Is signing long-term contracts with starting pitchers counter-productive? – MLB Feature - Part 2
A glance on the yearly salary of the players presents such a picture that even the man in the street can come up with the conclusion that something is amiss with regard to proper allocation of the resources. Cliff Lee alone fetches $21.5 million this year
on the Phillies’ roster.
That means they are going to bear an expense of the starting pitcher irrespective of the fact that if they can manage to induct a quality relief pitcher using a fraction of the money due for him as they can eschew the losses that result out of having a weak
bullpen. Unfortunately, already overstretched Phillies cannot afford to expand their budget more and therefore working with the existing options has become an unavoidable reality for them.
Whenever an organisation chases a pitcher from free agency, the latter is more often than not in a position to get the club to surrender a greater degree of control. In effect, the pitcher runs away with a deal which protects his future as well as shields
the hurler against the lean periods that he is going to experience in the years to come. This can also mean that once an organisation attempts to trade the same pitcher out of having seen him performing poor consistently, it may not be legally sanctioned to
do so. That is when the misery of the club starts and the victory of the pitcher takes its course.
In an era of collective bargaining agreement, the pitchers have been put in an ideal position to exploit the circumstances. As soon as a hurler feels that he possesses something that he has attracted the clubs’ attention toward him. This, along with the
clauses which have been put forth in the collective bargaining agreement in the favour of players, he always keeps the organisations vulnerable to committing so much in one time that their overall performance eventually suffers.
Recently, the New York Mets inked a $25.5 million five year deal with Jonathon Niese. It was a contract extension as the club found the pitcher reaching the end of his existing contract.
This very contract can serve as an exception amidst the extravagant deals being signed with the pitchers. One can easily call it one of those contract renewals in which the clubs have been beneficial. However, one cannot ignore the credentials of the hurler
who has been retained by the club in the deal. As Niese is an ordinary starter with a decent record in the past which can put him in an ideal bargaining position, he has conceded to whatever little he received from the Mets.
In return, the Mets cannot envisage anything substantial coming off from him. As is evident from his performance in the current season, he has proven volatile, while at-times he has appeared just as an ceremonial starter who will be scratched by the manager
as soon he steps on the mound.
Therefore, an apparent benefit for the organisation hides a sort of compromise which the club made, because they did not have financial leeway in the first place for stealing the attention of a better starter toward them.
Hence, the era which sees relatively above average pitchers being offered expensive deals has gone beyond the capacity of a financially-incapacitated organisations to strengthen their rotation.
For how long the teams can afford to endure the unwanted reality cannot be predicted unless the organisations employ objectivity in decision making and cater to all the circumstances before agreeing to a deal with the pitchers.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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