one else is interested, the best they can probably do is $3-4 million, right? If they do that and if he does turn in a bounce back season, they have effectively alienated one of the better pitchers in the NL over a lousy couple million bucks.
Nightengale was at the Dodger-Dbacks game last night so you have to figure he based this nugget on an actual conversation, but I still can’t help but think that Arizona will pick up the option.
