Francisco Rodriguez Waives Vesting Option

According to Ken Rosenthal, the Milaukee Brewers' Francisco Rodriguez has agreed to waive the vesting option in his contract that would pay him $17.5 million in 2012 if he were to finish 55 games on the season. At the time of his trade, Rodriguez only needed to finish 21 games in order to activate the 2012 option.

If I understand correctly, in exchange for Rodriguez waiving the option, the Brewers will simply increase the amount in Rodriguez' buyout from $3.5 million to $4 million. If you want to get technical, the Brewers will only be paying an addition $500K because the Mets will be paying the original $3.5 million buyout.

Instead of potentially earning $17.5 million with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2012, Rodriguez will instead hit the free agent market for the second time in his career - this time as a 29 year old. With the newly hired Scott Boras as his agent, Rodriguez could be in for a pretty healthy payday.

Even though Boras will be negotiating Rodriguez' next contract, I still think it is hard to throw away the potential opportunity to earn $17.5 million in one season. On the flip side, Rodriguez will now get to choose his next destination and will probably get multiple years. There are positives on both sides.

This is great for the Brewers. They can now use Rodriguez however they want without putting themselves between a rock and a hard place. They won't have to worry about being on the hook for a ridiculous salary and they won't have to awkwardly dance around questions regarding why they wouldn't let Rodriguez close a particular game. Not to mention they will probably receive draft pick compensation when he leaves for free agency.

I suppose everyone is happy and this situation is officially resolved. On to the next rumor...