Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - Springing Forward in Quebec and Oakland

On this most gloomy of Sundays in Toronto, some good news is always welcome. And that there is a Canadian angle to both stories is a bonus.

First, from La Belle Province and SABR, comes the news that a group of Quebeckers have started a local chapter of SABR to help keep baseball alive there. They will be meeting this month, and settling on a name. How about the Robinson/Raymond chapter, after Jackie and Claude? Does anyone have any other suggestions for our friends in Quebec?

Second comes the news that Billy Beane's first move after becoming a minority owner and having his GM contract extended to 2012 was to sign B.C.'s own Rich Harden to a 4 year, $9 million contract with a club option for a 5th year at $7 million. As I have Rich Harden's name next to the 2005 AL Cy Young in our Contest, you might think that I consider this to be a fine move by Beane. You would be right.

But, it also got me to thinking. With the Crawford and Harden deals happening in the last couple of days, are we about to see more of these long-term deals for 22/23 year olds with a couple of years under their belts?

Posted by Mike Green on Sunday, April 03 2005 @ 05:48 PM EDT.

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sweat - Sunday, April 03 2005 @ 09:26 PM EDT (#108852) #

Seems like a pretty reasonable risk. 2.25M a year for 4 years? Nice thing about that is if Harden is fantastic, he still probably wouldnt go after more than 5M for the next year(year 5).

brent - Sunday, April 03 2005 @ 10:21 PM EDT (#108859) #

Of course, this trend should continue if GM's catch on rather than overpaying or losing all of their young talent. How many would be scared off by a Hinske signing versus a Wells or Halladay signing? Has anyone looked at the success rate of this yet? Or where could I find it? Even a free agent signing of Batista by the numbers comparable to the league seems to be the going rate. So much for not having an expensive closer though. As long as he is effective, the money is not thrown away. (Is Koch really going to be at the opener with signs cheering on the Rays after the Jays gave him a shot and a guaranteed contract? Why is he mad that he might not be good enough anymore?)

mathesond - Monday, April 04 2005 @ 12:38 AM EDT (#108866) #

Didn't the Tribe do this back in the '90's, when they had Lofton, Belle, Thome, etc. coming up at roughly the same time?
Mind you, it seemd they focused more attention on hitting than pitching

Mike Green - Monday, April 04 2005 @ 09:49 AM EDT (#108878) #

Yes, this was the Hart method for the mid-90s Indians.

It takes guts to do it for a young pitcher, who has not yet fully developed. But, at this price, Beane cannot lose unless Harden goes in the tank within the next 2 years. He obviously sees this risk as small, and I agree. Low risk, high reward.

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