VERO BEACH, Fla. — It is not as if the Dodgers are paying Darren Dreifort $252 million, which is what the Texas Rangers are paying Alex Rodriguez. Still, the five-year, $55-million contract they gave Dreifort seemed to cause almost as much industry consternation.
Dreifort had elbow reconstruction five years ago and requires constant physical monitoring at 28. He has a 39-45 record in six major league seasons, and is 33-34 in three years as a starter.
Even now, with Dreifort coming off an impressive 8-2 record over the second half of last season, a potential breakthrough in his evolution from relief pitcher to starter, new pitching coach Jim Colborn expresses caution. Colborn cited the lingering physical concerns and said he simply didn't know if the $11-million-a-year Dreifort can be a 20-game winner.
"I'd like to see Darren be a high-percentage pitcher who wins 15 or 16 games a year," Colborn said. "With the kind of consistency we've seen this spring, I think he can do that. I just don't know how often he can pitch long innings, which may be why he'll have trouble winning 20.
"Prudence requires monitoring [his elbow and physical status]. As long as we have a strong bullpen, if it's a borderline decision between taking him out and leaving him in, I think we would opt to take him out. I don't see him completing a lot of games."
With the average major league salary at $1.9 million, it has become difficult to equate salary to performance, salary to statistics. The market is what it is. For Dreifort, in his first winter as a free agent, it is believed the other serious suitor was the Colorado Rockies, who had already invested almost $180 million in Mike Hampton and Denny Neagle. By getting $55 million for Dreifort, agent Scott Boras, who negotiated the Rodriguez contract and is often accused of inflating the market by telling clubs he has competing offers that he doesn't, received industry credit for another coup.
"Scott never said he had this offer or that offer," Dodger chairman Bob Daly said. "He only said this is where the market is. We definitely paid a high price for Darren, but we're buying into the future. He has unbelievable desire and potential, and we're trying to build a dominant pitching staff, like Atlanta has had and the Dodgers had in the past. If Scott had come in at $70 million or $80 million, we'd have had to pass."
