But not for Ryan Dempster.
Then there were John Smoltz and Brad Penny at 5 million apiece.
Just look at our track record of signing cheap back end starters, maybe.
And I'm not being argumentative about it, just making friendly conversation.
I think the frequency of Tommy John surgeries shows that the structure of human arm ligaments does not match up well with what being a pitcher asks them to do.
Maybe because throwing a baseball harder falls in the unnatural strain category.
Throwing baseballs has always done an extraordinary amount of damage to pitchers' arms. So many careers have been ended early by injury.
And a guy like Nolan Ryan has always been a true exception, a physical freak.
I would hazard a guess that very few baseball executives in history have inherited a tougher short-term situation than Bloom did. On the flip side I imagine he got a nice raise from his Tampa pay.