Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Only 3?

Tim from MLBTR put together a list of the 45 worst contracts in baseball. There are three Yankees listed:
  • Jorge Posada, Four years, $52MM ($13MM per year). Signed November of 2007.
  • Hideki Matsui, Four years, $52MM ($13MM per year). Signed November of 2005.
  • Kei Igawa, Five years, $46MM ($9.2MM per year). Signed in December of '06, this was a clear and poorly thought-out response to Boston's Daisuke Matsuzaka signing.
Should A-Rod be on there? If you are talking about deals the teams wish they could tear up, light on fire, and shoot the ashes into outer space, don't you think that would be right up there? Would any team want to take it off the Yankees hands for free? Name one.

In light of what has happened, he'd be looking at some paltry offers on the open market nowhere near what the Yankees paid him and those milestone incentives look pret-tay, pret-tay, pret-tay bad. The PED use makes you doubt the validity of his past performance to some extent too. Wait until the Selena Roberts' book comes out and see what else she has to say. She has already indicated that there will be information on his "non-steroid" drug use. It could get worse.

Posada's deal is already bad because in what was likely to be his most productive year of the four, the Yanks didn't get much out of him. Parts of 51 games and a 103 OPS+. His production (while on the field) was not terrible considering he's a catcher, but that doesn't account for the slacking defense caused by his shoulder injury. The Yankees can't afford to have too many games with Kevin Cash and Jose Molina behind the dish this year if they expect to return to glory.

It didn't seem like it to me, but Hideki Matsui has only played an average of 96 games over the past three years. When he has appeared, he's been above league average, but for a corner outfielder that's not all that remarkable. Still, I think a team would take Matsui's contract over A-Rod's in a heartbeat.

If Kei Igawa's contract was a method of birth control, it would be a coat hanger abortion. No objections there.

After shedding Jason Giambi and Carl Pavano contracts, the Yanks are heading in the right direction. The 00's will be remembered for the Yanks' exorbitant spending and in some cases, minimal returns, unless they go out with a bang this year. No pressure guys.

1 comment:

  1. Selena Roberts sounds like a real c-bag. This book she is writing about A-Rods "non-steroid" drug use is an abomonation. Personally, I do not care what imports he uses from his "countrymen" in the dominican. If they do not affect his on-the-field performance then no fan nor other person has a reasonable expectation to read that information.

    Selena Roberts reminds me of Jimmy Roberts from NBC Golf. A real twirp with no athletic ability, the desire to bring down those whom he covers, and an annoying voice (I know you have one Selena).

    Nice usage on pret-tay, well played sir.

    ReplyDelete