What the Yanks did with AROD is borderline retarded..completely nuts. As far as the other guys, its the reason they pack up and leave. A guy like Ellsbury or Pujols etc...they wouldnt leave their current teams if not for those 1 or 2 extra years...but you are dead on..they are killers.
You make a good argument, my only rebuttal is that speed/defense players don't regress at the same rate as others and tend to keep their skills into their later years. And that both of his major injuries were freak accidents where his own teammate blindsided him shattering his ribs, and an opposing player fell on him separating his shoulder. Either they are banking in Arod getting suspended for the year, or they are going to scrap the threshold plan altogether. I think that's what is happening as the ellsbury signing makes zero sense if they don't resign Cano.
I don't know where "SJK" gets averaging 4 WAR over the course of the contract from. You sign a guy at 30 and expect his production and health to increase? The guy shaded all the numbers in his favor and the math still doesn't work for this contract. There's really no way to argue this is fair value. Does Ellsbury make the team better? Sure. Is he worth this money? No. Yeah, Manny and Matt Kemp were the only two contracts that were larger. Well, sure the A-Rod contract was awful at the time and I said so at the time but people who want to argue Ellsbury is worth it because he's coming off a great season, you could say the same for A-Rod. He was coming off a monster season.
Yisman Everybody agrees this is a bad contract. Selfishly, I am only looking to get a 4-5 good years from him. I am really tired of non-clutch players shining during regular season but collapsing come playoff time. Nick Swisher, Granderson, mostly A-Rod. These guys did well during regular season and collapsed in the post season. Look at what David Ortiz is doing. They guy has insane hitting average during playoffs and during world series. This guy hits come playoff time. Need to bring more players like him to avoid being eliminated with the likes of Tigers, Rangers etc. Yes you right this is a bad contract but I will take it after seeing Red Sox win their 3rd World Series in 9 years. Also not sure if Yankees are losing any money or not. I don't follow finances of Yankees very closely. If that is the case than I correct myself.
Not everyone. There are people are defending it. That's why I'm posting. If everyone agreed with me I wouldn't have said anything after my initial post.
It's certainly an overpay, but as long as I'm getting charged 13 bucks per Guinness at the ballpark, I couldn't give a shit. Him and McCann are made to order in terms of what the Yankees needed to import into their lineup. Yis while I agree it's only natural to expect his numbers to decline with age, I do think the ballpark is going to give him a boost in power. When you consider that the alternatives to sign were Choo (horrible against lefties to the point that he's a borderline platoon player), Beltran (knees make it likely we'd have to open up the DH spot which we CANNOT do), or Cruz (ANOTHER PED guy?!), I'm really ok with the overpayment. The injury-prone argument to me is blown out of proportion when they weren't hamstring or chronic leg injuries, but rather freak accidents.
The ballpark isn't a reason to sign him over another LHB, and there's a limit on the amount of LHBs they're going to want to use in the lineup. Also, we don't have to guess as to how the park would impact his performance. We have a decent amount of data. Ellsbury's career OPS: Home: .833 Road: .749 Yankee Stadium: about .700 (in 42 games) He's hit four home runs at Yankee Stadium in 206 PAs. A homer every 51.5 PAs. Over his entire career, he's homered every 49.29 PAs. In other words, he's performed poorly at Yankee Stadium, and has actually homered less often there.
The Yankees signed him for too long, but if they have no care for the luxury tax, the long contract doesn't matter. They'll eat if it goes bad like they have done countless times, all we need is 3-5 years out of him.
Bob Nightengale @BNightengale 4m Cano's last request to #Yankees: 9 years, $252 million, and $28 million vesting option. #Mariners still shy of that. http://usat.ly/1d2WpGr
Great offseason so far...lost best player after throwing nearly 300 mill at a JAG catcher and a slap hitting Brett Gardiner-like outfielder
Mark Feinsand @FeinsandNYDN 22m Major-league official told me he thinks Yankees' next move will be signing Shin-Soo Choo. #CanoFallout Delia Enriquez @dfiregirl4 4m Yankees are talking with Shin-Soo Choo.
