From the NY Post:
TORONTO – David Price remind you of anyone?
A lefty who combines the qualities of both a workhorse and an ace. A
guy with a Cy Young in the bank. A No. 1 starter traded during his walk
year, excelling for a franchise (the Blue Jays) that has not been to the
postseason in ages (since 1993).
He is pretty much the closest thing to CC Sabathia since Sabathia,
a lefty workhorse ace who had won a Cy Young when he was traded in his
walk year (2008) to a Brewers team he spearheaded to its first playoff
berth since 1982.
The Yankees essentially planned for 12 months to move heaven, earth
and ultimately $161 million to assure they signed Sabathia, and now
Sabathia looms as a major reason why the Yankees will probably not even
be in play for Price this offseason.
No matter what has happened the past few years, I believe Sabathia
was a superb signing — and ultimately re-signing — for the Yankees. He
was the ace on a champion (2009), a terrific competitor and a clubhouse
stabilizer.
But he is part of an older, expensive group (with Alex Rodriguez and
Mark Teixeira, in particular) that has spooked even the usually
aggressive factions of the Yankees hierarchy about lavish long-term
contracts – particularly for pitchers in their 30s with big workloads.
Price turned 30 in August and has thrown the fourth-most innings in the
majors since 2010.
Price’s brilliance with the Blue Jays has done much to assure he gets
at least the seven-year, $210 million pact Max Scherzer received last
offseason. The Blue Jays have never given a free-agent contract of more
than five years, and no one expects incoming team president Mark Shapiro
– with his conservative background in Cleveland – to alter that, though
the groundswell to keep Price in Toronto will be similar to the clamor
for Yoenis Cespedes in Queens.
>>>> The article makes some valid points, which all teams, including the Cubs, should take into consideration during the winter free agent market.
The Cubs already banked $155 million on an "ace," Jon Lester, who has been good but not as good as Jake Arrieta. Price is expected to get at least $210 million. It is hard to imagine that the Cubs "business" people will want to tie up $365 million on two pitchers in their 30s.
Jerry Reinsdorf always put his foot down on any long term pitching contract. He feared pitchers broke down more than hitters; and that even without injury, pitchers sometimes lose their stuff. But agents and the market frenzy has driven up contact years from 3 or 4 to 7 to 10. The back end of the contracts seem to have a tendency to be "dead money" that hampers teams from making moves in the future.
The Yankees were the poster child for big spending, high profile free agent signings. But things started to change when the team did not re-sign their own guy, Robinson Cano. The front office has started to believe in taking compensation and regular draft picks to shore up their long term roster holes. Sabathia's deal is haunting them to play it more conservatively with free agents.
Whether other teams have "buyer's remorse" over past free agent deals is another question. If a GM can convince an owner that the team is one player away from a title, then it is possible to green light potential dead money deal.
