Tuesday, February 08, 2005
From the Pages of: Silly Signings
I have some time in between classes today, so I'm writing like mad in order to get this thing going on a consistent basis. And that chick across the way is checking me out. Yesssssss.
In the news today, the move that sticks out is the Twins re-upping starter Carlos Silva for 2 years/ 5 mil with an option for a third year. The Twinkies are a team with a deep farm system with a number of solid pitching prospects, so this move makes no sense. Silva won 14 games, sure, but his WHIP was a mediocre 1.43, a product of giving up a whopping 255 hits in 200 innings, while striking out only 76. Now, I'm not a stauch follower in DIPS theory, but this is ridiculous. As an extreme groundballer, Silva relies on his defense more than most pitchers, and now that defensive studs Corey Koskie and Doug Mientkiewicz are gone, a weak infield of Mike Cuddyer, Juan Castro, Luis Rivas, and Justin Morneau could spell death on Silva.
This whole thing is an illustration of the dangers of GMs focusing on wins and innings pitched instead of strikeouts and WHIP when evaluating their players. If the Twins were to simply lose Silva after this year and plug Grant Balfour or J.D. Durbin in his place, the results would be much cheaper and, I'm sure, a lot better. Silva gets 1.75 mil this season and 3.2 mil in 2006 (though the deal is loaded with incentives). This isn't as bad as, say, the Reds and Eric Milton, but it's way too much money for a guy who will probably put up an ERA in the 5's this year, and for a budget-conscious team like Minnesota, this is an extremely poor way to allocate payroll. But Terry Ryan has never been one to competently hand out contract extensions, case in point being Joe Mays and Torii Hunter.
In the news today, the move that sticks out is the Twins re-upping starter Carlos Silva for 2 years/ 5 mil with an option for a third year. The Twinkies are a team with a deep farm system with a number of solid pitching prospects, so this move makes no sense. Silva won 14 games, sure, but his WHIP was a mediocre 1.43, a product of giving up a whopping 255 hits in 200 innings, while striking out only 76. Now, I'm not a stauch follower in DIPS theory, but this is ridiculous. As an extreme groundballer, Silva relies on his defense more than most pitchers, and now that defensive studs Corey Koskie and Doug Mientkiewicz are gone, a weak infield of Mike Cuddyer, Juan Castro, Luis Rivas, and Justin Morneau could spell death on Silva.
This whole thing is an illustration of the dangers of GMs focusing on wins and innings pitched instead of strikeouts and WHIP when evaluating their players. If the Twins were to simply lose Silva after this year and plug Grant Balfour or J.D. Durbin in his place, the results would be much cheaper and, I'm sure, a lot better. Silva gets 1.75 mil this season and 3.2 mil in 2006 (though the deal is loaded with incentives). This isn't as bad as, say, the Reds and Eric Milton, but it's way too much money for a guy who will probably put up an ERA in the 5's this year, and for a budget-conscious team like Minnesota, this is an extremely poor way to allocate payroll. But Terry Ryan has never been one to competently hand out contract extensions, case in point being Joe Mays and Torii Hunter.
