Posting some comments from the various media sites here from all the stories posted in the team notes thread.
Adding Rodriguez may come as a surprise to some fans expecting the organization to trade for an elite closer or bring back former Tiger Joakim Soria.
This was clearly Plan C.
General manager Al Avila wasn’t comfortable with the asking price for Andrew Miller or Aroldis Chapman and wasn’t willing to move hot-shot prospect Michael Fulmer in either deal.
OutsidePitchMLB
Betancourt, 20, batted .263 (129?491) with 17 doubles, five triples, three home runs, and 48 RBI over 122 games with Single A Lakeland in 2015.
CBSDetroit
A 20-year-old middle infielder, Betancourt was ranked the Tigers’ 17th-best prospect in 2014 by MLBPipeline.com, and hit .263 with 25-extra-base hits at High-A Lakeland in 2015, playing primarily second base.
There may be a player to be named later coming back to the Tigers, as well — or there might not. “It’s a little bit complicated,” Avila said of the language of the deal.
That’s still not a lot to give up for a guy with 386 career saves — good for seventh on the all-time saves list — including 38 and 44 in the last two seasons. Especially In light of what the Red Sox gave up in trade for Craig Kimbrel over the weekend, and what the rumored costs would be for a guy like Aroldis Chapman.
OaklandPress
Betancourt shows some promise as a future big-league regular, but he is blocked by Jose Iglesias, Ian Kinsler and Dixon Machado. While he does have potential, he may not have as much as Iglesias or Machado over the long haul.
mcbtb
Along with his 386 saves, his sub-1.0 WHIP and his 4.6-1 strikeouts-to-walks ratio the last two seasons, Rodriguez will provide leadership and mentoring to an otherwise young stable of relief pitchers.
“One of the things that attracted us and our scouts was how in the bullpen he has been such a good leader for the pitchers,” said Tigers general manager Al Avila, who acquired Rodriguez from the Brewers in a trade for minor league second baseman Javier Betancourt. “We have some young guys and that’s what we want them to learn — how to get outs. That’s the most important thing.”
Detnews
Hitters swung and missed at his change-up 40 percent of the time last season, getting just 11 hits on 112 balls in play.
Rodriguez has pinpoint control of all his pitches and he throws the change-up from different arm angles, which enhances its effectiveness.
"I just kind of reinvented myself,” he said. “I got the opportunity to learn how to pitch early in my career when I was throwing hard. It's something that is working for me now at the end of my career. Just not to go out there and blow people away, but read hitters, figure out what they are trying to do and go by the situation of the game.
Detnews
Rodriguez will be the Tigers' seventh closer since 2013, a list that includes Jose Valverde, Joaquin Benoit, Joe Nathan, Joakim Soria, Rondon and Neftali Feliz. The closer's spot was the first order of business this offseason for Avila, who explored the trade market at last week's GM Meetings while also negotiating with Soria's agent on a potential return. The Rodriguez deal takes care of the spot without signing a long-term contract or heavily tapping a farm system that Detroit is working to rebuild.
Tigers official site
http://m.tigers.mlb.com/det/video/v...to-excel-in-detroit/?affiliateId=clubMEGAMENU
Webvideo K-Rod on being traded to Tigers.
Al Avila and Brad Ausmus introduce closer Francisco Rodriguez during an introductory conference call after he was acquired from the Brewers.
http://beck.mlblogs.com/2015/11/18/how-al-avilas-search-for-a-closer-landed-him-k-rod/
How Al Avila’s search for a closer landed him K-Rod.
JasonBeck'sTigersBlog
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/how-to-age-with-francisco-rodriguez/
How to age, with Francisco Rodriguez.
Fangraphs
He’s survived for a long time, and he’s even thrived for a long time. You can only do that by adapting. Francisco Rodriguez is a tremendous example of how a pitcher should want to age.
Ideally, you age without showing any external signs of it. Ideally you show up throwing 96 and you go out throwing 96. Ideally you can be a rare physical freak, but you don’t want to bet on being a freak, even if you are special and the only you in the whole wide world. Age affects everybody, even elite-level baseball players, and the key is to change without getting worse. Rodriguez might not be the pitcher he once was, in terms of his overall dominance, but he remains a good closer, despite age having drained his raw skill.
A decade ago, Rodriguez’s average fastball flew at nearly 95 miles per hour. Of all the pitchers who threw at least 50 innings, that fastball velocity put Rodriguez in the 95th percentile. He was, legitimately, a flame-thrower.
Last year, Rodriguez’s average fastball flew at just shy of 90 miles per hour. Of all the pitchers who threw at least 50 innings, that fastball velocity put Rodriguez in the 16th percentile. He was, legitimately, a soft-tosser.
A decade ago, Rodriguez posted a K-BB% of 24%. Last year, Rodriguez posted a K-BB% of 24%.
There are some differences in the profile, of course, and Rodriguez was a little better a decade ago, but he managed to approach that old level of success throwing about as hard as Mike Fiers and John Danks. This is what aging tends to do — it saps a pitcher’s top velocity. Rodriguez has lost a lot of his, but what he’s clearly learned to do is compensate. As such, Rodriguez just managed a career-high rate of strikes thrown. And he also allowed a career-low .229 OBP, putting him points ahead of Zack Greinke, Jake Arrieta, and Clayton Kershaw. It doesn’t matter that .229 presumably doesn’t measure Rodriguez’s actual true talent. His sustaining effectiveness is the point.
According to Cot's Contracts, Rodriguez has a salary of $7.5 million for the 2016 season. Of that salary, $2 million is deferred until 2018, interest free. So, if you're calculating the 2016 Opening Day payroll, he counts for $5.5 million.
Rodriguez also has a team option for 2017 which would cost $6 million to exercise, or $2 million to buy out.
bybtb
http://newenglishd.com/2015/11/18/tigers-get-guy-with-saves-but-pay-reasonable-price/
Tigers Get Guy With Saves, But Pay Reasonable Price.
nedtb
There is another dimension to Rodriguez. He’s known for being a bit of a hot-head and has had run-ins with teammates over the years. Those are the kinds of things you can brush aside in most cases, but he’s also been arrested for assaulting the father of his girlfriend and charged in a separate incident for assaulting the mother of his child. Those are not the kind of issues you want to brush aside. The details of the second incident are somewhat limited and it is possible that Rodriguez has made efforts to change over the last few years. It should not immediately disqualify him from employment with the team to have had these incidents in his past, but you don’t feel good about it either.
The Tigers are no strangers to putting allegedly violent and dangerous people in uniform, including Miguel Cabrera, Evan Reed, and Alfredo Simon in recent years. The reports about Rodriguez sound less egregious than those the Tigers have already embraced, but that doesn’t mean Rodriguez doesn’t have a shameful past which the Tigers should be worried about. At the very least, it won’t be easy to cheer for his personal success. Most of the world doesn’t care about athletes who get into fights and beat women. If you’re a good athlete, people will make excuses for your behavior because they care about winning more than they care about what is morally right. I’m not interested in doing that, but I understand that many of your are.
I wouldn’t have traded for K-Rod without evidence that he’s sought counseling for his personal flaws, shown remorse, and changed his ways. But in a baseball only vacuum the trade does help the team.
#Tigers offered Joakim Soria two years and $13M-$14M. He wants better; #Tigers were uncomfortbale. K-Rod makes that type of money.
http://mlb.mlb.com/fan_forum/podcasts/index.jsp?c_id=det
Podcast MLB.com Extras Detroit Tigers.
MLB.com's Anthony Castrovince and Tigers reporter Jason Beck break down all the angles of the Francisco Rodriguez acquisition and how else they can get the biggest bang for their buck this offseason.
