Overspending Doesn’t Win Championships

This is the season of the giving, but some Major League Baseball general managers are taking this notion to the extreme.

The Toronto Blue Jays have given $102 million to two pitchers. One has a sub-.500 winning percentage and the other has 42 career saves. This is not what Santa had in mind.

The winter meetings concluded Wednesday in Dallas and the dust has settled on the pitching market.

The Blue Jays started the festivities by giving Baltimore pitcher B.J. Ryan a five-year, $47 million contract. He had a good season last season, finishing with 36 saves, a 2.43 ERA, and a .208 opponents batting average. Ryan deserved a pay raise from the $2.6 million he made last year, but a player with 42 career saves shouldn't get the highest contract for a reliever in the history of baseball.

Toronto wasn't done with Ryan. The Blue Jays gave Florida pitcher A.J. Burnett a five-year, $55 million contract. Burnett was considered the best starting pitcher on the market, but that is not saying much.

While Burnett had a decent season last year, he went 12-12 with a 3.45 ERA — he has been mediocre throughout his career. He has a career record of 49-50 with a 3.73 ERA. Those are not exactly mind-blowing stats, and they definitely don't deserve a $55 million dollar contract.

The Mets have been just as active as the Blue Jays this offseason. They have traded for Carlos Delgado and Paul Lo Duca, but their biggest acquisition was Philadelphia closer Billy Wagner. Wagner was considered to be the best free agent available and he was certainly paid like it. The Mets gave him a four-year, $43 million deal with a no trade clause.

Wagner is coming off his best season of his career. He had 38 saves, a 1.51 ERA, and a .165 opponent's batting average.

The loss of Wagner left a gaping hole in the Phillies' bullpen, so they had to go out and get a closer. They set their sights on Yankees reliever Tom Gordon.

Gordon had a good year as Mariano Rivera's setup man with a 2.57 ERA and he held opponents to a .203 batting average. The Phillies rewarded him with a three-year, $18 million deal and a guarantee that he would be the closer.

All four of these signings could be considered gambles, but the biggest one was the signing of Gordon.

He hasn't been a full-time closer since 2001. He is 38-years-old and has suffered a lot of wear and tear with his two seasons with the Yankees. He has pitched 171.1 innings the last two seasons. The Phillies better hope that Gordon is a reliable closer, because if he isn't, it is going to be impossible to move him. Nobody is going to want a 38-year-old setup man making $6 million a year. They should have gone after Trevor Hoffman or Bob Wickman, both of whom were signed for less than Gordon.

Signing B.J. Ryan was almost as big of a gamble as signing Gordon. Last season was Ryan's first season as a closer so continued success is not a given. He turns 30-years-old this month and has a career ERA of 3.54. He is not a young guy with a ton of upside or a proven veteran, so $47 million may have been a bit too much. If the Blue Jays want to get their money's worth, then Ryan must be lights-out for the next couple of seasons. That is a lot to ask of Ryan.

The Blue Jays also went out on a limb when they signed Burnett. While he has the stuff to be a dominant pitcher, he has never been able to put it all together. Also, Burnett has some red flags. He has been known as a young guy with a lot of potential for some time, but that ship has sailed. He will turn 29 in January, so it time for him to start pitching like everyone said he could. He also had reconstructive elbow surgery in 2003, which is always a concern to a general manager.

As good as Burnett pitched in the beginning of the year, he fizzled in September. He went 0-4 with a 5.93 ERA in the last month of the season until he was dismissed from the team for making disparaging comments about the Marlins. Those are too many question marks for a guy you just gave $55 million to.

The best signing of the four was Wagner, although his deal brings up some question marks. He has been a dominant closer for some time, so he deserves to be one of the highest-paid relievers. However, giving a guy who is 35 and has had some arm injuries is a risk. When the contract expires Wagner will be 39. Most people believe that Wagner will be done with the Mets before that happens, but the Mets are trying to win a World Series this season. But the next postseason series Wagner wins will be his first.

To win a World Series, a team must take risks along the way, like the Red Sox trading Nomar Garciaparra in 2004. Some work and some don't. The odds are that the majority of these four signings are not going to pan out. There was too much money dished out to mediocre talent. There is too much hype to live up to.

Perhaps these teams should have looked in the bargain bin like the Marlins did with Todd Jones last year and the Pirates with Jose Mesa a couple of seasons ago. There are four players out there who have been closers before who are coming off sub-par years who can be signed for very cheap. Danny Graves, Byung-Hyun Kim, Braden Looper, and Ugueth Urbina, if he gets his legal problems solved, are all available.

Instead of taking a $55 million gamble, maybe taking a $4 million dollar gamble on one these guys is a better option.

The Blue Jays are about to find out that the team that spends the most money in the offseason doesn't win the World Series. Maybe they should ask the Rangers how the Chan Ho Park signing worked out.