http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/875 ... years-come
You go through The Sporting News for the last one hundred years, and you will find two things are always true. You never have enough pitching, and nobody ever made money."
Donald Fehr, who before he became vilified for standing up to NHL owners wore the same black hat on behalf of the Major League Baseball Players Association, said those words two decades ago. At least one of those things is still true today.
Pitching — particularly starting pitching — is as in demand as it ever was. Even the best starters throw fewer innings and make fewer starts today than they did in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1996, 18 pitchers made 35 or more starts during the regular season. Only five pitchers have done so in the past six seasons combined — and not once in either 2011 or 2012. As innings on the mound become more dispersed, teams need more pitchers to throw them all.
But with revenue throughout the game soaring, and because MLB possesses one of the most precious television commodities — DVR-proof programming — not even the most shameless team owners can cry poverty anymore. Jeffrey Loria, who has kept that crown for years despite fierce competition, didn't even bother to claim that the semi-annual Marlins Fire Sale this winter was forced upon him by his franchise's financial needs.
So it's no surprise that an industry that's flush with cash and scarce on pitching would be willing to trade lots of the former for some of the latter. Kevin Correia — who has never played a season where he made 10 starts with an above-average ERA — got two years and $10 million from Minnesota. Joe Blanton, whose ERAs the last three years were 4.82, 5.01, and 4.71, respectively, got two years and $15 million with the Angels. Jeremy Guthrie, a very solid no. 4 starter for many years, got three years and $25 million from Kansas City.
When extra guys are getting eight figures guaranteed, you can imagine what front-line starters can earn. Anibal Sanchez parlayed a bidding war between the Cubs and the Tigers into a five-year, $80 million contract with Detroit. And in this market, that doesn't even seem like overpaying, not even for a pitcher who hasn't had an ERA under 3.50 since his rookie season in 2006.
The prize of this year's free-agent market, Zack Greinke, cashed in with the Dodgers for six years and $147 million, which is the highest annual salary ever paid to a pitcher on a multi-year deal. Even better for Greinke, his contract allows him to opt out after three years. If he's still healthy and effective at that point, and the market continues to inflate, that clause should earn him millions more.1
Greinke was the best pitcher in baseball in 2009, but over the last three years he has settled in as a really good no. 2 starter. He has averaged over 200 innings a season, but with a 3.83 ERA since 2010.
Given the market for Greinke, you'd think that a true ace pitcher — say, a pitcher who won the Cy Young Award this past season — would be primed to cash in. David Price, who won the award in the American League, is three years from free agency, and already the clock is ticking on how long the Tampa Bay Rays can afford to keep him. The National League winner is just a year away from free agency, and ought to earn $20 million or more per season on a long-term deal. How fortunate for his team, then, that he's willing to sign at a discount, asking for just a two-year extension for about $13 million a season. Any rational organization would have that contract on his agent's desk before the words were out of his mouth.
There's just one problem: The NL Cy Young winner was R.A. Dickey. And R.A. Dickey throws the ball funny.
Until this season, Dickey's career was more notable for its narrative than its quality. After a stellar collegiate career at the University of Tennessee, Dickey was