MLB Offseason

This Anthony Bosch interview about Arod cheating is amazing. I just can't give Arod the benefit of doubt anymore do to his history. Blood samples taken at a club in Miami? He should never be allowed to play baseball again

Anthony Bosch says Alex Rodriguez paid him $12K per month - ESPN New York (http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_/id/10284817/anthony-bosch-says-alex-rodriguez-paid-12k-per-month)

Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers agree to seven-year deal worth $215 million - ESPN Los Angeles (http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/mlb/story/_/id/10298436/clayton-kershaw-los-angeles-dodgers-agree-seven-year-deal-worth-215-million)

30mil/yr for a pitcher? Hell for any player. Salaries are beyond stupid in baseball.

The baseball economics are healthy at the moment.

Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers agree to seven-year deal worth $215 million - ESPN Los Angeles (http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/mlb/story/_/id/10298436/clayton-kershaw-los-angeles-dodgers-agree-seven-year-deal-worth-215-million)

30mil/yr for a pitcher? Hell for any player. Salaries are beyond stupid in baseball.

You know I gotta agree...I just dont think its a good investment to pay someone who only plays once every five days. Plus the propensity for shoulder injuries, elbow injuries, with starting pitchers. I think you can find better options for 30 mil. The Dodgers mismanagement over the last 10 years is well documented, but them, like the Yankees, make a ton of money in their markets. For the record, I really enjoy watching Kershaw pitch, big fan.

To me when considering this you have to first ignore players on first contracts whom you have to scout, draft, develop and keep healthy...all of which makes them basically a totally different animal.

Once you get to established pitchers on second+ contracts the cost of wins goes up almost exponentially.

A pitcher who can win an average amount of games is worth an average amount of money...say $7 mil for 10 wins.

But a pitcher who can win 20 games is worth more like $20 mil (not $14). That's just what these guys get paid. A lot of them.

When you consider his age (25...young), health history(good...very good), stuff (hard to argue he isn't the best pitcher in the league), the length of the contract (only 7 years), and the financial resources of the team I think the money makes as much sense as any contract in sports does. It seems ridiculous on its face but I don't think I could figure out a way to spend the $30 mil per year to get his type of predictable production versus risk.

Salaries are beyond stupid in baseball.

Salaries in every sport are pretty much reflective of how much money the sport makes versus the amount of players. Only in football where the owners have been beyond wildly successful in keeping salaries in check and there are over double the active players is that not exactly the case.

The salaries in the NBA are astounding. League average players playing 18 minutes a game and averaging 5/5 make $10+ mil. Craziness. But there are so few players and the sport makes so much money that even the crap players "small" chunk is huge money.

Masahiro Tanaka, New York Yankees agree to seven-year, $155 million deal - ESPN New York (http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_/id/10331816/masahiro-tanaka-new-york-yankees-agree-seven-year-155-million-deal)

a guy who has never pitched in the majors is going to make an avg of 22 million per season for seven years? folks that money is all guarenteed. Un-f*cking-belivable

This is not uncommon for the top Japanese pitchers coming over, there's always a bidding war.

It all started with Nomo, then Irabu, Matsuzaka, Igawa, Darvish to name the expensive ones and plenty of others in between.

Nomo, All Star
Irabu killed himself
Matsuzaka, bust
Igawa, bust
Darvish, All Star


Tanaka is said to be worth the money. He was 24-0 in Japan last season.

Masahiro Tanaka, New York Yankees agree to seven-year, $155 million deal - ESPN New York (http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_/id/10331816/masahiro-tanaka-new-york-yankees-agree-seven-year-155-million-deal)

a guy who has never pitched in the majors is going to make an avg of 22 million per season for seven years? folks that money is all guarenteed. Un-f*cking-belivable


I hope it blows up in the Yanks face much like the Arod signing. Hell, even some of the other signings are coming back to haunt them right now. I imagine they are going to regret the back half of the Teixeira contract which was 8 years in length. You know they already hate the fact they have Sabathia tied up for another 2 more years at a huge price tag while he's on a serious decline.

I enjoy watching the Yanks implode. Their best signing was probably Jacoby Ellsbury, but not sure he's worth 22 mil/season.