O's have tendered contracts to all eligible

[weams]

Do they have right handed batters in the National League? If so he isn't going to stay in a rotation for long.

They do, but they are not as good. They have to play a position there. Plus you get to pitch to guys who hit just like...Brian Matusz!

[kaerts111]

Is he that good against Cano? He completely owns Hamilton.

Yep, he owns Ortiz, Hamilton, and Cano- and we all wish he owned muscle-head Moustakas too... :slytf:

[Frobby]

He saw how much folks were paying for lefty specialists again.

That's the beginning and the end of the analysis, I think. Why are so many people worked up about a bullpen lefty who had a 3.48 ERA last year? Post ASB he had a 1.42 ERA and 0.895 WHIP. I'm not going to suggest he's anything more than a decent LOOGY, but Matusz has a career 3.26 ERA as a reliever and is tough on lefties. I'm not sure I would have tendered him a contract but I wouldn't say that doing so is "insanity." I'm sure Buck can nurse some value out of him.

[SteveA]

The JJ trade was a thing of beauty. We freed up salary and used it on Cruz

We could have freed up the salary by non tendering JJ!

[webbrick2010]

This guy is living a charmed life.

How do the O's decide to gift him another 3 million dollars??

If he wasn't a former #4 overall pick he would be out of baseball by now.

[Frobby]

This guy is living a charmed life.

How do the O's decide to gift him another 3 million dollars??

If he wasn't a former #4 overall pick he would be out of baseball by now.

I'd say the opposite is true. If he wasn't a former #4 pick people here wouldn't judge him so harshly, but would accept that he is a decent but not great LOOGY who has some use for most major league teams and will probably be employed for many years to come. I think it's questionable whether he is worth the estimated $2.7 mm that MLBTradeRumors estimates he will make, but if that's an overpay, it's not a huge one. He's been worth 1.3 fWAR the last two years which translates to about $3.5 mm a year, and I'd discount it some because he was better in 2013 than in 2014 though his ERA was near-identical both years. When you see guys like Boone Logan getting 3/$16.5 mm, you understand why the O's are OK with Matusz.

[mdbdotcom]

We could have freed up the salary by non tendering JJ!

But we were able to trade him outside the division so he wouldn't become a weapon for an AL East competitor.

[MurphDogg]

This guy is living a charmed life.

How do the O's decide to gift him another 3 million dollars??

If he wasn't a former #4 overall pick he would be out of baseball by now.

He had a 3.48 ERA last season and 3.53 the year before. He has a career 3.26 ERA as a reliever. He is a perfectly serviceable MLB reliever. Why should he be out of baseball?

[backwardsk]

I don't mind that they offered Matusz arbitration, I just don't want him back on the club. His ERA in 2014 doesn't tell the whole story. Often he put guys on base, and got bailed out by the next guy. It's like saying Schoop cut down on his strike outs if they pinch hit for him when he had two strikes all the time. He's a LOOGY. Looking at his game log (quickly), I counted 8 times where he came in, got 1 out, and had a clean inning. I counted 6 times where he came in and couldn't get an out. Not many clean outings last season. Sure he had a game or two where he went 2 innings and did well. But overall, I'd rather have better results--don't really care what hand the guy throws with.

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[Can_of_corn]

This guy is living a charmed life.

How do the O's decide to gift him another 3 million dollars??

If he wasn't a former #4 overall pick he would be out of baseball by now.

Being a #5 pick isn't going to save Hobgood.

Matusz is not the worst left handed specialist in the game.

However I do not want him back at his arb3 price.

[CA-ORIOLE]

Being a #5 pick isn't going to save Hobgood.

Matusz is not the worst left handed specialist in the game.

However I do not want him back at his arb3 price.

Well, a 3.48 ERA as a LOOGY is nothing to brag about. 876 OP against RHB last year.... ouch. I really cant see how DD could sell him off as a starter with numbers like that. Could've probably got a real LOOGY for a mil or so. Maybe they think he is still more salvageable as a reliever to do this. Not a huge deal, but I don't really get it.

[Can_of_corn]

Well, a 3.48 ERA as a LOOGY is nothing to brag about. 876 OP against RHB last year.... ouch. I really cant see how DD could sell him off as a starter with numbers like that. Could've probably got a really LOOGY for a mil or so. Maybe they think he is still more salvageable as a reliever to do this. Not a huge deal, but I don't really get it.

I was just saying that he is a MLB pitcher. Just not one that I would pay 2.5+ million for. Or really pay for at all since I would prefer not to have a LOOGY in the pen.

[DrungoHazewood]

That's the beginning and the end of the analysis, I think. Why are so many people worked up about a bullpen lefty who had a 3.48 ERA last year? Post ASB he had a 1.42 ERA and 0.895 WHIP. I'm not going to suggest he's anything more than a decent LOOGY, but Matusz has a career 3.26 ERA as a reliever and is tough on lefties. I'm not sure I would have tendered him a contract but I wouldn't say that doing so is "insanity." I'm sure Buck can nurse some value out of him.

It's not insanity, but it's burning $2-3M so they don't have to audition a bunch of other cheap LOOGYs in the spring. An average situational lefty makes maybe $1.5M, plenty are at league minimum, and Matusz will be making several times the average while he might not even be average in performance.

[ShaneDawg85]

Just because he was tendered a contract doesn't mean he'll be here come Opening Day. There's still almost 5 whole months to go.

[CA-ORIOLE]

It's not insanity, but it's burning $2-3M so they don't have to audition a bunch of other cheap LOOGYs in the spring. An average situational lefty makes maybe $1.5M, plenty are at league minimum, and Matusz will be making several times the average while he might not even be average in performance.

I tend to agree with this analysis, but my guess is they view/value him as something more than a LOOGY at this point. They certainly exposed him to RHB more than a doctrinal type LOOGY last year.