1. “He’ll never be awesome, because if he were going to be, he would have shown it by now.”

I don’t believe this at all (even if the kid does make me pull my hair out on occasion).

2. “Felix is already halfway through his six years of team control, and I fear that he’ll reach his true potential with another team.”

This is my concern. I don’t trust this team to do the right thing and buy out a few years of free agency.

Felix is 22. That’s enough for me to fully believe in him. But I just can’t stand the thought of seeing him win his Cy Youngs with another jersey on.

That would be unthinkable in today’s game. If a pitcher were used in such a manner now, much spittle-flecked outrage would ensue, prolly with reason.

I heard Fairly once talking about how many pitchers teams signed in his day, because they knew they’d blow out a bunch of them, and would need another arm to stick out there on the mound …

Which is what you’d expect, really — we don’t think that any player facing free agency would turn down a substantially more lucrative offer because they made $100k more than the team was forced to years back.

I agree with the basic premise, though, which is that you do want to try and lock players up long-term when they’re in their arbitration years or before — when the offer of long-term security carries a substantial value. By the time you’re in the player’s free agent year, you’re going to pay market rates for any extension.

Damn straight. Hank Greenberg too.

The real question in my mind is will he be signable by this train wreck? Can we keep him?

If they pony up the cash, they can keep him. There won’t be a hometown discount, but the M’s should only have to match / slightly beat the next best offer. Whether that’s actually the best use of their money is a question for another time (particularly since we have no idea what the team situation will be then). But the more pressing issue is what they do when it comes time for arbitration. This team has been known to nickel-and-dime that process and piss people off; the smart teams have been locking up their kids by buying out the arbitration years and a couple free agent years as well. The calculus is a little different because Felix is so young, but that still should be an important order of business for the next GM.

He didn’t slow down when he reached the AL, either. He won NINE ERA titles, in the middle of a monster power explosion (and in bandbox ballparks). Wins and ERA might be poor measures in general but their flaws even out over 4,000 innings, and Grove has the best winning percentage of all time (.680) by a wide margin over anyone with as many decisions. ERA+? Try TWO-NINETEEN in his MVP year, 1931: 2.06 in a hitter’s park in a 4.51 league.

Add those four or five Orioles years to his totals and you’ve got some monstrous numbers.

Prove me wrong if you want, but Grove will always be my #1 starter — depending on whether Pete Alexander is drunk or not.