Brewers, Turnbow agree to three-year, $6.5M deal

[BoSox34]

MILWAUKEE -- Closer Derrick Turnbow and the Milwaukee Brewers agreed Sunday to a $6.5 million, three-year contract, replacing the $488,000, one-year deal he signed in February.

The 28-year-old righty tied the Brewers season saves record last year with 39, a mark Dan Kolb set in 2004. The 39 saves ranked fifth in the NL last season, when Turnbow was 7-1 with a 1.74 ERA.

He struck out a career-high 64 batters in 67 1/3 innings.

Turnbow gets $1 million this year, $2.3 million in 2007 and $3.2 million in 2008. He can earn $300,000 annually in performance bonuses: $50,000 each for 45 and 50 games finished, $75,000 for 55 games finished and $125,000 for 60 games finished.

Milwaukee also purchased the contract of minor league pitcher Jared Fernandez and returned catchers Mark Johnson and Vinny Rottino to its minor league camp.

Fernandez went 0-1 with a 4.22 ERA in nine appearances with the team during spring training. Johnson hit .412 with four RBI, and Rottino batted .387 with 10 RBI.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2394211

[redsrbetter]

Ugliest guy in baseball. But a damn good pitcher for the Brew Crew. Great signing getting him locked up at an early age.

[Kingdom]

That's a lot of money for a reliever who's only performed well for one year.

[redsrbetter]

Well he was simply nasty today. Throwing a regular 97 mph heater and fooling hitters with his breaking pitch (slurve) for his out pitch. He was phenominal and I think he will be a standout closer in this league.