DFA-ing of Brian Wilson shows Dodgers understand sunk costs
Brian Wilson's days with the Dodgers may be done, and that speaks well of the new front office.
By
Dayn Perry
•
2 min read
To be sure, the Dodgers' decision to designate reliever Brian Wilson for assignment wasn't most headline-grabbing of offseason transactions. However, it makes an important point about the new Dodger front office: they're willing, at least to this extent, to treat bad contracts as sunk costs.
When the Dodgers in December of 2013 signed Wilson to a one-year, $10-million deal with a player option for 2015, it was one of many thoroughly ill-advised contract decisions by then-GM Ned Colletti. After pitching to a lousy ERA+ of 75 last season, Wilson's decision to exercise that player option, which wound up being worth $9.5 million, was obvious in the extreme. Since such contracts in MLB are guaranteed (this is a good thing, as it holds teams accountable for their decisions), the Dodgers are on the hook for that money.
Still and yet, the Dodgers on Tuesday DFA'd Wilson, which means they'll have 10 days to trade, release or waive him. He's probably done as a Dodger, that is. Why was this decision made?
"Every move we make is about putting the best team on the field we can for 2015," GM Farhan Zaidi said (via Eric Stephen, True Blue LA). "At this point, we didn't feel like he was one of the best seven reliever options we had."
And there you have it. The Dodgers cut bait on Wilson because they believe he won't help the team in 2015. That's it. The money is already spent -- or, "sunk" -- and at this juncture it becomes about on-field value, at least for a contending team.
This reflects well on the Dodger front office. Too often, teams will keep a player on the active roster and give him regular duty solely because he's owed a lot money. The ill-considered contract must be justified by having that player in the lineup, rotation or bullpen, the thinking goes. This, of course, makes no sense. You're going to pay him the money anyway, so why harm the team's chances by giving time to a sub-replacement level talent? In effect, said dubious contract becomes all the more damaging when it's allowed to manifest itself on the field and, by extension, in the standings.
Brian Wilson is owed a lot of money for 2015, but he's not likely to be an MLB-worthy contributor in 2015. It's the latter consideration that informed the Dodgers' decision, and that, for the Dodgers' purposes, is a very good thing.
