1) A.J. Burnett – NY Yankees (5 years, $82.5 million)
Absolutely ridiculous. There’s a better chance of me getting a call from John Farrell asking me to come down to Fenway and try out for a spot in bullpen then there is of Burnett finishing out this deal. He’s getting hurt. He’ll probably go on the DL this year. His record is 87-76. He’s never had more than 12 wins before last year. His two best years were in contract years. What else do you need?
2) Ryan Dempster – Chicago Cubs (4 years, $52 million)
I like Dempster, but that’s a lot of money and years for one good year as a starter, two I guess if you count his solid season starting with the Marlins way back in 2000. Considering there’s Ben Sheets and Derek Lowe out there, the team that’s been budget crunching because of the sale could have saved some bucks.
3) Raul Ibanez – Philadelphia Phillies (3 years, $31.5 million)
Don’t really understand this one. I like Ibanez as a player but replacing your 33-homer hitter with someone who is four years older, has less power and at a much higher price seems a little strange. Add the fact that he’s a lefty in a lineup with Utley and Howard and the abundance of outfielders out there and this is a headscratcher.
4) Juan Rivera – LA Angels ( 3 years, $12.75 million)
Again, when you have Bobby Abreu, Adam Dunn and before that Burrell and Milton Bradley, I think you could have done better than Rivera without paying much more. I mean, is he gonna start? He shouldn’t. Just sign Jim Edmonds, Moises Alou or Ken Griffey for one year. If you want him to be a back up, then that’s too big of an investment. Take a flier on Rocco Baldelli or Brad Wilkerson instead.
5) Carl Pavano – Cleveland Indians (1 year, $1.5 million).
C’mon, bra. It’s Pavano.
For our list of the Top 5 Best Free agent signings, click here.
Posts
Had a Yankee fan in Boston last night tell me he'd rather have Burnett than Beckett. Ho Hoooo
ReplyDeleteGood call on Ibanez, Burrell is much better and the Rays got a steal. Only deal I won't completely agree with is Pavano 1 year 1.5 isn't terrible when you see that the Phillies signed Chan Ho Park for 2.5 mill.
ReplyDeleteYea, I actually don't mind that signing too much. More of a Pavano joke.
ReplyDeleteIs Burrell much better? This isn't fantasy baseball. Ibanez is very productive and MUCH, MUCH better defensively. Burrell was worse than Manny according to the Fielding Bible in 2008, -20 runs created on defense, ranking him DEAD last amongst qualifying outfielders. He was lifted for a defensive replacement in 110 of the 150 games he played in. And if its one thing Philly can afford a slight drop in, its power production. Ibanez is probably a net gain over Burrell.
ReplyDeleteWell Burrell is projected to DH and only play the 4 outfielder as a corner guy. His glove, if it is that bad, will not be in play much as a possible liability.
ReplyDeleteI know all those same stats, bro. The point is, you're paying over $15 million more for nothing but some better defense. You lose some pop and give a lefty laden lineup another lefty, and one who's 36. His D certainly isn't improving. Should have just signed Baldelli for a mill, platoon him with Jenkins or Stairs and get same production. Or sign Manny for $10 mill more, or if you careless about the lefty thing, scoop Abreu.
ReplyDeleteya but only 2 mil AAV, and you say nothing but some better defense like it's a throwaway line. Defense is a huge part of the game, especially when you are as bad as Burrell is in the field.
ReplyDeleteI love the signing for TB, he'll be a good DH bat for them, but Ibanez is a much much better baseball player than Burrell.
Much Much better Matty? Ibanez is fours years older. Guy is turning 37 in June. And your a stat guy so you must buy into Bill James Win Shares right? Ibanez had 23 last year and Burrell had 21. That takes into account defense. Sounds like you got somethin against Burrell or sweat old Ibanez. I would much rather have Burrell if I had a DH spot to fill and could pay him 2/16 rather than 3/31 where he'll be 40 years old at the end.
ReplyDeleteWhatever though. Nice to see a different opinion.
Also, with that 2 million you save with Squirrel this year and next, you can sign decent players in this buyers market. Sox signed Baldelli and Saito for that much base salary. Adam Everett, Izturis, Jorge Julio, Embree, Trevor Miller, Brocail were all signed for that much. Obv those guys aren't great but If I can have one of them with Burrell, it makes my choice that much easier. This market is steve&barrys right now.
ReplyDeleteAnd I just peeped John Dewans plus/minus defensive metric and you were right. Burrell is the worst in the league at -20 runs. Some guy named Raul Ibanez was 2nd worst in the whole league with -18 though.
My bad with the math though. Ibanez is close to 4.5 years older than burrell but he wont be 40 at the end.
I just read an article on baseball prospectus by sheehan ripping the phillies for not giving burrell arbitration and paying him 16m for one season. So some people like Sheehan hated the ibanez signing before they even knew you could sign burrell for TWO years at 16 million instead of one year at that price.
Im not trying to parrot this article. I found it halfway through this post but it backed up what I thought.
"The Phillies simply made a bad play. Burrell probably would not have accepted arbitration, eventually yielding two draft picks in exchange, and even had he accepted, that would have been a better outcome than signing Ibanez will be. Ibanez is the same player, but because of his age, more likely to decline in the short term, and because he bats left-handed, he doesn't fit the Phillies' lineup very well. The perceived defensive gap between the two players is an illusion; Ibanez is just as bad as Burrell in the pasture." - Joe Sheehan
Well, i can admit when I'm wrong, but I still hate Burrell cause he carried Retta's fantasy team last year for a while
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