... some people have to make it up.
The frothing-at-the-mouth-anti-Corey-Patterson crowd is all up in arms over this article in today's Tribune, which says:
and
and
Well.
Apart from the one factual thing in those three quotes -- that arbitration is being offered -- I find the rest of it pure speculation. First of all, the arbitration offer, though it does set a floor on Patterson's salary (the maximum cut is 20%), doesn't mean he'll be on the team. All it means is that he's not going to be non-tendered. Frankly, $2.24 million (which would be 80% of the $2.8 million he made in 2005) isn't that much in a market where middle relievers are being paid $3 and $4 million a year. I doubt that this amount of money would stop any team from acquiring him if they really wanted to.
The Derrek Lee comparison is intriguing, but every player is different, of course. Lee never had in his career refused to change his approach when he was failing, and he had less than 800 lifetime AB after that 1999 season, far fewer than the 2000-plus Patterson has now.
One thing this does, of course, is put Patterson's name "out there", perhaps for some teams that hadn't thought of acquiring him in the past. Creative deals can be made, and remember this: if they really can't deal him, and he continues to perform poorly, they can cut him in spring training and only owe him 30 or 45 days' pay, depending on when the release occurs.
Knee-jerk frothing. Very unseemly. P A T I E N C E .