Elbow aside

Last week the Seattle Mariners' front office announced that they'd agreed to make Felix Hernandez the highest paid pitcher in Major League Baseball history, by extending his already hefty contract to seven years with a cumulative payout of $175 million dollars.

Astute baseball fans remembered however that, though the former Cy Young Award winner had pitched very well for most of the 2012 season (including a perfect game in August), his performance deteriorated markedly thereafter.  He won none of his last six starts and his ERA ballooned to over 3 runs per game.  Wouldn't it have made a little more sense to let him pitch for, say, two months into the '13 season--i.e. test drive your intended purchase?

Turns out, yeah, good idea;

Mariners ace Felix Hernandez is expected to start spring training as usual this week despite reports Sunday that an elbow issue had delayed his finalizing a contract extension.

The issue was said to have surfaced last week when Hernandez reportedly took a physical ahead of the extension being signed off on. Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik declined to comment when asked Sunday about Hernandez possibly having failed his physical, but said the pitcher will be at the team's Peoria, Ariz., training facility on Tuesday as scheduled.

"Oh yeah, he'll be there," Zduriencik said.

Who wouldn't 'be there' at these numbers.  But, will he pitch when you call him?