January 08, 2009
Defending Wren
Sabernomics defends the Braves decision to apparently not sign John Smoltz:
The Braves supposedly had offered $2 million with incentives increasing the total to $7 million. I would not recommend that the Braves offer more than this. It's easy to forecast Smoltz being on the hill in October, but there's also a decent chance that he'll be sitting on a gold-plated butt cushion in the dugout.
I don't think Frank Wren deserves the heat that he is going to get for this. The Braves have paid Smoltz $130 million over his career. Smoltz wanted more, and I don't blame Wren for passing. Signing and not signing Smoltz both have risks, and I think he gambled on the right side.
I'm somewhat surprised in this down market that teams are willing to pay for injury risk. Pavano is getting over $1 million, and now the Red Sox are taking on Penny and Smoltz for about $5 million each. I guess without Teixeira, the Red Sox have a lot of money to throw around.
Still don't completely understand your bristling at the Pavano contract. The major league minimum is a little under $400,000, and pavano is guaranteed about $1 million more than that, if I get the contract completely. This is not that much money. Tampa Bay's salaries averaged roughly this per player on their 40 man roster last season, the second lowest in the league.
And Pavano is healthy... for now at least.