Strapped for Cash? Throw a Baseball!

Seemingly this is what is has come down to this winter as the hot stove keeps burning: If you can pitch, GM's will throw money at you.

My partner in crime here touched on some things in his previous post that Id like to get into, comment on, debate, whatever. Jason Marquis. Bad man. Very Bad. (In the words of Baboo Bot) RJ (Rough Justice for those just catching on) gave you the numbers so I wont give you those again but suffice it to say...not good. Let's stick with the Cubs for a minute here. Last year was an absolute abomination for them. Good news was they could let their young kids pitch so they can be ready for next year right? Oh wait they just spent money on the wildly overrated Ted Lilly and Jason Marquis. Some might argue that Lilly will be this year's Jeff Weaver in the national league. I for one can't believe I just wrote that sentence. Anyone who follows the AL east will tell you the only reason Ted Lilly even has AVERAGE stats is because he absolutely destroys the Red Sox, Yankees, Orioles, and D-rays every year. Look at is this way, your team is now paying Ted Lilly and Jason Marquis a combined 17 million per year, when you could have had Barry Zito and Sean Marshall (who will give you similar if not better production) filling the same two rotation holes for equal if not less money. The result of this also creates a better situation should you make the playoffs. Tell me, would a playoff rotation of Zambrano, Zito, Prior (God willing), and either Kerry Wood/Rich Hill/Sean Marshall look more intimidating than say Zambrano, Lilly, Prior (God willing), Marquis? Im taking the quality over quantity every time.

Now ok, it remains to be seen how it will turn out for the Cubs, but lets look away from them right now and hey if they fuck it up, they can just go spend more money like the Red Sox are doing (another topic for another time, Im not ready yet). Other clubs don't have this luxury. Lets look at the Royals for instance. The royals have been an abyss since the George Brett days. The worst part is that management seems to have no effing clue what the hell they want to do. They go out and sign guys like Reggie Sanders, Gil Meche, Mark Grudzielanek, etc. etc. all the while touting their young guns. Well which is it? Youth or Experience? To me, if you are a struggling team with seemingly no chance to compete, why not blow it all up and let your youngsters develop at the Major League level? If I were a Royals fan, Id be in multiple dumpsters right now from letting an axe murderer kill me over the lack of direction this team has. Not everyone will pull a Marlins and be in contention with an average age of 17, but, more likely, young teams will be in the realm of the Pirates. At the very least id rather KNOW what my team is trying to do than toil in the realm of sub-mediocrity. Teams that build from youth at least have a light at the end of the tunnel.

One other thing to note, I do, in fact,still have wet dreams about a healthy Mark Prior.

-Tony Fossas, the Lefty Specialist.