Free-agent market littered with fool's gold
Posted: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 5:25 PM
“The free agent market has always been an inefficient market. Now with teams locking up their better players to extensions, it’s become a horribly inefficient market.” Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein told Sports Illustrated.
We are trained to breathlessly follow the free agent trail in a baseball winter. We chart, track, gossip, and scrutinize every movement but now we should be convinced that it’s overrated.
There are occasionally great players in free agency (A-Rod), more often good players (Mike Lowell, Torii Hunter) and most frequently, the underperformers, unwanteds and overrateds. Once in a while there is the underrated who becomes a good buy.
But too often today, free agency is a panacea. It breeds immediate satisfaction that frequently morphs into long-term dissatisfaction. Headlines about free agents now become more about a player who can’t match his value than a player proving his worth.
My favorite free agent story of 2007: Barry Zito was stunned when he saw the media coverage of his early starts in San Francisco. He signs a deal for $128 million and he’s surprised when he is asked to be accountable? Now we know that playing in Oakland is baseball’s closest comparison to witness protection in terms of media coverage. But Zito was portrayed as someone ready for New York when reality says Oakland was his best fit.
The moral: Epstein summarized beautifully that the free-agent market has become littered with fool’s gold.
“I don’t think I’m worth $13 million. I’m not that kind of pitcher anymore.” The words of Tom Glavine after he signed with Atlanta. Yes, to most of us, the numbers are absurd. But look deeper and see a player admitting that he views himself in a real way. In a time when the game is flush with cash, Glavine had the self-assurance and clarity of mind to assess his place in Atlanta realistically. If only more shared that view.
“I will confirm that he said he loved being a Yankee and Steinbrenner had been very fair to him. I think Alex has learned a lot from this.” Warren Buffett to the Times on his conversations with A-Rod.
Think we’ll see Buffett and Scott Boras sitting next to each other at any games?
