noah_t

I think it is easy to say that a free agent pitcher will get paid too much or will get one more year than they should. That is the nature of free agency. I think you need to accept a series of facts and sign a pitcher to the least bad deal you can find. The first fact is our starters had a 5.25 ERA last year. Alex Meyer is the only pitcher within our system that is likely to help us next year and that won't be until June. Correa should be average or a little below average and hopefully Deduno stays healthy. But we have 2-3 holes. The second fact is 25 teams finished with a better record than us for the third year in a row. So we aren't the most compelling destination. In addition, we need to get to .500 before we can realistically think about luring a very good pitcher here. Two guys at the level of Arroyo may help us get closer to that mark. Third, we aren't signing Tanaka or Garza, we should but it is not happening. Fourth, $8M three years from now for Arroyo maybe too much. Maybe it is $8M or $4M too much depending on what he has left, but signing Gavin Floyd for $4 or $5M next year will be $4 or $5M too much next year just as Pelfrey provided no value over PJ Walters last year. When you accept these facts, we need to spend more than a guy is worth. The price for free agent pitchers is not forecasted to fall anytime soon.