The Josh Fogg problem
The Pirates have a Josh Fogg problem.
Don't get me wrong. Fogg is a decent enough pitcher who belongs in the major leagues and is good enough to play a role on a contender.
Over the last 3 years, he's given the Pirates a good chunk of innings. Much has been made of the fact that he is the only Pirate pitcher to have 10 or more wins each of the last 3 seasons.
Unfortunately for the Pirates, he is arbitration elligible this year. Based on what I just told you, and based on the market established by the Benson signing, Fogg is going to get a huge raise. I wouldn't be surprised if he was awarded between $3 - $4 million. The problem is that Fogg is not a $3 million pitcher. He's not a $2 million pitcher.
Josh Fogg is a nice pitcher at $1 million. He's an ok pitcher at $1.5 million. But Josh Fogg is exactly the type of player that the Pirates should not give $3 million to. Why? Because Fogg is a replaceable talent. The Pirates have several cheap in house options that are probably superior to Fogg.
Why do I bring this up? Peter Gammons mentioned Fogg as a possible non-tender. That is NOT going to happen. I've heard Littlefield mention Fogg's name prominently in the teams plans for the rotation next season. In his mind, it's not even a question.
I've said it time and again, teams like the Pirates can not afford to pay a premium for replaceable talent. I hope this isn't how they choose to spend the Kendall savings.
3 Comments:
didn't we just get josh fogg in a trade from the A's...oh wait, that was fogg part 2, M. Redman. no way should we pay to keep him...but we have to think, "is there a better option out there at a lesser value?" Is there, i don't know. but if this is the financial flexibility Littlefield was talking about, I don't want to see what he has in store for catcher or 3B
Fogg is a replaceable commodity. The Pirates should Never, I repeat NEVER pay Fogg as much as 2 million a a year.
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