The 2007 All "Paid By My Former Employer" Team
December 19, 2007 7 Comments
When a baseball team decides to release a player, one of two things can happen.
Filed under Alex Rodriguez, baseball, Bill James, clutch hitting, Giants, hitting, run expectancy, win expectancy
7 Responses to The 2007 All "Paid By My Former Employer" Team
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“In 2007, Mueller made 4.5 million dollars to do whatever it is a SATTGM does, making him one of the highest paid executives.”
I laughed at that part. Good article, Eric!
Haha, thanks Mike. There were some honorable mentions to the article too. Craig Wilson got 2 mil from the Braves to do nothing in 24 games and then be injured for the White Sox. Jaret Wright got 4 mil from the Yankees to stink for the Orioles, so I guess that was money well-spent. And, of course, Carl Pavano got about 9 mil to watch old Alyssa Milano shows.
An interesting idea about rating GMs. I’ve toyed with the idea of such a system myself. This certainly would be one objective measure. How about percentage of payroll paid to players who are actually on your team?
The only drawback to the percentage you mentioned is that some trades were actually beneficial, like the Thome trade. Paying him 7 mil this year actually helped the Phils because they were able to keep Ryan Howard at 1B. The system would have to include some more variables. Perhaps the percentage you mentioned plus a detailed analysis of how those players paid while not on the team came back to hurt the team, and an analysis of what they received in a trade. Something along those lines.
Also, that system wouldn’t really take into account necessity. The Rangers traded Arod to free money to sign a bunch of players that they otherwise couldn’t afford. The move was made by the former GM (Tom Hicks? or is he the owner?), and was cleaned up by Jon Daniels.
To find out who the worst GM is, just ask a shitfaced fan in the bleachers.
It isn’t so much that the Rangers trading A-Rod (or any of the other trades mentioned) was a bad move. The bad move was signing him to such a stupid contract to begin with. That’s where the GM’s go bad.
10 years/252 million is insane considering all of the variables that went into it – no trade clause, bonuses, opting out clauses… because it then requires you to pay someone if you trade him… that is where the move was wrong. However, yes like you said, at the time it seemed like a no brainer to sign the best player in the game to that deal.
And, no matter what, you can always trade overpaid guys to the Yankees.