SAN DIEGO – Starting pitchers throw fewer innings than ever before in baseball history. Yet this offseason they are being paid like never before–often more than everyday players who are superstars.
This is a world in which the Phillies will pay Zack Wheeler, who has had roughly the same career as Mike Foltynewicz and never been an All-Star or received a single Cy Young Award vote, more per year than what the Astros pay Jose Altuve or what the Red Sox pay J.D. Martinez.
It is a world in which the Nationals on Monday made Stephen Strasburg the highest paid pitcher in history at $245 million over seven years, though Strasburg has thrown 200 innings just twice in his career.