Thursday, January 25, 2007

More proof of crazy contracts

Willie Randolph was given a three year extension for $5.65 MM. That works out to an average annual value of $1.8. Or as the members of the media who love Willie and his always available sound bits, about what a middle reliever makes. Which is a really stupid comparison. Because then I could say "hey he is way overpaid - Ryan Howard won the MVP last year and Willie will get 3 times more than him.

But I digress. In keeping with managers (apples to apples), Randolph will be the 6th highest paid manager. He will trail only the following - with some numbers next to each.

Torre 25/4
Pinella 18/1
Cox 25/1
LaRussa 29/2
Scioscia 7/1
Leyland 14/1

The first number is the number of years as a manager and the second is WS trophies. And Willie would be a 2 and a ZERO. You could even add WS appearances and with the exception of Pinella and Scioscia they would all add at least one more. Now I know that Randolph "gets" NY. And he brought them from 71 wins to 97 and a trip to the LCS. But really that is the result of Mr. Wilpon opening his wallet Pedro and Beltran in 05, Delgado and Wagner in 06) the fortunate emergence of Reyes and Wright. It will be interesting to see if he makes it to the end of the contract. I would bet NO.

7 comments:

  1. I'll play the dumb-ass... what do you have against Randolf? I remember watching him as a kid and thinking he was generally likable, albeit in the wrong uniform. I am sure I am missing something..

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  2. I really don’t have anything against him. I just don’t understand the media fascination with the guy. Has he done a nice job? Sure. Has he done a great job? Absolutely not. His in game management leaves some room for improvement. Look a the playoffs – Wagner struggled down the stretch, yet in one of the STL LCS games, he took Heilman out (who had been pitching brilliantly and only for like 1-1/2) and brought in Wagner. Who promptly lost the game. There was also a game against the Yankees where he brought Wagner in when it was not a save situation (Pedro had dominated the Yankees) and he promptly gave up 4 runs and basically lost the game. And these are just two examples - I seem to recall him screwing up a few games with bullpen misues.

    And as I said, the Mets spent tons of money coinciding with his arrival.

    This year should be a real tell tale season, since he has no ace and no pitcher that will eat innings on a consistent basis (maybe Glavine, if healthy).

    So really, I don’t hate him. In fact, I wish he would really have some success. For a long period. It would be fun to watch them win more than the Yankees and seen Yankee fans squirm. Especially if the Torre successor does not work out and they will have had a great manager in their house that they let get away. I just have not seen anything that impresses me yet.

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  3. Your comment brings up an interesting question. Who is the most successful manager of all time who was a player for the same team? (We can open this up to other sports as well)

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  4. The obvious answer is John McGraw of the old New York Giants. But ruling player managers out, I would say Casey Stengel, Leo Durocher or perhaps Billy Martin. Hard thing is a guy can manage a former team at some point, but it might not be the playing or managing stint they are most remembered for. For instance, Torre managed the Mets, ATL and STL and played for all of them, but never played for the Yankees.

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  5. Isn't Billy Martin a bit questionable? He basically won his rings because the Yankees dominated the newly founded FA markets...

    Back in '86 people were calling Davey Johnson a great manager, but it is hard to lose with that Mets team...Just like it was hard to lose with those Yankees teams. I don't even give Torre that much credit for the Yankees championships. He had pretty amazing lineups and pitching back then...And just look at his prior track record when managing teams with less talent.

    Also...didn't Torre manage St Louis when he was ALSO a player? I seem to remember the Royals did that with someone, too...

    And to really sound dumb...only because I can't remember...what team did Piniella bring to a World Championship?

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  6. 1990 Cincinnati Reds

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  7. Right...forgot about that...I thought it was the Reds, just couldn't remember the year.

    Also, I sort of take back the Billy Martin stuff. He was effective, no doubt...just don't know if he was responsible for those WS wins. I would imagine that his style wouldn't work at all in today's game, either.

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