Puckett's Pond » CC Sabathia

Twins Free Agency Advice: Closers are a Waste of Money!

Sat, 03 Dec 2011 16:08:28 +0000

With Joe Nathan gone, the Twins are making noises about replacing him with a proven closer. This is a bad idea for multiple reasons. First, as many have pointed out, the most successful closers in team history have all been starters or inexperienced relievers converted to the closing role. But more importantly, paying for a player with closing experience is too expensive. All across MLB, closers are grossly overpaid for the role they play.

And I have numbers to prove it.

The table below shows the five highest paid starting pitchers in MLB in 2011 who did not miss significant time due to injury. On average, they get paid somewhere around $20,000 per batter faced. Not a bad gig!

Starting Pitcher	2011 Salary	Batters Faced	$ per plate appearance
C.C. Sabathia	$24,285,714	985	$24,656
Roy Halladay	$20,000,000	933	$21,436
Josh Beckett	$17,000,000	767	$22,164
A.J. Burnett	$16,500,000	837	$19,713
Derek Lowe	$15,000,000	830	$18,072

(Salary data gathered from Baseball-reference.com. Figures are approximate)

But now look at the top paid closers:

Relief Pitcher	2011 Salary	Batters Faced	$ per plate appearance
Mariano Rivera	$14,911,700	255	$63,999
Francisco Rodriguez	$12,166,667	307	$39,631
Francisco Cordero	$12,125,000	274	$44,252
Jonathan Papelbon	$12,000,000	255	$47,059
Heath Bell	$7,500,000	256	$29,297

Rivera earned more money last year per batter faced than the average American household earns in a year. You may look at his salary and conclude that he’s just getting overpaid by the free-spending Yankees. But the Yankees are the same team that is overpaying Sabathia and Burnett, and neither of them makes half of what Rivera does per plate appearance. Closers generally face less than a third as many batters per season as starters do, but they are often paid nearly as much per season. Bell just got a pay raise, by the way. If he faces 256 batters again this year, he’ll average $35,156 for each one. (more…)

Fansided Names Pitchers of the Year at Call to the Pen

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 03:02:29 +0000

Congratulations to Fansided’s AL Pitcher of the Year, Justin Verlander and the NL Pitcher of the Year, Clayton Kershaw. Read all about Verlander’s glorious accomplishment at Call to the Pen. While you’re there, check out the writeup about Kershaw, too.

In case you haven’t been following this site over the last few weeks (how dare you?), Fansided’s MLB writers have voted for all of the postseason awards, and we are releasing the results this month. Like the folks at the Baseball Writer’s Association of America, we’ve picked a Manager of theYear, a Top Rookie, a Top Reliever as well (links to all of those results are at the bottom of the Pitcher of the Year award pages). We’ll pick a Player of the Year later this week. Unlike the BBWAA, we’re not making you wait two months before we reveal the winners. So really, BBWAA is copying us, not the other way around! (more…)

Walking and Winning

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 01:54:00 +0000

The brutal start to the Twins 2011 season continued today as the Twins suffered a humiliating 10-5 loss at the hands of the Royals. Francisco Liriano looked good, but many of the baseballs hit by the other team ‘had eyes’ which led to an ugly 6-run 4th inning and Liriano’s day was done after a leadoff walk in the 6th. The Twins managed to put up a crooked number in the 5th inning, but finished the game with only 5 runs marking the 11th time in 11 games that they’ve failed to score more than 5.

I work a day job, and I also happen to be my company’s social-media expert so I spend a lot of time on Twitter during the day. Over the past few days my Twins-related Tweets have turned decidedly negative as I see less and less to be excited about with regards to the team. The pitching is there, the bullpen has been better than expected so far, but the offense has be absolutely dismal. Here’s a little perspective on how dismal it’s been.

(more…)