B.J. Ryan to Blue Jays

[Jehrico]

If 30-something mediocrities like Eyre and Howry get huge contracts how can that possibly not drive up the prices of everyone else too?

 

It's easy if one takes logic and the realities of the baseball business out of the equation.

 

I hope someday I can be as smart as you think you are.

 

Let me try this on you:

 

I grow tomatos. I've been growing them for five years. Three of those years my crop was not tasty but the last two of them my tomatos were sweet and juciy. My neighbor has been growing tomatoes for five years as well. Every year his tomatos are plump, sweet, and juicy. My neighbor and I go to the market. We meet wholesalers who knows our growing histories. One says to me I'll give you $1.50 per pound. Another says I'll give you $1.51 per pound. A thrid says I'll give you $1.49 per pound. A fourth says I'll give you $3.00 per pound. I don't need to ask a fifth. Now my neighbor has been watching me. Where do you think he will start the bidding?

 

Look, I'm happy Hendry is upgrading the pen but to suggest that these signings didn't impact what Ryan got is to completely ignore the business side of baseball.

 

That's a bad analogy. Hendry is out of the market, so the market is set by what the remaining 29 GMs would be willing to pay. Going back to your tomato example, if the guy who paid $3 per has bought enough to satisfy his demand, the other three vendors are laughing at him, and are going to be bidding against themselves for the other guy's crop. Maybe they go up to $1.60 a pound, none of them go up to $3 per because they know the others aren't nuts like the first guy. If Hendry were still in the market for a third reliever, it'd be different, because the other GMs would have to outbid Hendry to get the third target.