With the Redskins exploding like the Hindenburg against Cincinnati, I've been focusing on baseball and hockey this week. The Caps are playing pretty well (only first place team in DC), but BMFS and Snizza have hockey pretty well covered around these here parts, so I thought I'd come correct with some baseball free agency news/comments/poop jokes. Because what is baseball's free agency period without poop jokes? Lets dive right in, shall we?
C.C. Sabathia, NY Yankees - After lots of speculation, over-speculation, hand-wringing, passing of love notes, late night plane flights to and from San Francisco and, of course, the always required bidding against yourself, Yankees GM Brian Cashman finally got his man. He signed Sabathia, the best pitcher on the free agent market and one of the top ten starters in baseball to a huge contract. The media is reporting this as a 7 year, $161 million deal, but the opt-out after year three makes it essentially a three year, $69 million contract with a player option for an additional four years and $92 million. Giving seven years to any pitcher is very risky simply because most pitchers get injured eventually. Giving seven years to this pitcher is slightly less risky because he has no history of arm or shoulder problems (these tend to reoccur) and without getting all sabrmetric on yo' ass, Sabathia strikes lots of people out, doesn't walk people, and keeps whatever contact he gives up in the park by forcing hitters to hit the ball on the ground (hard to hit homers without hitting the ball in the air). These are all valuable aspects of any pitcher and finding all of them in one pitcher with little to no injury history is difficult to do. The Yankees had the money and with the retirement of Mike Mussina and the potential loss of Andy Pettitte, they had the need. Good signing.
A.J. Burnett, NY Yankees - For all the reasons that Sabathia is a good signing (excellent pitcher, little injury history), Burnett is not. That's not to say Burnett isn't a good pitcher, because he is, though he's not as good as Sabathia is, but when you give a guy a five year, $86 million contract, you pretty much want him to be very good with as few questions about his health and quality as possible. Burnett comes with many questions. He's a good pitcher when healthy, but he is often not healthy. He has been on the disabled list many times in his career (I'm too lazy to look it up but its about once a year), and only twice in his career has he pitched 200 innings in a season. Coincidentally or not both those years were the season before his contract expired. For those scoring at home, Burnett's contract does not expire for another five years. The Yankees can expect above average pitching most of the time with a number of DL stints. Its hard to argue that this is money well spent.
Jamie Moyer, Philadelphia Phillies - Moyer is old. O-L-D-E old. He will be 47 years old when his new 2 year contract is completed. This strikes me as a particularly bone-headed signing. The best case scenario is that Moyer replicates last season's accomplishments, but again without getting all sabermetric, that's not likely. The Phillies miraculously got two decent seasons out of Moyer and he was part of a World Champion. That's pretty good. As unlikely as that was to happen, repeating as World Champs with Moyer in the rotation is even more likely. This will end badly.
Raul Ibanez, Philadelphia Phillies - The player Ibanez will replace in left field for the Phillies, Pat Burrell, got on base and hit for power while striking out a lot and playing a pretty horrendous left field. Ibanez is likely to accomplish two out of those four. Its not that Ibanez is a bad player, because he isn't. He won't hit for the power that Burrell did, he won't get on base as much as Burrell did, he's almost as horrendous a fielder as Burrell is, and he's going to be 37 years old next season. Again, its not that Ibanez is a bad player, but he isn't who the Phillies are paying him to be.
C.C. Sabathia, NY Yankees - After lots of speculation, over-speculation, hand-wringing, passing of love notes, late night plane flights to and from San Francisco and, of course, the always required bidding against yourself, Yankees GM Brian Cashman finally got his man. He signed Sabathia, the best pitcher on the free agent market and one of the top ten starters in baseball to a huge contract. The media is reporting this as a 7 year, $161 million deal, but the opt-out after year three makes it essentially a three year, $69 million contract with a player option for an additional four years and $92 million. Giving seven years to any pitcher is very risky simply because most pitchers get injured eventually. Giving seven years to this pitcher is slightly less risky because he has no history of arm or shoulder problems (these tend to reoccur) and without getting all sabrmetric on yo' ass, Sabathia strikes lots of people out, doesn't walk people, and keeps whatever contact he gives up in the park by forcing hitters to hit the ball on the ground (hard to hit homers without hitting the ball in the air). These are all valuable aspects of any pitcher and finding all of them in one pitcher with little to no injury history is difficult to do. The Yankees had the money and with the retirement of Mike Mussina and the potential loss of Andy Pettitte, they had the need. Good signing.
A.J. Burnett, NY Yankees - For all the reasons that Sabathia is a good signing (excellent pitcher, little injury history), Burnett is not. That's not to say Burnett isn't a good pitcher, because he is, though he's not as good as Sabathia is, but when you give a guy a five year, $86 million contract, you pretty much want him to be very good with as few questions about his health and quality as possible. Burnett comes with many questions. He's a good pitcher when healthy, but he is often not healthy. He has been on the disabled list many times in his career (I'm too lazy to look it up but its about once a year), and only twice in his career has he pitched 200 innings in a season. Coincidentally or not both those years were the season before his contract expired. For those scoring at home, Burnett's contract does not expire for another five years. The Yankees can expect above average pitching most of the time with a number of DL stints. Its hard to argue that this is money well spent.
Jamie Moyer, Philadelphia Phillies - Moyer is old. O-L-D-E old. He will be 47 years old when his new 2 year contract is completed. This strikes me as a particularly bone-headed signing. The best case scenario is that Moyer replicates last season's accomplishments, but again without getting all sabermetric, that's not likely. The Phillies miraculously got two decent seasons out of Moyer and he was part of a World Champion. That's pretty good. As unlikely as that was to happen, repeating as World Champs with Moyer in the rotation is even more likely. This will end badly.
Raul Ibanez, Philadelphia Phillies - The player Ibanez will replace in left field for the Phillies, Pat Burrell, got on base and hit for power while striking out a lot and playing a pretty horrendous left field. Ibanez is likely to accomplish two out of those four. Its not that Ibanez is a bad player, because he isn't. He won't hit for the power that Burrell did, he won't get on base as much as Burrell did, he's almost as horrendous a fielder as Burrell is, and he's going to be 37 years old next season. Again, its not that Ibanez is a bad player, but he isn't who the Phillies are paying him to be.
More to come if I feel like it.
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