Hot Stove Quick Hits

by JM Barten on Nov 30, 2006 1:37 PM EST in Trades & Transactions

My wife would be quick to confirm that I tend to ramble. I'm going to combat that by doing what I call "Hot Stove Quick Hits".

Gary Matthews Jr- 5 yrs, $50M- Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Bakersfield, San Bernardino, and greater Barstow- A year from now I'll be back in this spot echoing Denny Green by saying "He is who we thought he was!" It won't be a compliment. Also, did you know that Matthews managed to get a no trade clause included in the deal? Gary Matthews Jr gets a NTC?

Alfonso Soriano- 8 yrs, $136M- Cubbie Bears-Soriano is required to donate $25,000 annually to both the United Way and to Cubs Care. Paging John Stossel!

Carlos Lee- 6 yrs, $100M- Houston Astros- Well, he's better than Preston Wilson... What I really want to know are the details of his "nominal weight clause."

Randy Wolf- 1 yr, $8M + Vesting 1yr, $9M Option- LA Blue Man Group- Finally a deal that isn't 3 years longer and twice as expensive as it should be.

Juan Pierre- 5 yrs, $44M- LA Sr- For all the well-deserved insults that were thrown at Allard Baird, he did give the Royals what might be one of the better bargain contracts in baseball over the next few years. David DeJesus is a much better baseball player than Juan Pierre and will be paid $25.2M less over the next 5 years. Part of that is the fact that DeJesus was pre-arbitration when he signed, but not ALL of that.

David Dellucci- 3yrs, $11.5M- Cleveland Indians- I like this deal almost as much as the Randy Wolf deal. It's a reasonable price and while it's a year longer than I like, he's proven that at worst, he's one of the better platoon players around.

Adam Kennedy- 3yr, $10M- St Louis Cards- Pass

Keg Igawa- New York Yankees- The Yanks bid a reported $26M for his rights, or about half what the Red Sox gave for the vastly superior Daisuke Matsuzaka. Ladies and gentlemen, the Japanese Carl Pavano!

Kip Wells- 1yr, $4M- StL- In this market, this is the equivalent of buying a $2 scratch-off ticket. Low cost, low upside, low chance of it turning out how you want.

Alex Gonzalez- 3yrs, $14M- Cincinnati- It's a special kind of insanity where you give a 3 year contract to a 30 year old who has only 3 seasons in his career where his OBP was over .300.

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Kennedy

I really like the Kennedy deal, if he's as good defensively as I've seen around.

"I don't set the rosters, I just make fun of the guy who does" - Rob Neyer

by Marc Normandin on Dec 1, 2006 12:08 AM EST reply actions

Ribbit

Alex Gonzalez- 3yrs, $14M- Cincinnati- It's a special kind of insanity where you give a 3 year contract to a 30 year old who has only 3 seasons in his career where his OBP was over .300.

Giving Gonzalez a three-year deal is too much, no doubt about that, but it's hardly insane. Zone Rating has him as an excellent defensive shortstop in 2006 (+10 in only 2/3 of a season) and that pretty much agrees with what I've heard from Red Sox fans (maybe Marc can weigh in on his defense). He was 5 runs below average offensively for his position, which isn't the best baseline to use since it includes all the scrubs and such, but even considering that he is at worst a borderline average overall player. The main problem is the team he signed with, the Reds pitching staff needs an upgrade in outfield defense more than infield.

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by Jim Wisinski on Dec 3, 2006 11:27 PM EST reply actions

Granted

Insanity may be a bit of an overstatement. It made for a good line and that's kind of the point of this particular article.

I will say though that I hate that contract. I know the glove is much better, as is the date of the birth certificate, but why would anybody wish to give Gonzalez 3 years when Craig Counsell just signed a contract that was one year shorter and at less than half the cost, and he MIGHT draw enough walks to look like a useful player if you squint hard enough. When you're talking about a guy with a .292 career OBP, I tend to wonder whether you can find a similar glove-only shortstop of his caliber hanging out in a ballpark in Norfolk, Columbus, Des Moines, Durham or Ottawa.

by JM Barten on Dec 4, 2006 3:20 PM EST up reply actions

Perspective

Here we see the change in value of a player based on their role.

For Boston, Gonzales was a wizard signing. A not-awful, cheap, one-year mercenary while Epstein looked for a better long-term answer.

For Cincinnati, Gonzales is an abomination in the eyes of the Goddess, a festering pustule that will prevent the Reds from finding and paying a superior solution for three full years, or force them to eat the contract's value when they stumble into a better option.

by NBarnes on Dec 4, 2006 7:26 AM EST reply actions