Comments on: Rick Porcello opts out of contract, arbitration-eligible this winter

By: cmutimmah

cmutimmah — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:32:19 +0000

How about the fact that the guy went from a reliable top 3 starter projection to a projected 3-4 starter for the rest of his career. His numbers might be getting better or worse, but his expectations hit the fan.

Right handed sinker ballers don’t have near the success as lefty sinker ballers…

He’s still very young and he deserves to be paid as a starter, but just look at Doug Fister’s contract and you’ll learn the definition of “unfair”. He makes less than 500k/year!

By: reedpatrick

reedpatrick — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 16:30:00 +0000

JBerardi : What’s the point of “advanced metrics” if your WHIP keeps going up? At the end of the day, he’s trending up … giving up more walks and hits than innings pitched. Last time I checked those are bad for a pitcher. People fall back on their metrics way too much.

By: randygnyc

randygnyc — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 06:31:03 +0000

His arbitration case won’t be made on whether he’s a number 2 guy or number 5 guy. It comes down to his pitching stats, wins/losses/era/whip/innings/strikeouts/walks/homeruns. Then they find a few guys who signed recently (preferably this year) with comparable stats and see how much they make per year. They’ll take the average salary of these 3-4 guys and fight for that number. I expect him to be entitled to between 8 and 9 million.

By: djammer

djammer — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 05:25:20 +0000

Arbitration is pretty easy money. My comparables: AJ Burnett and Barry Zito. Zing— 10 mil! Seriously though, mid rotation starters will get 4.5 mil. He’ll get $2.75 and he’s a bargain for that if you are looking at free agents now. Edwin Jackson will get $13 mil. How much worse is Porcello?

By: JBerardi

JBerardi — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 05:09:38 +0000

He doesn’t have to be Clayton Kershaw to make more than $1.34 in arbitration. Being any kind of remotely adequate MLB starter is enough, and he’s certainly that.

And, your statistical argument is amateur hour. First off, a difference of seven hundreths over the course of three years is completely meaningless. Second, WHIP is a pretty shitty stat in the first place. Pretty much all the advanced metrics (FIP, tERA, SEIRA, etc) indicate that Porcello has gotten better each year.

By: lostsok

lostsok — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 04:23:09 +0000

Lincecum has been a Cy Young winning ace. Porcello is a mid-rotation guy (if you want a mediocre rotation).

There’s no comparison except they are both mammals.

By: lostsok

lostsok — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 04:21:38 +0000

In three years his WHIP has gone 1.34 to 1.39 to 1.41.

He’s getting WORSE each year.

“pfft” all you want…he’s overrated and lucky to get a million plus considering the bonus he got. Detroit would be foolish to play his game when he’s clearly underperformed. He thinks he’s Clayton Kershaw. He’s not.

By: dondada10

dondada10 — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 03:02:37 +0000

I knew Porcello bent the Tigers over a barrel out of high school, but why give him an option so early? The whole point of giving a draftee a major-league deal is that in the event he turns a Super Two because of playing time, you don’t get slaughtered in arbitration towards the end of the process.

For example, the Giants would’ve been best served giving Lincecum a major-league deal, as he is now making a fortune off the arbitration process.

By: baseballisboring

baseballisboring — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 02:22:41 +0000

Pfft, I’d have opted out too. He’s probably gonna double what he would’ve made.

By: lostsok

lostsok — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 02:11:30 +0000

As mediocre as he’s been, you’d think he’d be happy to just be a millionaire.