Yeah, I'm guessing the ones in Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Oakland and Tampa Bay. Drayton does have his quirks, but at least he tries.
This is ridiculous criticism. Again, you are using the 20/20 hindsight to criticize. Bagwell's contract was offered to him back when he was in his prime and deserved a big payday. Part of this, I think, was given to attempt to keep him and Biggio in Houston for the entirety of their careers. Also, when Bagwell signed his contract, it was right at the beginning of the huge inflation of salaries. I think Bagwell was the 3rd highest player in the game when he signed that contract. Had the Astros not been willing to go that high, some other team would have, and the Stros would have lost one of their franchise icons. If Bagwell were still hitting like he did in his prime, I'm positive you would not be criticizing Drayton for offering that contract. Pettite is another story. Lots of people felt that contract was too high for a person of Andy's career stats. I agreed somewhat, but since he was from my hometown and went to my high school, I didn't care and wanted him on the team. However, his contract is nowhere near as big as Bagwell's or Clemens (per year). Clemens contract was for one year. One year. Sure, he's making 18 mil, but this isn't Cingular and owners don't run their teams with the idea that they will get "rollover" $ from year to year. The big money FAs the Astros pursued this last offseason didn't pan out (really Beltran was the only one, I think). Clemens respectfully held off on contract negotiations until all of that fiasco was resolved. Do you really think he would have asked for 18 mil had we signed Beltran? I think his demand would have been more in line with his Cy Young contract the year previous. That wasn't exactly money that would have been spent elsewhere very effectively, so the Astros rewarded Clemens and did what it took to bring him back since he was such a fan favorite. I don't think it was irresponsible spending since it was just one season.
Like Matt Maloney, Bagwell's contract wasn't too high, it was too long. If you think Clemens wasn't going to ask for that much money after the season he had you need your head exmained.
Again, in the context of when the contract was signed, the Astros needed to offer a long contract or risk losing Bagwell. It was just unfortunate that one of the team's best players happened to sign his big payday contract during one of the most salary inflated times of baseball. As for the head examination...if you say so. I'll just take that little personal attack as evidence that you don't have any real retort. Personally, I think the fact that Clemens waited until the Astros were completely done pursuing any major free agents is evidence enough that he was waiting to see what they would have left in the coffers so he could make his contract demand. Otherwise, if he was hell-bent on getting a big payday (as he did), he would have tried to get his contract before any others were signed.
The fact is you or I don't know what Clemens was thinking when pondering whether what he would ask for so for you to write that my response is any less real than yours is ridiculous. Its also ridiculous to assume that Clemens would take a below value market contract after only making $5MM last season whiile being arguably the best pithcher in the game. He couldn't ask for much more than he did his first season here because he wasn't coming off a good season (by his standards). Those are facts, not your speculation. As far as Bagwell's contract is concerned, you can keep running your hindsight is 20/20 line but a lot of media people questioned paying a guy $18MM in his late thirties. The fact is Bagwell was on the decline when he signed that contract. It was a bad baseball decision.
Yes he couldn't have asked for much more. I don't know, how much do you think a 41 year old pitcher is worth coming of a good but not great season?
I doubt it. But anyway the point was he couldn't have gotten anywhere near what he is making this season.
Actually, the fact is that when he signed that contract, he was coming off a 47 HR, 132 RBI season. That's terrible.
I have been saying this all along. If you compare Berkmans numbers for his career with Beltrans Berkman beats him in almost all offensive categories or comes close. The only difference being that Berkman has played 2 less years. All that hype for Beltran came in the playoffs. He hasn't proven to be a crazy regular season player. He is a good player with all the tools but he is not consitantly great. I really think he should have made close to what Berkman s making.
Unless he really can tune out the NY media and fans, Beltran's game is not really suitable for NY. Beltran actually is a great player, entering the prime years of his career. The problem is, he's not spectacular at anything in particular. He's merely very good at just about everything. He plays a premium defensive position, and plays it extremely well, but not gold glove caliber. He can hit for both power and average, but will never be among the best hitters in the league. He has been one of the top base stealers in the game, this season notwithstanding(an unknown injury, perhaps?). And Beltran has always been a character guy on and off the field. The guy's the total package, but there's nothing "amazing" about his game if you leave out his playoff performace last year.
Lets get back to bashing Beltran, its more fun. Beltran's projected numbers at season's end: BA = .278 R = 69 HR = 20 RBI = 79 SB = 2 Awesome, Carlos!
Actually, I've seen several reports of a minor injury that's nagged Beltran since Spring Training. Because I didn't care, I haven't carefully retained the details and I do not have a link--but each time the mention was on ESPN.
