MLB Offseason

[FRPLG]

To me when considering this you have to first ignore players on first contracts whom you have to scout, draft, develop and keep healthy...all of which makes them basically a totally different animal.

Once you get to established pitchers on second+ contracts the cost of wins goes up almost exponentially.

A pitcher who can win an average amount of games is worth an average amount of money...say $7 mil for 10 wins.

But a pitcher who can win 20 games is worth more like $20 mil (not $14). That's just what these guys get paid. A lot of them.

When you consider his age (25...young), health history(good...very good), stuff (hard to argue he isn't the best pitcher in the league), the length of the contract (only 7 years), and the financial resources of the team I think the money makes as much sense as any contract in sports does. It seems ridiculous on its face but I don't think I could figure out a way to spend the $30 mil per year to get his type of predictable production versus risk.