Decision Time: The Brewers 2009 Type B Free Agents

The Elias Sports Bureau released its 2009 free agent rankings Elias Rankings Rumors: MLB Rumors - MLBTradeRumors.com On this list is five players from the Brewers 2009 campaign.

Mike Cameron, Braden Looper, David Weathers, Felipe Lopez, and Jason Kendall are all free agents this year. It appears that they will be cutting ties with all of them based either on financial, or production concerns.

For losing a type "B" free agent the Brewers would receive a compensation pick sandwiched between the first and second rounds of next years first year players draft.

While this sounds great there is also a catch. The Brewers will have to offer salary arbitration to the player and have them not except to receive this compensation.

So with limited money to spend this year, and most of it needed for improving the pitching staff, the Brewers need to be very sure that any player offered arbitration would decline it.

So lets take a look at each player and what the chances that they will be offered arbitration.

Mike Cameron- This one is a lock, meaning that the Brewers will let Mice Cameron walk without offering him arbitration. Last year he made $10 million dollars and the Brewers can't risk him accepting an offer anywhere near that amount.

David Weathers- Friday the Brewers declined Weathers 2010 option for $3.7M, electing instead to buy him out for $400,000. While the Brewers may still have interest in the aging reliever, it will be at a much lower cost than last years contract. So, for this reason they will not offer arbitration to David Weathers, but don’t count out a possible deal later in the off-season.

Braden Looper- The Brewers have a tough decision coming up on Looper. There is a mutual option for 2010 and a $750,000 buy-out. With the limited amount of money the Brewers have this off-season, I am of the belief that they should run as far, and as fast as they can from this deal and arbitration.

Jason Kendall- Last year Jason Kendall made $5 million dollars. I believe that the Brewers will approach Jason Kendall like they will David Weathers. Arbitration is a long shot for Kendall because if the Brewers keep him, they will need to sign him for at least half of what he made did in 2009. If Kendall is offered arbitration I believe he will accept it and the Brewers know this. So for that reason, I don’t think they will offer arbitration.

Felipe Lopez- This one was made a lot easier by the fact that Felipe is the top rated type B Free agent for second basemen. Although he was originally projected as a type A free agent, this makes the decision a no-brainer for the brewers. With Lopez making $3.5 million in 2009, he should see a considerable increase in pay, coming off his best season as a professional.