Thursday, January 04, 2007

What does $126 million dollars get you in the year 2007?

Apparently it can either get you a gold-glove centerfielder entering the prime of his career (the Blue Jays' Vernon Wells) or a former Cy Young winning pitcher entering the prime of his career (the Giants signing of Barry Zito).

The inmates are running the asylum in Major League baseball and they've got big fat wads of cash to encourage their lunacy.

I read somewhere the other day that the average salary in MLB is reaching $3 million. There are a lot of below-average ball players making above-average money. I can tell you this, my four-year-old and I will be spending a lot of time in the old backyard this summer working on our fundamentals. Where else can mediocrity earn you $55 million dollars over 5 years (as was the case with very average pitcher Gil Meche).

As for the Vernon Wells and, to a lesser extent, the Zito signings, I actually don't have a problem with them. I applaud the Blue Jays desire to compete with the big budgets of their intra-division rivals in New York and Boston. They've realized that in the AL East you cannot compete on a $75 million dollar budget (how sad is that?). The Wells signing sends a strong message to the rest of the league and, perhaps more importantly, to the fairweather Blue Jays fans all over Canada, that the Jays intend to make a run to return to the glory days of the late-8's and early-90's. For this Blue Jays fan I'm all for them doing that if they spend the money wisely. In my mind, Vernon Wells is a no-brainer. Good on JP and Ted Rogers for seeing that as well and getting this future MVP locked up for the rest of his prime production years. The Yankees can have him when he's 40.

As for Zito, pitching always wins in the NL and Zito was by far the best available pitcher on the FA market. Say what you want about the potential of Daisuke Matsuzaka but the reality is that he has not survived a major league season yet and, until he proves himself on the grandest stage of all, there's no way of knowing if he's the next Ichiro Suzuki (albeit he's a pitcher not a hitter) or the next Kaz Matsui (a bust of Godzillian proportions).

The NL West has some outstanding pitchers there now with Zito, Greg Maddux, Jason Schmidt, Brandon Webb, Jake Peavy, and young Canadian stud Jeff Francis. If you like pitching matchups that division should provide some beauties this summer.

I'm also fairly optimistic about what's been going on in Cubsland this winter. As a long-suffering Cubs fan I've seen a few off-seasons like this one where there were lots of big-time acquisitions but then little substance when it counted the most.

Here's to hoping that Alfonso Soriano isn't the next Adrian Beltre. Here's to hoping that Ted Lilly is actually a $10 million/yr type of pitcher (that should be equivalent to 17-20 wins I would say). Here's to hoping that Lou Piniella is able to light a fire in the bellies of a Cubs team that has looked fairly disenfranchised during the past couple years under laid back Dusty Baker. Overall here's to hoping that the Cubs get a chance to exorcise the Steve Bartman demons and finally earn a chance to go to the big dance.

My dream World Series matchup for the 2007 season? Cleveland or Toronto for the AL against either Chicago or San Diego from the NL. Probably terrible for TV ratings but I at least know that my house would be tuned in for every game.

Only a few more weeks before spring training begins!

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