11/18/2005: "Raise the Alarm"

We've hit DEFCON 1, ladies and gents; Jocketty and Tony meeting with Burnett in Florida. I wouldn't be so worried, except the other recent news is that his agent is demanding no less than a five year deal. Five years. The last pitcher to get a five year deal was... No, no, it's too painful.

Of course, unlike with Park it's easy to see the reasons people like Burnett; he strikes out 8.5 batters per nine innings, he's got an extremely low home run rate, and he boosted his groundout:flyout ratio last year to a very nice 2.42. He's got all of the peripherals expected of a frontline starter, a Cy Young candidate even... except he's walked 3.97 batters per nine innings over his career, and it was only "down" to 3.40 this year. And while that 3.45 ERA looks nice, remember that he managed to end up with seventeen unearned runs to his name. Between the sinkerballing ways and the raw stuff, I have little doubt that Dave Duncan has been calling Jocketty and La Russa every few hours to see how things are going, but gambling that your pitching coach can straighten him out is a big gamble to place a five year contract on.

If they sign him, of course, it'll most likely mean happy trails to Marquis, and the Trade-for-an-Outfielder Derby will begin in earnest. I think that, as far as the attainable players go, I most like the hypothetical deals for Vernon Wells and Brad Wilkerson. Wilkerson had a mediocre 2005, both at home and on the road, but I think playing in RFK's unfriendly confines messed up his swing; prior to '05 he had put together three consecutive seasons playing an average center field and getting on base with at least a .370 clip. He's not as exciting athletically as Wells, but he's a better bet to rake.

In other NL Central news... remember how we were all mad when we thought the Cardinals overpaid on Julian Tavarez? Two years, $2.4 million? And how we--well, I was at least--worried that the Cardinals, coming off of the 2003 Bullpen Shop of Horrors, had overvalued veteran relievers? This is like one of those commercials where it shows a guy being late for a meeting or spilling coffee and feeling like his day is horrible... and then it cuts to kids in Namibia who haven't eaten in three weeks, and you just feel awful. Because the Cubs just signed Scott Eyre to a three year deal worth eleven million dollars. Eleven! Scott "I Had to Look Him Up" Eyre is a 33 year old LOOGY who, in the past four years, has posted ERAs of 4.46, 3.32, 4.10, and 2.48 over the last four years. We all know that the one thing holding back last year's Cubs team was their lack of a lefty specialist who may or may not perform well--and now, for only a slight markup, they've got their intermittently effective man. This is the part where the number flashes on the screen, and the old guy tells you to donate to the Christian Cubbies Fund. Do it; I'm sponsoring Tuffy Rhodes.

Replies: 15 Comments

on Friday, November 18th, Craig said

Hey, my favorite part was where Rotoworld said Tony skipped a Rolling Stones concert to meet with him.

on Friday, November 18th, cardsrul said

My cousin Dave probably got him those tickets. If that's the case, he's gonna be pissed.

on Saturday, November 19th, Rob said

Yeah, you can miss a Stones concert to get Brian Giles. But AJ Burnett is a complete waste.

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