Beimel Still Unemployed

Ken Gurnick has a thoughtful piece on the slow off-season for Joe Beimel. From the article:

He's a job seeker coming off three consistently efficient seasons as a Major League reliever, and left-handed at that. He wasn't looking for Manny Ramirez money, but when the comparable Jeremy Affeldt signed a two-year, $8 million deal with the Giants in November, Beimel (who earned $2.045 million last year) figured he'd be fine.

He figured wrong. The free-agent market suddenly collapsed with the economy, especially at his position. He said he's spoken with 16 teams, none making an offer worth accepting. Not even an offer in hindsight he'd accept.

"It's been strange and I can't put my finger on it," Beimel said. "I put up good numbers three straight years, I'm durable. Usually that means you get a good contract, but it just hasn't happened this year. It's just really weird. I haven't even had a reasonable offer to negotiate with. I don't want to sign just to sign. It's definitely discouraging, but you've got to deal with it. I'll just wait it out."

"People were saying I wanted too much money or years, but neither I nor my agent said anything like that," he said. "I don't know where they're getting it. People don't realize, they think you're holding out for multiyears or a bunch of money. That's not the case with me. I'm just waiting to get something halfway decent. I'm sure as Spring Training goes on, guys get hurt or don't perform and there will be plenty of opportunities."

There is little doubt that Beimel would help any team that signs him, including the Dodgers. Often used by Joe Torre as nothing more than a situational left-hander, the Dodgers now find themselves with Hong-Chih Kuo as the only proven lefty in the bullpen. Kuo, though fragile, is certainly more valuable to the Dodgers than merely a situational guy.

Beimel's ERA of 2.02 last season is misleading as he was often used during situations that would play into his favor; however, if my recollection serves me correctly, Beimel came through for us more often than not during the past few seasons. If the Dodgers are willing to give Guillermo Mota and his abysmal track record over $2 million for this season they could certainly pony up less, and get more, in Joe Beimel.