The Yankees pitching staff has done well for me in fantasy the past two days, what with a combined 15 and 1/3 scoreless innings from Burnett and Sabathia. Conversely, I’m glad that I don’t have K-Rod on either of my fantasy teams. I’m also glad I haven’t watched the past two Mets games, and Bobby Parnell’s first ML start is the only reason I’m tuning in at the moment.

K-Rod is regressing in a spectacular fashion. The first half of the year was not his true performance level, but even I didn’t expect him to have a stretch like this. Everyone was praising Minaya early this year for getting K-Rod at a “bargain” price, but it’s only going to look worse and worse as the contract runs its course, if this disturbing trend line continues:

Fangraphs

K-Rod’s XFIP by year:

2004: 2.63
2005: 2.97
2006: 3.22
2007: 3.53
2008: 3.71
2009: 4.27

XFIP, according to Hardball Times:

Expected Fielding Independent Pitching. This is an experimental stat that adjusts FIP and “normalizes” the home run component. Research has shown that home runs allowed are pretty much a function of flyballs allowed and home park, so xFIP is based on the average number of home runs allowed per outfield fly. Theoretically, this should be a better predicter of a pitcher’s future ERA.

So yeah, K-Rod is only going to get worse, so his signing can be put in the corner with Oliver Perez’s. Oh, and the Angels’ closer this year is tied for the league lead. Saves and closers as a whole are such a joke (except Mariano Rivera).

Getting back to the Mets propping up their bullpen with an overpaid — but absolutely needed — closer, I’m happy with the deal. That may be due to expecting them to pay much more. I’d like to thank the tanking U.S. economy for this. And also maybe baseball execs, for realizing closers are overrated across the board. If the Mets were a smaller market team strapped for cash, this move would probably not even classify as good, but they just gave a bigger, longer contract to Billy Wagner a few years ago. So fuck it, the guy was needed, and they got him. Much like last year with Santana. Now sign Sheets or Lowe, please. And make sure Luis Castillo never sets foot on Citi Field.

Francisco Rodriguez a.k.a. K-Rod broke the single-season record for saves tonight with his 58th save. Too bad the save has been pretty much proven at this point to be a pointless, dumb stat that should stabbed repeatedly and left in the desert to bleed out. But I’m sure K-Rod loves it, as he will ride this feat to a massive contract this offseason. I’m not going to lie and say I wouldn’t love to have him on the Mets, but if it comes at the price of $15 million/year, it’s not worth it. Not even Mariano Rivera is worth that much, and K-Rod is not — and never will be — Mariano Rivera.

So here’s to you, K-Rod. I hope Hank Steinbrenner is dumb enough to throw a metric shitton of cash your way. And I hope the Mets are smart enough to spend the money on two or three good relievers instead of one overrated closer. I did appreciate all the saves you gave my fantasy team this year, though.