Top Ten Salaries, N.L. Pitchers
| # | Player | $ | Sal | +/- | AP/MF | SW | '08 |
| 1 | Tim Lincecum | $38 | $34 | +4 | $30 | $31 | $37 |
| 2 | Johan Santana | $21 | $34 | -13 | $34 | $36 | $34 |
| 3 | Cole Hamels | $13 | $30 | -17 | $30 | $29 | $32 |
| 4 | Brandon Webb | -$1 | $30 | -31 | $30 | $28 | $30 |
| 5 | Dan Haren | $33 | $27 | +6 | $27 | $25 | $30 |
| 6 | Jake Peavy | $10 | $26 | -16 | $30 | $26 | $24 |
| 7 | Brad Lidge | $2 | $24 | -21 | $22 | $24 | $23 |
| 8 | Roy Oswalt | $13 | $23 | -10 | $24 | $19 | $26 |
| 9 | Francisco Rodriguez | $16 | $23 | -7 | $24 | $27 | $26 |
| 10 | Javier Vazquez | $35 | $22 | +13 | $14 | $16 | $16 |
| Average | $18 | $27 | -9 | $27 | $26 | $28 |
Six of the 10 pitchers who appeared here were also on 2008's list, and Rodriguez and Vazquez were in the A.L. last year. But rather than provide stability, this group got hammered last year. Only Lincecum, Haren and Vazquez were in the black and more than half the pitchers here took double-digit losses.
Since the market spent so much money on hitting, they "only" tied Patton here and beat Sports Weekly by $1. They only landed Lincecum and Vazquez outright. SW got Santana and K-Rod, while Patton got Peavy and Oswalt. Patton and the market tied on Hamels, Webb and Haren while the market tied SW on Lidge.
There's not much to say about this group of pitchers that I didn't already say in the starting pitcher write-up. There are eight repeaters here; the lack of mixing and matching with the closers doesn't make for much in the way of interesting copy. The omission of Billingsley and Gallardo does push the average price up a little bit, particularly for Patton and SW.
Top Ten Earnings, N.L. Pitchers
| # | Player | $ | Sal | +/- | AP/MF | SW | '08 |
| 1 | Tim Lincecum | $38 | $34 | +4 | $30 | $31 | $37 |
| 2 | Javier Vazquez | $35 | $22 | +13 | $14 | $16 | $16 |
| 3 | Dan Haren | $33 | $27 | +6 | $27 | $25 | $30 |
| 4 | Chris Carpenter | $33 | $8 | +25 | $11 | $11 | $2 |
| 5 | Adam Wainwright | $32 | $18 | +14 | $15 | $16 | $17 |
| 6 | Jonathan Broxton | $26 | $19 | +7 | $16 | $23 | $14 |
| 7 | Josh Johnson | $26 | $17 | +9 | $17 | $13 | $9 |
| 8 | Matt Cain | $26 | $17 | +9 | $14 | $18 | $16 |
| 9 | Jair Jurrjens | $26 | $11 | +15 | $11 | $8 | $16 |
| 10 | Ted Lilly | $25 | $15 | +9 | $16 | $15 | $22 |
| Average | $30 | $19 | +11 | $17 | $18 | $18 |
This isn't necessarily a surprising group, but only three of the 10 most expensive pitchers also crack the 10 best pitchers. They are all at the top of the list, though.
The $19 average salary tells us that - despite the profits here - that you had to pay to get in on this action. The 14th through 19th most expensive pitchers in the N.L. last year cost $19. You weren't paying ace money for these guys, but you were definitely paying in the hopes of getting a #2.
The market was definitely out in front on these guys, picking up Lincecum, Vazquez, and Wainwright, while tying Patton on Haren, Johnson, and Jurrjens. SW got Broxton and Cain while Patton only got Lilly outright (tying SW on Carpenter).
The market definitely had high hopes for these guys...pushing them $1 past their 2008 earnings. When you push pitchers past what they earned, your hopes are high indeed.
Unlike in the A.L., there weren't any expensive pitchers in this next group.
Top Ten Profits, N.L. Pitchers
| # | Player | $ | Sal | +/- | AP/MF | SW | '08 |
| 1 | Chris Carpenter | $33 | $8 | +25 | $11 | $11 | $2 |
| 2 | Joel Pineiro | $21 | $2 | +19 | $1 | $3 | |
| 3 | Randy Wolf | $24 | $5 | +19 | $5 | $1 | $13 |
| 4 | Ryan Franklin | $19 | $2 | +18 | $3 | $10 | |
| 5 | J.A. Happ | $19 | $2 | +17 | $1 | $1 | $2 |
| 6 | Wandy Rodriguez | $25 | $9 | +16 | $8 | $5 | $15 |
| 7 | Jorge de la Rosa | $15 | $0 | +15 | $7 | ||
| 8 | Jair Jurrjens | $26 | $11 | +15 | $11 | $8 | $16 |
| 9 | Ubaldo Jimenez | $24 | $9 | +15 | $11 | $6 | $14 |
| 10 | Rafael Soriano | $18 | $4 | +15 | $7 | $7 | $3 |
| Average | $22 | $5 | +17 | $6 | $4 | $9 |
But there also weren't quite as many crapshoot pitchers (average salary $0-3), so this group did manage to get paid an average of $5 per pitcher.
That's still pretty cheap, though, and about what you would expect when looking at a pitcher bargain list. For the second year in a row, this grouping took a pretty steep pay cut from what they had earned the year before. Carpenter and Soriano were the only hurlers to get raises, while Wolf, Franklin, Rodriguez, de la Rosa, Jurrjens and Jimenez all took a $5 or greater pay cut. Franklin's pay cut is understandable given the uncertainty surrounding his role; the rest of these cuts are mysterious, particularly when you consider that all of the starters except Wolf were young arms on the rise.
With so many young arms in the bargain bin, you'd expect the disappointments to be cagey veterans.
Top Ten Losses, N.L. Pitchers
| # | Player | $ | Sal | +/- | AP/MF | SW | '08 |
| 1 | Brandon Webb | -$1 | $30 | -31 | $30 | $28 | $30 |
| 2 | Brad Lidge | $2 | $24 | -21 | $22 | $24 | $23 |
| 3 | Cole Hamels | $13 | $30 | -17 | $30 | $29 | $32 |
| 4 | Oliver Perez | -$6 | $10 | -17 | $7 | $8 | $13 |
| 5 | Jake Peavy | $10 | $26 | -16 | $30 | $26 | $24 |
| 6 | Brett Myers | $3 | $17 | -15 | $11 | $7 | $11 |
| 7 | Edinson Volquez | $4 | $19 | -15 | $20 | $14 | $25 |
| 8 | Derek Lowe | $5 | $19 | -13 | $18 | $12 | $26 |
| 9 | Johan Santana | $21 | $34 | -13 | $34 | $36 | $34 |
| 10 | Manny Parra | -$7 | $6 | -13 | $7 | $5 | $8 |
| Average | $4 | $21 | -17 | $21 | $19 | $23 |
And most of these pitchers are just that.
As I always say, if you bought one of these pitchers, your team probably crashed and burned last year.
The market and Patton seemed to know that there was a bad moon rising, and Sports Weekly really seemed to be wary of these pitchers. This list is dominated by pitchers from the 10 Most Expensive list, so it shouldn't be a surprise to see the market dominate again. Of the non-repeaters, the market snatches up Perez, Myers and Lowe, while Patton gets Volquez and Parra.
This group of pitchers cost $6 more per pitcher than their A.L. counterparts. Of course, they earned $11 more per pitcher than the A.L. grouping in 2008, so you would have expected them to cost more.
The biggest difference between these guys and the bums over in the A.L. is that these pitchers almost all returned something. Parra, Perez and Webb all finished in the red; everyone else provided a positive contribution.
I know, I know...that doesn't make paying $30 for Hamels go down any easier. But if you had to choose between Hamels and Webb, you'd obviously choose Hamels.
It will be interesting to see how well last year's most expensive arms do this year. Peavy and Vazquez are off to the A.L., but the bets on Hamels, Santana, and Webb should be interesting to see. There could be some rare opportunities for bargains or - in keeper leagues - the chance to lock up an ace at a non-ace price for 2-3 years.
Or you could just wind up getting burned.
5 comments:
What if you had 3 of the top 5 losing NL pitchers? LOL... I had the other 2/5 the year before but dumped them with the injury issues in the spring (Hamels/Webb).
Needless to say, it was a rough year of pitching.
Also, think you are missing Jason Marquis as a top profit NL pitcher.
Marquis was undrafted by all three expert leagues I use to track salaries, so he did not make this list.
That's cool. I noticed DLR with a $0 so that's what made me think of him. I actually kept DLR as a keeper last year, cut him loose but was lucky enough to get him back.
Nice work as always Mike! I'm a loyal reader.
The $0 players who have been listed in this series were auctioned in one league at $1, thus the average salary of 33 cents. de la Rosa, for example, was purchased in CBS Sportsline but ignored in LABR and Tout Wars.
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