Quote:
Originally Posted by Palaaemon
SP Cheol-han Lee 98-38 (.721) record (from 1970-1975 only - all the info I had at hand).
The question is, WHY did he opt out? Was it because of money? No. He only had one more year left on his contract. He wanted to capitalize on yet another great year and sign a contract to get him to the end of his career or close to it. You really can't blame the guy. It makes sense. He probably will even make additional money as well. What he has done for the Denver Brewers, he deserves it.
Just how important is he to the organization of now and the near future while he is still playing and where does he stand in regards to "retiring as a Brewer" before he is most assuredly voted into the Hall of Fame? If I remember correctly you had mentioned that you wanted him to retire a Brewer, am I right? He is 34 now, (how far from 35 I don't know) how long before he begins to break down? Does that make any difference if he IS destined to retire in the purple? Does the price to sign him back matter at all? I think that I know the answer to all of these questions, and if I am correct he will be back in a Brewer uniform when pitchers and catchers report in February (assuming he doesn't decide to sign with another team). Which I think he won't.
Get a meeting with him asap, gauge his interest, if you feel he is a wiggling worm hook him right then and there. Give him your best offer with incentives to sweeten the deal (this time with no opt outs or options, either player or team. You want him to retire a Brewer right?). Then close the deal with your first Hall of Famer SP Cheol-han Lee.  Then it's time to go celebrate!  
Have a Great night my man!
Palaaemon |
Well, this is a question I knew I would have to answer pretty soon (not the question from you, necessarily, but the over-arching question of whether to extend Cheol-han or not), I just thought it would be at the end of next season at the earliest. I do have to wonder a bit also if our 103 win season had actually resulted in a KCS appearance and possibly another WPK championship, whether Cheol's calculus would have been a bit different.
Approaching 35 years old, Cheol-han was still very good this year, of course. And his nearly 37 year old left-handed counterpart, Jake Harris (spoiler alert!) just won his 4th SJL Pitcher of the Year award, while Cheol-han was in the running for the MGL honor. (We all know who got that, though full reporting will follow tonight.) His stuff is merely average at this point and many of the pitches in his arsenal are not what they used to be, but he retains elite movement and control and these keep him near the top of the pile.
I see no reason why he wouldn't have another good season in 1976 and maybe even a few more after that. But while I have appreciated all of the quality Lee has brought to the team, I am not absolutely committed to trying to keep him in a Brewer uniform up to his retirement, unless that makes sense and can be worked out in a reasonable way. The reality is that we have plenty of money. That isn't an issue. The Brewers welcomed
well over 3 million fans into Centennial Stadium this season, breaking their own WPK record. We have always turned a nice profit for our owner and though he does tend towards frugality, he has slowly raised our budget to be among the league's highest. We could invest in 3 or 4 superstars this off-season and still be under budget a bit, especially given the buy-out of Ryan Rodgers contract, the trade of several others, and the likely non-tender to arbitration eligible Harry Lyerly. (No reasonable trade has yet been identified for Lyerly.)
So, first things first, he might accept our offer of arbitration and not file for free agency. We aren't quite there yet so for now we wait to see what his decision is on that front. Failing that, it is certainly possible that we will explore signing him and bringing him back as a free agent. The real question will be how many years he wants, not how many dollars. We can do the dollars, but it might not make sense to do the years depending on his expectations in that regard. And again, free agent filings haven't happened yet so it's impossible to know exactly who will be out there available, but indications are that Mike Stagner, a similar pitcher to Cheol-han, but a few years younger, should be the top pitcher on the market, outside of Lee. So if we are to sign a pitcher to take Cheol's place, that would likely be the one we would target.
The most recent indications are that Sekien Hamasaki is coming along quite well and could be a middle of the rotation arm. We did sign international free agent Sadahige Kawasaki last off-season partly as a hedge against Cheol-han's inevitable decline and/or absence from the team. Of course, there are always injuries to account for and Matt Helm, who profiles as fragile, likely can't avoid a serious injury forever. But with young John Weaver also showing signs of being big league ready (at least as a back-end of the rotation arm or swing man), and minor leaguer Jim Atwell looking good and maybe only a few seasons away, we might be okay standing pat, even without Cheol-han. This is the tough decision that will have to be made this off-season. But likely it will come down to how negotiations go with Cheol-han and Stagner.
Almost surely though, when Cheol-han does eventually head to the Hall, it will be as a Brewer. Even if his career in Denver has come to an end.