Yankees - Reportedly Signed Mussina

New York Yankees - Reportedly signed P Mike Mussina to a 2-year, $25 million contract.

Pricey, but again, I think this offseason’s going to be nutty, so I have no idea if this is going to look high in 3 months.  I have a Mussina mancrush and can’t imagine saying anything negative about him even if they signed him for $50 million a year.  My dream for 2008?  Mussina goes 23-4 for the Yankees, wins the Cy, gets that 20-win season that dumbass Hall voters want, and the Yankees go 0-135 in the remaining games.

Nowadays, Mussina is a very good pitcher who’s a little more sensitive than average to outfield defense and has a nagging injury of some type every year.  When the nagging injury happens to be arm-related, he has a weak year, when the nagging injury is less crucial, he can still pop out a good year.  Notice that 2006 wasn’t a fluky ERA over peripherals, his HR and BB rates were down and his K rates, declining in recent years with his various injury woes, shot back up. 

[It’s actually a $22.5 million deal -DS]

2007 ZiPS Projection - Mike Mussina
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            W   L   G  GS   IP    H   ER  HR  BB  SO   ERA
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Projection 13   8  30  30  184  189   80  21  43 148  3.91

2008       12   9  30  30  183  191   80  24  45 141  4.08
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Opt. (15%) 17   6  33  33  208  196   72  17  41 172  3.12   

Pess.(15%) 10   8  25  25  150  164   78  22  40 118  4.68  
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