BY SCOTT LAUBERA quick note: Tom Gordon has agreed to a one-year, $500,000 contract with the Diamondbacks. According to reports, he can make an additional $2.5 million in bonuses based on time spent on Arizona's active roster. That's significant because Gordon's 2008 season with the Phillies was cut short in July because of right elbow inflammation. Two weeks ago, Ruben Amaro Jr. said Gordon contacted the Phils and was told the club no longer had interest in keeping him.
Gordon, 41, signed a three-year, $18 million contract to be the Phillies' closer before the 2006 season. He posted a 3.34 ERA and 34 saves and pitched in the All-Star Game in 2006, but he was plagued by injuries over the past two years. He had a 4.73 ERA and six saves in 44 appearances in 2007 and was supplanted as the closer by Brett Myers. Last season, as the setup man for Brad Lidge, he went 5-4 with a 5.16 ERA but allowed runs in only 10 of his 34 appearances.
So, as Gordon heads to the desert, my question to you is this: Looking back, was Gordon a good signing for Pat Gillick?
4 comments:
It's easy, and tempting, to just say no because of Gordon's frequent injuries while he was with the Phils. However, I can't crucify Gillick for the signing because at the time he acquired Gordon, he was coming off a great two years with the Yankees.
Of course Gordan was a good signing. His first year was awesome. He gave us time to develop Madson. Sure, his injuries made for some problems but if we didn't sign him, maybe we would never have signed Lidge? And when Myers filled in during 2008, who was the lights out setup guy in the playoff run? Gordon. For all the bad rap he gets, I think he was a fine player.
Now Gordon has got his ring and he's moving on. Good for him.
Gordon is a warrior. I was watching in Clearwater as he desperately threw his last pitches of 2008 and was quietly led to the dugout by Razor Shines for the last time. He may not have been everything the Phillies imagined, but he never cheated them, either.
I wish him all the best.
Gillick did a lot of good things, and I mostly liked the Gordon signing at the time, but he clearly was damaged goods, and in hindsight, it was a bad deal. Fangraphs.com has a method to approximate the value of a player each year if they were a free agent. For Gordon, have a look: http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=282&position=P
He was worth $2.8MM total over the 3-year deal and he was paid $18MM. Obviously, these methods are an approximation and they don't pin down exact numerical value but he was almost useless for about 75% of his contract, he lied about being hurt to be a tough guy and lowered his value further by pitching injured in crucial situations.
Gillick made a lot of good moves. Jayson Werth has been worth $33.2MM over the past two years and was only paid $2.6MM, and they also had the rights to him for this year which Amaro pinned down at $3MM and will almost definitely be worth about $10MM. So that makes up for the Gordon signing and the Eaton signing combined, but the Gordon signing itself was definitely a net negative. For $18MM they could have done more with that money. At the same time, it was better than signing Wagner who has provided $18.6MM of value on a $43MM deal-- substantially more of a net negative than Gordon.
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