During the off season everyone has their opinion about their team’s free agent signing (or lack thereof). With more than half the season complete, now seemed as good a time as any to take a second look at those signings and see which ones paid off and which ones didn’t go quite so well.

The Year of the Pitcher

I counted five pitchers that got contracts topping the $40 million mark. It was definitely a good year to be a pitcher, but was it a good year to sign a free agent pitcher?

• Barry Zito, Giants, $126 million, 7 years. Going into Sunday the NL posted a league ERA of 4.29. The highest paid pitcher of the ‘06-‘07 free agent period has a 6-9 record with a 4.90 ERA and is on pace for his lowest strikeout total since his debut season of 2000 when he only started 14 games. The only thing that makes this signing worse is that the Giants will be strapped with the big Salary for another 6 ½ years…ouch. Credit Mr. Beane, who always seems to know when to let a pitcher walk.
• Gil Meche, Royals, $55 million, 5 years. The Royals were laughed at for giving such a big deal to Gil Meche, a guy who was steady but unspectacular in his 6 years in Seattle. It’s actually turned out pretty well as Meche is on pace for the best season of his career with 88 K’s, 33 BB’s and a 3.54 ERA. His 5-6 record is hardly his fault. Despite his impressive performance I still wonder why the Royals, a team with so many problems to fix, would bank so much on Meche. Perhaps they think they’re only a year or two off from contention, but why not wait until the younger guys show promise before shelling out for an expensive starter.
• Daisuke Matsuzaka, Red Sox, $52 million, 6 years. That doesn’t include the additional $52 million for the rights to negotiate with Dice-K. So far he’s proving to be worth the money. He’s living up to his Dice-K nickname, being among the tops in the AL in strikeouts. He got off to a bit of a slow start, but since mid-June he has been on fire, not allowing more than 1 run in 4 consecutive starts.
• Jason Schmidt, Dodgers, $47 million, 3 years. Schmidt missed nearly 2 months with an injury before returning for just 3 starts and going down with a season-ending shoulder surgery in mid-June. Clearly the ROI on Schmidt in 2007 will not be good.
• Jeff Suppan, Brewers, $42 million, 4 years. Suppan’s numbers aren’t great, but they’re not that far off his career averages either. Still, I cut some slack to teams that are on the verge of competing and looking for the final pieces of the puzzle. It was a tough market for pitching and paying a premium for a guy that at least had some consistent years wasn’t a bad move at all.

 The Asian Invasion

Dice-K led the pack of Japanese exports, but there were some other notable signings, one of which is an All-Star.

• Hideki Okajima, Red Sox, $2.5 million, 2 years. Okajima earned himself an All-Star bid in the 32^nd man fan voting after posting a microscopic 0.83 ERA in the season’s first half. He’s definitely been a good value for the Bo-Sox.
• Kei Igawa, Yankees, $20 million, 5 years. Igawa, on the other hand, has been a $20 million black hole for the Yankees. In eight starts he’s put together a 7.14 ERA and allowed 52 hits and 23 walks in 46 innings.

Total Busts

These players caused a few GMs’ nightmares to come true.

• Julio Lugo, Red Sox, $36 million, 4 years. .197/.270/.298 pretty much sums up how terrible Lugo has been at the plate. He may be above average in the field and he may have 22 stolen bases, but he’s still not doing enough to earn his check. Maybe he's turning the corner though.
• Mike Piazza, Athletics, $8.5 million, 1 year. Injuries have limited Piazza to just 103 at-bats so far. He’s expected back soon, and he could have a second half worthy of his contract, but so far he hasn’t been the DH the A’s hoped for.
• Jeff Weaver, Mariners, $8.3 million, 1 year. Weaver has been on a bit of a tear since returning from the DL in early June, but he still has a long way to go to recover from a horrific April and May. After going to the DL with an abysmal 14.32 ERA, he’s managed to work it down to 6.34, but Bill Bavasi might still be thankful it’s only a 1 year deal.
• Vicente Padilla, Rangers, $8 million, 1 year. 3-8, 6.69 ERA. Placed on DL June 26^th.
• Adam Eaton, Rangers, $24.5 million, 3 years. 7-5, 5.67 ERA.
• Woody Williams, Astros, $12.5 million, 2 years. 4-10, 5.34 ERA.
  
• J.D. Drew, Red Sox, $70 million, 5 years. Batting .258 with 6 HRs does not equal the $14.4 million he’s banking this year.
• Ramon Ortiz, Twins, $3.1 million, 1 year. The Twins didn’t pay Ortiz too terribly much, but $3 million is a lot to pay for who has become an ineffective relief pitcher.

Mutually Beneficial

These players gave their teams exactly what they expected when they were signed.

• Luis Gonzalez, Dodgers, $7.4 million, 1 year. His .860 OPS is right at his career line. He has 10 HRs and 41 RBIs on the season.
• Kenny Lofton, Rangers, $6 million, 1 year. I’m pretty impressed with the 40 year old’s season thus far. His .384 OBP and 20 stolen bases is exactly what the Rangers hoped for.
• Alfonso Soriano, Cubs, $136 million, 8 years. Many may argue that Soriano is an overrated player, but he’s posted close to the numbers the Cubbies expected when they signed him. Unfortunately for the North side, he hasn’t translated to any more wins.
• Carlos Lee, Astros, $40 million, 4 years. .295 average with 16 home runs and 72 RBIs. Just your typical Carlos Lee numbers.
• Aramis Ramirez, Cubs, $75 million, 5 years. .309, 15 HRs, 51 RBIs.
• Gary Matthews Jr., Angels, $50 million, 5 years.  It was pretty clear from the start that Angels fans valued his glove as much, if not more, than his bat.
• Jason Marquis,  Cubs, $21 million, 3 years.

 Bargain-Basement Delights

 These players have served their teams well, despite earning not so much.

• Sammy Sosa, Rangers, $500,000, 1 year. Sosa was coming off a season out of baseball and a horrible 2005 in Baltimore. For not much more than the league minimum he’s belted 14 home runs and driven in 63. His on base and batting average leave much to be desired, but the post-steroids Sosa still has some pop in his bat. At the very least he gave Rangers fans something to be excited about.
• Doug Brocail, Padres, $500,000, 1 year. He’s just coming off a brief stint on the DL, but he’s otherwise been stellar in the Padres bullpen. He’s posted a 3.03 ERA in 35 2/3 innings pitched.
• Dmitri Young, Nationals, $500,000, 1 year. Young has batted .339 and driven in 43 RBIs for the Nationals. That’s a pretty good deal considering the guy was paid $8 million just last year for no production.

It’s impossible to cover every free agent without turning this into a hard-cover, so please do leave a comment if you were particularly offended by an omission.

Contract information was found at ESPN's free agent tracker.