Brandon Lyon Signs Three-Year Deal with Astros: Houston, We Have a Major Problem

I am going to call Barry Meister this morning and ask him to represent me at my next salary negotiation at work.

Meister is the agent for Brandon Lyon and right now is the smartest guy in the room.

For those of you who are not aware, Lyon signed a three-year, $15 million contract with the Houston Astros last night.

This is a great day for Lyon and a sad, sad day for Astros fans.

How quickly do you think Meister and Lyon signed this contract? Five seconds? Two seconds?

This is the single worst deal of the offseason so far. What are the Astros thinking? To give Lyon three years to be their closer, when this guy can’t close, is absurd.

Here is what I wrote in my free agent primer:

“Biggest Free Agent Relief Pitcher Bust: Brandon Lyon. If a team signs Lyon as an eighth inning, setup guy, I have no problem with that. But if a teams signs him to be their closer, all bets are off.”

And here is what I wrote about Lyon when the Detroit Tigers signed him to a contract last offseason:

“Bottom line: Brandon Lyon can’t close. There are certain pitchers who are made for the eighth inning, and there are certain pitchers made for the ninth inning. Lyon falls into the category of eighth inning pitchers. The proof is in the pudding.

“All you need to do is look at Lyon in '05 and '08 when he was a closer...

Year IP H K SV ERA BAA

'05: 29.1 44 17 14 6.44 .341

'08: 59.1 75 44 26 4.70 .301

...and when he was a setup man in '06 and '07:

Year IP H K HLD ERA BAA

'06: 69.1 68 46 23 3.89 .258

'07: 74 70 40 35 2.68 .251

“Eric Karabell set the bar at over 30 saves for Lyon. I will take the under on that bet. Even if Lyon does win the closer job, the chances of him keeping it for the entire year are slim. If Lyon couldn’t close out games in the NL, what makes anyone think he can close in the AL?”

All bets are off now with Lyon and the Astros in 2010. He was signed to be their closer. Good luck with that.

I fully expect this to be a disaster and Lyon to lose his job midway through the season to the newly acquired Matt Lindstrom.

Lyon is just another bloated contract on a team full of them. This is a bad signing by the Astros.

 

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