Jeff Weaver Goes West

The Mariners are about to sign Jeff Weaver for 1 year, $8.3 million. For Seattle, the deal makes superficial sense – the gopher-prone Weaver should be the type to prosper in spacious SafeCo, and the situation doesn’t have the media pressure of NY or a team with high expectations.
Then again, $8.3 mil isn’t chicken feed, and almost all of Weaver’s numbers (K/9, G/F, HR/9, IP) were off his career averages, and that’s for a guy with a 4.58 career ERA. He’s not a terrible gamble to pitch OK this year, but he could well be headed further down. I’m glad he’s not on my team.
I mean, the more I think about it: Jeff Weaver is nothing like a guarantee of any degree of quality. The man had a 5.76 ERA this season, at age 29 while apparently perfectly healthy. It must be awfully insulting to be a starting pitcher making less than $8 million a year these days.

7 thoughts on “Jeff Weaver Goes West”

  1. “The man had a 5.76 ERA this season, at age 29 while apparently perfectly healthy”….and was so bad that the pitching starved Angels (missing reigning Cy Young winner Bartolo Colon and constantly injured Kelvim Escobar) waived him.

  2. It must be awfully insulting to be a starting pitcher making less than $8 million a year these days.
    Its just crazy is all.
    Heck I just about gagged on Oswalt’s contract this year at $75 mil for 5 years. Now it looks like bargain basement stuff. Sheesh man at least he can pitch.

  3. No doubt this mild post-season success (2-2 w/ 2.92 ERA against the surprisingly offensively challenged Mets and the definitely offensively challenged AND free-swinging Tigers) played into this contract. He was brutal in the AL last year at 3-10 with and ERA above 6 and only mildly better in the NL. At least they only went in for a year.
    It surprises me when teams won’t pay someone they already have, in the Mariners’ case Joel Piniero, less money (he signed for $4 million) when the appearance from the outside is that Piniero probably still has some upside and his problems, by many accounts, have been due to injury. Weaver does not seem to have tons of upside, if any at all. Maybe familiarity does breed contempt. I liked the Sox signing of Piniero but I would have cringed if they had signed Weaver even if it had been for the Piniero money.

  4. I agree, Davidoff, writing in Newsday does not. He thinks that the Mets should have signed him. Where have you gone Jon Heyman?? Davidoff did the paper a great diservice with an illogical rant about Barry Zito. He felt the Mets should have matched or bested the Giants offer. Then Wally Matthews raged about Willie’s contract situation. Apparently zero research was done, as there was a deal in hand before the paper went to press. Newsday needs some new writers, Davidoff belongs on the JV, Wally’s always been a hack. He should return to covering boxing, seems to be the one he knows.

  5. Last week Dayn Perry at Fox Sports posted an article rating all the GMs in baseball. Guess who came in last? Yeah, the guy who just “landed” Weaver.

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