Ed Wade's inexplicable affinity for relievers, and his seeming inability to value them properly, strikes again in the form of a 3 year/$15 million contract, as he gives Brandon Lyon an outrageous deal that seems even more outrageous when you consider how much we hear about the financial constraints under which the Astros operate.
Lyon is a capable middle reliever who throws a ton of strikes but has never been able to miss many bats, leaving him subject to the same vagaries of luck and defense that affect all pitchers who give up a lot of balls in play. A new cutter in 2009 helped him improve his groundball rate, but not so much that it made him a new pitcher. His biggest selling point seemed to be that he could come at a small discount to teams that were willing to shy away from his inability to strike hitters out. Any shot at getting Lyon at a value price ended when the Astros' bull GM came staggering into the reliever china shop.
When your payroll doesn't offer much flexibility and you have major offensive issues to address, getting a nice seventh-inning guy for too many years and too much money isn't just a bad idea, it's hobbling. The Astros will, by the end of the offseason, have made themselves worse for their twin mistakes of valuing relievers improperly and allocating their resources to the wrong problems.
