Penny Wise, Pound Foolish
Posted by BMT on January 20th, 2010
Eyebrows were raised this week when 2-time Cy Young winner, Tim Lincecum, asked for $13 million from the San Francisco Giants in his arbitration filing. The Giants are offering $8 million. Unlike other sports, in baseball arbitration the decision isn’t an arbitrated amount somewhere in the middle; it’s a process that results in either the team’s number or the player’s being awarded. The current record for money awarded through this process is $10 million (Ryan Howard, Francisco Rodriguez and Alfonso Soriano) which is probably why there’s so much noise about Lincecum’s request (for the record, Lincecum’s salaries during his two Cy Young seasons were $405,000 and $640,000).
The laugher in this year’s arbitration stakes is that Joe Blanton is asking for $10.25 million. Joe Blanton. $10.25 million. Granted, Blanton is a valuable middle of the rotation starter but this kind of request is about as reasonable as me asking for $50,000 for the work I do on this website. But that’s not even the punch line of the joke: the kicker is that the Phillies are offering $7.5 million.
Now take a moment and think about Ruben Amaro’s approach to the 2011 season with his offer to Joe Blanton in mind: if the Phillies are willing to pay the 3rd or 4th starter in their rotation $7.5 million this season (a guy with a career winning percentage of .538 and an ERA north of 4) why in the holy hell wasn’t Amaro willing to drop $1.5 million more on Cliff Lee?
January 20th, 2010 at 3:42 pm
They had to pay for Charlie’s Nutrisystem somehow.
/cries, buys Mariners tickets
January 22nd, 2010 at 2:47 pm
According to Amaro, it wasn’t about the money–it was about replenishing the farm system with new prospects. That’s why we were denied our Lee/Hamels/Halladay rotation…because Aumont, Gillies and JC Ramirez were so much more valuable than the two compensatory picks we would have gotten for Lee in ’11. And the World Series we might have won in between.
I am always inclined to give RAJr the benefit of the doubt because of what we have enjoyed on his watch, but this move never made any sense. Did we even ask the Angels what THEY would have given us for Lee?