Why would the Phils pay all of Milton's salary? They could sign a better pitcher for half the price.

These are the kind of moves that makes you wonder if new stadium plus good farm systems can actually produce winning teams. As much as people say that the Phillies are going to win the NL east next year, you'd really have to wonder how much better they would be if they don't waste this kind of cash on an injury risk like Milton.

Looks like Bill Livesey left to go to the Mets.

i wonder if ryan madson could be had... i think he is going to be a good one.

For $9 million, Philadelphia picked up a marginally better version of Rick Helling.

Milton:
Career OPS+: 101
Hits/9IP: 9.1
HR/9IP: 1.36
BB/9IP: 2.4
SO/9IP: 6.5

Helling:
Career OPS+: 98
Hits/9IP: 9.0
HR/9IP: 1.49
BB/9IP: 3.3
SO/9IP: 6.1

Well, Milton is four years younger and is far more likely to have a breakout season. But still, quite a risky pickup in terms of dollars spent.

I meant ERA+. Oy.

I agree with the general point, but FWIW I think those stats show that Milton's clearly better than Helling.

0.9 BB/9IP + 0.4 K/9IP + 0.13 HR/9IP + 4 years adds up to a fairly big difference.

True there's a significant difference between Milton and Helling but not necessarily $8 million worth of difference. It was pretty clear that Milton would have to be traded. I have no idea how much of Milton's contract the Phillies take but if it is all of it then the Twins have done quite well. With Hawkins leaving and Milton gone they can potentially re-sign Shannon Stewart and maybe Eddie Guadardo if he isn't sore over his good friend going to the Cubs.

What's Phillie's payroll up to now? With long term deals to Burrell and Thome and the trades for Wagner and Milton and possibly having to re-sign Millwood and a quality setup man they must be getting up there.

You can make a perfectly good case that picking up the $9M Millwood wasn't a great move either.

Here are Millwood's stats from his five full seasons before 2002:

Season  IP     ERA+  PRAA  PRAR  SNVA  SNWAR
------  -----  ----  ----  ----  ----  -----
1998    174.1  104    -4    43    0.5   2.1
1999    228.0  162    33    89    3.7   5.9
2000    212.2  100     1    52    0.1   2.1
2001    121.0  102    -5    25   -0.5   0.5
2002    217.0  127    15    69    2.5   4.4
-------
Average 190.2  122     8    56    1.3   3.0

2003    222.0  103     6    62    0.6   2.6

His PECOTA weighted mean for 2003 was 181.3 IP, 113 ERA+, 30.2 VORP. That's not very far from his actual performance.

I wouldn't pay $9M for either 181.3 IP with a 113 ERA+ or 222 IP with a 103 ERA+. Millwood's actual performance in 2003 wasn't worth anywhere near $9M, and you could argue pretty strongly that his expected performance wouldn't have been worth $9M either. I'd gladly pay $9M for the 2002 version of Kevin Millwood, but that pitcher had only showed up twice in five years.

Was it two weeks ago I decried the lack of action? I echo Jordan's sentiments that we've just begun what should be an active December. Which is a good thing, because after my USC Trojans crush OSU and clinch their spot in the Sugar Bowl, sports, for me, becomes rather dull, the NBA long having ceased being entertaining and the NFL being a mixed little bag of mediocrity/parity. Oh, yeah, there's always hockey, but, well, it's a sport best enjoyed in person (at least for me), and we have no team in Seattle.

And by the way, Jordan, that wasn't Craig Lefferts the Yankes signed, it was Byron Leftwich. I mean, if Drew Henson could work out so well ...

In today's market, anytime you can unload $9mm - except for a bonafide, dropdead, take no prisoners ace - you've done the right thing. There are so many Miltons floating around, that is, marginally successful major leaguers who lucked into insanely rich contracts. The Twins have just freed up a shitload of money which will allow them to go shopping in a very attractive free agent market - the fact they got players in return is a bonus. This is really a different version of the Manny Ramirez phenomenon. That is, giving away obscenely overpriced players is not a bad strategy so long as you have the opportunity to "wet your beak" in the free agent market. Economists call it opportunity cost. The smart GMs are the ones who have figured out that dumping high priced players is really a no brainer of a strategy when you can turn around and replace them at 50 cents on the dollar in the free agent market.

True there's a significant difference between Milton and Helling but not necessarily $8 million worth of difference.

Totally agree.

The smart GMs are the ones who have figured out that dumping high priced players is really a no brainer of a strategy when you can turn around and replace them at 50 cents on the dollar in the free agent market

Actually, the smart GMs are the ones who figured this out years ago. If only we'd had another couple years of JP instead of the end of the Ash era...

No matter, we're still apparently at least a year or two ahead of the Twins. And even further ahead of the Phillies.

After signing Lefferts in Lahr, West Germany, the Yankees are in hot pursuit of Sid Monge. You can never have enough pitching.