Yea but those were just stupid Gm's who gave them those deals. In baseball you dont have a choice but to increase their pay.
yeah while i was joking, in all honesty, i really did think i remembered him hitting another one off of lidge at some point. maybe i'm just thinking of him taking oswalt deep to win that game last year.
There is also no guarantee the arbitrator rules for the Astros. He could give Lidge a raise greater than what the Astros were offering. I'm sure they take that into consideration as well. It has happened in the past that the arbitrator used past performances, not just the most recent season. There's nothing wrong with this deal. If he's back, he's one of the best closers in baseball. If he's not, he still did very well in a setup role and/or it's a very tradeable contract to someone who thinks they can fix him. With any luck, he hasn't even looked at a baseball this offseason. Hopefully, he's just gone to some island with no tv's and just relaxed and got his mind off of baseball. I think he comes back fresh and ready to dominate once again.
Yeah, understood. You're right, it isn't that big a deal..and it is only 1 year. I can see all the ways to look at this in a positive light. I just don't like the logic is all. Lidge: awesome -> 1 homer -> mental issues -> down year -> question marks -> unsure if he'll be back next year or ever to previous status as elite -> increased salary, no arbitration. I mean, I'd think if they gave him a 1 year deal with the same salary as last year and incentives to get as much as this contract or more would have worked fine for him (with minimum IP, sub 4 ERA = +500k, sub 3 ERA = +1.25 mil...whatever, some different things like that)
It's better to be a pro soccer player! Lidge's signing is peanuts compare to what Beckham's 250 mil. contract.
These contracts are always more a function of the entirety of a player's breif career, rather than simply the year before that. Lidge was paid virtually nothing when he was dominating from 03-05. Got a sizeable bump last year... and was GUARANTEED to get a raise this year (due to those 3 great years), even if he had been hurt the entire season. That's how the system works for everybody... even Jason Lane and Morgan Ensberg will get raises next year. The MLB players association may be the most powerful entitiy in all of sports... or just a notch below the NFL commisioner.
you mean lidge will pitch some bombs..... it must be nice to suck and still get a raise the better not be on the astros roster next season.
ummmm...hes done......waste of money......unless he has a new pitch.....cuz everyone knows exactly about the stuff he currently has!!
Wow, all the haters in this thread dissing Lidge know very little. Look at Lidge's performance last year. It wasn't nearly as bad as ya'll are making it out to be. Over 100 strikeouts, 32 saves, 11 out of 13 save chances converted down the stretch. He had struggles but he battled through them and had a pretty decent season.
If the Astros didn't have Wheeler as a back-up plan... I'd be more worried about Lidge. But, I have a feeling that an actual off-season of rest (hasn't had that in 2+ years), along with some mental R&R will help Lidge at least get back to the form he had in 2003 (let alone the dominance he showed in 04 and 05). Qualls is the guy I'd like to be more consistent (since he's never had the reputation of dominance that Lidge had at one point)... he almost had as many blown saves as Lidge did... and he was pitching primarily in the 7th with bigger leads.
don't feel bad. your senior citizen pitching staff won't get you far enough to worry about getting knocked out by Pujuols this year.
i'm with you. there is this thought that brad lidge was awful last season. i'm guessing 75% of the league's closers would kill to have the stats you just mentioned.
I totally agree w/that, and I was mostly pointing to his mental instability and potential to falter and lose the closing job again. Which is why I'd rather have seen an incentive-laden deal. But whatever.. as has been said, not a huge deal for a year. And good points on the fact that this is paying him for his previous good (underpaid) performances. If we can be happy with that fact for Bagwell, gotta be happy with it for others too.
agree, with all the crazy numbers this does not surprise me and if Lidge regains form this will be ok. I think we are on the road to another strike/lockout in the near future. I just hope this time the owners don't give in till there is a hard cap and an NFL revenue sharing system.
