Richard Justice on Brandon Lyon, who enters this season as the Astros' closer:
Was Ed Wade Right About Brandon Lyon?
All heck broke loose when Astros GM Ed Wade gave Brandon Lyon a 3-year, $15-million contract in December 2009. They said Ed got taken to the cleaners. They said Ed would end up looking real bad. Let's just say I'm real glad I was on Ed's side.
I don’t remember all heck breaking loose, if only because it’s real hard to look real bad when you’re committing only $15 million over three years. But as well as Lyon pitched last season -- and he pitched about as well as he can pitch -- was he worth even $5 million?
No, not really. FanGraphs has him at roughly $4 million last season. And Lyon was pretty lucky, giving up only two home runs in 78 innings.
We might expect Lyon to wind up giving the Astros around $10 million in value, for their $15 million. Was three years and $15 million an overpay? Absolutely. But Ed Wade has done far, far sillier things since taking over in Houston.
See More:
