That's a lot of money, and a lot of years for a 36-year-old pitcher.
In other Braves' news, both O'Brien and Rosenthal are also reporting that the Braves remain interested in Xavier Nady and Nick Swisher.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Braves SignThe Lowe
According to David O'Brien and Ken Rosenthal, the Atlanta Braves signed free agent pitchers Derek Lowe today to a four-year $60 million deal. The deal will be made official after Lowe passes a physical.
That's a lot of money, and a lot of years for a 36-year-old pitcher.
In other Braves' news, both O'Brien and Rosenthal are also reporting that the Braves remain interested in Xavier Nady and Nick Swisher.
That's a lot of money, and a lot of years for a 36-year-old pitcher.
In other Braves' news, both O'Brien and Rosenthal are also reporting that the Braves remain interested in Xavier Nady and Nick Swisher.
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12 Comments:
Lowe is the most overrated pitcher this offseason. He should get kicked in the face for thinking he is worth another 4 years, and the Braves should get kicked in the balls for actually giving it to him.
The Braves needed pitching so they threw this kind of money at Lowe. Personally They should of taken a one year chance on Sheets. Hudson will return in 2010 and they have that young phenom in Tommy Hanson, so if Sheets sucked it up or got injured, they could easily get out.
Boras is AMAZING! 4 years for Lowe at $15M per...Wow. Makes the Sabathia signing look even better. Sabathia won't even be as old as Lowe is now when he contract expires with the Yanks.
As for Sheets, its not too late for the Yanks to take a 1 year chance on Sheets. If he gets hurt, we go to the kids all waiting in the wings, but if he is ON, what a one year acquisition he would be!
I would like to see Sheets for a year with the yanks ang have him and Hughes as your 4 and 5 starters, this way they can put Joba in the bullpen because we are going to need a good one, especially with Bostons dominant pen. Seriously I have never seen a bullpen as good as Bostons (on paper) this year in my life.
Why do people keep talking about Boston's "dominant" pen? It's full of guys that are either question marks, really old, and/or injured. Smoltz is coming off surgery, won't pitch till at least May. Saito is potentially a great setup man, but let's see if he's healthy. I think the AL may treat him a bit differently than the NL. Okajima was worse last year than his first year, and I see that trend easily continuing, especially based on his Japan numbers.
Other than the additions of old guys Smoltz (42 - who may or may not ever even pitch again) and Saito (39 - is he healthy?), their bullpen is the same maligned pen from last season that may have no middle relievers to get to the late innings. Counting on the old guys (Smoltz/Saito) is questionable, not just because Smoltz isn't even ready to start the season, but because of their age and their move from the NL to the AL East.
Yeah, Okajima still had an era of 2.61. By your theory he will have 2.90, ahhh he sucks. Looking at everything overall I think we will still win the division, but it won't be as easy as people thought it would be 3 weeks ago.
Anon,
You are so right on all fronts. Boston still scares me with their pen (thank go they didn't get Tex). Can you imagine if Sheets was in the rotation healthy and Joba set-up Mariano. Oh man, the team would be unstoppable. But, even if they don't move Joba, what a 5 man rotation they would have!
Peter I agree, lets just hope we get the Bruney of last year back, an even more improving Edwar, and lets not forget Coke (although I am not sold on him just yet looking at his minor league numbers.) Itll be a fun season, I am really pumped!
Joba won't go to the bullpen because that's the smart thing to do.
And Smoltz said he's returning as a starter when he returns in around May...
Dude, I didn't say Okajima sucks, simply that you should expect a falloff once again, meaning that's an overall negative impact on a bullpen that had a lot of problems getting the ball to Papelbon last season.
Okajima pitched over his head last year, based on the fact he was an average pitcher in Japan.
Here's the number that I believe will indicate the trend:
2007 WHIP: .97
2008 WHIP: 1.16
that's almost a full .2 increse in WHIP. I'm expecting that trend to continue, as it has in many Japanese pitchers who come to the US. Therefore, this season I'm expecting at least a 1.3 WHIP, if not a 1.35+.
In addition, I've pointed out the reasons that the additions of Smoltz and Saito may not be what everyone thinks they will be. Smotlz has a 4+ ERA vs. the AL, he's 42, and coming off shoulder surgery. Why people have this sudden faith that he'll be "dominant" at this age coming off surgery is beyond me. Is it possible? Of course. Probable? Maybe. Guaranteed? Heck no.
On the topic of Saito, his WHIP was 1.19 last year. Then he got hurt. 2009 will be his 4th year in the majors, and he'll be 39. The falloff from going from the NL West to the AL East, combined with natural age decline could very well have his WHIP in the 1.4 range.
Can you guarantee what will happen one way or the other? No. However, there are some very large, looming question marks with signing NL pitchers who are 39-42 years old, who are both coming off of injuries or surgery and will be coming to a hitter's park in the AL East.
I remember how everyone thought the sky was falling when the Sox got Gagne. Relax people. They didn't sign 4 Papelbons this off season. They got aging, injured National League pitchers. There's a huge difference when it comes to what you can expect.
By the way, with regard to Okajima, ERA is a bad stat to look at for relievers, and Okajima is a great example of why. While his WHIP wasn't awful, the ERA made him look a lot better than he was. Just ask a Sox fan how Okajima did last year with regard to inherited runners. He was allowing runners to score all over the place when he came in with men on base. He was really bad - I think at one point during mid-season he was allowing 80% of all inherited runners to score, no joke. Doesn't hurt your ERA, but it doesn't help your team.
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