But unfortunately, he is not A. Gonzalez.
He is Mike Gonzalez, lefty reliever out of Atlanta, recent recipient of Tommy John surgery and now a 2 year, $12 million deal from the Orioles. The contract has incentives in it that could bring his total paycheck for the deal up to $16 million.
The first thought I had regarding this was, "That's not how you spell Kiko Calero." And I'm right, because "Mike Gonzalez" is spelled with two Z's and a second round pick. He's a Type A free agent -- deservedly so, for once -- and that means that the Atlanta Braves are now the proud owner of the third pick of the second round in next June's amateur draft. That's concerning.
Gonzalez is a good pitcher (3.52 xFIP, 10.62 K/9 for his career) with a ridiculous slider and a hilarious wind-up, which makes this a better massive overpayment than some of the others the Orioles have embarked on in the last couple years, but Calero, Pena, and Capps all would have been as good pickups, if not as good on the field, just because they would have come with a smaller price tag and no loss of draft picks. Perhaps MacPhail was worried the Orioles didn't have enough lefties in the pen, or that they needed to have an Elite Closer to compete in the AL East, or some other combination of dumb things, but regardless, Baltimore is a club that's about two years away from having the luxury of overpaying for a closer of all things.
The contract is not so bad, however, that it can't be flipped, especially to a big market team, and doubly so if the Orioles eat a little money and Gonzalez is pitching well. If MacPhail replicates the Sherrill trade from last year -- and while Sherrill is Hall of Fame caliber against lefty hitting, Gonzalez is the more complete package -- and gets a power bat, then he can set the Orioles up to be good for awhile.
For now, though, it's just a bit confusing. $15 million dollars added to the payroll, in the form of a mediocre starter and lefty closer. Is that really what the Orioles needed this offseason?
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Given that the theme for the year is ripen young starters, a closer is a low priority. Youthful confidence is damaged when the next guy lets his inherited runners score. If the 'closer' blows the 9th, the starters' numbers still look the same, just no win to show for it. For the 2010 O's, the 7th is the new 9th. They need a bunch of sharps to take care of the fragile ones' runners. But on the upside, MG is a good pitcher, one whose OPSvs trend projects to 650, easily putting him into the top 40 to 45 relievers in a typical year.
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