"This guy earns every penny he makes," [Ozzie] Guillen says.
I'm not going to reveal the subject of that quote yet. Before I do, I'd like to compare two players based on what they did on their last contracts before coming to the Sox (the last column represents average salary over the length of the contract):
| |
G |
HR |
RBI |
SB |
BA |
OBP |
SLG |
$$$ |
| Player X |
111 |
17 |
62 |
3 |
.243 |
.318 |
.425 |
10M |
| Player Y |
96 |
5 |
39 |
9 |
.273 |
.326 |
.371 |
8M |
If you had to pick one in hindsight, which one would you choose? Neither are great shakes; the top line is superior in most aspects, but that $2 million a year could be used well to sign draft picks or pick up a decent reliever if allocated wisely. Either way you, you're taking on an albatross, right?
Now, what if I told you one of them
punted?
Yes, as many of you may have already guessed, the guy on the bottom is Darin Erstad, a player who received
yet another fawning piece in the media today. Okay,
two of them. No,
three. And don't
forget a fourth from earlier this week.
The one above him? Jermaine Dye, considered then and now to be the
worst-ever signing in Billy Beane's tenure as the general manager of the Oakland A's.
Maybe Jermaine should have
played hockey in high school, because that's the
only difference I can see between the two of them. Yessirree, that's the only way I can tell them apart.