2006 and 2007, yes. I think a team would do it today. Just my opinion. But I think if Verlander wanted to do that next year (if he was a FA), he’d still get paid. He’s not quite dominant anymore, so maybe he fetches $20-25m or something
Roger Clemens used to sign for $40m/yr in today’s money to pitch from August on. Teams are paying a tax for playoffs with hopes of playoff production. Of course every year he may not be good come October, but he’s a huge HR threat any given game. That threat also makes his .OBP more predictable than Cavan Biggio-types, as he’ll likely see walks even greater than the season rate from pitchers not trying to make a mistake. On the other spectrum is Jay’s hitters.
The Chiefs are kind of notorious for sleeping through parts of the regular season, but then put it together by the time playoffs come around. Kind of like the NE dynasty. You just assume they’ll win when it matters
The Rangers got exposed last night, getting to back end of the rotation for the first time I believe.
They could button that up next year signing Bauer. Maybe the loser of this series signs Bauer. Texas is a good location for him.
When you talk about not extending a player like that, you’re crossing lanes from “meddling”, to something that of course the owner is going to have a huge say in.
My brother was a Sox fan, and I remember he was in favor of trading Betts. The Jays may face a similar situation. It doesn’t mean it’s a white flag for a rebuild, sometimes it’s debatable what’s best. Keeping Betts seems to have been the move there though