We all felt that way about the Tigers and Martinez when the season started as he was hitting about .141, now that he's healthy and hitting, he looks great. My point is, it's WAY too early to worry about these things at this point.
It's not too early to denigrate the Nancy Drew contract. He has already been paid $45 million, and he just barely got next year vested at another $14 million by reaching his 500 game total for 2007-2010, and it's not to early to wine about Lackey, who has been paid $22 million out of his guaranteed $80 million and has been less than mediocre for a season and a quarter now.
And let's throw Dice-K into the mix, who actually costs the Red Sox about $16 million this year once you add a prorated "posting fee" to his annual salary. When he went 18-3 in 2008, he became the first pitcher in over a hundred years to end a season with fifteen more wins than losses while giving up an average of over five walks every nine innings. That had to catch up with him and did, just as the fact that no one swings and misses at Papelbon's pitches has to catch up with him and did, as he led the league in blown saves last year. This year, he pitched one of the five games not pitched by Lackey in which the starter gave up eight or more runs.
Btw, isn't A. Gonzolas making more than these guys, he's doing quite fine ?
I got the list from USA Today for opening day roster salaries. I'm not sure when Gonzo's new payrate kicks in, but it doesn't yet show up in the places where I looked for it. If this were "showbiz", I'd say to Gonzo, "break a leg", but...