A look at Greinke’s comparables
Over the last 5 years combined (age 24-28), Zack Greinke pitched 1,036 innings with a 123 ERA+, amassing 23.0 WAR by the Baseball-Reference method (rWAR) and 28.4 by FanGraphs (fWAR). His new 6-year contract covers age 29-34. I’m no forecaster, but I thought it would be interesting to find pitchers who were broadly similar to Greinke during age 24-28 and see what they did over their next six years.
(All comparison groups herein are “since 1920″ unless specified. All ERA+ averages are weighted by innings.)
Group 1 — There are 36 retired pitchers who had at least 22 rWAR for age 24-28. Since I used no upper boundary on rWAR, Group 1 averaged 27.5 rWAR for the 24-28 period, well above Greinke’s 23.0 rWAR and close to his 28.4 fWAR; they also averaged 1,255 IP and a 133 ERA+.
– For age 29-34 combined, Group 1 averaged 14.2 rWAR (median 12.4), with 914 IP and a 118 ERA+. A mark of 20+ rWAR was reached by 9 out of 36 (25%), while 14 had less than 10 rWAR (39%).
But maybe Group 1 is skewed by those who were overworked in their 20s. So I made another control group of retired pitchers who had IP and ERA+ similar to Greinke’s 1,036 IP and 123 ERA+ from age 24-28. Specifically:
Group 2 — These 52 retired pitchers had 886 to 1,186 IP from 24-28 (+/- 150 to Greinke), with an ERA+ of at least 115. I left WAR out of this picture. For ERA+, I set no upper bound, but set the lower bound so as to produce an average close to Greinke’s mark.
For age 24-28, Group 2 averaged 1,032 IP with a 125 ERA+, very close to Greinke’s numbers. Stars in this group included Pedro Martinez, Lefty Grove (with his best years still to come), Bob Gibson (ditto), Sandy Koufax, Warren Spahn, Jim Bunning, Bret Saberhagen, Jerry Koosman and many more.
– For age 29-34 combined, Group 2 averaged 12.9 rWAR (median 11.5), with 884 IP and a 116 ERA+. A mark of 20+ rWAR was reached by 12 of 52 (23%), while 24 had less than 10 rWAR (46%) .
But maybe it’s best to focus on recent pitchers, from the age of 5-man rotations, with a further requirement that they were productive at age 28:
Group 3 — From 1982-2006, the 18 pitchers who from age 24-28 had 800 to 1,200 IP and an ERA+ of at least 115, and had at least 3.0 rWAR in their age 28 season. I did not limit this group to retired pitchers, but did require that all were in the majors at age 24 and at age 28, and that their full 24-28 span was included in the time period. (The last rule excluded Mario Soto, who was 24 in 1981; he would have lowered the 29-34 averages, since he was finished at 31.)
From 24-28, Group 3 averaged 1,036 IP (exactly Greinke’s total), with a 130 ERA+ (Greinke 123) and 22.3 rWAR (Greinke 23.0). Their weighted average ERA+ is boosted by Pedro’s absurd 189; the median was 123, which happens to be Greinke’s exact figure.
– For age 29-34, Group 3 averaged 16.2 rWAR (median 16.4), with 951 IP and a 119 ERA+. A mark of 20+ rWAR was reached by 5 of 18 (28%, but with two more at 19.7), while another 5 had less than 10 rWAR.
Three of Group 3 topped 30 WAR for age 29-34 – Roy Halladay (37.5), Pedro (31.6) and Mike Mussina (31.4) — but 4th-best was Chuck Finley at 21.5.
All but four of this group were still active at 34: Ben McDonald was done at 29, Jose Rijo at 30 (except for an ineffective comeback at 36), and Jack McDowell and Brad Radke at 33.
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To make explicit a trend you’ve surely noticed, the decline in value for all three groups came not just from how well they pitched, but how much they pitched. Group 3 had the best retention of innings, but they still declined from an average of 207 IP per year for 24-28 to 159 IP/year for 29-34, a drop of more than 23%. Group 2 dropped by 29%, and Group 1 by almost 40%.
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Lastly, just for fun, what about the pitchers graded “most similar” to Greinke through age 28 by Similarity Score? I’ll just present the list, without making any claim for true similarity:
- Alex Fernandez (956)
- Andy Benes (956)
- Bill Gullickson (950)
- John Smoltz (949)
- Ismael Valdez (947)
- Larry Christenson (946)
- Josh Beckett (946)
- Mark Gubicza (946)
- Ralph Terry (944)
- Bill Monbouquette (943)
For age 29-34, Smoltz tops that group with 19.7 rWAR — and nobody else even reached 10. Beckett has 9.8 with two years to go … but I still wouldn’t bet the house on it.
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I’ll leave the conclusions to others. But for those convinced that Greinke’s raw stats for the last two years — like 9.4 SO/9 and 4.05 SO/BB — paint a truer picture than his 109 ERA+, I’ll make two cautionary notes:
- Out of 53 retired pitchers with 1,500+ IP in the last 20 years, Javier Vazquez ranks 9th in SO/BB. He’s 6th in SO/9 and 15th in BB/9. But he’s 24th in ERA+, at 105. OK, part of his problem was a high rate of HRs, which Greinke doesn’t share (he’s been a little better than league average over the past two years combined). But another problem for Vazquez was pitching with men in scoring position, and that same problem has bedeviled Greinke each of the last three years.
- In 2000, 25-year-old Glendon Rusch had a 111 ERA+ in 191 IP for the Mets. His actual ERA was 4.01, but with great control and a good K rate, his 3.57 SO/BB ranked 5th in the NL, and his FIP was 3.50. I felt sure we’d stolen another one from the Royals. In 2001, with another strong SO/BB ratio (3.63, 6th in the NL), his ERA plumped to 4.63, while his FIP was 3.81. His future still seemed bright. But in the remaining eight years of his career, Rusch had an 86 ERA+ in 777 IP, producing just 1.3 rWAR.
Yes, those are just two data points. And I don’t deny that strikeouts and walks are very important markers. But they’re not the whole story. And while I don’t claim to grasp all the ways that defense has affected Greinke’s results, his BAbip last year was .310, one point below his career mark and just three points over his Cy Young season. No doubt a better defense should help him, but exactly how much remains to be seen.
Your thoughts?
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New York has probably been getting their monies worth out of Sabathia, jury is still out on Halladay & Lee (although they we older) but I look at Greinke and I have to think- Barry Zito.
It’s almost as if the Dodgers looked up Route 101, saw that San Francisco had won two World Series, and concluded that the key to success was to sign an average pitcher to a ridiculous contract. BTW:
Zito, ages 22-25: ERA+ 142
Greinke, ages 22-25: ERA+ 148
Zito ages 26-28: ERA+ 110
Greinke ages 26-28: ERA+ 106
If Greinke was a hitter, you would scream “Norm Cash” (and maybe not as good). 2009 looks like an aberration. His last three years are not as good as I would have expected them to be, given his age. He’s being paid like 2009, but that’s the only season of really excellent performance. I’m not sure this is a Zito contract, but it seems like a large overpay, and the opt out makes it worse. When you throw in the signing bonus, he’s going to get over $80M for three years, and then decide whether he wants to shake the money tree again. Money may be meaningless to the Dodgers. Still, there is little in his past three year’s worth of performance that justifies this.
To this point CC has definitely worked out. The last two years could be dicey.
As for Greinke, I am stunned. Even with his insane 2009 season, his career
ERA+ is merely 114.
He gives nothing in the clubhouse.
The Dodgers just went crazy for someone who will be lucky to be a number
3 starter.
The Dodgers seem to just be throwing money around. This will not end well.
Hanley Ramirez is an insult to the game. Tremendous ability, but no inclination to hustle. Pete Rose must feel the bile rise in his throat
every time he sees Ramirez. I know that when he was with the Marlins,
both Andre Dawson and Tony Perez talked to him about it. It did no good.
Carl Crawford…let’s just say he has seen his best days. It’s no great
feat to succeed in Tampa Bay. Do it where the fans actually care and are
a bit more rabid.
Adrian Gonzales will produce. But I believe that he too stinks
in the clubhouse. I did not like the way he talked about Valentine
before he was traded. Then wouldn’t own up to it.
The Dodgers will be the 2013 example of how money doesn’t guarantee
success in baseball.
Not to pile on, but if I were to give you a choice of two players, one, a pitcher who, from 2010-12 had ERA+ of 100, 103, and 114, and a BWar of 3.2, 1.4, and 3.3, and the second, a hitter who, during the same period, had an OPS+ of 129, 120, and 126, and a WAR of 3.4, 1.5 and 3.5, since Greinke is off the board, how much would you pay the second guy?
Nick Swisher, call your agent.
I was shocked when the initial rumors surfaced over how much Greinke might get. And then it actually happened! As Mike L says, 2009 looks like a huge outlier. Granted, he also quite good in 2008 but the last three years, not so much.
John’s analysis obviously gives Greinke the benefit of the doubt by including his 2008 and 2009 seasons. I thought I’d take a look at starters since 1980 who had between 7.4 and 8.4 WAR for their ages 26-28 seasons (Greinke was in the middle with 7.9). Here’s the list I come up with (17 pitchers):
Brad Penny, Ben Sheets, John Smiley, Brian Moehler, Francisco Cordova, Bud Black, John Garland, Aaron Cook, Charlie Liebrandt, Chan Ho Park, Jack Morris, Dwight Gooden, Mike Boddicker, Erik Hanson, Andy Pettitte, Ted Lilly, and Ramon Martinez.
Of that group, I see only 5 that would be worth having for ages 29-34: Lilly (15.9 WAR), Pettitte (17.8), Boddicker (17.7), Morris (17.0), Liebrandt (21.0).
Granted, most of the 17 pitchers above never came close to matching Greinke’s peak (Gooden and Pettitte being the exceptions) but I’m not sure that peak matters that much anymore. But as Mike L. says, money may be meaningless to the Dodgers.
I also decided to try and find pitchers who had a big year at about the same age as Greinke’s, followed by three seasons of being so-so.
First name I came up with was Jon Matlack. Matlack had 8.8 WAR as a 24 year old but only 6.3 for the next three seasons combined. Matlack was a bit schizophrenic after that, posting seasons of 5.9, 0.5, 4.1, -0.9, 1.9, and -0.3 WAR.
Next up was Tom Glavine who had 8.2 WAR at age 25 but only 8.5 total for the next three years. After that, Glavine was quite good reeling off seasons of 4.6, 5.6, 5.3, 5.9, 2.6, and 4.6 WAR. I’m sure the Dodgers would be quite happy if Greinke gave them that.
Last was Andy Pettitte who has 8.0 WAR at age 25 but only 7.6 the next three years. Pettitte was in between Matlack and Glavine putting together seasons of 3.2, 3.1, 2.8, 1.0, 6.5, and 1.2 WAR. Not sure how the Dodgers would feel if that’s what they got from Greinke.
Let’s look at this from the perspective of the best case scenario. What would be the absolute best case scenario that history has to offer for Greinke – that he has a run like Pedro from ages 29-34? Maybe a more durable Pedro (the other top pitchers – Grove and Gibson – are from different eras making comparisons and “what ifs” even more difficult)?
Pedro averaged 27 starts and 178 IP with 5.3 WAR and a 151 ERA+ from ages 29-34. If Greinke turns into a more durable Pedro (looking at Pedro’s averages per 162 games) we could suppose Greinke starts 34 games a season over the next 6 years and puts up an average of 7.0 WAR a season. The Dodgers would be thrilled if that happened, and I’m sure just about everyone else would be amazed.
But the difference between Pedro and Greinke is that Pedro’s worst years from ages 23-28 were close to Greinke’s second best year (2008). When Pedro turned 29 he had just come off a 4-year run when his worst year (1998) saw him go 19-7 with a 2.89 ERA, a 163 ERA+, a 1.091 WHIP, a 9.7 K/9, and a 3.75 K/BB. And that was, by far, his worst year from ages 25-28, and he had two other good years (though not quite as good as even his “off” year in 1998) from ages 23-24. That’s not quite what Greinke has done at this point in time in his career.
So here’s my question: If you knew (with certainty) you were getting Pedro Martinez from ages 29-34 would you sign him to this contract? Maybe – he’s not durable enough for me.
If you knew you were getting Bob Gibson from ages 29-34 (averaging a 147 ERA+, 278 IP, 33 starts, 7.3 WAR, with five 20-win seasons) do you sign him to that contract? Ok, I’d probably sign Gibson. But how in the world do you pay someone based on them being expected to be Bob Gibson?
Interesting take, Artie. To your question of, “If you knew (with certainty) you were getting Pedro Martinez from ages 29-34 would you sign him to this contract?”, my own answer is yes, yes, yes.
I think you’re making too much of his lack of durability. Consider this exercise:
Let’s define an “ace’s workload” for the years 2001-06 — Pedro’s age 29-34 — as 225 innings per year. (There were 61 pitcher-seasons of 225+ IP in that span, or about 10 per year.) So a full complement of “ace’s innings” for those 6 years would be about 1,350 IP.
Pedro had 1,069 IP, so he’s about 280 IP shy of the full workload.
On the other hand, when he did pitch, he was generally fantastic, and so produced 31.6 rWAR in that span — 3rd in MLB, behind Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling.
So let’s say you sign Pedro knowing you’ll get exactly that. Comparing your situation to that of a team with a more durable ace who goes the full 1,350 IP, you have to fill 280 IP from the back end of your organization.
Suppose you can’t even come up with “replacement-level” performance for those 280 innings, and that they generate a horrific minus-4 rWAR.
Charging that (-4) to Pedro’s “ace” ledger would still leave him worth 27.6 rWAR, which would be #8 in MLB in that span, just a hair behind Roger Clemens, who won 2 CYAs in that span.
Might you find yourself in the postseason but with Pedro unavailable (or at least, not worth using)? Well, sure — just ask the 2006 Mets. But there’s *some* such risk attached to even the most durable pitcher.
I think people are really not keeping up with the times in terms of money. Teams are spending more and more (not the Yankees however) across the league. If you remove pre-arb and arbitration players from the mix entirely and just look at the yearly cost and performance of the players who fill the remaining spots, you’ll see it costs you a lot of money to get a WAR. We like taking the total league WAR and total league payroll to look at value but it doesn’t work like that. Seniority skews costs in the baseball world. In other words, you’re going to pay a lot more for a WAR you want to add through free agency.
All that said, $159m for 6 years is amazingly high but saying you wouldn’t pay Pedro that for his 29-34 years? You’re crazy. There are dozens of pitchers in history that on today’s market at 29 years old would have gotten more in Grenke’s place. But I do agree that this is an overpay. I don’t know who the dodgers were bidding against at >20m annually.
It took a little while, but the expected opening of the megabucks spigot seems finally to be happening. ESPN says that Hamilton agreed with the Angels for $125 million over 5 years.
John, you touched on it at the end, but I think the defining thing about Greinke is not necessarily his success, but the way he’s achieved it. You reference the 5.4-win difference between his fWAR and his rWAR over the past five seasons. That has to be the biggest difference of any active pitcher, right?
From a fielding-independent standpoint, Greinke has been among the best pitchers in the league in each of the last four seasons (I’m probably being a little generous re: 2011 because of his inning count), but the ERAs aren’t keeping up. Since exceeding his FIP in his legendary 2009, he’s done this:
2010 3.34 FIP, 4.17 ERA
2011 2.98 FIP, 3.83 ERA
2012 3.10 FIP, 3.48 ERA
A lot of research suggests that pitchers who underperform their FIP are due for a drop in ERA the next year, but Greinke keeps giving up hits. I think the right comps for Greinke are pitchers with stretches of low ERAs and lower FIPs, and I’d guess that most of their ERAs improved after that stretch.
Given the surging value of a win with all the TV money coming in, I think this might be a reasonable contract anyway, but we have to assume the Dodgers are making a bet on Greinke’s ERA catching up to his FIP eventually.
Bryan, you make good points.
Reacting to your comment, I took a quick look on FanGraphs at the biggest gaps between ERA and FIP over the last 5 years. I wish I knew how to use their site a la B-R’s Play Index, but anyway … One name jumped out at me:
Ricky Nolasco … career ERA is 4.49, FIP is 3.83.
Yet there’s a substantial gap in the same direction each of the last 4 years, covering over 700 IP. With such consistency, would you still expect his 2013 ERA to be more in line with his past FIP than with his past ERA?
Well, Nolasco’s never had a 2.16 ERA over a full season. I think Nolasco’s better than 4.49 and not as good as 3.83.
One way to tease out the possible reasons behind a difference in FIP and ERA is to use Fangraphs’ Value tab and look at BIP-Wins and LOB-Wins. Balls in play have been rough on Nolasco over the past five years (-3.4 wins). I chalk most of that up to defense/randomness, though he’s startlingly consistent in his awfulness. LOB-Wins encompass everything else that leads to run prevention, and he’s another 4 wins in the hole there. That suggests that he struggles pitching from the stretch/doesn’t have a good pickoff move/can’t get a groundball when he needs one. I think his BABiP will improve, but he’s probably got some mental issues keeping the LOB part down.
Greinke’s been worth 24.2 RA9-Wins per Fangraphs, very similar to his 24 rWAR. BIP have cost him 3.3 wins, while LOB have only cost him .9 He’s got some documented mental issues, but I don’t think they’re the problem. He really only struggled to strand runners in 2011, when 30.2% of runners scored against him. The problem is balls in play, and I just can’t see how a guy who strikes out more than 8 men per 9 innings is so “hittable”. He should get better.
Bryan, I’m surprised that even someone who takes FIP as literally as you is reaching a conclusion that Greinke “should get better”. You know full well that FIP’s ability to forecast future ERA goes down as a player’s career progresses.
With someone like Tim Hudson who Mike D mentioned below, it would be silly to project an ERA for Hudson this year that matches the last few years’ FIP without taking into consideration that he has outperformed his FIP by close to half a run per 9 over the course of his career. Greinke’s ERA-FIP discrepancy is even larger than that for the last three years. Expecting him to change into a pitcher whose ERA actually matches his FIP seems like a difficult ask. Greinke would have to change into a different type of pitcher to do that. Why would he change when he’s had such a successful career to date and has just signed a huge contract?
Bryan, I don’t claim to understand why Greinke tends to allow more hits than his K rate suggests he “should.” But year after year, his BAbip is always higher than the league average. And defense alone doesn’t explain it. The ups and downs in his BAbip and his team’s defensive grades aren’t in synch.
- In 2004, KC’s defense ranked near the bottom of the AL (both TZ and DRS). Yet his BAbip was .268, a career low (and the only time he’s been below the league mark), and his ERA was 0.73 below his FIP.
- In 2007, KC was above average in both measures, yet Greinke’s BAbip was .317, 13 points above league.
- In 2011, Milwaukee’s defense was above average in both measures, but Greinke’s BAbip was .323, 27 points above league, and his ERA was 0.85 above his FIP.
I would agree that, on the whole, Greinke’s defensive support has been sub-par — and that’s why, despite all I’ve said, I do believe there’s a reasonable chance that his ERA gets closer to his FIP in the near future. But I don’t expect a *big* change.
John – According to an article over on Grantland, Greinke’s biggest problem has been his BABIP with runners in scoring position. Last year his BABIP with no one on was .307 but it was .373 with runners in scoring position. This was the biggest discrepancy of any qualified pitcher. Two years ago it was .330 vs .351 and three years ago it was .293 vs .349. So there’s a definite pattern of him struggling with RISP.
http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/44714/pondering-zack-greinkes-147-million-deal
JA, on Fangraphs go to pitching Leaders and then “Career”. Click on Advanced and it will give you E-F(ERA – FIP). Choose 2008-2012 for the years, set a IP minimum, and then click on E-F and it will sort the leaders for you. For the last five years, here are the guys who have the most positive E-F with at least 700 IP:
1. Luke Hochevar 0.99
2. Ricky Nolasco 0.75
3. Livan Hernandez 0.59
4. Derek Lowe 0.53
5. Carl Pavano 0.43
Greinke is ninth on the list at 0.34
http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=pit&lg=all&qual=700&type=1&season=2012&month=0&season1=2008&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&sort=18,d
b, the guidance is much appreciated. Actually, though, to my own surprise, I already did what you described there. What I was hoping for was a P-I-type filter that would let me narrow the list to *good* pitchers who also had significant E-F gaps.
I’d also like to see more than FG’s 30 results per page, which hinders copying their data into Excel.
Mariano Rivera career ERA, 2.21; FIP 2.75.
Tim Hudson, career ERA, 3.42; FIP, 3.78.
Matt Cain, career ERA, 3.27; FIP, 3.65. (xFIP, 4.19, if you’re a fan of that stat. I remain dubious.)
While FIP is mostly excellent, it is generally accepted that some pitchers can consistently outperform their FIPs. They are more the minority, but they certainly exist. Knuckleballers fit in that category, and we’ve seen R.A. Dickey’s gap between ERA and FIP grow as he’s mastered his unique knuckler, where his ERA has been half a run to 3/4 a run better than his FIP. Riveras’ cutter consistently prevents solid contact.
Less discussed are the flip-side pitchers. Those who seem to consistently underpeform. If we accept that the former exists, we have to acknowledge that the latter should also exist. It may very well be that Zack Greinke is similar to a Javy Vazquez and will never be quite as good as expected, even if he remains good. I’m not quite in that camp yet with Greinke, but I’m rapidly getting there.
Addendum: Since Greinke can opt out after 3 years, I broke out the comparison groups into age 29-31 and 32-34. (Averages are based on the total number of pitchers in the group, whether or not they were active in the given period.)
Group 1 averages:
Age 29-31 combined — 9.2 rWAR, 564 IP, 121 ERA+
Age 32-34 combined — 5.0 rWAR, 350 IP, 116 ERA+
Number still active at age 34: 23 of 36
Group 2 averages:
Age 29-31 combined — 7.4 rWAR, 508 IP, 119 ERA+
Age 32-34 combined — 5.5 rWAR, 376 IP, 115 ERA+
Number still active at 34: 37 of 52
Group 3 averages:
Age 29-31 combined — 9.6 rWAR, 545 IP, 123 ERA+
Age 32-34 combined — 6.6 rWAR, 406 IP, 116 ERA+
Number still active at 34: 14 of 18
The opt out is a bet that salaries duration will continue to rise. It’s probably a good bet but not a guarantee. If you more closely at some of the more recent signings it tells you the market Has been revaluing things quite a bit the last few years. Types of players are going in and out of vogue
John – I do have to say that I’m quite disappointed that you did a full blown analysis of the Greinke signing and yet so far have ignored the Indian’s mega-signing of Mark Reynolds. I realize that as a Tiger’s fan, this signing scares the living daylights out of you but I do hope to see more balance in your postings.
Ed, I’m just glad that the Tribe is able to re-fill their 150-K lineup slot so recently vacated by Choo.
Of course, I am sad to think that this means the end of the Kotchman Era….
In all seriousness, the Reynolds’ signing is the sort of thing that should get a GM fired. Immediately. What’s the point? The Indians are going to be horrible with or without Reynolds. At best they’ll win 63 games instead of 62. He’s clearly not a long-term solution. So why sign him? Why not give a younger player a chance and see what they can do? Maybe you get lucky and a marginal prospect turns out to be better than expected. If not, what does it really matter?
Honestly, if Mark Reynolds is the answer, you’ve asked the wrong question!
BTW, this is an interesting article on Greinke that mostly focuses on his struggles with depression and social anxiety disorder. However, they also toss in a tantalizing nugget that I wish they had explored more. Apparently Greinke uses “sophisticated sabermetrics” to inform his pitching approach!
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/8744647/zack-greinke-shown-ready-la
That was a good read. When the author mentions “sophisticated sabermetrics” I think she’s referring to Geinke’s comment (I think it was after his Cy Young season) that he had been working on lowering his FIP. It’s kind of ironic that we were discussing above how Greinke’s FIP is usually better than his ERA. I suppose he’s at least accomplishing his goals there.
I haven’t read that article yet, but the thought of Greinke “using” sabermetrics reminded me of Brian Bannister, the hero of Joe Posnanski’s quixotic Banny Log.
http://joeposnanski.blogspot.com/2010/11/banny-log-once-more.html
Team re-signs 28-year-old RHP with a career losing record and zero 200-IP seasons, for 5 years and megabucks.
I know it’s Anibal Sanchez, but why do I keep thinking of Darren Dreifort?
Some comparisons between Sanchez and Greinke:
http://www.baseballanalytics.org/baseball-analytics-blog/2012/12/12/zack-greinke-and-anibal-sanchez-closer-than-you-think.html
http://mlb.si.com/2012/12/07/anibal-sanchez-zack-greinke-hot-stove/
The conclusion from the first article: “Considering how close his resume is to Greinke’s, Sanchez could be a bargain if he ends up signing for something like five years and $75 million.” (Tigers actually got him for five years, $80 million.)
I find the Sanchez signing incomprehensible. Not merely because the Tigers were willing to pay that much, but because there were other teams close to that number. Greinke’s contract is still ridiculous, but this one is quite possible worse.
John,
Re: FG’s 30 results per page. I was able to export an entire query result to Excel with one click. It’s not just the current page that is exported.
Thanks, Doug. I’m so used to swiping & copying that I didn’t even notice the “Export Data” option.