This past week the MLB Hot Stove finally lit up with three of the most valuable pitching contracts ever, and each one is guaranteed to weaken each team’s chances at getting more influential position players due to the inflation of the offseason bidding war.
First off, the Boston Red Sox acquired David Price for seven years and $217 million. This was the first contract to be announced this week and it allowed for the even pricier pitcher contracts to be announced later in the week.
Price is a consistently successful pitcher, with a below average postseason record, but to be paid nearly a million dollars an outing? I would not even give Sandy Koufax or CY Young that sort of payday.
This deal is questionable because of any fan’s first glance at the highly inflated price tag, but there can be a lot of potential in this deal.
Price joins a staff in desperate need of an ace after losing Jon Lester to the Chicago Cubs, but this staff could surprise some people.
Clay Bucholz is coming off a right flexor strain and will remain the second starter for the Red Sox unless Eduardo Rodriguez continues his break out rookie season performance where he was the only Red Sox starter to have a winning record in 2015.
The last two starters will be lefty Wade Miley and Rick Porcello. In regards to Porcello, there is a lot to look forward to. His season totals of 9-15 record and a 4.92 ERA say bust, but his 2.98 ERA in his last six starts after being activated off the disabled list in late August says something else.
Porcello is a fairly young talent that seems to have found his potential in being a Boston starter who can allow the already successful Red Sox offense breathing room to do what they do best.
Next up, The San Francisco Giants gained the thirty-year-old Jeff Samardzija for their bleak and decrepit pitching staff, minus ace Madison Bumgarner.
Samardzija chose over the Dodgers and Cardinals to become the second ranked starter on the Giants.
Samardzija is used to being the number two, since he played in the shadow of Chris Sale while previously with the Chicago White Sox. But, unlike with the White Sox he can actually be successful in San Francisco.
At San Francisco Jeff Samardzija will play with the 13th ranked offense in baseball that probably could have been better if it was not plagued by injuries all year.
This is a big step up from the 28th ranked offense with the White Sox. Hopefully with this much-improved run support, Samardzija can produce less losses than his last year’s thirteen.
Jeff is young and shows he can be a consistent starter, but the Giants are still taking a major financial risk because he is coming off his worst year.
After recording his fourth full season in the Major League Samardzija also recorded his highest season ERA of 4.96. What makes this worse is that in his last nine starts of the season Samardzija went 1-8 with a 9.24 ERA.
What makes this deal barely any better is that this was his first full American League season where offense is much more devastating to pitching than the National League. And when you play for the White Sox, every AL opponent will seem like high run producers if the Sox can barely score one run.
Pending a physical on Tuesday, Samardzija will be signed to a five year $90 million after the Giants had lost the bid for arguably the best pitcher in the league, Zach Greinke.
The Arizona Diamondbacks signed Greinke from the NL West Champion Dodgers to a six-year $206 million deal. This deal is pricey but may be the key to making the Diamondbacks playoff contenders for the first time since 2011. Greinke becomes the ace to a pitching staff in desperate need of a highly successful veteran leader on the mound.
With this deal the Diamondbacks improve their support for their already great offense, weaken their highly dominant division rivals, and are now targeting Mike Leake which will weaken their other division rival’s pitching staff, the Giants.
No matter what facts and opinions are made to support these deals, each of these players is highly overpaid and these deals will prove to be wasteful if not early or later in the season.
But why do these deals keep rising for baseball players?
At the beginning of the 2015 season Major League Baseball franchises experienced a 48% profit increase making the average team worth $1.2 billion and over half of that money is divvied up in payrolls.
The increase is a result of major TV deals the league and MLB have made to improve the viewership of the League that was in desperate need of ratings.
Scary thing is, the 2015 season and especially the 2015 postseason will improve team worth even more. A season of successful underdog playoff runs by the Cubs, Mets, Blue Jays, and World Champions Royals, made way for the highest ratings for baseball viewership due to their influence of their regional broadcasts.
This last year will pave the way for even more profiting, thus allowing for organizations to place even higher bids on pitchers not worth these absurd contracts.
