Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Jeff Luhnow laughs at your "$11m closer!" argument

Anthony Castrovince has an article on Brett Myers, in which Jeff Luhnow addresses the concerns about paying a closer $11m for a team that lost 106 games last year.

Luhnow:
"It's funny, because there's a very basic concept that you learn in business school, which is forget sunk costs (I think he's reading you, Trostel). From where I'm standing, it doesn't matter what we're paying Myers this year, because that contract is signed, and we owe him that. So it makes no sense to justify where that asset is based off the market value of that position externally. If he can help us more in the bullpen, then he can help us more in the bullpen. And then it opens up the opportunity to evaluate somebody else that's ready that maybe you wouldn't have a chance to.

(and as though he read this piece):
"I thought it was funny how all of a sudden people were talking about how expensive our bullpen is. It's not like we went out and signed an $11 million closer. It's just that he's here, and that's where he goes."