I just stumbled onto an interesting article by Rich Lederer over on Baseball Analysts. His basic question was "How much does each win above replacement cost when you sign a free agent?" His overall answer was $4.4 million, with expensive (over $3 million per year) relief pitchers costing the most per win above replacement. (He didn't analyze the sort of inexpensive relief pitchers the Pirates have signed.) The article is interesting from an overall perspective, but especially so from that of a Pirates' fan. John Grabow ($37.5 million per win above replacement) and Mike Gonzalez ($14.0 million per win above replacement) were the least cost effective free agents in the group. Jason Bay ($6.9 million per win above replacement) was the least cost effective of the 2009-2010 position players. If only Nutting weren't so cheap! Those guys could have been playing for us.