Relief for Brewers comes at incredible price
Relief pitching is costing quite a premium this offseason. It's almost ridiculous to see what closers – and even situational relievers - are getting.
The most preposterous involve the Milwaukee Brewers. They lost setup man Scott Linebrink and left Francisco Cordero walk in free agency after the Cincinnati Reds gave him a four-year, $46 million contract. Good for the Brewers.
Cordero, 32, has flashed signs of being a good closer with 177 career saves. But he's also 26-27 with a 3.29 ERA in his career. But more than $11 million per season? Only the absolute best closers should be worth that much.
But the Brewers had a hole in their pockets. They traded for the Mets' Guillermo Mota (for catcher Johnny Estrada), then committed more than $16 million, which is almost a quarter of their 2007 payroll – to three relievers with mixed resumes. Salomon Torres ($3.2 million) came in a trade with Pittsburgh, David Riske ($4.3 million) came in free agency, and to close, the Brewers signed Eric Gagne for one year and $10 million.
And the Gagne deal is really puzzling. $10 million for a guy with a history of back and elbow injuries, who was so awful last season that the Red Sox wouldn't throw him in any close games in the postseason? He was 2-2 with three blown saves and a 6.75 ERA in 18 2/3 innings down the stretch for Boston. The Red Sox offered arbitration to Gagne (he turned it down), but there's no way he would have come close to $10 million.
Is Gagne even an upgrade over Cordero?
"We should have a real good, solid, deep bullpen," Brewers manager Ned Yost told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "This winter, we wanted to improve our defense and our pitching. This is one way to really improve the pitching."
That's one way, for sure. But it's putting a lot of money on the table for a few big gambles.
Comments
HI SCOTT
REGARDING THE STEROID INCIDENT…… AND ASTERISKS FOR THE GUYS WHO WERE INVOLVED ……. THAT’LL BE OK , BUT ONLY AFTER THEY REMOVE SCHILLING’S RECORDS FROM WHEN HE PITCHED ALL DOPED UP WITH HIS FAMOUS BLODDY SOCK..
REMOVE ALL OF THE PITCHING RECORDS FROM THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY WHEN SPITBALLS WERE LEGAL AND USED ( DAYS OF MATHEWSON, CY YOUNG, WALTER JOHNSON, ETC………….
SAME FOR THE PITCHERS LIKE GIBSON AND DRYSDALE, WHO COULD USE THE KNOCKDOWN PITCH WHEN THEY WANTED……..
AND ALL OF THE RECORDS ACCUMULATED BY PITCHERS WHO HAD THE ADVANTAGE OF THE BIG STRIKE ZONE FROM THE SHOULDERS TO THE KNEES….AND HOW ABOUT PITCHERS WHO THREW IN THE DEAD BALL ERA……. BOTTOM LINE - ARGUMENTS DOWN THE ROAD SHOULD MERELY REFER TO TODAYS GUYS AS THOSE PLAYERS WHO PLAYED DURING THE STEROID YEARS…….EVERY ERA HAD IT’S GOOD AND BAD…….
JIM MANDY