So for me the Matt Thornton Signing and what other options got from NNY competitors sorta defined their off-season in a nutshell for me.
Thornton-FiP of 4.04 and 3.19 last two years. K rates of 7.43 and 6.23 last year. Dude is 37, He's a "name" guy his fastball is still fast but it's no longer effective. NYY gave him 2/7m
Jose Mijares- Fip of 3.05,3.09, K rates between 9/9ip and 10/9ip, ERA about the same as Thornton over the past 2 years despite a .422 babip last year.. Age 29, given a minor league contract with Boston where he can earn 1.5m total if he hits all incentives...
Mijares was not the only other option as good or better then Thornton either. NYY simply paid for a clearly worse player, seemingly because of his name.
Also I can't believe anyone offered more then 7/155+20m fee so 7/175 $25m a year(+luxury tax) for a guy you hope can be the Japanese John Lackey. His FB avg 90.5mph could well cause him to get hammered in MLB, despite his command. While he may be a good pitcher, he is maybe the most over hyped international player by a considerable margin.
Does not the combo of the below scare you?
1. 40 grade Fastball velo while relying on pounding the zone...
2. Declining strike out rates, with only 7.8k/9ip last year
3. Huge IP and pitch counts at a very young age
The hope is his Splitter is so good hes like Uehera, but Uehera is an RP, as are all the guys with 90mph FB, control and killer splits/changes. I can't think of any Dominate SP with that profile. Schilling had way more fastball and historically great command for instance.