I just remember a lot of idle speculation at the beginning of the offseason that K-Rod was talking numbers like $50-100 million. He didn't, in the end, come close to sniffing those numbers, and rightfully so.

 

There's a lot of wear and tear on that arm/shoulder, and he does have a pretty violent delivery that screams DL in the 2nd half of his career.

 

$100 million deal is off-the-charts ridiculous. Rivera wasn't even getting that money in his prime, in a strong economy.

 

Totally agreed about K-Rod. Omar Minaya is one of the worst GMs in the league, so I'm not surprised that he's paying K-Rod that much after logging a gazillion innings on his arm.

Edited April 28, 201015 yr by WCSox

I just remember a lot of idle speculation at the beginning of the offseason that K-Rod was talking numbers like $50-100 million. He didn't, in the end, come close to sniffing those numbers, and rightfully so.

 

There's a lot of wear and tear on that arm/shoulder, and he does have a pretty violent delivery that screams DL in the 2nd half of his career.

 

You're right about buying FA closers. The closest we've been to doing that was acquiring Koch, and KW definitely learned a "MONEYBALL" lesson with that move...although Cotts turned out to be a very valuable piece, he was far from the centerpiece, that was getting the "fireballing" closer we've never had to replace the crafty Foulke, who got by with guile, moxie and guts against all but the very best teams.

 

It was also in the worst economy for any year of baseball that involved free agency... well, ever.