April 9, 2006: For the Love of Money

(Editor's Note: You will see periodic jumps in calendar dates, as we only play our team's home games in BRASSball.)



Today's game would see the Windy City Slickers make their way to John Locke Field. Dueling on the mound would be Jeremy Bonderman for Windy City and A.J. Burnett for Fleetwood.

Along with Mark Buehrle, Burnett was one of my most controversial signings this past off-season. Up to that point, Burnett had spent his entire BRASSball career with Fleetwood. Having finally reached restricted free agency, Box City tendered him a 7-year, $29 million contract offer.

That left me with two options:

a) Let Burnett go, and pick up a compensation draft pick. I love a good draft pick, and I love avoiding risky commitments. But at the same time, I needed to start winning some baseball games.

b) Match the offer. It was certainly a huge (and risky) financial commitment. But a team with championship aspirations needs pitchers with championship-caliber talent. For better or worse, I matched the offer.

Based on past BRASSball free agent history, the going rate for top-flight starting pitchers appeared to be about $5 million per season. At a typical length of 4 to 5 years, this made most contracts about a 5-year, $25 million investment. While this set my expectations, I also realized the offers might go a bit higher this year. Why? A scarcity of top-flight starters on the free agent market (Marvin Miller, you really knew what you were doing.)

As it turns out, both Burnett (7-year, $29 million) and Buehrle (7-year, $28 million) -- two of the top arms available -- got very similar deals. So there's your market value, I guess.

Both deals--but especially Burnett's--undoubtedly raised a few eyebrows around the league. A 7-year deal is quite a commitment to a pitcher with a history of injury problems. That said, what really mattered to me were the total dollars...$29 million.

Going in, I was willing to commit to a 5-year, $25 million deal. Was I now willing to commit to an extra 2 years and $4 million? Was this additional commitment enough to scare me away? In the end, I decided it was not.

(Aside: The biggest complication I faced during my deliberations on Burnett and Buehrle involved Doug Davis. Specifically, I had the top offer to this restricted free agent pitcher at 4-years, $18 million. Davis was nearly as good as both pitchers in 2005, and his contract would represent a $10-11 million savings over Burnett's or Buehrle's.

At the end of the day, though, I decided to stick with the "Killer B's"...not only because they were younger pitchers, but also because somebody had already purchased their locker nameplates. Meanwhile, Davis eventually resigned with North Georgia for 5-years, $12 million. An excellent bargain indeed.)

But I digress. Rumor has it there is a game to be played.

In the bottom of the 3rd, Fleetwood scored 3 runs highlighted by a two-run home run from Jim Edmonds. Meanwhile, Burnett pitched in-and-out of trouble...getting a little help from veteran Cal Eldred in the 8th after Lyle Overbay and A-Rod led off with singles. No runs would score.

After Fleetwood tacked on 3 more runs in the bottom of the 8th, the game was clinched. Final score: Fleetwood 7, Windy City 1.

---

BOXSCORE: 2006 Windy City Slickers At 2006 Fleetwood Walkers         4/9/2006
Gm 1: Edmonds hits a homer, and FLE's pitchers pitch in-and-out of trouble.
 
  Slickers           AB  R  H RBI AVG     Walkers            AB  R  H RBI AVG
  M.Ellis 2B          5  0  2  0 .400     M.Giles 2B          3  1  0  0 .214  
  M.Kotsay CF         4  0  1  0 .250   A-L.Matos PH,LF       0  0  0  1 .286  
  L.Overbay DH        2  0  1  0 .500     J.Edmonds CF        4  1  2  2 .273  
  A.Rodriguez 3B      4  0  2  0 .500   B-J.Closser PH        1  0  0  0 .000  
  D.Johnson 1B        4  0  1  0 .250   C-B.Crosby SS         0  0  0  0 .222  
  K.Mench RF          4  1  2  0 .500     D.Lee 1B            4  1  1  1 .105  
  M.Lawton LF         4  0  1  0 .250     M.Cabrera LF,3B     4  0  2  0 .333  
  B.Ausmus C          4  0  1  1 .250     J.Valentin C        2  0  1  1 .200  
  J.Reyes SS          4  0  0  0 .000     D.Wright 3B         4  1  2  0 .353  
                                        D-J.Dye RF            0  0  0  0 .385  
                                          D.Dejesus RF,CF     3  1  1  1 .091  
                                          J.Phelps DH         3  1  0  0 .444  
                                          N.Perez SS,2B       4  1  2  1 .200  
                     -- -- -- ---                            -- -- -- ---      
         Totals      35  1 11  1                 Totals      32  7 11  7
 
A-Pinch Hit For Giles In 8th Inning
B-Pinch Hit For Edmonds In 8th Inning
C-Subbed Defensively (SS) For Closser In 9th Inning
D-Subbed Defensively (RF) For Wright In 9th Inning
 
Slickers........ 0 0 0  1 0 0  0 0 0  -  1 11  0
Walkers......... 0 0 3  1 0 0  0 3    -  7 11  0
 
Slickers (0-1)           IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA  SCORESHEET
J.Bonderman LOSS(0-1)     7      10   7   7   4   8   1   9.00  A1 D8
G.Carrara                 1       1   0   0   0   0   0   0.00  D9
Totals                    8      11   7   7   4   8   1
 
Walkers (4-1)            IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA  SCORESHEET
A.Burnett WIN(1-1)        7      11   1   1   2   6   0   5.54  A1 D4
C.Eldred HOLD(1st)        1       0   0   0   0   1   0   0.00  D5 D7
R.Vogelsong               1       0   0   0   0   0   0   9.00  D8
Totals                    9      11   1   1   2   7   0
 
ATTENDANCE- 37,582 DATE- Wednesday, April 9th 2006 TIME- Night WEATHER- Good
T- 3:02
LEFT ON BASE- Slickers: 9  Walkers: 8
DOUBLE PLAYS- Slickers: 0  Walkers: 2
DOUBLES- D.Wright(1st), N.Perez(1st)
TRIPLES- D.Dejesus(1st)
HOME RUNS- J.Edmonds(1st)
STOLEN BASES- K.Mench(1st)
SACRIFICE FLIES- L.Matos, D.Lee, J.Valentin
WALKS- L.Overbay-2, M.Giles, J.Valentin, D.Dejesus, J.Phelps
STRIKE OUTS- M.Ellis, M.Kotsay-2, A.Rodriguez, D.Johnson-2, B.Ausmus, M.Giles,
             J.Edmonds, J.Valentin, D.Wright-2, D.Dejesus, J.Phelps, N.Perez
GIDP- K.Mench, M.Lawton
WILD PITCHES- J.Bonderman