What universe is this? His market is higher than $17 million per and 3 years in length? A 5 inning pitcher with a 4.67 career era? I need to revisit y'all when things aren't going so chummy with Kikuchi. Talk about prisoners of the moment. He would have to win at least 3 post season games including the pivotal game in the World Series for him to demand that kind of contract.
Yall quit griping and let this dude win his ring with the rest of the club. I wholeheartedly believe this club is gelling-- as young and multiple languages it speaks... this team is becoming something special. Even those sidelined know the evolution of how this team is supposed to trust the process... if every single player on this team were 100% healthy, this would be the most formidable and feared opponent in the game. They know what they're doing over there. The players do, the coaches do, the management does, the agents do, the ownership* does (*I sureAF hope/think they do)... let this thing play out-- its gonna be a helluva ride again (and yeah, some of these DFA'd MFr's are still gonna get a ring-- thats whats crazy.)
It is an issue of supply and demand more than anything else... everyone's desperate for starting pitching including the teams that have money. And the number of healthy, effective, non-ancient, and available starting pitchers in the market is dwindling. Plus, Kikuchi at this rate likely will surpass many of these pitchers below in getting attention. I expect the benchmark for a top of the line pitcher is likely $30-35 mil per year with 5 years minimum. $18.5-19 mil per 3 yrs is probably what a middle-of-rotation pitcher will get... Free agents this off-season: Gerrit Cole (opt-out), Blake Snell (opt-out), Justin Verlander (vesting option), Max Scherzer, Corbin Burnes, Clayton Kershaw (player option), Max Fried, Shane Bieber, Jordan Montgomery (vesting option), Walker Buehler, Nathan Eovaldi (vesting option), Robbie Ray (opt-out), Alex Cobb, Kyle Hendricks, Charlie Morton, Freddy Peralta (club option), Merrill Kelly (club option), Lucas Giolito (player option), Sean Manaea (opt-out), Michael Wacha (player option), Wade Miley (mutual option), Michael Lorenzen, Lance Lynn (club option), Kyle Gibson (club option), Luis Severino, Frankie Montas (mutual option), James Paxton, Jack Flaherty, Yusei Kikuchi, Patrick Corbin, Anthony DeSclafani, Nick Pivetta, Martín Pérez, Domingo Germán, Marco Gonzales (club option), Andrew Heaney, Eric Lauer, John Means, Zach Plesac, José Quintana, Michael Soroka, Ross Stripling, Spencer Turnbull, Luke Weaver, Alex Wood At age 30, Jordan Montgomery signed a 1-year $25 million contact. He's a -1.3 WAR this year. Charlie Morton at age 40 is getting paid $20 million this year.. if he retires... even less of a supply. James Paxton was already released this year, and he's older. Giolito isn't good... Bieber is hurt... Severino and German... will probably get paid less than Kikuchi. Flaherty is more than a middle-of-rotation piece. Kershaw probably retires... and maybe even Scherzer. It's not that I think Kikuchi is next coming of Gerrit Cole... but it's just the reality of the market. If there were more healthy pitchers out there... I would say he's a $12 million per year pitcher.
His advanced stats and stuff have always shown he’s a much better pitcher than his ERA has suggested. When we made the trade, Nook said they told him “wait until Miller and our analytics team get to him” and that they sent him a bunch of tape/notes immediately after it went down. Sure enough, that’s exactly what has happened through three starts. If he continues to pitch like this the rest of the season, he’s going to get $15M+ a year.
3/$45-50 seems eminently reasonable for Kikuchi. Now can we focus on the actual season that is currently happening?
A fully healthy squad... the position players don't change too much but... the pitching staff would challenge the 2019 staff... SP1 - Valdez SP2 - Verlander SP3 - Javier SP4 - Brown SP5 - Blanco Swing - Arrighetti Long - Garcia Left - Kikuchi Mid - McCullers Mid - Scott Mid - Abreu Set - Pressly Closer - Hader
That's one thing he can really work on...dropping his knees and angling his chest in front of anything in the dirt. He likes to do the "stab and grab" A great catcher moves his body not his glove on plays like that.
Spring Training against White Sox is over. No days off for two weeks. Red Sox, Orioles, Phillies, and Royals coming up all good teams with winning records. With Espada running out such intriguing lineups its going to be an interesting and defining two weeks of baseball to look forward to.
This is going to be a tough run, were about to see what this team is made of, do we dominate or do we play .500 ball. Our pitching has been exceptional over the past few weeks, let's keep it rolling Give me 2 of 3 with the Red Sox 2 of 4 with the Orioles 2 of 3 with the Phillies 2 of 4 with the Royals
Rough stretch. The Astros could run away with the Division title or be behind by a good margin. These four series will define the team's chances for a playoff run.
“Dana Brown is a joke” from the guy who wanted to fire the new manager this team has played with/for the past 5+ years and bring in an old washed up Buck Showalter literally a month into the season… Now that would have been a joke.
And they are about to play LAD in LA then they get SF and TB at home. Not exactly the easiest of stretches either. Both SF/TB have good pitching and we know the Ms can’t hit.
Really want 3 of 4 against Royals. They've been manhandling us for two seasons now. Let's pay them back !! Was thinking 9-5, but 10-4 is acceptable.
Thats the deadliest staff in the league if everyone is 100% and on their best game. edit: and Idc how you listed the SP or specialist/long/closer rotation... even with the guys who are shut down for the year / foreseeable future, if everyone who's projected to pitch this year, knowing what we know & what we've seen, thats just an insane pitching staff.
