Of course. But Snell and Montgomery aren't mediocre.
Yeah, I mean, last year Snell wasn't. But in 3 out of his 8 seasons, he's posted an ERA over 4. Twice he's been a Cy Young winner, and then there's a couple of years where he's posted an ERA in the mid 3's in partial seasons. 21 fWAR over 8 seasons isn't bad at all, I'd take if the price was right!
As for Montgomery, he's been as solid as they come the last three seasons. I wouldn't call him mediocre. But he's not elite-elite, either.
And he's a
pitcher. Their arms fall off. They lose velocity. The early and middle 30's are an absolute minefield.
This is the thing that a lot of us keep coming back to. Do you want to pay for these guys only to get Pivetta-ish performance or worse? Well, it depends on how much you're paying: and that's the sticking point. We still don't know how much these contracts are going to be.
Yes, it's not my money, and no, I don't really think billionaires should be pinching pennies. I'm probably the biggest communist on the board. But it's also
not my money, which means it's all out of my control. I'd rather see if I can think like Henry/Breslow are thinking than rail against the thinking I can't control. And I don't think Breslow/Henry think paying out the wazoo for Montgomery at the rate of 5/150 or even 5/125, given that his career ERA is 3.68, and he's headed into his 30's, where again, pitchers tend to decompose, makes sense, and Snell makes even less sense, since he's pitched more than 130 innings exactly twice in eight years.
I still think they would rather slow play this season, see whether those two guys are willing to take less or a pillow contract, all while playing the field for young cost-controlled starters as they did with Beckett/Sale. Try to pry someone sub-30 off someone else's hands for the cost of someone like Bleis/Mayer/Rafaela, and then extend them as soon as possible. I would rather give up one of those prospects then potentially hamstring the organization like we did with Price and Sale before them.
Again, I don't see why billionaires like Henry need to operate like this, but that's about as much my business as what the aliens are doing over in Alpha Centauri. I'd like to have control over it, but I don't.
