Maybe...Maybe not....Maybe...Maybe not....
Right now, ever baseball agent is looking at the early free agent signings this offseason and trying to figure out if we're going to see a continuation of the generally cautious 2008-09 model, or revert to the free-spending ways of prior years. Results so far have been mixed indicated the latter:
Joaquin Benoit - 3 years, $16.5 million
John Buck - 3 years, $18 million
Sure, neither of these deals is going to hamstring any team. Then again, if history provides any lesson, neither player is likely to be worth much more than 1 WAR a year going forward. The Benoit signing is particularly troublesome; I'm reminded of when Kris Benson signed what was about a 3 year, $25 million contract in the 2004-05 offseason. No sooner did he sign when every middling starter was signing a similar deal, 3-4 years for $8-$10 million per season, because hey, if Kris Benson is worth that much, (fill in the blank) must be too.
Cliff Lee and Carl Crawford will make their money, but I'm not sure about Adrian Beltre, Rafael Soriano, or Jorge De La Rosa.. The real question is if GMs and owners have forgotten their past mistakes, now that most of the bad contracts from the 2005 era are off the books.
-Ignorance is bliss, apparently:
The Yankees’ CC Sabathia won 21 games; no pitcher won 20 last year. Sabathia’s feat should count for something, but in the new age, the standard that stood for excellence for more than 100 years means nothing. It is ignored. It is not a factor.
Obviously I love CC, but come on. I'm sure typewriter companies said the same thing about the personal computer in the late '70s. That worked out well.
-Jason Riley is optimistic. Very optimistic.
-River Avenue Blues breaks down Cliff Lee and what the 2014 Yankees payroll could look like. It's not quite as scary as thinking about what Social Security will look like in 20 years.