And you thought Carl Crawford's contract was bad...Matt Cain $127.5 million??

[nickagneta]

Matt Cain, a career less than .500 pitcher who's best year ever was 14-8 with a .289 ERA in the NL with 186 SO and 96 BB.

Last year Cain was 12-11 with a .288 ERA in the NL with 179 SO and 63 BB. Yes he eats up innings and has a good WHIP and BAA but he is slightly better than average as a pitcher at best and now he is the highest paid right handed pitcher in the game?

He's gonna get 6 years for $127.5 million with a vest option for another year that could make the deal worth $141 million and it contains a full no-trade clause.

Absolutely insane given the Giants still need to wrap up Linsecum long term.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/dailypitch/post/2012/04/joey-votto-contract-matt-cain-contract-reds-giants/1#.T3oBgtWd0_w

[Finkelskyhook]

Crawford's contract won't turn out to be bad.

[the_Bird]

What am I missing?  ERA in the past three years has ranged from 2.88 to 3.14.  7th-best in the NL last year.  Career BAA of 0.227, 0.217 last year (3rd best).  Fifth-best WHIP in the NL last year.  

How is that "only slightly above average"?

Durable.  Only 27.  

I don't know a TON about baseball, but doesn't seem like the worst pitcher to commit serious $$ to.  He's no John Lackey.

[MBz]

I think he's actually really good.  If he had any sort of offense behind him he'd be close to a 20 game winner every year.  Even Lincecum went 13-14 last year.  They just keep losing tight games.  It's not their fault that they are losing games 1-0, 2-1 etc.

[Moranis]

I don't pay attention to W/L records of pitchers at all.  Totally meaningless.  The numbers to look at are quality starts and WHIP and Cain is very good in both of those categories.

[MBz]

I don't pay attention to W/L records of pitchers at all.  Totally meaningless.  The numbers to look at are quality starts and WHIP and Cain is very good in both of those categories.

Exactly.  Cain and Lackey had the same amount of wins last year, I wonder who was better. . .

[CeltsAcumen]

Ok. First off Carl Crawford's deal was not a bad deal.  If you look at what Jason Werth got just two weeks prior, Crawford's is around the same money.

2nd.   Matt Cain is one of the best pitchers in baseball.  He is worth every penny.  Especially when you consider that the Giants really only have Lincecum, Bumgarnder and Cain as their team superstars.

Further, If Matt Cain went into free agency, he would of gotten much, much more from the Yankees, Dodgers and Red Sox.

Last, Wins and Losses are not a proper metric to evaluate pitchers.  Matt Cain has one of the worst run supports in baseball.

.500 pitcher?  LOL please the guy OWNED the Rangers in the world series.  I think that alone got him the 165 million.

[pearljammer10]

I read a headline that said Cain to become highest paid lefty in baseball... My response was..."Who?"


What a terrible deal for the Giants to make. that is soooo much money tied up to a pitcher over the long term. All you have to do is look at my Mets and see that locking up pitchers to long term big money contracts is a huge risk that more often than not doesnt play out well (Pedro, Santana).