Only five months to go...
I love how we're all writing about baseball and it's November. Why, hello, Incredibly Long Off-season. Add my name to the ranks of people already missing 6-4-3 double plays, the sight of funky facial hair, dugout antics, and the smell of El Tiante Cuban sandwiches outside Fenway Park.
But lucky for us, the off-season has proven more than intriguing. And by "intriguing" I mean "utterly bizarre."
Let's start with Frank Thomas. The guy had a fantastic season with Oakland, who couldn't have expected much from the injury-ridden slugger. They certainly got their money's worth there, paying a mere $500,000 for 39 homers, 114 RBI, and a strong post-season performance. Now? The Blue Jays are closing in on a two- or three-year deal for Thomas that could be worth up to $30 million. Um... what? This guy is 38 years-old. This is where a VP of Common Sense (as proposed by Bill Simmons) would come in handy for the Jays. Sometimes I really wonder what goes on in front offices.
Like, for example, why the Red Sox whined about the Yankees overpaying for Bobby Abreu but decided it was a good idea to fork over what will now be known as Matsuzaka Money. I honestly don't know what to think about it. I am not so blind as to overlook the obvious here: Coming off a less-than-great year, the Sox knew they'd have to be competitive this off-season, Matsuzaka is the WBC MVP, and negotiations would help with future deals for Japanese players. But. The implications of this deal will affect much more than the Red Sox pitching rotation. Essentially, these goings-on screw every small market team, every organization hoping to re-sign their pretty good pitchers for a reasonable price. This deal will affect baseball in the same way the A-Rod contract did. The bar has been raised, pitchers and their agents WILL be more greedy than ever, and you can bet those GM's who don't have $100+ million to invest in their players are not pleased.
In other news, A-Rod is now reiterating that he wants to stay in New York. Why? The fans hate him, he doesn't seem to click in New York, and he can't possibly be happy. I don't get this guy and I probably never will.
Finally, I'm not sure if I agree with Joe Girardi getting NL Manager of the Year. I understand what he had to work with: a $15 million payroll, a young team, an unsupportive owner. But his team had a losing record. Girardi is the first manager to receive the award with a losing record, and there's a reason for that: It should NEVER happen. The argument for Girardi is that he kept Florida in contention all season. Okay. So apparently, "in contention" means finishing 78-84 in a AAAA league, 19 games out of first place and 10 games out of the Wild Card race. I dunno. It just doesn't seem right for Willie Randolph to walk away from this season with little more than a divisional title.
So yeah, um... is it April yet?
But lucky for us, the off-season has proven more than intriguing. And by "intriguing" I mean "utterly bizarre."
Let's start with Frank Thomas. The guy had a fantastic season with Oakland, who couldn't have expected much from the injury-ridden slugger. They certainly got their money's worth there, paying a mere $500,000 for 39 homers, 114 RBI, and a strong post-season performance. Now? The Blue Jays are closing in on a two- or three-year deal for Thomas that could be worth up to $30 million. Um... what? This guy is 38 years-old. This is where a VP of Common Sense (as proposed by Bill Simmons) would come in handy for the Jays. Sometimes I really wonder what goes on in front offices.
Like, for example, why the Red Sox whined about the Yankees overpaying for Bobby Abreu but decided it was a good idea to fork over what will now be known as Matsuzaka Money. I honestly don't know what to think about it. I am not so blind as to overlook the obvious here: Coming off a less-than-great year, the Sox knew they'd have to be competitive this off-season, Matsuzaka is the WBC MVP, and negotiations would help with future deals for Japanese players. But. The implications of this deal will affect much more than the Red Sox pitching rotation. Essentially, these goings-on screw every small market team, every organization hoping to re-sign their pretty good pitchers for a reasonable price. This deal will affect baseball in the same way the A-Rod contract did. The bar has been raised, pitchers and their agents WILL be more greedy than ever, and you can bet those GM's who don't have $100+ million to invest in their players are not pleased.
In other news, A-Rod is now reiterating that he wants to stay in New York. Why? The fans hate him, he doesn't seem to click in New York, and he can't possibly be happy. I don't get this guy and I probably never will.
Finally, I'm not sure if I agree with Joe Girardi getting NL Manager of the Year. I understand what he had to work with: a $15 million payroll, a young team, an unsupportive owner. But his team had a losing record. Girardi is the first manager to receive the award with a losing record, and there's a reason for that: It should NEVER happen. The argument for Girardi is that he kept Florida in contention all season. Okay. So apparently, "in contention" means finishing 78-84 in a AAAA league, 19 games out of first place and 10 games out of the Wild Card race. I dunno. It just doesn't seem right for Willie Randolph to walk away from this season with little more than a divisional title.
So yeah, um... is it April yet?
posted by Pam at 5:14 PM
4 Comments:
I've done that math, and without Girardi managing, the Marlins would have won 3.45 games, which means if they were on the west coast, they'd be only 5 games back of first place. Also, Willie Randolph's attrocious acting in a subway commercial with Torre kept him out of contention for anything.
I'm not sure how crazy the market will jump because of Mastuwhatever, only because his actual contract will probably be reasonable to the market standard. Meanwhile, his Japanese team is taking in 51.1 million cause they called dibs on him. Amazing.
Speaking of Asians, Wang got second in Cy Young voting. He won like 19 games. Does anyone recognize this? I don't think I did....
Hahaha, like agents and players weren't already crazy greedy. It will probably affect the future international bidding process, but I don't know that it will make much of a difference for regular old player salaries since the $51M has nothing to do with salary.
I agree that it was disingenuous of the Sox to act like they didn't have the money to spend on Abreu - they just didn't want to go over the luxury tax to get him, while the Yanks had no such qualms.
Similarly, I also think it's disingenuous to act like other owners *can't* have afforded to pony up for Matsuzaka... a lot of them are probably richer than the Sox owners. It might not have been a good investment for them (whether it is a good investment for the Sox remains to be seen), but a lot of them had plenty of money.
Also, Frank Thomas got paid more like $2.5-3M for last year - the contract was for $500k but was VERY incentive laden. Which was a smart way to go for the A's, since it ensured that they got what they paid for. But the Jays are mildly retarded if they give him anything more than 2/$10. He still has power but he is an OLD OLD MAN.
Matsuzaka will most likely get a $9 or $10 million/year contract, around market standard for a proven starter, but I see agents using the combined $90 million (or whatever it comes out to) as leverage. Let's say the Sox sign Matsuzaka to a 4-year, $40 million contract. You have to think of him costing $22 million a year and not $10 million, and that's what agents could very well use in contract negotiations. Sure, the $51 million isn't part of the player's salary, but the team was willing to pay that nonetheless. It WILL bump up pitcher market values, and not just for top-tier guys.
137 Days... :)
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