This article is courtesy of our friends at The Flagrant Fan
Written by: William Tasker
Yesterday in this space, this author wrote that Roy Oswalt had earned the right to limit his
market choices and to stick to his price in negotiations as a free agent. The piece was a
counterpoint to another writer who stated that Oswalt “had too big a head” and can move
along from the St. Louis Cardinals’ feeding trough. The point was also made that Oswalt is
well worth what he is asking for his services. This other writer wasn’t very happy about
yesterday’s post and chose to rebut it by reprinting this writer’s entire post and interspersing
comments throughout. That’s kind of rude, but at least the writer provided a link back to
here. Thanks for the page views, sir.
Disagreement is fine. Enlightenment only comes from open dialogue, which is why the
Freedom of Speech is so important to us as a people. Your host here certainly doesn’t
believe he knows all the answers. Somebody once said that wisdom begins with the
knowledge that there is more unknown than known. So the name calling directed here as
“noninformed ,” is not overly troublesome. Without resorting to a flame war, which is way too
unseemly in polite society, this author does want to make a few points in response.
The key issue is market determination. That other writer feels that Oswalt has run into a
problem where the market considers his value lower than Oswalt does. That would be true
enough if Oswalt had allowed a complete and open market for his services to develop and
could still not find a job. Oswalt’s true “problem” is that he has limited his market choices to
a few teams that do not care to pay Oswalt what he wants. If Oswalt was available to any
team on the market, someone surely would have given him the money is is asking.
Roy Oswalt doesn’t want to pitch in Seattle or Detroit or a host of other different cities. He
has narrowed his choices to just a few teams he would consider. That’s not a true market
determination problem. That’s a personal market limitation choice that has led to a problem.
This other writer also states that Oswalt’s performance value (which last year stood at $11.1
million, Oswalt’s lowest) doesn’t matter. It’s the market that matters. But performance value
does matter. That’s why the Phillies chose not to offer Oswalt arbitration. Arbitration would
have given Oswalt the money. That’s what arbitration does.
Okay, you might say that the Phillies just proved the market determination point. It only
proves it as far as the Phillies were concerned. They had cheaper options in Vance Worley,
etc., and have a huge and unwieldy payroll they have to worry about. Other teams may not
have those options or problems. Let’s look at the Cardinals as an example. On the
Cardinals, only two of their pitchers’ performances were more valuable than Roy Oswalt’s
last season: Chris Carpenter and Jaime Garcia. Jake Westbrook was paid $8 million and
was far less valuable a pitcher. Kyle Lohse made $11.8 million and was far less valuable.
On paper, Adam Wainwright is more valuable than Roy Oswalt. But let’s see what happens
as he returns from Tommy John surgery.
Could Roy Oswalt be a benefit to the Cardinals? Certainly. Will they choose to pay Oswalt
$10 million for a season. Maybe not. We’ll see. This other writer made a point that the
Cardinals can’t afford $10 million for 139 innings. The Cardinals are still $20 million below
last year’s payroll and that’s with the addition of Furcal and Beltran and a bump in salary to
Berkman and Garcia. With the cash from their World Series title, the savings from Pujols
and La Russa, the team may well choose to incur more profit this season as is their right.
But they could certainly afford Oswalt.
Roy Oswalt has made the personal choice to limit his market. That choice may lead to less
income (or no income) than he wants. Any personal choice comes with inherent risks.
Frankly, any team that wants to compete should sign the guy. Pitchers with his skill aren’t
rampant in the game. Feel free to disagree. Oswalt’s problem isn’t that he has a big head.
He absolutely knows his value. He has simply chosen fewer teams to pay him market value
rather than allowing the full marketplace to bid on his services. Time will tell if his choice
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