Market erupted once Tigers filled their need
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BY MICHAEL ROSENBERG
DETROIT FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
December 14, 2006
This is a wonderful time to be a Tiger, in every way. Detroit's baseball team has had a better off-season than anybody else in the American League Central -- with the addition of Gary Sheffield, the Tigers are better on paper, while rivals Minnesota and Chicago are not.
And for those Tigers who are approaching free agency ... well, they might smile so wide their teeth could fall out.
Forget that old saying about paying an arm and a leg. The new going rate in baseball is $10 million for an arm, $5 million for a leg and an $8-million bonus for anybody who has two of each.
Baseball has evolved into a twisted version of Garrison Keillor's fictional Lake Wobegon: All the women are strong, all the men are good-looking and all the pitchers are above average.
Last year, Seattle pitcher Gil Meche had a 4.48 earned-run average. The ERA for the entire league was 4.56. That means that over 200 innings, Meche will save his team approximately 1.8 runs compared to the average pitcher.
Meche has never actually pitched 200 innings in a season, but never mind that. The Royals gave him $55 million over five years.
It's their money. Well, actually, it's your money, but since most of you seem quite happy to spend a bunch of it to watch baseball, the teams are all too happy to turn around and give it to players.
And Meche isn't even the exception to the rule. Today's ballplayer won't step out of the batter's box for less than $10 million per year. Gary Matthews Jr., a 32-year-old coming off his only really good (not even great) year, just got $50 million over five years.
The Red Sox paid $51 million for the privilege of trying to sign Japanese star Daisuke Matsuzaka, then reportedly offered him $52 million to join the team. That is $103 million over six years for a player who has never pitched in the majors.
Pitcher Ted Lilly also got $10 million per year, although that deal contains a nasty stipulation: He must pitch for the Cubs. I hate to be politically incorrect and call Lilly a journeyman. Let's call him a journeyperson.
When Lilly signed, you could hear Tigers starter Jeremy Bonderman say, "Hey, I was traded for that guy! And I'm better than he is now!" Indeed. Lilly is 30. Bonderman is 24 and just had a better year than Lilly ever had. In this market, Bonderman must be worth at least $12 million per year, maybe more.
Bonderman is two years away from free agency, but the Tigers would be wise to sign him to an extension now, before the market rises even more. Otherwise they will have to give him something really big. Like the Fox Theatre.
The good news for the Tigers is that the market exploded precisely when they don't need to sign anybody. They acquired Sheffield, the power hitter they need, at the start of the off-season, then signed him to an extension before all the big contracts were finalized. I suspect Sheffield will complain about his deal the first week of spring training, but it's possible he'll wait until the second week.
In the meantime, the White Sox traded Freddy Garcia. The Twins lost Brad Radke to retirement and Francisco Liriano to surgery. Cleveland got better, but how much better?
Right now, the Tigers are the 2007 American League Central favorites. The Twins or White Sox could obviously change that, but only if they make a big acquisition. A run-of-the-mill, $10-million-per-year player won't do it.
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