Pitching Is Expensive
Starting pitcher Kenta Maeda just signed a two-year/$24 million deal with the Detroit Tigers. Since finishing second in American League Cy Young voting to Shane Bieber in 2020, he’s appeared in only forty-two games for the Minnesota Twins.
For comparison’s sake:
If we applied his new two-year contract to his next two years, using his previous two seasons of baseball; his new $24M contract is worth $571,428.57 per start for a 12-13 record, 4.44 ERA, 210.2 innings pitched, & a 1.234 WHIP.
Our newest starting pitcher signing (kind of) is Charlie Morton. He just signed a one year extension worth $20,000,000; which is the exact same length & value of his last extension (that he played under last season). If we applied his contract value for last year and next year to his previous two seasons of on-field production, this is how he stacked up: