Zito hitting gold mine only vaguely tells the story

There is not one happier man in Major League Baseball right now than Barry Zito, as he just accepted a 7-year, $126 million contract from the San Francisco Giants. Not only does Zito stay out on the west coast as he wished, but he is going to be reeling in $18 million a year for the next seven seasons. Ridiculous. All this for a pitcher who isn't even a true ace.

There is no doubt that Zito has had some great years. In 2002, he went 23-5 and posted a 2.75 ERA en route to his first and only Cy Young award. But since then, Zito's numbers have been worthy of a number two starter. He has gone 55-46 since then with a 3.87 ERA. Now don't get me wrong. Those are pretty good numbers, but they are not $126 million numbers. Those are the numbers of a $60-70 million pitcher tops.

The bar has been set extremely high for free agent pitchers this off-season. Vicente Padilla, a pitcher who posted a 4.50 ERA last season and a 4.71 ERA the year before, was awarded with a 3-year, $33.75 million contract by the Texas Rangers earlier in the off-season. The Philadelphia Phillies awarded Adam Eaton with a 3-year, $24.5 million deal, this for a pitcher who spent the good majority of last season and his career on the disabled list. Eaton also had a 5.12 ERA last season. Talk about a horrible signing. Then, you have Ted Lilly. Lilly was given a 4-year, $40 million deal by the Chicago Cubs. Granted, Lilly is a decent pitcher and is a good fourth or fifth starter, but is a guy who went 11-13 with a 4.31 ERA in 2006 worth 10 million a year? It makes you wonder even more what the Cubs were thinking when you take into account that in eight seasons in the majors, Lilly has only had one year when he ERA was under four, when it was 3.69 in 100 innings with the Yankees and Athletics back in 2002.

Next in line is Jason Marquis, another Cub signing. After having by far the worst year of his career in '06 where he went 14-16 with a 6.02 ERA, Marquis gets his payday from Chicago. Three years, $21 million. Unheard of for a pitcher who was virtually left off his team's post-season roster. Finally, you have Jeff Suppan. Sure, he is a proven big-game pitcher and was instrumental in the St. Louis Cardinals' World Series run this past season, but is he worth $10.5 million a year? He is in the eyes of the Milwaukee Brewers, as he agreed to a 4-year, $42 million deal with Milwaukee. This for a pitcher who, in 12 seasons in the MLB, has only had an ERA under four once, which was in 2005 when he posted a 3.57 ERA.

But it hasn't stopped at pitchers. Alfonso Soriano was rewarded with an 8-year, $136 million deal by...yeah, you guessed it...the Cubs. Isn't that a little expensive for a player who only bat .277 and only knocked in 95 runs last season? Yes, he hit 46 home runs, but only six of those came with runners in scoring position, where he bat .231. He also hit only .197 with runners in scoring position with two outs. Now tell me. After hearing those numbers, is he worth the money he is going to be getting?

Now let's look at J.D. Drew. In eight full Major League seasons, Drew has averaged only 118 games per year and has played in over 109 games only four times in that span. He is one of the most injury-plagued players in baseball, and his worst season injury-wise came in 2005 when he missed 90 games. Well, Drew finally had a good year in 2006, playing virtually injury-free in 146 games. In those 146 games, he hit .283 with 20 home runs and 100 RBI. So, what do the Boston Red Sox do? Give him a five-year deal worth $70 million. Laughable, especially considering Drew only bat .154 without knocking in a single run in the post-season last year. Finally, a terrible acquisition that has gone under the radar was the New York Mets' signing of 40-year old Moises Alou. They signed him to a one-year, $8.5 million deal. Sure, he bat .301 last season, but he did this in only 98 games. Why take a chance on a 40-year old who is most likely going to be injured at some point next season? Blows my mind.

If teams keep handing out contracts at the rate they are now, players are going to be getting $30 million a few years down the road. Oh, well. Maybe that will prompt the MLB to institute some sort of, um, you know...salary cap?