- Non-tenders came and went. The Sox opened up a spot on the 40-man, presumably to be filled soon by a back-up catcher, by non-tendering the erratic reclamation project Eduardo Sierra, who the Sox picked up after he was dropped by the Rockies mid-season.
In my planned piece on the non-tenders, I was going to point out that Cintron could be a candidate, but, sad as it is, $2+M is the going rate for backup middle infielders these days. The Sox also tendered a contract to Joe Crede, giving them an extended time to negotiate before they're forced into arbitration.
The only interesting players I see are Giles (no chance), Reistma (injured, back mid-season?), Hall (who we've discussed to exhaustion in the comments), and Werth (injured, surgery in the off-season?)
- A month ago, I didn't think there was a chance in hell that I would have called the Matsuzaka deal a good one, but here we are... I still think $51.1M is outrageous, but when the payoff is having a projected 1-2 starter signed from ages 27-33 at about $9M per year, you pay as much as you can afford in the posting process.
In the past, I said that I wouldn't want to risk getting stuck with Matsuzaka at an exorbitant price because I thought his stuff, and thus his probable major league performance, compared to Javier Vazquez. If healthy, does anyone think Vazquez (or more accurately a 33-year old version of Vazquez) will only be making $9M per annum in six years? Keep in mind, six years ago the White Sox paid $9.5M for 100 innings of David Wells.
Even if Matsuzaka is only a league average innings eater after a few good years, he'll easily be moved for something of value thanks to what will assuredly be considered a cheap contract in a few more years.
- I used to think that Jim Bowden was the worst GM in baseball. With his last two major trades, however, he's proved me dead wrong. First he bested Wayne Krivsky with his injured bullpen bonanza. That move opened up the possibility of moving the Statue of Jose Vidro that was manning 2B in RFK.
Krivsky has had two high level front office execs resign recently, both of whom complained that their advice had fallen on deaf ears. Bavasi's miscues have lead to a grassroots campaign to find his successor. Congratulations, Mr. Bowden. You're no longer the worst GM in the game!
Filed under: