With David Robertson agreeing to a two-year, $23 million deal with the Phillies, Jeff Sullivan at FanGraphs sums up my feeling on signing relievers perfectly:
FanGraphs.com
Baseball finds itself in a difficult position. On the one hand, there’s a clear, increasing emphasis on bullpen usage, as starters are throwing fewer and fewer innings every year. Teams are leaning on their relievers now more than ever, and as a consequence, more relievers are getting more money. The money tends to go where it’s needed. Yet on the other hand, relievers have this nasty volatility habit. They’re tougher to predict from one year to the next one, and many of last offseason’s free-agent contracts for relievers didn’t work out very well. Teams want relievers, and teams will pay for relievers, but it’s not always easy to know which effective relievers are for real. So many end up shooting stars against the night sky.
It’s another reason not to spend a lot of money on relievers. The Rays for a long time seemed very good at finding pitchers who would pitch well in relief, paying little for them, and letting them go when they became free agents. Robertson is about as steady as they come, and as the Phillies at $11.5 million a year for his services are paying a reasonable amount of money. It looks like a good deal for all involved.
from baseballmusings.com http://bit.ly/2TqB0ls
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