Amid celebrations focused on winning the Heartland division, fans of the team might miss the fact that the club signed bit players Alejandro Rodriguez and Edgardo Llauro to extensions, avoiding arbitration processes in both cases.
Rodriguez signed a 1-season deal rumored to pay him $1.15M, despite the fact that there’s every chance he’ll spend next year in AAA. “We’d love to find Alejandro a place to play full time in the big leagues,” said GM Ron Collins. “But it takes two to tango, and we’re not giving him away for free.” With Dong-po Thum at third base, it’s unlikely Rodriguez will find a lot of time in the big leagues. That said, the Nine is gaining a well-deserved reputation as being one of the deeper teams in the league. It’s nice to be able to afford buying injury insurance.
Llauro’s contract is a bit more intriguing—$720K a year for three seasons. Llauros’ numbers have been ugly, but a large part of that is that he’s often used to start games, and tends to struggle in that role. For example, his ERA as a starter this year is 48.60. As a reliever, however, Llauro has thrown 7.2 innings and given up zero runs. That’s right, he has a 0.00 ERA as a loogy. So this real locks him in for three years at a low rate…but it also ensures the club doesn’t release him—or at least that he’ll have a salary even if the team does.
“I like being in Yellow Springs,” Llauro said prior to signing the deal. “I’ve done made $1.5M over three years. Add $2Mm more guaranteed and I think I’m doing okay.