One of the thousand reasons I haven’t been posting much is that a lot of people can make the same points I can. But here’s one I haven’t seen regarding Clemens:
Who cares how much he’s worth? It’s not like the Yankees could better spend 25 million dollars this season. Unlike the off-season when almost every team (and even the Yanks/Sox to a certain extent) is working within a salary budget, this isn’t an either/or proposition. The reason overspending is bad is because you could have used that money to buy better players and more wins within the assumption that there’s a fixed amount being spent by all the teams. But the Yankees choice with Clemens was basically sign him to replace a crappy young starter, or don’t. Pay for 3-5 more wins the rest of the way, or don’t. George likes winning and George likes Roger. Go George, go.
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Sky is a baseball fan and racket sport afficianado living in upstate NY. His favorite color is orange and is just about ready to give up on his life-long dream to become the next Magnus ver Magnuson (World's Strongest Man). His favorite baseball teams are the Yankees and Red Sox, proving that there's hope in the Middle East.
May 9th, 2007 at 2:05 am
Hmmm. I guess I see what you’re saying here, but I’m not sure I agree. Sheehan had a good analysis on BP/SI about how Clemens, given the limited innings he will pitch and the fact that Igawa probably isn’t as bad as his numbers thus far indicate - is really only worth 2-3 WARP (for the Yankees). However, there is the mitigating factor that by signing him, the Sox won’t get him, adding 2-3 more wins in what could be a pretty tight AL East race. So $26M for 4-6 wins? Seems crazy, yes. But I’m sure George and co. are factoring some October starts into their equations too, along with all of the additional value of the publicity and buzz the signing itself generates, and the revenues that translates into. I see it as the Yanks version of the Dice-K deal. Stupid amounts of money considering the raw stats involved, but not really unreasonable when you factor in the business aspects of the game. The Yankees and the Sox are the most heavily “branded” teams out there, and these guys just help to further identify and promote those brands, which is probably worth as much, if not more, than the stuff they do on the field. Also, Debbie Clemens really has a nice touch with rhinestones on baseball hats.