Kevin Millwood to Texas

[Guest JimH]

Rotoworld and the AP are reporting Millwood has agreed to a 5 year $60M deal with the Texas Rangers.

[SnB]

wow, they finally got the point that you actually need a pitching staff to win?

[Guest JimH]

And the implications for the White Sox are:

 

Pitching is getting even more expensive. Garland's price continues to go up, as does Contreras' for that matter.

 

5 years and $60 million for Kevin Millwood, that is insane. Insane for the Texas Rangers to stupidly give him that much money, and insane for the game of baseball. Boras does his "job" again, raising the salary bar for everyone else.

 

Javier Vazquez looks more like a bargain acquisition each and every day.

[Buehrle>Wood]

[maggsmaggs]

As much as I hate Scott Boras, if you are a baseball player, you want this man as your agent. You will make top dollar and if you aren't a greedy bastard you still can have a mind of your own. But, damn, Kevin Milwood for 5 years at $12 million per year. Seriously, Garland could get a 6-year deal. Millwood was one year after arm surgery and Garland has been as healthy as can be. Kenny get this guy out of town quickily.

[DBAHO]

So much for the Red Sox having any chance to upgrade their rotation through the FA market now.

 

Millwood's a hell of a risk though. He's going from a good pitcher's park in 2005 from Jacobs, to one of the best hitting parks in baseball in Arlington.

 

Still, Jon Daniels has upgraded that rotation, and the AL West should definitely be an interesting 3 team race to watch next season.

[redandwhite]

QUOTE(JimH @ Dec 26, 2005 -> 06:04 PM)

And the implications for the White Sox are:

 

Pitching is getting even more expensive.  Garland's price continues to go up, as does Contreras' for that matter.

 

5 years and $60 million for Kevin Millwood, that is insane.  Insane for the Texas Rangers to stupidly give him that much money, and insane for the game of baseball.  Boras does his "job" again, raising the salary bar for everyone else.

 

Javier Vazquez looks more like a bargain acquisition each and every day.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

the white sox could trade garland in a similar deal the brewers made when they rid themselves of richie sexson but i guess the white sox dont have 10 open roster spots for quality players.

 

it's amazing how sought after the garlands, clements, wells, etc. will now become.

[slick03]

And the implications for the White Sox are:

 

Pitching is getting even more expensive.  Garland's price continues to go up, as does Contreras' for that matter.

 

5 years and $60 million for Kevin Millwood, that is insane.  Insane for the Texas Rangers to stupidly give him that much money, and insane for the game of baseball.  Boras does his "job" again, raising the salary bar for everyone else.

 

Javier Vazquez looks more like a bargain acquisition each and every day.

 

 

exactly what I was thinking.

[Fotop]

And the implications for the White Sox are:

 

Pitching is getting even more expensive.  Garland's price continues to go up, as does Contreras' for that matter.

 

5 years and $60 million for Kevin Millwood, that is insane.  Insane for the Texas Rangers to stupidly give him that much money, and insane for the game of baseball.  Boras does his "job" again, raising the salary bar for everyone else.

 

Javier Vazquez looks more like a bargain acquisition each and every day.

 

I certainly agree. This is ridiculous...but then again it just shows that Texas has learned nothing from Chan Ho Park or even A-Rod for that matter. 12per for Millwood, at 5 years? That's absurd considering he's aging and has injury issues. But it doesn't surprise me, it is after all, Tom Hicks and the Texas Rangers.

 

However, it is a mixed bag for the white sox. On the plus side, the Dodgers still need a starting pitcher and the FA options are running out. On the negative side, as you've said, the price on Contreras goes up...we're probably looking at at least 11million per year on him. It'll be interesting to see what happens on our front now that a large FA pitching chip has fallen...I think weaver is the only decent option left and the Dodgers aren't very high on him as it is.

[Punch and Judy Garland]

The Red Sox will spend that Damon money whether it makes sense or not so somebody (its hard to imagine it'd be Jef Weaver though) is going to get paid. 5/60 million is silly. THey learned nothing from Chan Ho Park who was an albatross at 5/55. Those years and dollars make sense for almost no one, certianly not a guy on the wrong side of 30 with arm troubles in the past. IF you are going to make that kind of an offer, you give it to a guy like Garland or Buehrle who are pretty much equally proven with no injury bugs and are younger. Garcia, Garland, and Buehrle will be challenges to keep, and certianly not all of them will be kept longterm

[Guest JimH]

There are two obstacles, or maybe I should say "wild cards" in the White Sox' way before they can do something with Garland ...

 

(all this just IMO of course)

 

The Jeff Weaver situation needs to get settled. He loves it in LA and probably likes the Dodgers more than they like him. He is a Boras client so it will probably take time. Personally I don't think the Dodgers will look to the White Sox for Garland until they know for sure what's happening with Weaver.

 

Secondly, the Red Sox will now go into high aggressive mode. They are under a lot of pressure to fill their holes and also to trade Manny Ramirez. It may not have a direct implication on the White Sox, but the inevitable player movement could eliminate possible White Sox trading partners.

 

The good new here is KW. He is not one to wait around and let the market control the White Sox. He will be aggressive as he always is.

 

Nothing will happen until Jan. 8th or so, that's the deadline date for several free agents to work things out with their most recent team. Plus, baseball is basically shut down for 8-9 days right now.

 

I still firmly believe Garland will be moved by end of January.

[Cerbaho-WG]

Must be a great feeling being a Rangers fan right about now. Your starting rotation is still awful, your bullpen is getting older every year, you have one too many outfielders, and there are no impact pitching prospects on the horizon to shore up your staff. Diamond and Danks are sure gonna have fun giving up gopher balls at Arlington.

[Punch and Judy Garland]

Larry Lucchino promised to reallocate the Damon funds. While they need a CF and a SS, there really aren't many high dollar players in the FA market beyond Weaver. Weaver would seem highly unlikely. Now, clearly the Red Sox will be active in the trade market. It will be very interesting to see what they do as they might be apt to taking on salary.

[quickman]

And the implications for the White Sox are:

 

Pitching is getting even more expensive.  Garland's price continues to go up, as does Contreras' for that matter.

 

5 years and $60 million for Kevin Millwood, that is insane.  Insane for the Texas Rangers to stupidly give him that much money, and insane for the game of baseball.  Boras does his "job" again, raising the salary bar for everyone else.

 

Javier Vazquez looks more like a bargain acquisition each and every day.

 

 

Its insane money and stupid of texas to pay. They are not learning. Millwood won't last three years much less five and that money is nuts. Actually for me baseball needs to check themselves into bellevue for some therapy.

[Kyyle23]

it's amazing how sought after the garlands, clements, wells, etc. will now become.

 

Who wants Clement? The only thing I have heard is that Boston wants to get rid of him.

[Balta1701]

The way I look at it, it's hard to say that the Rangers move isn't a gamble, but it's basically the best gamble remaining on the FA Market.

 

Right now they still have one of the top 3-4 offenses in the AL. If they could get any pitching at all to go with that offense, the AL West could be theirs. It's been that way for 2 years. Why not take the risk on Millwood?

 

The question is...what were other teams offering? If no other team was offering more than 2 years, this would be a terrible deal. But somehow, given the lack of pitching on this year's market, I can't imagine that there weren't other teams offering at least 4 years. If Texas wants to compete next year, they had to do SOMETHING to help that staff, and this may be the only move left to them which makes sense.

 

Although, if I were them, and I wanted to build for the long term, I would keep drafting pitching, save this money, and try to make runs at Garland and Zito next year. Or try to trade for them this year and sign them. I would rather have either of them at Arlington than Millwood.

[Punch and Judy Garland]

5 years 60 million lands Zito and Garland next year. Much better bets than Millwood and Burnett. People thought Burnett's money was crazy but I'd rather have the 28 year old than Millwood if I had to hand out a dummy deal. All that said, Texas should be good this year anyways

[redandwhite]

how have the red sox dealt with pressure thus far? the red sox won't be pressured into doing anything.

[Punch and Judy Garland]

how have the red sox dealt with pressure thus far?  the red sox won't be pressured into doing anything.

 

Just keep slurping your boys as the team crumbles.

[ZoomSlowik]

This deal is definitely ridiculous, but it doesn't guarantee that every pitcher in the coming years is going to get similarly ridiculous deals. Remember, Millwood was the second most sought after pitcher on the market this year and just won the ERA title. This contract is the result of a very thin market and a lot of pitching desperate teams.

 

That said, it means that Garland is probably going to get 5-$50, which is way too much in my book. Pettitte and Schmidt (if he pitches like he did pre-injury) look like they'll both get $12 mil or more per year fairly easily, and Mulder and Zito will also cash in heavily. Next year should stem the tide of mediocre pitchers getting ridiculous deals a bit, since those 4 guys and possibly Contreras, Garland, and Wood (Cubs might not take his option, and much as I hate to say it some team will take a chance that he'll stay healthy thinking that they can get an ace) will take several of the massive contracts that have been available for lesser pitchers in the last two years, leaving fewer pitching desperate teams with money to burn bidding for the likes of Jeff Suppan and Mark Redman.

[Yoda]

So much for the Red Sox having any chance to upgrade their rotation through the FA market now.

 

Millwood's a hell of a risk though. He's going from a good pitcher's park in 2005 from Jacobs, to one of the best hitting parks in baseball in Arlington.

 

Still, Jon Daniels has upgraded that rotation, and the AL West should definitely be an interesting 3 team race to watch next season.

 

On paper he has. Like you stated before, Millwood is going from Jacobs Field to Arlington Park. The ball flies down there in Texas and I don’t see Millwood with an ERA close to what he had last season. Probably an ERA just below 4 is possible.

[Balta1701]

On paper he has. Like you stated before, Millwood is going from Jacobs Field to Arlington Park. The ball flies down there in Texas and I don’t see Millwood with an ERA close to what he had last season. Probably an ERA just below 4 is possible.

That would still have made him Texas's best or 2nd best starter in terms of ERA last year next to Rogers, and if Millwood could avoid beating up any cameramen...

[qwerty]

On paper he has. Like you stated before, Millwood is going from Jacobs Field to Arlington Park. The ball flies down there in Texas and I don’t see Millwood with an ERA close to what he had last season. Probably an ERA just below 4 is possible.

 

While this is true i remember when the indians signed him and all of us laughed at the signing and said he was gonna scrub it up. That worked well...

[BlackBetsy]

Gee, the Rangers have never had any problems giving 5-year deals to a Boras pitching client.

[Punch and Judy Garland]

Gee, the Rangers have never had any problems giving 5-year deals to a Boras pitching client.

 

I know. To think I kinda felt sorry for them for believing in Ho Park. Then they go out and repeat the same contract. No pity this time