The wild is having this life of Carlos Silva

 (I think the guy on the right was fired already, am I wrong?)

I am not going to jump on some bandwagon bashing of Carlos Silvawho was absolutely terrible last night in his return to the Metrodome. I just want to consider everything that has happened to Silva since last September and what it all looked like at the time and how it looks now.

It is easy to mock and ridicule the Mariners signing of Silva, but lets consider a few things. His 2007 stats featured 202 innings and a 4.19 ERA, which is not terrible. Even if it is not good. The fact that the Mariners decided to sign him to such a ridiculous contract (4-years $48 million) was laughed at by Twins fans, but Silva was considered one of the best pitchers in the free agent market. Even if it was a very thin market.

Here are some quotes after Silva signed the four-year $48 million deal.

Silva: “It is wild. Everything is wild. Wild is having this life.”

Wild is having this life?

Silva sounds like Jeremy Piven after the first season of Entourage. I think that is the exact same statement uttered at the last Power-ball press conference. The amazing thing about that quote is it reeks of amazement. When you sign a career deal there is supposed to be a certain sense of entitlement, ‘I have worked hard for this…’ ‘this is the culmination…’ etc. There is none of that from Silva.

Bill Smith (on his offering Silav three-years, $18 million, as oppossed to the deal he signed): “I did have a conversation with his agent. It’s a tremendous thing for Carlos Silva.”

This quote is funny because of what is completely unstated, and that is Smith essentially saying, “Sweet Jesus Christ I can’t believe anyone would pay Carlos Silva $12 million dollars a year.”

After the trade it has become obvious that Silva made the 100 percent right choice in signing with Seattle. He is able to chew out his teammates in the locker room even though Silva himself has been awful. He can carry the guise of being a leader because of his contract, the lack of Erik Bedard, and the youth of King Felix, without actually being any kind of leader, or having any leadership ability. Silva chewing out his teammates for not trying hard enough is like George W. Bush calling out Donald Rumsfeld for mismanagement of the executive branch.

He has been godawful in every respect:

Silva in 2008: 4-14, 140 innings, 6.36 ERA, 59 K’s, 26 BB’s. There are any number of ways to break those statistics down into more amazing statistics but I think they can just sit there, and breathe.

From the Twins side of things there is very little to debate here. Silva was a pitcher in the Livan Hernandez mode. Occasionally he would throw a complete game one-run effort that would make you feel like he was revitalized, but he always reverted back to form. In fact Hernandez contract and season with the Twins should have the effect of making every Twins fan pleased (remember Hernandez recorded nine wins somehow) and every Mariners fan cringe. Pitchers like Silva are a dime a dozen, and certainly not worth $36 million over the next three years.

Still, you have to feel great for Carlos. He is a competitor, and always was. I still remember him chucking that ball into the upper deck after beating the Royals in a complete game. They called him the Big Chief and he believes in that. He believes that he has an important role in a major league clubhouse.

He didn’t earn the money he is making, but someone wanted to pay him $48,000,000 regardless of statistical data or common sense - and, if you’re Carlos Silva, there is nothing wrong with that.