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Through age-30 Eli Manning’s statistics pale in comparison. He’s thrown 185 touchdowns, has a QB Rating of 82.1, and yet to win an MVP trophy. The early years of Eli’s career were uneven, but he’s been “Peyton-esque” at times the last three seasons. Unlike Peyton, it took him about five years to find his way into the class of elite quarterbacks in the league. The difference is that “Peyton’s little brother” has played his best on the biggest stage in the biggest city.

Despite the fact that Peyton is statically dominant, there can be a case that Eli’s playoff heroics have surged him ahead in terms of career accomplishments. Peyton has too many awards and records to list, but the big stat is Super Bowls; 2-1 in favor of Eli. Don’t forget the 5 playoff road wins- an NFL record- that has seen Eli win two games in Lambeau Field, one in Dallas, and one in San Francisco. In each of those scenarios the Giants were considered underdogs. Of course, Eli has slayed the ultimate dragon by destroying the Patriots perfect season in 2007 and breaking their hearts again this past January. If not for the younger Manning, the Bill Belichick/Tom Brady duo would be undefeated in Super Bowls; perhaps cementing them as the greatest coach/QB tandem in NFL history.

It’s hard to compare Peyton vs. Eli because their careers don’t completely overlap. They also have gone through different growing pains, learning curves and play in completely different markets. At their best, you probably can’t go wrong. I, however, boil it down to one thing: how they perform when the lights are the brightest.

You want a great quarterback? Give me Peyton. You want a championship quarterback? Give me Eli.

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Capuano had a decent season with the Mets, but typical was good for 5 innings or 80 pitches, whichever came first. I don’t think that performance is worth $5 million dollars a year. Harang is a former top-of-the-rotation arm whose career has been killed by injuries. His number outside of Petco Park (4.70 ERA) were wildly mediocre.

Kuroda would probably command slightly more than Capuano/Harang combined (estimated $12 million), for the same two years. Ned Colletti could then round out his rotation by bringing in a value signing (which Capuano was with the Mets last year) such as Jason Marquis for a low base plus incentives.

If the Dodgers weren’t in bankruptcy, I would have assumed they were on a strict budget that made such a plan prohibitive. However, it’s clear they are allowed to spend as a new owner should be in place by the beginning of the 2012 season.

In my opinion, the Dodgers signed two very good, yet mediocre pitchers, instead of a top of the rotation arm in Kuroda and a low risk/high reward arm like Marquis.

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Although still a very good closer, Papelbon has dropped off a bit since 2009. During the Red Sox September collapse, he posted a very hittable 3.72 ERA and blew the final game of the season. With that said, he is still in the upper echelon of closers, but will he be as effective 2 years from now? 3 years? Do you honestly believe he will be in 4? Remember, he is going to be 31 years old this coming season.

Joe Nathan signed a 4 year/$47 million dollar contract with a $12.5 million dollar team option with Minnesota before the 2008 season. At the time, Nathan was probably was the second best closer in baseball to Rivera. He was extremely effective in 2008 and 2009, but blew out his elbow and missed the entire 2010 season. His 2011 was uneven, as was to be expected the first year back from Tommy John surgery. In short, the Twins had dead money on their payroll for half the deal. Nathan is actually a free agent this winter and probably could be had for 2-years and about $20 million. I can’t see him performing any worse than Jonathan Papelbon. There are other potential fireman on the market such as Frank Francisco, Matt Capps, Francisco Cordero, Heath Bell and their own free agent, Ryan Madson.

I don’t see a considerable difference between a Francisco and a Papelbon at this point in their careers. As Chris mentioned, Madson was rumored to want slightly less, but I wonder if he will really end up with more than 3 years. Why not make every effort to bring back someone that you know? I understand the Phils have a small window of opportunity to compete for a championship. They need to capitalize on the Halladay/Lee double-ace tandem, but I can’t see why they jumped so early in the process and gave a monster contract they probably will regret in the next couple of years. They paid for a designer name that probably won’t give them designer performance. The only worse contract on their roster is the big guy who plays first base and will be watching from the stands on crutches due to an Achilles injury.

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Yes, finding undervalued assets like Chad Bradford, Scott Hatteberg, and a veteran like David Justice were essential to rounding out the roster. Yes stars like Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejeda, and Johnny Damon were huge parts of their success. The constant from 1999-2003 were the starting trio of Zito, Hudson, and Mulder.

If you sort American League starting pitchers with at least 75 decisions from that time period in order of ERA+, Zito is #2 (142), Hudson #3 (137), and Mulder #7 (118).

How many teams in the history of baseball had 3 starting pitchers who were in the top 10 of their league? The fact the A’s didn’t win more is probably due to their reliance on undervalued assets. This could have been a dynasty if they were able to hold on to Giambi, Isringhausen, and Damon. Imagine if they were able to buy other expensive parts for the bullpen, backend of the rotation, and bench.

Even if they had those players, could you expect them to compete with just a middle-of-the-road rotation? Say, like what the Cardinals and Rangers are displaying in this year’s World Series? I think they would be another version of the Texas Rangers or the Ken Griffey Jr. Seattle Mariners; teams that were fun and scored a lot, but didn’t win because they couldn’t get anyone out.

Yes, the American League was watered-down due to the explosion of payroll creating the Yankees and everyone else. But without those three pitchers there is not a book or movie about Moneyball because no one would care what Billy Beane is doing with a .500 club in the Bay area.

It’s not one player that was the best, its the trio of starters that were.

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