K-Rod 3 Years $37MM vs. Ollie 3 Years $36MM

Lost in the excitement of the Oliver Perez signing, is a very underreported yet very interesting fact.

Most of us agree that the Mets overpaid to get the Oliver Perez deal done. It was a move I certainly won’t argue with.

But, now that the dust has settled, it’s become apparent to me that we just gave Oliver Perez the same exact deal we gave to one of the top closers in baseball, Frankie Rodriguez.

K-Rod signed a three-year deal worth $37 million dollars. Ollie signed a similar deal for just a million dollars less.

K-Rod led the league in saves, and set the all time single season saves record.

Oliver Perez led the league in walks.

Maybe I’m just nit-picking a little bit here, but how exactly did this happen?

I can’t help thinking that somewhere in Venezuela right now, Francisco Rodriguez is scratching his head and wondering how he parlayed his record breaking season into a free agent contract that is on par with someone who was ranked number 68 among the top 100 starting pitchers in baseball.