Here are the starting pitchers who signed for more money per year than Marquis last offseason: Miguel Batista, Adam Eaton, Tom Glavine, Kei Igawa (including posting fee), Ted Lilly, Greg Maddux, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Gil Meche, Mike Mussina, Vincente Padilla, Andy Pettitte, Jason Schmidt, Jeff Suppan, Jeff Weaver, Randy Wolf, Barry Zito Here are the players who were paid comparable to Marquis (6 to 7.5 million per year): Orlando Hernandez, Mark Mulder, Woody Williams So there were 19 pitchers just last offseason who were paid as much or more than Marquis. Of those 19, how many have been better than Marquis this season? 4, maybe 5. By the way, if you look at the pitchers who were in the next pay level down from Marquis, you get pitchers like Kip Wells (4 million), Joel Pineiro (4 million), Tony Armas (3.5 million), Steve Trachsel (3.1 million), and David Wells (3 million). Do you want any of those pitchers? In this pitching market, if you pay a pitcher 7 million a year, you're expecting a below average to average pitcher. Anybody who has shown to be a little above average like Lilly, Padilla, etc. got larger deals. Marquis signed that contract to be an average pitcher, and he's been above average this year. I don't see how anyone can say he was overpaid for this year. In fact, if teams thought they could get a 4 ERA out of him, they would have paid him 10-13 million like they paid other pitchers with histories of giving over a 4 ERA (Suppan is a great example of this). Now, I have no idea what will happen to him in year 2 or year 3. Almost 1 year in though, he's anything but overpaid relative to the market. I want Steve Traschel :lol: