Ripken Baseball

So the NL Cy Young Award winner is headed to arbitration. That’s a road I would not want to go down if I were the San Francisco Giants.

Tim Lincecum comes to the table asking for $13 million, a number he’s definitely worth, especially considering the amount of success he has had in his first three years. Tell me, how can the Giants straight-face an arbitrator and say that Lincecum is worth just $8 million?

Typically, in the arbitration process, a player’s salary is put up against his peers. Lincecum is a 3-year player, so usually we’d be stacking him up against other guys entering their fourth season to determine a reasonable salary. But how many other 3-year players even compare?

Tim has separated himself from the entire league. He’s led the league in strikeouts the past two seasons, has a career ERA of just 2.90, and owns the last two Cy Young Awards.

That just screams to not have this go to an arbitrator. In the arbitration process, the club will have to try to prove that Lincecum isn’t worth $13 million – and going down that road can breed a lot of ill feelings between the Giants and a young ace that could be the future of that franchise.

If I were the ownership, I would do everything I could to end this process now, before an arbitrator gets into the mix. Why not meet in the middle and offer Tim $10.5 million. That’s reasonable. Or better yet, put this problem to bed for three years and throw Tim a 3-year, $40 million deal.

Then just let Tim go out there and win another Cy Young.

I’ve held onto this for a few days. On Monday, Mark McGwire admitted to using steroids during his career, and I wanted to take some time to fully absorb what I had heard. Not because this news came as a surprise, but because of the specific statements Big Mac made regarding his reasons for using PEDs and his defense of his personal achievements on the field.

First and foremost, I want to clarify that I am not here to bash Mark McGwire. I always respected him on the field. In my interactions with Mark, during short visits at first base, he always seemed like a nice guy.

But I take offense to some of the statements McGwire made on Monday.

First, Big Mac explained that he only used PEDs to speed his recovery time from various injuries during his career. Okay. I’m fine with that thought process, but the problem lies in the fact that he took things that were not administered by team doctors. McGwire took a back alley approach to recovering faster, rather than going through the proper resources and getting help the right way.

Second, I’m offended by the mere fact that McGwire claims PEDs had no effect on his performance during the decade he used them. That just defies my way of thinking.

I’ll agree that no pill or injection is going to help a ballplayer’s hand-eye coordination. But you can’t tell me the size and strength that McGwire gained from PEDs had zero impact on the number of balls he sent sailing out of the yard. If you’re playing clean and you just miss the ball and hit it 390 feet, then you get on the juice and develop enough strength where you’re just missing the ball and launching it 420 feet – then that stuff definitely helped you hit some home runs.

Finally, McGwire said he wished he had never played in the “steroid era,” and that one really bothers me. It just feels like he’s passing the buck, putting the emphasis on the time in which he played rather than on his own decisions.

I played in that same era and I happen to strongly believe that the users of steroids were in the minority. The majority of us played au naturel.

McGwire can’t blame the steroid era because there is no era without him. His home run chase defined the steroid era. He is the poster boy. When people look back and think “steroid era,” they will always think Mark McGwire first.

Think what you want of Scott Boras, but he gets his job done. Better than anyone else in his industry.

He always gets top-dollar for his clients, and in the case of Matt Holliday’s recent signing with the St. Louis Cardinals, Boras has elevated his status to another level.

Not only did Holliday’s contract blow away Jason Bay’s—who you could argue is the better player of the two biggest free agent outfielders of this off-season—but in the end, Holliday finds himself in a much better situation than Bay.

Bay is certainly getting paid, having signed a $66 million, four-year deal with the Mets. While he’s getting close to top-dollar, he’s also now playing for a team that lost 92 games in 2009.

Over in St. Louis, Boras landed Holliday a seven-year deal for $120 million with the Cards, a team that typically doesn’t delve deep into its pockets for free agents.

In the end, both Bay and Holliday will be making comparable money on a yearly basis: Bay at about $16.5 million per year, Holliday at about $17 million per year.

Boras’ super agent ability is what makes the real difference though. Bay will be playing for a struggling franchise trying to rebound from a dismal season, while Holliday finds himself returning to a team that just came off a playoff run and has a very good chance to return to the playoffs in 2010. Not to mention the fact that Holliday finds himself in the same lineup as Albert Pujols, and the reality that St. Louis is a much more relaxed playing atmosphere than New York.

Who has the better chance of bringing home a World Series Championship during the life of their new contract? That’s a no-brainer.

Looking beyond fiscal numbers, there’s no doubt Boras got Holliday the best deal possible.

We all know Boras always seeks top-dollar for his clients, regardless of where that money comes from. But with the Holliday deal, Boras has achieved perfection. He placed his client in the best possible atmosphere and earned him the biggest paycheck, and that’s never easy when you’re looking for top-dollar in the major leagues.

With the Winter Meetings concluded, a lot of the big-name free agents still remain on the market. Not Randy Wolf though, and I think he deserves a lot of credit for how he handled his free agency.

Randy didn’t let his eyes wander around the league, looking at all the other deals being made or discussed. He knew what he wanted, he found a situation and an offer that fit him well, and he jumped on it. Good for him. There aren’t many guys around anymore who will go into free agency and accept the first fair deal that comes their way. No, they’ll test the waters and wait for some team to hurl up an enormous offer.

Raul Ibanez made a very similar deal last year. The Phillies made him a fair offer coming out of the ’08 Winter Meetings. Ibanez took it and he went out and played quality baseball for a great team.

Take a fair deal and go play your game.

The Wolf deal should serve as a heads up to the remaining free agents, an example they should consider following. Don’t get too greedy, don’t worry about anyone else in the league, and don’t wait around for the absolute perfect deal. That’s not to say the $30 million that Wolf is going to get over the next three years is anything to shake a stick at, but many guys in his position might have turned down the Brewers’ offer in favor of finding an even better deal – something that may never have come along.

It was a two-way street. The Brewers didn’t step beyond their means. Instead, they stayed within themselves and filled their need for a quality left-handed starter, and they accomplished that goal early-on in the off-season.

My advice to the remaining free agents – worry about yourself, ignore all the other deals being made and just look for one that fits you. You don’t need a blockbuster deal to find your place on the diamond.