11-20-2009, 01:15 AM
Yep, to compound the questionable nature of the Grabow signing, this just <i>happens</i> to be an off-season where relief pitchers are flooding the market (according to ESPN):
<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->"Closing the market"
Thursday, November 19, 2009
<b>If there's an area of depth in this winter's free agent market, it's in relievers</b>, including relievers who have either closer experience or closer stuff. Mike Gonzalez (No. 17), Rafael Soriano (No. 20), Billy Wagner (No. 24), Ryota Igarashi (No. 26), Rafael Betancourt (No. 34), Jose Valverde (No. 37), Fernando Rodney (No. 43), and Brandon Lyon (No. 47) all made my top 50 free agents (appearing on the site at 12:01 a.m. on Friday), while the injured ex-closer J.J. Putz is also available.
That market is made deeper by the availability of several comparable arms in trade, including Cleveland's Kerry Wood (one year plus a vesting option remaining on his contract), Cincinnati's Francisco Cordero (two years and $25 million remaining -- thanks, Wayne!) and perhaps San Diego's Heath Bell (two years of arbitration remaining).
<b>The sudden surfeit of relievers on the market is in part an accident of timing, but it may also reflect changing attitudes toward closers and relievers in general as more teams recognize the volatility of reliever performance. Teams have handed out some of their worst long-term contracts to relievers in recent years:</b>
B.J. Ryan, Danys Baez and Kyle Farnsworth all received deals of three-plus years and were complete disasters.
Cordero hasn't been terrible, but he is overpaid to the point that the Reds may be unable to move him without paying part of his remaining salary.
Billy Wagner gave the Mets two-and-a-half good years out of four, and his replacement, Francisco Rodriguez, had a shaky start to his three-year deal.
Brian Fuentes' debut year for the Angels made K-Rod look like a bargain.
Brad Lidge's three-year extension to keep him away from free agency now looks like a total loss.
Some teams are still willing to play in the deep end of the reliever pool, but many others have chosen to stick to short-term deals or avoid the deals altogether and try to build their bullpens from within:
Oakland has been playing games with closers for years, first creating and flipping veteran closers, then running a series of kids through the role, including this year's AL Rookie of the Year, Andrew Bailey.
Pittsburgh has said it views relievers as risky commodities and will build its 'pen on the cheap.
The Red Sox don't currently have any reliever under contract beyond 2010, nor do the Rangers.
The Padres don't either, although they have only two players total who are currently signed to multiyear deals.
The Rays have just one reliever on a multiyear deal, Dan Wheeler.
The Twins have just Joe Nathan, the best closer in the game, under a long-term deal, although the three-year deal they gave Jesse Crain, who went down with a torn labrum and a torn rotator cuff three months after signing it, just expired.
We already saw some signs of this change in the way teams approach relievers last winter, when K-Rod got three years and Fuentes and Wood each got two plus some sort of option, this only two years after the Blue Jays gave Ryan his five-year boondoggle and 12 months after the Reds gave Cordero four years. With a glut of closers and potential closers on the market and only a handful of teams looking externally or internally for pitchers to fill that role -- Houston, Atlanta, Detroit, Baltimore and not many others -- it might be a good year for teams hoping to nab a power arm at a middle-relief price.
<!--coloro:#0000FF--><!--/coloro-->• Speaking of closers,<b> Carlos Marmol says the Cubs have told him he's their closer in 2010</b>, according to Spanish-language daily El Dia.<!--colorc-->
<!--/colorc--> Marmol would also like the Cubs to sign Pedro Martinez.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->"Closing the market"
Thursday, November 19, 2009
<b>If there's an area of depth in this winter's free agent market, it's in relievers</b>, including relievers who have either closer experience or closer stuff. Mike Gonzalez (No. 17), Rafael Soriano (No. 20), Billy Wagner (No. 24), Ryota Igarashi (No. 26), Rafael Betancourt (No. 34), Jose Valverde (No. 37), Fernando Rodney (No. 43), and Brandon Lyon (No. 47) all made my top 50 free agents (appearing on the site at 12:01 a.m. on Friday), while the injured ex-closer J.J. Putz is also available.
That market is made deeper by the availability of several comparable arms in trade, including Cleveland's Kerry Wood (one year plus a vesting option remaining on his contract), Cincinnati's Francisco Cordero (two years and $25 million remaining -- thanks, Wayne!) and perhaps San Diego's Heath Bell (two years of arbitration remaining).
<b>The sudden surfeit of relievers on the market is in part an accident of timing, but it may also reflect changing attitudes toward closers and relievers in general as more teams recognize the volatility of reliever performance. Teams have handed out some of their worst long-term contracts to relievers in recent years:</b>
B.J. Ryan, Danys Baez and Kyle Farnsworth all received deals of three-plus years and were complete disasters.
Cordero hasn't been terrible, but he is overpaid to the point that the Reds may be unable to move him without paying part of his remaining salary.
Billy Wagner gave the Mets two-and-a-half good years out of four, and his replacement, Francisco Rodriguez, had a shaky start to his three-year deal.
Brian Fuentes' debut year for the Angels made K-Rod look like a bargain.
Brad Lidge's three-year extension to keep him away from free agency now looks like a total loss.
Some teams are still willing to play in the deep end of the reliever pool, but many others have chosen to stick to short-term deals or avoid the deals altogether and try to build their bullpens from within:
Oakland has been playing games with closers for years, first creating and flipping veteran closers, then running a series of kids through the role, including this year's AL Rookie of the Year, Andrew Bailey.
Pittsburgh has said it views relievers as risky commodities and will build its 'pen on the cheap.
The Red Sox don't currently have any reliever under contract beyond 2010, nor do the Rangers.
The Padres don't either, although they have only two players total who are currently signed to multiyear deals.
The Rays have just one reliever on a multiyear deal, Dan Wheeler.
The Twins have just Joe Nathan, the best closer in the game, under a long-term deal, although the three-year deal they gave Jesse Crain, who went down with a torn labrum and a torn rotator cuff three months after signing it, just expired.
We already saw some signs of this change in the way teams approach relievers last winter, when K-Rod got three years and Fuentes and Wood each got two plus some sort of option, this only two years after the Blue Jays gave Ryan his five-year boondoggle and 12 months after the Reds gave Cordero four years. With a glut of closers and potential closers on the market and only a handful of teams looking externally or internally for pitchers to fill that role -- Houston, Atlanta, Detroit, Baltimore and not many others -- it might be a good year for teams hoping to nab a power arm at a middle-relief price.
<!--coloro:#0000FF--><!--/coloro-->• Speaking of closers,<b> Carlos Marmol says the Cubs have told him he's their closer in 2010</b>, according to Spanish-language daily El Dia.<!--colorc-->
<!--/colorc--> Marmol would also like the Cubs to sign Pedro Martinez.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
There's nothing better than to realize that the good things about youth don't end with youth itself. It's a matter of realizing that life can be renewed every day you get out of bed without baggage. It's tough to get there, but it's better than the dark thoughts. -Lance