The Indians bagged themselves four more years of Pronk.
And for less money than most people thought, too. Think his .262/14/57 (as compared to .322/25/74 at the break last season) has anything to do with it? Now, I think two things will happen, one of them good, one of them not so good.
1) Hafner will settle in, no longer worrying about all of this contract pressure crap, and will go on the kind of second half tear we're used to seeing (hopefully without getting hit by a pitch to put him on the DL for a month, unlike the last two years--tangent alert!--for a good time, ask Larz about the 2005 plunking from Mark Buehrle and get out of the way... it's a fun exercise). If he starts hitting like he normally would, the rest of the league should watch out.
Grade: Thumbs Up
And...
2) The Tribe FO will let C.C. Sabathia walk after next season. Come on; the notoriously tight-assed Larry Dolan just committed $90 million to Jake Westbrook and to Pronk. I think deep down, the Tribe Brass know that Sabathia has pitched himself so far out of their mid-market price-range (I'm thinking he's probably going to get Barry Zito/Johan Santana-type money, to compare some young/comparable lefties) that they're going to lock everyone else up (which they've done quite nicely, BTW) and hope and pray that they win a World Series in 2007 or 2008 while they have him. They'll pull a Thome move and offer him something that they know he won't take, and say, "See? We tried."
Grade: Meh/Thumbs Down
I know in my heart they probably can't keep Sabathia, unless Dick Jacobs comes back and starts paying to keep players like he did in the mid- to late-90's. Dolan has always said he'd "spend when the time was right," but given the fact that the fans have not yet come back like they should be doing (the team has 52 wins at the all star break, people!!) he may be hesitant to plunk down $130 million to keep C.C..
But, hey... it's a start. And, if the Tribe somehow were to put it together and win it this year or next, it would certainly soften the blow of losing the Big Lefty.
It's just nice to have Pronk around for a few more years.
2 comments:
I agree with you on this one. Its a shame that C.C. is as good as gone, but I won't blame him when he accepts $130 mill from the Angels or whoever.
If anything, one silver lining on the signing of Pronk means that they have signed 2 of the 3 prospective free agents on the roster this year. I remember many people wondering if we were even going to sign any at one point. I think that mentality has many fans weary of spending money at the gate (I'm not one of them, I still go b/c I'm too much of a fan). Though I'm not too comfortable with the Westbrook deal, time will tell on that one. I just see him as an "innings eater" type of pitcher.
That said, I will be disgusted if we don't make a true effort to sign Sabathia. What we lacked in the 90's was a true ace in the playoffs and now we have one.
I wonder what the reaction would have been to the headline 'finds a Pronk' 5 years ago.
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