Konerko Contract News

[CWSGuy406]

I am not seeing a building process. We seemingly cannot build with any All-Stars. You mention two players who, by the time their contracts are up, will probably command too much money.

 

I just do not have confidence in the team keeping a player long term who makes more than 7 or 8 million. Pierzynski has got to prove himself before I'd agree with keeping him long term. 3 teams in 3 years is not confidence inspiring.

 

The balance may be where to spend the payroll. I believe up the middle is important and that fits in with you mentioning Piers and Rowand. So perhaps 1st base isn't the place to spend money, and a case could also be made to not spend it on a DH either.

 

Another thought, each time a starter is replaced, building would mean replacing him with a better player. We don't seem to be doing that. We take from this pile (Lee, Olivo, Maggs unavoidable) to add to this pile. It doesn't seem like a net gain. Retooled a bit, but we knock down high spots to fill the holes and we wind up with average all the way around.

 

As far as Uribe and Rowand, I'd like to think that we can lock them up early, rather than doing what we've done with Konerko and Maggs these past two years (waiting till the contract year). Keep them on with the three year contracts, and anywhere between the second year and the beginning of the third year, work hard at extending these guys, especially if they're still producing well and being exceptional at what they're exceptional at (defense, slugging, etc), give them what they're worth. One can overpay a little bit, but not to the point where it will take away in other areas.

 

I half agree with your statement about building and replacing players with better players. There's areas where you could say that's true (Lee>>>>Pods), but there's also areas where you could say that isn't true (I'd much rather have Pierzynski over Olivo, Olivo hasn't done much in his career).

 

Ideally, over the next couple of years, we'll have an influx of good young players that will replace some of our older guys, and we're able to really cash in at other positions because this young, cheap talent coming up. Unfortunately, when you haven't won a WS in almost 90 years, it's going to be as far from ideal as possible.

[JUGGERNAUT]

This has sort of become a team direction thread as opposed to Koney alone so I'd like to comment on that as well.

 

If I'm not mistaken the starting rotation is earning about 30M which represents a little less than 1/2 the payroll. This is a reflection of Ozzie's mgmt style: Spend on the arms & save on the gloves & bats. That's very similar to the Twins & Oak styles as well.

 

I think we can expect the Sox to continue in that direction.

[CWSGuy406]

This has sort of become a team direction thread as opposed to Koney alone so I'd like to comment on that as well.

 

If I'm not mistaken the starting rotation is earning about 30M which represents a little less than 1/2 the payroll.  This is a reflection of Ozzie's mgmt style: Spend on the arms & save on the gloves & bats.  That's very similar to the Twins & Oak styles as well.

 

I think we can expect the Sox to continue in that direction.

 

Not really...

[Texsox]

As far as Uribe and Rowand, I'd like to think that we can lock them up early, rather than doing what we've done with Konerko and Maggs these past two years (waiting till the contract year).  Keep them on with the three year contracts, and anywhere between the second year and the beginning of the third year, work hard at extending these guys, especially if they're still producing well and being exceptional at what they're exceptional at (defense, slugging, etc), give them what they're worth.  One can overpay a little bit, but not to the point where it will take away in other areas.

 

I half agree with your statement about building and replacing players with better players.  There's areas where you could say that's true (Lee>>>>Pods), but there's also areas where you could say that isn't true (I'd much rather have Pierzynski over Olivo, Olivo hasn't done much in his career).

 

Ideally, over the next couple of years, we'll have an influx of good young players that will replace some of our older guys, and we're able to really cash in at other positions because this young, cheap talent coming up.  Unfortunately, when you haven't won a WS in almost 90 years, it's going to be as far from ideal as possible.

All excellent points. I would rather have Pierz but that wasn't the trade. We went Olivo for Ben Davis to shore up pitching, which was my point. I would prefer Olivo to Davis, but to get Garcia, we needed to drop back in another position.

 

Would you agree then that we are in the position of needing to gamble on talent, then pay for proven? Further, isn't a proven track record why stars are paid what they are?

[CWSGuy406]

Would you agree then that we are in the position of needing to gamble on talent, then pay for proven? Further, isn't a proven track record why stars are paid what they are?

 

Yes and no. At the right price, you should take chances. That might be a shy attitude, but you shouldn't spend big bucks on a huge gamble. That's what I'd consider one of Kenny's positives, is that he takes some gambles on guys, not huge risks, but some nice rewards if they pan out. Uribe, Schoenwies (first half '04), Loaiza, etc -- all examples.

 

And, yes, stars will ultimately get the big bucks -- which I'm not against. I just want the Bears to give the big bucks to 'the right guy' -- I don't feel Konerko is the right guy to be making $10 million plus on this team.

[witesoxfan]

Most consistent in the top 20 AL lists (01-04): Martinez, Mussina, Hudson, Buehrle, Sabathia, Zito

 

You are not ever going to convince me that Mussina, Sabathia, and Zito are aces...Zito of 02 and 03 is, but 04 he was not. Sabathia has had an ERA of under 4.00 1 time in his career. Mussina was an ace, and while he is still solid, I would say is not an ace anymore.

 

I don't buy that list at all.

[qwerty]

You are not ever going to convince me that Mussina, Sabathia, and Zito are aces...Zito of 02 and 03 is, but 04 he was not.  Sabathia has had an ERA of under 4.00 1 time in his career.  Mussina was an ace, and while he is still solid, I would say is not an ace anymore.

 

I don't buy that list at all.

 

Agreed, aces are the following to me~~~ schmidt, hudson, johnson, martinez, oswalt, schilling(?) possibly halladay and prior when healthy. Johan, peavy, sheets, and oliver perez can all potentially be one with a couple years of repeat seasons.

Edited March 20, 2005 by qwerty

[witesoxfan]

Agreed, aces are the following to me~~~ schmidt, johnson, martinez, oswalt, schilling(?) possibly halladay and prior when healthy. Johan, peavy, sheets, and oliver perez can all potentially be one with a couple years of repeat seasons.

 

I'd tend to agree very much with that entire list. There are others you could think about adding...Clemens, Pavano, Zambrano among others probably...but for the most part, that hits it right on the head.

 

And how incredibly consistent is Schilling? The guy's last bad year was 1994, when he was 2-8 with a 4.48 ERA in 82.1 innings with a 1.40 WHIP...since then, the highest his WHIP has been in any season was 1.18 in 2000.

 

10 straight years of nothing but success. Simply put - wow

Edited March 20, 2005 by witesoxfan

[Texsox]

Yes and no.  At the right price, you should take chances.  That might be a shy attitude, but you shouldn't spend big bucks on a huge gamble.  That's what I'd consider one of Kenny's positives, is that he takes some gambles on guys, not huge risks, but some nice rewards if they pan out.  Uribe, Schoenwies (first half '04), Loaiza, etc -- all examples.

 

And, yes, stars will ultimately get the big bucks -- which I'm not against.  I just want the Bears to give the big bucks to 'the right guy' -- I don't feel Konerko is the right guy to be making $10 million plus on this team.

 

I agree that the White Sox need to take gambles, which brings me back full circle. The gamble is the Sox need to pay a guy $2mil for a $5 season. Or extented out $5 mil for a $10 mil season. They can't seem to pay a guy $10 mil for a $10 mil season, and certainly can't pay $10 mil for a $5 mil season or worse. What you get with expensive guys is consistency. Who is the base you are building on?

 

The Sox, being a small market team, must build a base with the Credes of the world and hope for a Loiza to come along. The teams that are in the playoffs every year build a base with guys like (pre-injury) Maggs, Lee, Konerko, Thomas and then go out and fill in missing pieces. How would you like to have Pods and Lee competing for a position? Pierz and Olivo?

 

So I mention again, I'm bored with the process. Knowing this will be the future of the franchise. Build around average players, hope for a couple breakout seasons, be oh so close.

[JUGGERNAUT]

I'll try to respond to all in the thread.

Take a look at the division of Oak's & Minn payroll betw arms & bats over the past 5 yrs. That's on par with the Sox this year.

 

The ace list. You missed the point. The point is to reach the status of an ace you have to be CONSISTENT year after year in the SAME LEAGUE.

 

I think we all can agree that to be considered an ACE you had to have made the top 20 list in either the NL & AL 4 straight years in a row. To even be considered a potential ace you have to be on either list 2 straight yrs in a row. The only exception being Cy Young winners but even a one time showing is a stretch.

 

So here's the complete list in order of their rankings.

 

2004 NL: Johnson, Schmidt, Clemens, Wright, Perez, Zambrano, Pavano, Carpenter, Glavine, Davis, D Wells, Oswalt, Clement, L Hernandez, Leiter, Perez, Benson, Weaver

2004 AL: Santana, Schilling, Radke, Harden, Garcia, Hudson, Martinez, Westbrook, Escobar, Lopez, Arroyo, Lilly, Bonderman, Buerhle, Sabathia, Leiber, Vazquez, Mussina, Drese, Zito

 

2003 NL: Schmidt, K Brown, Webb, Schilling, Prior, Vazquez, Zambrano, Redman, Ortiz, Wood, Nomo, Clement, Millwood, L Hernandez, K Wells, Ponson, W Williams, M Morris, Maddux, Hampton

2003 AL: Martinez, Hudson, Zito, Loaiza, Mussina, Halladay, Pineiro, Moyer, Mulder, Clemens, Colon, Pettite, Wakefield, Sabathia, May, Lilly, Franklin, Lohse, Wells, Buehrle

 

2002 NL: Schilling, O Perez, Johnson, Burnett, Millwood, Schmidt, Clement, Wolf, Maddux, Oswalt, Padilla, Morris, M Batista, Wood, R Ortiz, B Colon, C Finley, K Rueter, W Miller, Leiter

2002 AL: Martinez, Lowe, Wakefield, Halladay, Zito, Moyer, Mulder, Washburn, Lopez, Lidle, Weaver, Hudson, Mussina, Wells, Clemens, Buehrle, Milton, Redman, Sabathia, Pineiro

 

2001 NL: Johnson, Maddux, Burkett, Wood, Vazquez, R Ortiz, B Penny, C Schilling, Park, Lieber, Leiter, Morris, Appier, Adams, Wolf, W Miller, Burnett, Ritchie, Kile, Bere

2001 AL: Mussina, Garcia, Mulder, Hudson, Buehrle, Mays, Zito, Moyer, Clemens, Lidle, Petitte, Nomo, Sele, Wakefield, Sabathia, Radke, Reed, Weaver, Sparks, Washburn

Edited March 20, 2005 by JUGGERNAUT

[Texsox]

Jugg I agree with most everything, except the same league requirement. Randy Johnson is an Ace in either league. I cannot fathom a list of aces that wouldn't include him. For that matter, Roger Clemens was an Ace last year, even though he switched leagues.

 

But this is really all about semantics. There is no written criteria, and each person will draw the line in a different place. If we are going to place a linquistic label without a set criteria, then the answer is probably more linquistic than mathematical.

 

When I think of ace, the pitcher must be the guy you want in Game 7. The guy you want on the mound to stop a three or four game team skid. The guy who the other pitchers look to and emulate. It's about attitude as much as won loss records, era, and the stuff thats stats heads will bring up. The guy who doesn't have three bad outings in a row. The guy with both quality wins and "quality" loses.

 

Is Buehrle an ace? I believe he's as close as we get right now. If someone wants to call him an Ace, I'd would not disagree, but I'm not quite ready to. I think this will be the year of Mark and in October, we will be calling him an Ace and the best in the A.L.

[JUGGERNAUT]

I've decided to be completely fair about this so I'm compiling a list.

I'm taking the top 30 in NPERA amongst starters & assigning reverse pt values. If you ranked #1 = 30 pts, & ranked #30 = 1 pt.

Then it's simply a matter of totaling the pts for each player over the past 4

yrs. That will give you an ACE ranking so to speak.

[Texsox]

I've decided to be completely fair about this so I'm compiling a list.

I'm taking the top 30 in NPERA amongst starters & assigning reverse pt values.  If you ranked #1 = 30 pts, & ranked #30 = 1 pt.

Then it's simply a matter of totaling the pts for each player over the past 4

yrs. That will give you an ACE ranking so to speak.

 

IMHO, trying to put a numerical score on "ace", is like trying to define a beautiful sunset. In the end, it is in the opinion of the speaker. If you need numerical justification to call or not call someone an ace, go for it. Like pornography, most people know it when they see it.

[JUGGERNAUT]

The way this list shapes up for the ALC

 

65 Buehrle 15

65 Garcia 16

1 Garland 115

0 Contreras 118

131

 

57 Sabathia 20

42 Millwood 30

22 Westbrook 59

121

 

41 Radke 33

29 Santana 49

24 Mays 58

12 Lohse 77

106

 

The best two rising performers on the list are Westbrook & Santana.

Realistically they are worth more than their current point totals towards the 2005

season. But then again who knows if Milwood & Mays will perform up to theirs.

As far as 4 accomplished starters (El Duque did not qualify any of these yrs) a substantial edge goes to the Twins. If Mays is healthy then he is likely to perform better than Garland & Contreras. Lohse has already proven he's better.

 

All 3 teams have 20-30M tied up in pitching this year. It makes for a very close race.

If signing Koney means we can't bump Garland or Contreras for something better I'd say it's not worth it. Sox have 2 top performers in this list, 1 question mark to even reach starter innings, & 2 bottom feeders on the list. That's not a recipe for a World Series contender.

Edited March 20, 2005 by JUGGERNAUT

[Rex Kickass]

There really are too many statistics in baseball

[YASNY]

There really are too many statistics in baseball

 

Amen.

[qwerty]

Haha, your trying to tell me sabathia is an ace? Wow.

[JUGGERNAUT]

Haha, your trying to tell me sabathia is an ace? Wow.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Considering that Schilling is at top of the list with 105 pts, Sabathia with 57 pts is not an ace. He's just a top 20 pitcher over the past 4 yrs. With respect to the list I would draw the line of an ace at 85 pts. An ace- at 65 pts. A solid #1 at 45 pts. A borderline #1 at 25 pts. Anything else doesn't really matter.

 

Santana of course is an exception having won a Cy Young. He falls in the range of a solid #1, potential ace provided he can do again.

[JUGGERNAUT]

Oh crap! I wiped out the list. Maybe I'll do another time.

Schilling was tops w 105 pts. Followed by Hudson, Johson mid 90 pts, & Zito 87 pts. Buerhle & Garcia were 16th, 17th on the list with 65 pts.

The rest you see from the ALC.

 

Again I'd say you need to be within 20 pts of the leader to be an ace.

Zito qualifies as an ace for Oak. Mussina for the NYY.

The next 20 pt range is the ACE- range. Both Mark & Freddy barely make this range.

[Texsox]

Here is what the San Jose Mercury News thinks about Buerhle as an Ace. They must have been reading our boards

 

TEMPE, Ariz. - (KRT) - Vladimir Guerrero of the Angels had just fought off a fastball running inside at his hands, fouling it off the inside of his left ankle. He backed away from home plate in pain, trying to get the bees to stop stinging.

 

All the while, White Sox pitcher Brandon McCarthy stood his ground behind the rubber, looking in to get a sign from catcher Jamie Burke. His posture practically screamed, "Get back in the box!"

 

Under different circumstances, McCarthy said later, he might have yelled exactly that.

 

snip

 

Of course he does. He's having the best month of his young life, looking like the right-handed version of White Sox ace Mark Buehrle, possibly with a little better stuff. The Los Angeles Angels will be glad to see him start the season in the International League, which remains his likely destination.

Edited March 21, 2005 by Texsox

[YASNY]

I guess I'm finally going to speak up on this topic. Mark is not an ace in the classic sense of the word .... The guy you want to pitch the BIG game ... the stopper. However, if you take Buerhle's numbers over the past 4 years, and compare them with the rest of the starting pitchers in baseball, he'd be near the top of the list in almost every important catagory. He's been more of an ace at this point than either Kerry Wood or Mark Prior have ever close to being. Yet, those two guys get all the glory and Mark just quietly and consistantly does his job.

[southsider2k5]

No one seems to be factoring the US Cellular factor when it comes to Mark. His home numbers destroy any hopes of having a decent looking ERA.

[DBAHO]

No one seems to be factoring the US Cellular factor when it comes to Mark.  His home numbers destroy any hopes of having a decent looking ERA.

Absolutely. If he pitched for say San Diego, he could of had a better ERA than Jake Peavy did last season, which would really be quite insane.

[JUGGERNAUT]

Revised list of top starters (01-04) in MLB:

 

109 Schilling, Curt

100 Hudson, Tim

89 Zito, Barry

88 Johnson, Randy

87 Clemens, Roger

87 Mussina, Mike

84 Martinez, Pedro

84 Schmidt, Jason

83 Mulder, Mark

***** TRUE ACE CUTOFF MARK *****

71 Maddux, Greg

71 Moyer, Jamie

69 Buehrle, Mark

69 Garcia, Freddy

69 Wakefield, Tim

67 Vazquez, Javier

65 Wood, Kerry

63 Ortiz, Russ

61 Sabathia, C.C.

59 Clement, Matt

52 Halladay, Roy

51 Morris, Matt

48 Colon, Bartolo

47 Wells, David

47 Zambrano, Carlos

***** QUESTIONABLE ACE CUTOFF MARK *****

46 Wolf, Randy

45 Leiter, Al

45 Nomo, Hideo

44 Millwood, Kevin

44 Weaver, Jeff

43 Lopez, Rodrigo

43 Radke, Brad

42 Lidle, Cory

42 Perez, Odalis

42 Washburn, Jarrod

41 Burnett, A.J.

39 Lowe, Derek

39 Pettitte, Andy

38 Oswalt, Roy

37 Miller, Wade

36 Glavine, Tom

36 Lieber, Jon

36 Redman, Mark

35 Pineiro, Joel

35 Webb, Brandon

34 Lilly, Ted

32 Hernandez, Livan

31 Escobar, Kelvim

30 Pavano, Carl

30 Santana, Johan (Only 1 appearance)

30 Sheets, Ben

29 Brown, Kevin

28 Burkett, John

27 Batista, Miguel

27 Harden, Rich

27 Loaiza, Esteban

26 Prior, Mark

26 Wright, Jaret

25 Mays, Joe

25 Penny, Brad

25 Perez, Oliver

24 Peavy, Jake

24 Williams, Woody

23 Westbrook, Jake

22 Milton, Eric

22 Padilla, Vicente

22 Park, Chan Ho

21 Appier, Kevin

21 Carpenter, Chris

21 Oswalt, Roy

21 Trachsel, Steve

20 Arroyo, Bronson

20 Reed, Rick

20 Wells, Kip

19 Davis, Doug

18 Bonderman, Jeremy

18 Sele, Aaron

17 Adams, Terry

17 Thomson, John

16 May, Darrell

16 Ponson, Sidney

14 Finley, Chuck

14 Franklin, Ryan

13 Lohse, Kyle

13 Ritchie, Todd

13 Rueter, Kirk

12 Benson, Kris

12 Drese, Ryan

12 Kile, Darryl

12 Sparks, Steve W.

12 Valdes, Ismael

11 Bere, Jason

11 Hampton, Mike

11 Johnson, Jason

11 Ortiz, Ramon

10 Eaton, Adam

10 Lackey, John

10 Ohka, Tomo

10 Rapp, Pat

10 Suppan, Jeff

9 Byrd, Paul

9 Lawrence, Brian

9 Person, Robert

9 Tomko, Brett

7 Abbott, Paul

7 Armas, Tony J.

7 Dessens, Elmer

7 Hendrickson, Mark

7 Moss, Damian

6 Tapani, Kevin

6 Willis, Dontrelle

5 Meche, Gil

5 Robertson, Nate

5 Rogers, Kenny

5 Seo, Jae Weong

4 Castillo, Frank

4 Sturtze, Tanyon

3 Anderson, Brian

3 Garland, Jon

3 Jarvis, Kevin

3 Kennedy, Joe

3 Maroth, Mike

2 Anderson, Jimmy

2 Baez, Danys

2 Lima, Jose

2 Schoeneweis, Scott

2 Zambrano, Victor

1 Ashby, Andy

1 Contreras, Jose

1 Reynolds, Shane

 

Based on Sag's NPERA top 30 rankings. rank #1 = 31 pts, rank #30 = 1 pt. Accumulated over past 4 yrs. The list answers a lot of questions:

Best starter: Schilling. Johnson had 1 bad health yr.

Best off-season trade: Brave's getting Hudson

Next best off-s trade: Cards getting Mulder (look at his value even w a lame yr)

 

Mark > Maddux?: Here's where park factor comes into play.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/parkfactor?sort=HRFactor

Cell #3 in HR, Wrigley #18 in HR, Turner #30 in HR. Yeah it makes a difference.

I would say what Mark has accomplished at the Cell over that time is worth more than what Maddux has accomplished between Turner & Wrigley.

Of course there's the whole 6-9 hitter avg's 200+ OPS better as well.

I think all of us would agree that Mudler performed better than Mark over that time. So that's as high as I would elevate Mark.

Safeco was #16 in HR so I'm reluctant to elevate Garcia with him.

 

Simply put Mark is at the top of the list of questionable aces over that time.

Expected to be out until end of April Big reprecussions.

This hurts. We lose a bat on the bench, & Hernandez becomes #2.

BMac likely goes rookie at #3, followed by Garland & Contreras.

Contreras has been a dissapointment in ST.

[JUGGERNAUT]

Top 1st string hitters (01-04) in MLB:

Based on Sag's RPG top 30 rankings. rank #1 = 31 pts, rank #30 = 1 pt.

 

120 Bonds, Barry

112 Ramirez, Manny

111 Helton, Todd

99 Rodriguez, Alex

99 Thome, Jim

98 Berkman, Lance

96 Pujols, Albert

95 Sheffield, Gary

94 Edmonds, Jim

86 Delgado, Carlos

85 Giles, Brian

84 Giambi, Jason

77 Walker, Larry

72 Jones, Chipper

65 Ordonez, Magglio

63 Gonzalez, Luis

61 Sosa, Sammy - dropping fast

59 Beltran, Carlos

58 Guerrero, Vladimir

57 Bagwell, Jeff

56 Palmeiro, Rafael

47 Ortiz, David

47 Posada, Jorge

47 Rolen, Scott

45 Martinez, Edgar

43 Williams, Bernie

42 Abreu, Bobby

42 Nixon, Trot

42 Sweeney, Mike

37 Boone, Bret

35 Burks, Ellis

35 Floyd, Cliff

35 Jeter, Derek

35 Konerko, Paul

34 Olerud, John

34 Thomas, Frank - only 2 appearances due to injury

32 Alou, Moises

31 Chavez, Eric

31 Green, Shawn

31 Kent, Jeff

30 Mora, Melvin

30 Vidro, Jose

29 Hafner, Travis

29 Klesko, Ryan

28 Drew, J.D. - 55/5 deal w LAD

28 Suzuki, Ichiro

27 Alomar, Roberto

27 Tejada, Miguel

26 Dunn, Adam

26 Nevin, Phil

25 Garciaparra, Nomar

25 Matsui, Hideki

24 Mueller, Bill

24 Salmon, Tim

23 Durazo, Erubiel

23 Giles, Marcus

23 Mientkiewicz, Doug

22 Beltre, Adrian

22 Guillen, Carlos

22 Ramirez, Aramis

21 Sexson, Richie - 50/5 deal w SEA

20 Huff, Aubrey

20 Lee, Carlos

20 Lowell, Mike

19 Durham, Ray

19 Piazza, Mike

19 Stewart, Shannon

19 Teixeira, Mark

18 Casey, Sean

18 Catalanotto, Frank

18 Guillen, Jose

18 Hidalgo, Richard

18 Lee, Derrek

18 Suzuki, Ichiro

17 Rowand, Aaron

17 Wells, Vernon

15 Koskie, Corey

15 Loretta, Mark

15 Renteria, Edgar

15 Rodriguez, Ivan

15 Soriano, Alfonso

14 Aurilia, Rich

14 Burnitz, Jeromy

14 Ibanez, Raul

13 Burrell, Pat

13 Cabrera, Miguel

13 Young, Dmitri

12 Hinske, Eric

12 Millar, Kevin

12 Wilkerson, Brad

11 Alfonzo, Edgardo

11 Everett, Carl

11 Glaus, Troy

11 Jenkins, Geoff

11 Overbay, Lyle

10 Bellhorn, Mark

10 Lo Duca, Paul

10 McGriff, Fred

10 Varitek, Jason

9 Damon, Johnny

9 Kendall, Jason

9 Spivey, Junior

8 Blalock, Hank

8 Jones, Andruw

7 Finley, Steve

7 Grace, Mark

7 Hatteberg, Scott

7 Lopez, Javy

6 Anderson, Garret

6 Ford, Lew

6 Payton, Jay

5 Podsednik, Scott

4 Conine, Jeff

4 Wilson, Preston

3 Cruz, Jose Jr.

3 Ventura, Robin

3 Young, Michael

2 Biggio, Craig

2 Cameron, Mike

2 Kotsay, Mark

1 Estrada, Johnny

1 Hunter, Torii

1 Valentin, Jose

 

I think it's very doubtful Koney will sign for less than 50/5. The fact some of it is deferred helps but he's not going to sign a contract for less than 5 yrs.