blipey
Posts: 2061
Joined: June 2006
|
| Quote | | The way to rebuild the Royals is definitely spending 12 million on average pitchers. |
Point taken. However, this is baseball we're talking about. The previous regime (Allard Baird) left the farm system without many average arms, let alone major league arms. Four 100 loss years out of five and there's something to be said for getting an average arm in your rotation.
It's tough to rebuild in a small market (I'm not crying small market here--just stating a reality for many teams). It doesn't do a lot of good to try and rebuild a team while running out bad pitching. I'm not talking about young, unseasoned pitching--I'm talking about never gonna be real major league pitchers.
So, is Meche th greatest thing since sliced bread? No. Does he have good stuff? Yes. Last year he threw well above average for most of the season--he was leading the league in a nifty Jason Stark stat: CUS (criminally unsupported start). Into August he had only 4 starts in which the Royals scored more than 2 runs while he was in the game.
Did we overpay for Meche? Yes. To get anyone to play for KC you have to. I don't want to see us sign a Gil Meche every year, but this signing (on early returns) seems to be a god one. Some other trades have gotten us more viable starting pitching (2007 rookie of the year candidate Brian Bannister and others) that may indicate a true rebuilding process is under way.
Bottom line. Decent starting pitching is worth paying for, even overpaying for under certain circumstances. Remember, this is MLB--Tim Belcher signed 2 different contracts for 2 different teams, both over 6 million per year. This was several years ago and one would guess in a slightly less upscale payroll era. His credentials: a lifetime .500 record and 4.8+ ERA.
--------------
But I get the trick question- there isn't any such thing as one molecule of water. -JoeG
And scientists rarely test theories. -Gary Gaulin
|
