Wow, we found someone on these boards to hate more than me!!
I'm sorry I prefer not to live in some bizzare fantasylandThere are some White Sox fans that live in a weird place where Joe Crede is the best 3B in the league, Paul Konerko will "bounce back" at age 32 after what was pretty much a career-average 2007, and Jermaine Dye is good in the field. I'm not one of them.
Lets look at these contracts one at a time.
Jermaine Dye - Nope, not a terrible contract at all. Is he good defensively? No. Is he the worst in the league? I don't think so. Is he still a decent offensive player? Yes. Is 2 years and $21M a ton of money? Not really.
Mark Buehrle - This might be a bad contract. For years, the Sox refused to give out contracts to pitchers for more than 3 years. Even though it angered fans, it was proven correct more often than not. Jason Bere...Alex Fernandez...Wilson Alvarez...Jack McDowell...all guys we let walk, even though they were instrumental in getting us the 1993 AL West title. None of them did a whole lot after we let them walk, and certainly didn't play up to the free agent contracts they were handed. With Buehrle, we made an exception and gave a fan favorite a 4 year deal. I'm not sure what is going to happen...but he hasn't looked good this year.
Scott Linebrink - unquestionably, without a doubt, a terrible contract. Check back with me in Year 3 or Year 4 of this deal. It isn't the $5M per year. That is fine. It is the fact that we gave this guy a 4 year deal - here is a guy that was dynamite in 2005, and has been league average since. Maybe we wanted to continue the theme of paying guys based solely on 2005. He will be 35 before this contract expires. Did we need another option in the bullpen? Yes. Did we need to hand Linebrink a 4 year deal? No way.
Jose Contreras - we gave a pitcher who was very successful a 3-year deal. No complaints from me. He was awful in 2007, but looks much better in 2008.
Paul Konerko - no one brings this one up...but what have Paulie's numbers been since he got the 5-year deal? He too will be 35 before his contract expires, and slow-footed sluggers don't tend to age well. He may have already fallen off the production cliff in 2008. Anyone think a .215 BA/.377 SLG / 97 OPS+ (at first base...) is worth $12 million?
Jim Thome - aren't the Phillies paying for him partially? The problem with Thome isn't the money, it is the construction of the team - how many aging, slow sluggers can we have? I was at the game tonight, and Thome's knock in the 9th was the first clutch hit I can remember him having in forever. If he doesn't strike out, then he's grounding into a double play.
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Because no matter what you think of KW the Hawk was by far the worst GM ever.
Because no matter what you think of KW the Hawk was by far the worst GM ever.
