Are MLB pitchers overpaid?
The cost of pitching is rising in Major League Baseball, but are teams necessarily getting their money’s worth?
There is a notion in Major League Baseball that to win a World Series title, you better have at least one elite starting pitcher at the top of your rotation.
Why? Well because dominant starting pitchers have a mindset to put the entire franchise on their back and lead them to a championship. A great example of this is the combined effort of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, who were 4-0 with a 1.40 ERA in the Arizona Diamondbacks win of the 2001 World Series or just go back two postseasons ago with Madison Bumgarner. He singlehandedly won the San Francisco Giants a World Series title in 2014 by going 2-0 with a 0.25 ERA.
They were unhittable in October, as each delivered multiple amazing postseason appearances by entering games on short rest and shutting down their opponent in the batter’s box. These masterpiece performances were for the ages and are what postseason legends are made of in baseball folklore.
In the spirit of the new Star Wars movie that is coming out later this month, the Boston Red Sox and Arizona Diamondbacks made an Evil Empire splash into free agency by offering monopoly money-sized contracts to the top two starting pitching talents on the open market. The Red Sox agreed to a seven-year/$217 million deal with David Price, while the D-Backs have become relevant once again in the National League West by signing Zack Greinke to a six-year/$206 million deal.
Does this make sense? To a desperate franchise, it does. Aces like Price and Greinke are rare to acquire on the trade market without having to surrender half your minor league system in the process. The lure is the impact they will have on each start.
Front offices are constantly self-evaluating their teams, as they worry their window of opportunity to contend is slowly closing with each passing year. They become so desperate to make that one last playoff run, every absurd trade proposal or questionable free agent signing suddenly becomes the right decision to done in the offseason.
Neither the Red Sox nor the Diamondbacks care less that they’re paying over $30 million-per-season to pitchers that are entering their declining 30s after throwing over a combined 3600 innings in 20 major league seasons. Boston was determined to land Price because he has a career record of 29-4 in the opposing American League East team’s home ballparks. Suddenly, Arizona found themselves that anchor for their starting rotation while making the mighty Los Angeles Dodgers mere mortals within the NL West.
The philosophy for big-market teams is to sell tickets, get high television ratings and compete for a playoff spot come September. The length of a free agent pitcher’s contract isn’t going to hinder future moves, regardless if the backend of the deal becomes dead money on their bloated payroll much in the same manner as CC Sabathia’s contract (owed $25 million in 2016) with the New York Yankees.
The critics of the Price deal would question if the Red Sox have ever seen him pitch in the postseason because he hasn’t won a playoff start (0-7, 5.24 ERA) in his career. No argument that he is a better regular season starter, as Price averages 34 starts-per-year, which is rather unique in an era where innings limits and pitch counts often dictates a pitcher’s success. It’s a luxury in today’s baseball to have starting pitcher available from April to October without ever having them miss a start.
Will the day come when MLB owners finally say, “enough is enough, “ and stop paying these outrageous contracts.
Sorry, this is the sign of the times in modern baseball, as the sport is pitching–centered. Price and Greinke just the next names in the line of quality starters that are expected to receive nine-figure free agent contracts this offseason.
These deals piggybacked off Jordan Zimmerman’s $110 million agreement with the Detroit Tigers at the start of free agency. The Arizona Diamondbacks dangled a $120 million offer to Johnny Cueto, and still couldn’t sway him to come to the desert. But, don’t schedule a fundraiser just yet for Cueto, as he will be paid by a desperate team who lost out on the starting pitching sweepstakes this winter.
Clearly, teams must maintain a strong starting rotation to remain in contention for the playoffs, as they fully understand that giving an outrageous contract to an aging, great pitcher could possiblity paralyze their ability to tweak their roster down the road. The mentality in professional baseball is the future is now.
No MLB team has the guts to say, “thanks, but no thanks,” to a pitcher.