Great Value Brand
I love the way companies label their generic items. "Sam's Cola" is Coke, "Mountain Lightning" is Dew, and "Magic Treasures" are Lucky Charms. The thing is most of the time you have no idea what is the name brand and what is the generic. It's like those viral TikToks of people doing taste tests on different sodas and pops, trying to see if you can tell the difference between Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Dr Pepper and their respective diet alternatives. You can be so sure that you have the order down and then the card comes up and you couldn't have been more wrong. As a husband, father of two, and proud puppy parent trying to deal with the rising costs of groceries, ((Yes, the market has turned a bit but prices are still remarkably high.)) we do as much generic shopping as possible and often find that the taste is better with the Pooritos from Aldi over the name brand orange chippies. ((Doritos, if you didn't know what my 3-year-old calls them.)) The same can be said about the starting pitcher market in baseball and why I still believe it's highly unlikely Cleveland deals from their stockpile of youthful arms. Hey, I made a cheap joke and it's to Cleveland's benefit! Who knew that could happen?As we creep further into the year, and December's winter meetings are nearly upon us, Twitter ((Not X. Never X.)) is ablaze with faux GMs ranting and raving about the lack of movement from teams, Cleveland fans more than others. Trades and candidates are thrown out without consideration for the infant in the tub, and most have Cleveland dealing at least a starting pitcher. More often than not, it's aging ace Shane Bieber on the chopping block, as he is in his last year of control for the Guardians and they rarely let players walk for nothing. You have the Cuyahoga Pitching Factory LLC churning out arms left and right, with the next bumper crop ready for harvest. Why not address your need for an outfield bat that can hit some dingers? Because one of the most sought-after resources in all of baseball is starting pitching and Cleveland has what free agency doesn't: a cheap product that might be better than the name brand.Let's take a look at some of the signings so far this offseason:
- Sonny Gray - Three years, $75m, $24.95m AAV
- Aaron Nola - Seven-year contract, $172m, $24.57m AAV
- Kyle Gibson - One-year deal, $13m
- Nick Martinez - Two years, $26m, $13m AAV
- Luis Severino - One-year deal worth $13m
Taking out Nola and Gray, no pitcher that has signed so far has accrued more fWAR than Tanner Bibee did in 2023 and there are 11 starting pitchers total, signed and unsigned, that had more than injury-plagued Shane Bieber. For the record, I'm leaving out Shohei Ohtani because 1) he's a unicorn and 2) he won't pitch for anyone in 2024. But the point remains: Cleveland has what other teams want, and it's good, projectable pitching talent that comes cheaply. Luis Severino hasn't pitched more than 102 innings in a season since 2018. Gibson had his 4th highest WAR season in 2023, but he is 35. Martinez is on the hook for $1m more than Bieber's estimated arbitration total in 2024, and you could fit the entire rotation's salaries in his other player-option year in 2025, with room to spare an Emmanuel Clase contract.The point, as I circle to an ending here, is this: Cleveland should probably address their offense by trading a pitcher. Be it Bieber or TOAO Logan T Allen or a prospect that has flashed enough to make someone think he's legit like Joey Cantillo, that doesn't matter to me. But don't get yourself tangled up in mob mentality players that have issues ((St. Louis outfielders not named Lars Nootbaar or Jordan Walker.)) or someone not worth the Great Value of the arms Cleveland might be dangling. It's okay to be cheap in some places.