Kyle Lohse and the St. Louis Cardinals announced today that they have come to terms on a 4 year, $41 million contract.Lohse, represented by super-agent Scott Boras, was traded from the Twins in 2006 after problems with Minnesota teammates and coaches. He played for Cincinnati and Philadelphia in 2007, and embarrassed himself rather thoroughly by turning down $21 million and 3 years from the Phils at the beginning of the 2008 season.
Lohse elected to instead sit at home during spring training and eventually was signed to a 1 year, $4.25 million deal with the Cards. He was stated to have been seeking 4 years and $40 million-plus.
To be fair, in 2008 Lohse did go 15-6 with a 3.78 ERA, walking 49 and striking out 119 in 200 innings. Good stuff, but there's nothing in his history that would suggest that he'll repeat those kind of stats. It's highly likely that this will turn into a crap contract for the Birds.
But hey, this is the market that teams have to deal with. Average-to-good players get all-star money. (See: Jarrod Washburn, Carlos Silva, Mike Hampton, Carl Pavano)
Random factoid for you: Lohse is one of three active MLB players of Native American (non-Hispanic) origin. The other two? Boston's Jacoby Ellsbury and Yankee's pitcher Joba Chamberlain.
[MLB Trade Rumors] | [Baseball Reference] | [Viva El Birdos]
4 comments:
As a Reds fan, I would never, EVER trust Lohse...nor would I offer him 20 cents to pitch for me. I don't know how he became decent this year, he was complete and utter garbage while pitching for Cincinnati.
Boras needs to be banned from representing baseball players. That would solve a lot of the financial craziness I think.
If the Cardinals wanted to wast $41 million dollars they could have done plenty of other things. For example:
1. They could have purchased 41 million lottery tickets.
2. They could have gotten a few million kegs to keep that buzz going for the rest of their lives so they don't lament over wasting 4 years and $41 million dollars on Kyle Lohse.
3. They could have built another new stadium. Well. Like a third of one.
Dumbasses.
I remember liking Lohse as a pitcher.. for about a month.. And that was only because he hails from Chico, which is also the home of Sierra Nevada beer.
Ouch.. I never thought Kyle would get $41 million during the course of his baseball career, let alone over a four year period. Wow.
I gotta say, I don't get the hate on Lohse. Sure I'm a crazy Kool-aid drinking Cards fan, but isn't it at least feasible that he has found a place that he can succeed? It's not like he has bad stuff. I think the combination of the "Cardinal way" and the expertise of Dave Duncan and Marty Mason have proved to be a winning formula that Lohse can easily buy into.
With the crazy market for 3-4 starters these days, I say good move Mozeliak, and I'm happy to have Lohse as a mainstay in the rotation.
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