Penny Wise, Millions Foolish

So, I was reading Buster Olney's Blog today, and he was noting about the financial divide and how that limits teams.  He had one sentence that stood out to me.

"The Braves had to let Tim Hudson go, they're facing arbitration fights with both Freddie Freeman and Jason Heyward, and they seem to be gambling in their arbitration case with Craig Kimbrel -- perhaps in an effort to keep the best closer on the planet."

Now, ponder just the very beginning.  They had to let Tim Hudson go.

Tim Hudson is going to be 38.  He was... average last year.  Baseball Reference had him with a WAR of 1.  Fangraphs was nicer at 1.7.  And he's going to be 38.  And he made $9 Million last year.  The Giants are paying $11 Million the next two years.

For... what?  Yeah, he's a veteran pitcher... but at best he's going to be a bit above average.

Is it really a bad thing that teams don't have money to throw his way?

Again, I'm not against players getting paid and paid well - but this is what the players union has baraganed for - where players don't get paid until they are older... and the problem is there comes a point where you aren't going to be getting more and more as you keep paying more and more.

Frankly - normally, I think it's dumb to pay a ton to veterans, especially in the day and age of three divisions and a wild card.

Now, if this were 1992 and there were two play-off spots in each league, where you had to be better, totally better, than 6 or 7 other teams or else... then that little edge the vet might give would be worth a ton.  But now there aren't 4 play-off teams... there are ten.  There are six division winners.  There are only 4 teams that you NEED to beat out, and even if you don't, if you are close there are two more shots per league to get into the playoff.

That little hope of maybe a bit more isn't worth it, especially when there's a greater and greater chance that the old guys will be ready for the pasture.

I think the Giants are going to regret signing Hudson more than the Braves will lament not signing him.  And if not - more power to the Giants and Hudson, but just because the clubs have monopoly money doesn't mean that they need to throw it away.