The Zack Attack

I’m sure you noticed the latest player signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers professional baseball club, pitcher Zack Greinke. The Dodgers seem to be in a hurry to spend every penny available before the Mayan calendar sends us all the way of the Incas.

          Nothing here against Greinke; he’s a fine hurler who won 15 games against only five losses last year. He nearly had a good earned run average, finishing the season at 3.48. Former Cy Young Award winner, right? Probably a good guy.

          But those stats are not worth $147 million, even if the money is spread thin over six long years.

          It used to be that a pitcher had to win 20 games a season to earn really big money. On some ball clubs, that is still the truth. Not so much in Los Angeles, at least not any more.

          This is the same town where Koufax and Drysdale used to win 25 games between them before the All-Star break. It’s the same town where Clayton Kershaw…wait a minute. What does he make?

          Good grief. Remember Fernando Valenzuela? Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player, World Series champion. He sparked Fernando Mania. When he pitched, the Dodgers sold every ticket they could print. He’s still attracting fans as a broadcaster on the Dodgers’ Spanish radio network.

          Valenzuela was worth $24.5 million a year. He never got paid that much, but he’d have been worth it. Can you imagine anyone else making that kind of a difference to a team?

          There once was a player named Louis Norman ‘Bobo’ Newsome. He was a major league pitcher, a right hander. In 600 Major League games, Newsome won 211 and lost 222. He compiled a 3.98 era and recorded 31 shutouts. He was mostly a starter but also went 15-15 in relief with 21 saves. He struck out 2,082 and walked 1,732.

          Popular? I should say. Everybody loved Newsome. In fact, he was so well liked that he played for virtually every team in baseball. Twice.

          Newsome played for two Major League teams in the same season seven times and played for three teams one year. Newsome should have had a part time job as a lobbyist in the halls of Congress because he played five different stretches for Washington. The Dodgers had him twice.

          Playing for the Tigers, he went 2-1 in the 1940 World Series with an era of 1.38.

          But Bobo Newsome never earned anything close to $147 million, at least not on the baseball field. Bad luck for Bobo, he played in the wrong era. Despite his heroics, he earned significantly less than $147 million.

          The truth is that I hope Greinke gives the Dodgers the boost their starting rotation seemed to need at times last season. It would be great if he and Kershaw can give the team the same kind of one-two punch they had with Dandy Sandy and The Big D.

          If Greinke produces numbers that are, well, Newsome-esque, then the Dodgers have spent wisely. If it doesn’t work out that way, then Dodgers fans will be left to wonder what $147 million really buys anymore.

 

          Thanks for reading.