So our choice right now is between expending depth from our minor league organization (and the majors to some extent) to bring in talent from other teams or getting into spending matches with teams that have almost completely opened the checkbook?

 

I see no problem at all with standing pat in this market. In the late 90's, probably culminating in 2000 with ARod and Manny, there was a huge surge in spending, much of it questionable, by baseball's owners as they realized they had more money than they were paying out in salary and decided to use it to try to win games and bring in more fans.

 

Then, for a couple of years, suddenly a lot of those insane contracts dried up, and you just didn't see people matching $180 million or $250 million deals like you'd expect if contracts would keep going up. Teams overspent to bring in talent when they had money, and suddenly the teams who had bided their time a little bit were able to find some potential bargains, like right fielders for $5-$6 million a year and so on.

 

Now suddenly, baseball's revenue stream has expanded again, there are more teams with more money, and there is a lack of people on the market to take advantage of that money, and therefore, we're running into another insane surge of spending, $17 million a year deals for guys in their 30's, weak hitting leadoff guys who rely on speed pushing $10 million a year, $51 million just for the right to negotiate with a pitcher, etc.

 

The smart money is not being spent in the FA Market this year, the desperate money is. The smart money is realizing it's only a matter of time before the teams dumping out these contracts find themselves having overspent their new revenues, leaving themselves hamstrung in the future and creating the opportunity for more intelligent deals for the smart teams down the road.

 

 

nice post

This is the worst contract of the entire off season, the Soriano deal included.

If some team gives Gil Meche the $8 mil per he wants...that will trump ALL of the others...except maybe for Matsuzuka.

This is the worst contract of the entire off season, the Soriano deal included.

I have a feeling baseball fans will be able to argue about what the worst contract of the 2006 offseason is for many years to come.

I have a feeling baseball fans will be able to argue about what the worst contract of the 2006 offseason is for many years to come.

 

That's one I won't argue with you about

i think this deal is way too long. pierre has a grand total of one usefull skill on the baseball field, and that is speed. even one minor, nagging injury could be enough to slow him down. you cannot spend that much on a single skill player. furcal will make 13 million next year. and he plays gold glove defense at a premium defensive position, with a little bit of power. and oh yeah, they are the same age.