Sox Lester agree on 5 year deal

[jacksonianmarch]

I tend to actually lean the opposite way. Most teams don't rely on FA to complete the better part of their core roster. Honestly most teams can't afford too. It might have been that way in the past, but I think the overall mold of the way to run a franchise has shifted to drafting and developing homegrown players. And keeping them signed to deals that benefit both player and organization.

 

If I had to venture a guess, I would say outside of the Yankees most teams cores can be traced back the their farm system in one way or another.

 

The Yankees in the mid to late 90's could say this, but not anymore.

 

Don't hurt yourself trying to connect the dots though, we would miss you too much.

 

 

 

Although I didn't mention Dice-K in my previous post. I guess you can take him off the team as well even though the didn't sign him from another MLB organization. But the Sox would still have good core regardless.

 

The thing is, George royally f***ed us with his handling of the minor league system and it has only been recently that our system has improved dramatically. So, therefore, we couldnt actually build from within when there wasnt anything within to build from. That will change, but it will take time. Our pitching has come right up to the cusp with 2 recent home grown guys in our rotation (and a long termer with Pettitte) and a pen full of home grown guys as well as a plethora of upper level pitching talent. But our offensive side has been tough to develop. We had a lot of duds with Sardinha, Poterson, and Duncan just being useless. But it is coming. I think our OF depth is improving with Gardner and Jackson in the shorterm and Sosa, Deleon, Almonte, and Urena in the long term. Our catcher position is the deepest its ever been with Montero, Romine, Weems, and Higashioka. Not to mention the fact that Romine and Montero are 2 of our top 5 offensive prospects. And our IF depth is improving with Suttle, Sublett, and Joseph moving up the ranks. The problem is, of all the names listed, the only 2 guys I see in the bigs before the end of 2010 are Montero and Jackson, with Montero likely an OFer. Thats how bad our system was, we had Cano, Cabrera and then a bunch of s*** (one could argue that Cabrera is in that shitpile). We dont have the position player depth the sox have and continue to manufacture. I'd still say our pitching depth is superior, but the sox have a definite upper hand in the offensive department and have proven it with Youkilis, Pedroia, and Lowrie and the emergence of Lars.

[ORS]

The Red Sox signing of Lester is bad for baseball. John Henry is a hypocrite.

 

Cot's says this is the deal:

 

Jon Lester lhp

5 years/$30M (2009-13), plus 2014 club option

5 years/$30M (2009-13), plus 2014 club option

signed extension with Boston 3/15/09

09:$1M, 10:$3.75M, 11:$5.75M, 12:$7.625M, 13:$11.625M, 14:$13M club option ($0.25M buyout)

2014 club option is voided if Lester is traded and has finished first or second in Cy Young vote any season from 2009 to 2013

award bonuses: $50,000 each for All Star, LCS MVP; $0.1M for WS MVP; $0.1M for Cy Young ($75,000 for 2nd place, $50,000 for 3rd); $0.1M for MVP ($75,000 for 2nd place, $50,000 for 3rd)

Everyone except Gom should be able to follow this. Unfortunately for him, this is far too complicated. Let's look at how this compares to Hamels and estimated arbitration awards / settlements for a top pitcher in his first, second, and third arb years (values are in millions, and the PreArb year is their last pre-arbitration year).

 

[table]Year|Hamels|Lester

PreArb|$0.5|$1.0

Arb-1|$4.35|$3.75

Arb-2|$6.65|$5.75

Arb-3|$9.5|$7.625

FA-1|???|$11.625[/table]

 

Hamels is a bit better, and he's getting paid like it, and Hamels didn't even really set the bar for a top of the line LH starter. Willis got $4.35 and $6.5 in his Arb1 and Arb2 years. However, Willis went year to year, and Hamels sold his arb years all at once, thus he set the current market. The latest deal always does. Like you said, some of the more talented pitchers who have yet to turn their talent into greatness will be expecting Burnett money in the coming years.

 

So, for an extra $500K this year, they beat the market in the future years of this deal. Of course, this is contigent upon him continuing to pitch well.

[example1]

Like you said, some of the more talented pitchers who have yet to turn their talent into greatness will be expecting Burnett money in the coming years.

 

I absolutely see this happening. Felix Hernndez should be able to demand millions more than Burnett got without batting an eye. He'll be entering his age 26 season when he becomes a FA. Frankly, I wouldn't mind the Sox giving Felix AJ Burnett money if it adds him to their rotation. He's younger and his stuff is as electric if not better.