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Worst free agent pitcher ever?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Michael Echan, Apr 29, 2008.

?

Who of these two choices is the worst free agent signing?

  1. Mike Hampton, 2001 (Colorado - $121 million, eight years)

    9 vote(s)
    39.1%
  2. Barry Zito, 2007 (San Francisco - $126 million, seven years)

    14 vote(s)
    60.9%
  1. Michael Echan

    Michael Echan Member

    I would think many people would say Hampton because he gets hurt so freakin' much, but if you want to take a different look at it, it may have helped the Braves a LITTLE bit. Because he's on DL so much, the Braves have to bring up minor leaguers, and some of them haven't been that bad. Also, Hampton's stats weren't trending downward when he signed the deal, and (for what it counts) he's a decent hitting-pitcher. Zito has been steadily getting worse and worse since he won the Cy Young six years ago in '02 (damn, it's been that long?). Add in the fact that he moved from the AL to the NL and is doing even worse in a pitchers' park, I think the Zito contract is the worse of the two.
     
  2. Armchair_QB

    Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

    Darren Dreifort thinks your list is too short.
     
  3. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    This list is going to have alot of Boras clients.
     
  4. Barsuk

    Barsuk Active Member

    Carl Pavano agrees.
     
  5. writing irish

    writing irish Active Member

    Steve Howe, for grimly obvious reasons, is unavailable for comment.
     
  6. 2muchcoffeeman

    2muchcoffeeman Well-Known Member

    Hampton has had a lot of injuries; it's not like he has suddenly imploded. Why is he here?

    Consider Zito's career W-L by month:

    Code:
       [u][b]Split          G   GS  GF  W   L   S   CG SHO   IP     ERA    H    R   ER   HR  BB  IBB  SO  HBP[/b][/u]
       April/March    44  44   0  13  24   0   1   1  258.1   5.16  259  165  148  32  113   1  194  18 
       May            38  38   0  14   9   0   1   0  245.1   3.23  201   91   88  27   98   2  190  10 
       June           41  41   0  16  12   0   0   0  257.1   3.99  244  127  114  31   98   1  179  10 
       July           43  43   0  22  11   0   1   0  271.1   3.91  245  124  118  30  115   7  199  17 
       August         48  47   0  24  15   0   4   2  317     2.73  243  117   96  26  109   3  238   7 
       Sept/Oct       48  48   0  24  11   0   2   1  306.1   3.61  259  131  123  30  125   5  238   7 
    
    Perhaps we (and Bochy) should wait a few weeks.

    A_QB is correct to invoke Dreifort. I expected to see him in the poll. As is, poll fails.
     
  7. Uh, Eric Gagne?
     
  8. Ben_Hecht

    Ben_Hecht Active Member

    Long-term contracts for pitchers . . . sheer genius.

    Genius, I tell you.
     
  9. OnTheRiver

    OnTheRiver Active Member

    Jason Schmidt's about ready to join the crowd, too.
     
  10. derwood

    derwood Active Member

    Chan Ho Park
     
  11. OnTheRiver

    OnTheRiver Active Member

    Also, he's far from the worst, but the Rockies paid Denny Neagle $32 million to go 19-23 with an ERA up over 6.
     
  12. D-Backs Hack

    D-Backs Hack Guest

    Russ Ortiz's five wins for the Diamondbacks cost them more than $6 million each.

    And they are still paying him, to the tune of $8.5 million this year.
     
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