Feldman signs with Cubs - 1 yr $6 million

[torts]

Cubs To Sign Scott Feldman

By Ben Nicholson-Smith [November 27 at 9:41am CST]

The Cubs announced that they agreed to sign right-hander Scott Feldman to a one-year contract. Feldman, a client of agent Matt Brown, obtains a base salary of $6MM with $1MM in incentives, Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune reports (on Twitter).

 

Feldman appeared in 29 games for the Rangers this past season, making 21 starts and pitching as a reliever eight times. He finished the season with a 5.09 ERA, 7.0 K/9, 2.3 BB/9 and a 42.2% ground ball rate in 123 2/3 innings. Dave Cameron of FanGraphs identified Feldman as one of the best buys available for teams seeking value at the back of their rotations, explaining that Feldman resembles Brandon McCarthy in many ways.

 

The Rangers declined their 2013 option for Feldman last month, choosing a $600K buyout over a $9.25MM salary. He did not rank among MLBTR's top 50 free agents.

 

ESPN.com's Buster Olney first reported the sides were nearing a deal.

 

Read more at http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/#RG4mF5DoCxKP4CTz.99

[JohnBriggs12]

The Cubs now have a major league rotation of Garza, Samardzija, Baker, Wood, and Feldman. I don't see them suddenly contending with that group but it's not all that bad and they can at least make things harder on the contenders. They also have guys they can flip in July. I wouldn't have minded if the Brewers brought in Feldman though the fact that even he commands $6 million says a lot.

[torts]

Guthrie just got 3 yrs $25 mil, avg of $8.333 mil a yr... so if were looking at between $6-9 mil a year for a mid/backend rotation guy... yikes.

[Bnowell4evr]

Very underrated pickup by the Cubs. I wouldn't be shocked if he put up a sub 4.00 ERA like Paul Maholm did a year ago. I can't stand the Cubs having a smart GM. It's bad news for Milwaukee going forward.

[Patrick425]

Very underrated pickup by the Cubs. I wouldn't be shocked if he put up a sub 4.00 ERA like Paul Maholm did a year ago. I can't stand the Cubs having a smart GM. It's bad news for Milwaukee going forward.

 

Ok? Is there some sort of Sabermetrics equation here that makes you see a sub 4.00 ERA coming from this guy?

 

Let's see, he was drafted in the 30th round 10 years ago. He was 6-11 with a 5+ ERA on a very good Texas team. His last win came on August 4th. Career record of 39-44 with a 4.81 ERA and 1.4178 Whip. This signing makes the Cubs GM look smart?!? I'm not seeing it.

[Bnowell4evr]

Very underrated pickup by the Cubs. I wouldn't be shocked if he put up a sub 4.00 ERA like Paul Maholm did a year ago. I can't stand the Cubs having a smart GM. It's bad news for Milwaukee going forward.

 

Ok? Is there some sort of Sabermetrics equation here that makes you see a sub 4.00 ERA coming from this guy?

 

Let's see, he was drafted in the 30th round 10 years ago. He was 6-11 with a 5+ ERA on a very good Texas team. His last win came on August 4th. Career record of 39-44 with a 4.81 ERA and 1.4178 Whip. This signing makes the Cubs GM look smart?!? I'm not seeing it.

 

Theres no sabermetrics equation involved. The way Feldman pitched a year ago suggested he should have had an ERA in the 3.8's instead of the low 5's. Its highly doubtful he continues to have a 61% strand rate going forward so his ERA should come back down alot closer to what his peripherals suggest. Greinke had a similar problem in 2011 and last year the luck evened out and his ERA was much more reflective of how he really pitched.

 

Lohse - 3.51 FIP 3.96 xFIP

Sanchez - 3.53 FIP 3.60 xFIP

Dempster - 3.69 FIP 3.77 xFIP

McCarthy - 3.76 FIP 4.23 xFIP

Feldman - 3.81 FIP 3.87 xFIP

Jackson - 3.85 FIP 3.79 xFIP

Kuroda - 3.86 FIP 3.67 xFIP

Saunders - 4.08 FIP 4.25 xFIP

Marcum - 4.10 FIP 4.21 xFIP

Haren - 4.24 FIP 4.00 xFIP

Liriano - 4.34 FIP 4.14 xFIP

Guthrie - 5.10 FIP 4.75 xFIP

[Patrick425]

Theres no sabermetrics equation involved. The way Feldman pitched a year ago suggested he should have had an ERA in the 3.8's instead of the low 5's. Its highly doubtful he continues to have a 61% strand rate going forward so his ERA should come back down alot closer to what his peripherals suggest. Greinke had a similar problem in 2011 and last year the luck evened out and his ERA was much more reflective of how he really pitched.

 

Lohse - 3.51 FIP 3.96 xFIP

Sanchez - 3.53 FIP 3.60 xFIP

Dempster - 3.69 FIP 3.77 xFIP

McCarthy - 3.76 FIP 4.23 xFIP

Feldman - 3.81 FIP 3.87 xFIP

Jackson - 3.85 FIP 3.79 xFIP

Kuroda - 3.86 FIP 3.67 xFIP

Saunders - 4.08 FIP 4.25 xFIP

Marcum - 4.10 FIP 4.21 xFIP

Haren - 4.24 FIP 4.00 xFIP

Liriano - 4.34 FIP 4.14 xFIP

Guthrie - 5.10 FIP 4.75 xFIP

 

Ok, maybe I don't understand what Saber-metrics are, but that sure seems like a lot of Saber-metrics.

 

Anyways, even if you look at FIP, his career FIP is 4.57. Again, I'm not seeing how this guy is going to go sub 4.00 next year.

 

At the risk of turning this into a whole saber-metrics debate, I've never really understood FIP anyways. My understanding is that it is used because some people don't like the subjectivity of errors and how they are used to determine earned runs. While I guess I can somewhat understand this argument, I'm not sure I get the logic of completely taking all "non-HR" hits out of the equation. Seems like a hard hit gap double is just as much the pitcher's fault as a HR is, but for some reason that is not included in the equation.

 

I will never understand the argument that says "Well this guys Fip suggests that his ERA should have been lower". No, his ERA is what it is. ERA and Fip are two separate equations. Two guys pitch 7 innings. Each give up 3 earned runs. Each pitcher walks and K's the same amount of hitters. However, one pitcher gives up 5 hits including a 3 run HR and the other gives up gives up 8 hits and no HRs. Per Fip, the pitcher that gave up 8 hits is a better pitcher and should have a lower ERA. I don't get it.

[RockCoCougars]

I will preface this by saying I'm not a huge fan of Feldman... but if the Royals set the market with Guthrie, this one looks like a steal.

[KCBrewerfan34]

what are these teams thinking???

[JohnBriggs12]

what are these teams thinking???

 

In the case of the Cubs, it's not hard to see what they are thinking. They basically ended last season with one major league caliber starter (Travis Wood) once Samardzija was shut down. If they had major leage ready prospects, they would have been seen last year. They don't. They needed to fill out a rotation, and aren't close enough to contending to invest in the top FA. They benefitted last year by signing and later flipping Maholm and flipping Dempster. They are looking for the same thing this year. They didn't have to wait until the scraps were left because they have enough money to spend now and get the guys they targeted.

 

The Brewers conversely have a number of high level starting pitching guys to cover the back end of their rotation cheaply. That hasn't been the case in the past. So Feldman wouldn't make sense at that price for the Brewers. If they want to add a guy like that they can wait and see what scraps are left over in the bargain bin in January. The only issue with that is they will have fewer choices.

[Ennder]

Feldman is one of those guys who just gives up too many hard hit balls, he is basically a Dave Bush type. Wrigley is not a good fit for him. If the Padres signed him he could be a solid #3 for them, on the Cubs he is just a guy. Given the market this deal isn't bad at all, he likely will match Guthrie and it is only one year but this isn't going to do all that much for this particular Cubs roster.

 

At the risk of turning this into a whole saber-metrics debate, I've never really understood FIP anyways. My understanding is that it is used because some people don't like the subjectivity of errors and how they are used to determine earned runs. While I guess I can somewhat understand this argument, I'm not sure I get the logic of completely taking all "non-HR" hits out of the equation

 

ERA is a team stat and it is heavily luck influenced. A pitcher can pitch exactly the same two years in a row and see his ERA jump over a full run per 9 on a regular basis. ERA is more or less worthless for evaluating a single season of a pitcher. FIP and xFIP try to neutralize this though they don't do a very good job of it. When you have multiple seasons of data you want to use all 3 stats and also keep in mind the teams defense, division and home park to try to really evaluate a player. FIP and xFIP are a guideline just like ERA is, none of them are all that valuable by themselves.