TUCSON — Somewhere between slaying dragons, skipping off mounds and cracking his sly grin, Josh Fogg became Ringo Starr as a free agent.
He figured to be an important piece to any band, but he was not Paul or John. Watching the market develop this winter, it became clear that baseball executives believe they are better off finding a replacement for the drummer with the kid in the garage band.
Fogg was the latest victim of the trend, perfectly fitting the profile of the underappreciated.
Free-agent pitchers depend on timing and velocity. Fogg had neither. So rather than land the standard three- year, $21 million contract — the going rate for back of the rotation starters in recent years — he reluctantly settled for a one-year, $1.5 million deal with the Cincinnati Reds.
“It’s just part of the game,” Fogg said of his unexpected $2 million pay cut. “I was tired of sitting home.”
Given his sense of humor, Fogg will deal with his snake-eyes roll of the dice better than most. It still begs the question: Why did his value collapse? He’s a career .500 pitcher coming off a 10-win season for a World Series team. He beat Mike Mussina, Curt Schilling and Brandon Webb, prompting outfielder Brad Hawpe to say the other day, “He was one of my favorite pitchers to play behind.”
The Rockies were prepared to make Fogg a one-year offer for $4 million or $5 million in early November and December. With the traffic clogged by the Johan Santana and Erik Bedard sweepstakes, Fogg preferred to wait.
If Fogg made any mistake, it was not reminding the Rockies weekly that he was still interested. Instead, Colorado moved on, investing the $4.5 million earmarked for Fogg in Kip Wells, Mark Redman and Josh Towers.
Fogg’s problem is not who he is, but who he’s not. A scout seeing Fogg for the first time will leave unimpressed with the right-hander’s 87 mph fastball and sneaky cutter. He looks imminently hittable.
Fogg is appreciated over the course of the season. He competes and inspires teammates. In many ways, he’s baseball’s version of the NFL fullback. Everybody wants one, but they don’t want to pay much for him.
As a National League general manager told me last week, “I like Fogg, but I like him at $750,000 to $1 million.”
If anyone can relate, it’s Redman. In 2006, Redman won 11 games with the Royals and made the all-star team. He couldn’t find work until Mike Hampton got hurt in Atlanta last March. Redman absorbed a $3.8 million pay cut.
“You think you can test the system, and like I am sure with Josh, you get feelers early in the process. When you say you are not ready to do something, it creates avoidance from some teams,” Redman said.
In Redman’s case last winter, he had all but secured a $5 million deal from the Mariners, only to see it collapse at the last minute as they signed Jeff Weaver.
With Fogg and Redman, the drumbeat just keeps getting louder against the soft thrower. He’s more in danger than ever of not having a chair when the music stops.
“It’s frustrating,” Redman said. “You average 185 innings, get 10 wins and you can’t find a team, yet they are willing to go for the guy coming off surgery, looking for that miracle ace that throws hard. Is that guy really more effective?”
Not usually, but he is better paid.
Footnotes.
Thinking ahead: Wouldn’t it be nice if Clint Hurdle chose the Dodgers’ Joe Torre for his NL all-star staff at Yankee Stadium? . . . Matt Holliday, amused by the trash talking between the Mets and Phillies, joked, “I think we should be the favorite in the NL East.”
