Wednesday, December 22, 2010

A Thought to Consider

Now that Zack Greinke has taken his talents to Milwaukee, the Royals are left with what some would call 4/5ths of a rotation and what others would call a pile of shit. I would say that I would fall in between these two mindsets. I think that Hochevar would be a fine number three and that Mazzaro and Davies would both be barable as the four and five starters. Unfortunately, though all three of these pitchers are currently stretched into roles about two positions closer to the front of the rotation. The Royals also have Sean O'Sullivan and well I guess you can pencil him into the opening rotation as well.

In an interview with 610 Sports Kansas City on Monday Moore said that the team would look to sign one or two starters to one year deals. There are several pitchers that could fit the bill and the guys that have received the most attention as potential fits are Joe Blanton, Bruce Chen, and Kevin Milwood. I am probably speaking for most everyone in saying that none of these three pitchers excite me in the least.

So I am going to make a suggestion: sign Brandon Webb. From 2006-2008 Brandon Webb finished first or second in the NL Cy Young voting everytime. He has a career era of 3.27, a career k:bb of 2.45. A heavy groundball inducing sinker and a plus change up and curve. His fastball velocity hadn't totally came back in his three instructional league starts, but it is only a couple of miles per hour off from where it was in 2008, when he went 22-7 with a 3.30 era.

After I saw that Rich Harden signed for a mere $1.5 million gaurunteed, I was mildly disappointed that the Royals weren't rumored to be in the mix. At that cost Harden is an excellent buy low candidate and if he returns to form he is a frontline starter that can either help you surprise people in 2011 or can either net you a pair of quality prospects at the trade deadline or in the 2012 draft via compensation.

The same can be said with Webb except with an even higher upside. But with that upside likely will come with a higher cost. His agent was said to be demanding roughly a $10 million deal when the offseason began. I'd like to see a Webb signing but only if it is a buy low. So I am curious what are your thoughts on Brandon Webb? How much do you think he would be worth on a one year deal? Or would he even be worth a deal at all? Perhaps it would be wiser to sign an innings eater that we are sure can provide innings until the prospects are ready. What do you think?

6 comments:

  1. I will get the ball rolling, I think that Webb would be worth between a 4-6 million dollar deal that can get up to 7-9 million. That'd be the highest I'd be willing to go.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'd be all for giving webb an offer that, through performance incentives, would top offers from other teams. Giving him a larger guaranteed number though would be a questionable call though imo because of the past injury.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Probably 10-11. And if he's anywhere near pre injury then nobody cares, and he either gets picked up on an option for 2012 or is gone and we might get a supplemental pick.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Getting Webb would be a great move! Unfortunately we are going to wind up with an innings eater like Milwood with no upside and nothing to be excited about.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'd go to about 10 mill including incentives.

    ReplyDelete