Most of the contracts are fairly easy to grade, and the author doesn’t really go out on a limb for any of his grades. One argument I have with his grading…he grades the Soriano deal as B- and Lee as C. Really, I think both should be C. Soriano is paid more, but I think Lee has been more productive or at least equally productive. Perusing Cubs’ game threads during games with the Astros, I always see Cubs’ fans commenting that they wish their team had signed Lee instead of Soriano. Soriano is slightly younger and he is faster, but his K rate doesn’t make me feel that he will age better than Carlos. And the Astros wouldn’t be stuck with the huge deal for Lee if the Cubs hadn’t agreed to pay Soriano $125 million first.

So far it’s a solid B in my book. He’s exactly what we paid for so far. If he starts declining rapidly…the grade can be revisited, but at this point…what did they expect? It’s not his fault Tejada makes $13mil and the Astros have no flexibility. That trade and the Jennings trade made little sense both at the time and especially now.