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08/17/2010 -
HOUSTON (AP) -The New York Mets are withholding injured closer Francisco Rodriguez's salary while he's sidelined, and the team wants to convert his contract to a non-guaranteed deal.
The moves could be a prelude to the Mets releasing the star closer without paying most of his 2011 salary.
Rodriguez was placed on the disqualified list Tuesday, six days after he tore a ligament in the thumb of his pitching hand while punching his girlfriend's father outside a family lounge at Citi Field. Rodriguez had surgery Tuesday to repair the self-inflicted injury and is expected to miss the rest of the season.
The Mets said he won't be paid while on the disqualified list. In addition, they said they were exercising a contractual right to convert the rest of his $37 million, three-year deal to non-guaranteed, meaning they could try to avoid paying most of what's left on it.
The players' association planned to fight the team's actions.
The Mets announced the move before Tuesday night's game at Houston in a conference call that included chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon, general manager Omar Minaya and executive vice president and general counsel David Cohen.
Rodriguez, a four-time All-Star, was suspended for two days without pay following the fight outside a family room at the ballpark last Wednesday.
By going on the disqualified list, Rodriguez will lose $3,016,393 of his $11.5 million salary this year. Added to the $125,683 he lost when the Mets put him on the restricted list for two days last week, the altercation already has cost him $3,142,076.
In addition, by converting his contract to non-guaranteed, the Mets gave themselves the ability to release Rodriguez in the early part of spring training next year for 30 days' termination pay. That would mean paying $1,885,246 rather than his $11.5 million salary next year. They still likely would owe the $3.5 million buyout attached to the $17.5 million club option for 2012 that's included in his deal.
The 28-year-old reliever was arrested and charged with third-degree assault and second-degree harassment following the fight. He was released on his own recognizance and is due back in court Sept. 14.
He will not be paid or accrue major league service time until he is deemed able to perform his job again and removed from the disqualified list, the Mets said.
``He has to get himself healthy and part of that has to do with anger management to deal with any issues he has right now,'' Wilpon said.
A player can remain on the disqualified list indefinitely.
``There's no specific time limit,'' Cohen said. ``A player can apply for reinstatement, otherwise he's reinstated at the time that the club believes that he is ready to perform the services under his contract.''
Rodriguez's lawyer, Jay Reisinger, declined comment on the Mets' decision. The players' association vowed to take action.
``The Mets' actions are without basis and I expect the union will file a challenge right away,'' players' association head Michael Weiner wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
If the union files a grievance and the case isn't settled, arbitrator Shyam Das would decide whether the Mets' actions were justified.
The Mets said they haven't decided if they'll try to void the remainder of K-Rod's contract, which would be an even stronger step that would potentially eliminate termination pay next year and the 2012 buyout. Wilpon said that's a decision that doesn't have to be made now, but the team will reserve its right to do that in the future.
Minaya said the club is not aware of any problems with violence in Rodriguez's past. The GM said he hopes Rodriguez will return next season.
``We do plan on bringing him back next year,'' Minaya said. ``Today we want him back. Let's see how this process goes.''
Doctors have told the team that if Rodriguez performs his rehabilitation, he'll be ready for spring training next year.
When Rodriguez returned from his suspension, he apologized to teammates and fans, then gave up a leadoff double but didn't allow a run in a 4-0 loss to Philadelphia on Saturday.
Mets manager Jerry Manuel said Monday that Rodriguez didn't indicate he was injured before pitching in Saturday's game. Manuel said he first learned of the injury on Sunday.
Rodriguez is accused of grabbing 53-year-old Carlos Pena, hauling him into a tunnel near the family lounge beneath Citi Field and hitting him in the face. Pena was taken to a hospital with a scrape and swelling above his eyebrow.
Hisanori Takahashi got his first career save while filling in for Rodriguez in a 3-1 win over the Astros on Monday night.
Right-hander Ryota Igarashi was recalled from Triple-A Buffalo before Tuesday's game to take Rodriguez's roster spot.
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AP Sports Writer Ronald Blum in New York contributed to this report.Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
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In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.
And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.
Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.
So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.
Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)
The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.
As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.
The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.
In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.
Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.
And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.
So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.
There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.
So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.
And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.
There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)
Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.
Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.
Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.
So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.
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