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Sunday, July 08, 2007
Buehrle
We don’t normally debate trades and signings on this blog, but…
This was written by a poster on the BTF thread about the signing:
He is an absolute steal at 4 yrs./56 million. He would have received at least 5/80 on the open market and that’s being conservative.
This is close to the prevailing sentiment on that thread. I doubt the 5/80, and I especially doubt the “and that’s being conservative.”
We have discussed Buehrle and the fact that he is probably worth around 2.5 WAR, maybe less in the AL. That is almost 6 mil per win. Even for a starting pitcher, I would have to think that is high. Given that the WS have a below average offense and can easily upgrade in that regard, this looks like a pretty bad deal to me. If you can’t find offensive wins for less than 6 mil per, you aren’t looking in the right places.
Not to mention the fact that long terms deals for pitchers, especially ones who are not spring chickens, are not particularly prudent for obvious reasons. Plus the quasi-no-trade clause, etc.
I would say that this deal was at best a tad poor and at worst, terrible. I would probably give him no more than 3/36.