FA Options
by leafsfan4life94 on Dec 22, 2010 1:08 AM EST
Email
PrintAfter the Encarnacion signing, AA has a lot of options as to filling out the rest of his roster. 3B remains the key issue, but we can also consider 1B, DH, and LF/RF as 'open.' AA has said he won't build using free agency, however, leaving a route closed is hardly profitable or reasonable. So using a handy tool known as a free agent tracker, compiled by Yahoo!'s Jeff Passan, here's a list of free agent that are still available at the positions metioned, and whether or not I believe that they'd fit well with the team.
Adrian Beltre, 3B - The skill is there with the bat. The glove is nothing special. He'll want a long term deal after his big year in Boston, and that would scare me off. If he takes a year to be a stopgap and give Brett Lawrie a little more time, I'm all for it. Which he won't, so don't blow your cash.
Manny Ramirez, DH - Farrell likes him. BBB seems to like him. I don't. He's aging, he's been linked to steroids, and he wouldn't fit well with the direction this team wants to take, which is building up players, not acquiring declining players who aren't going to be good when we are competing. If he was in his prime I'd be all for it. He's only getting worse, however, and this is one old horse we shouldn't be betting on.
Derrek Lee, 1B - OK bat. Decent glove. Good power. Not bad. But he'd just be a stopgap at first or the DH who sees some time on the bag. I'd be OK with him on a two-year deal max.
Adam LaRoche, 1B - An upgrade over Lyle. Again, two years max.
Jim Thome, DH - One of those guys who seems to defy age...unlike Manny, he hasn't been linked to steroids and he's known all around the league as a good clubhouse guy. Like Manny, he couldn't really do anything other than DH. I've had a soft spot for him for years, but I gotta say no.
Vladimir Guerrero, DH - Wouldn't that be ironic....the guy I watched hammer the Jays routinely while with the Expos come back and DH for us. No likey though...he runs like my grandmother, and once he gets into a funk, he's got nothing.
Johnny Damon, OF/DH - He's not bad...I'm surprised he hasn't gotten a deal yet, to be honest. I'd prefer it not be from us though. He's got the power, he has some legs left so he could stick in a corner spot, I just have this nagging feeling he's going to break down this year.
Russell Branyan, 1B/DH - He turned 35 last week and is an injury risk. Has some pop, but I'll pass, thanks.
Marcus Thames, OF - We already have a 4th outfielder in Davis. Pass. Although, if he hit a walkoff or two against the Yankees, that would be epic...
Brad Hawpe, OF - Early washout? Seems that way...he's only 31. AA's gone the low risk route before with guys like Morrow and Gonzalez, maybe Hawpe fits his mold? I'd rather not take that particular chance, thanks.
Jorge Cantu, 3B/1B - Already discussed. Consensus appeared to be no. I'm wouldn't rule him out, myself. He's 28, and has some ability.
Jim Edmonds, OF/DH - The Chris Chelios of baseball...or would be if it weren't for Jamie Moyer. No thanks.
Nick Johnsno, DH - The typo was intentional.
Troy Glaus, 1B/DH - We tried that already...
Jerry Hairston, Jr., IF - He could play third. Or we could save our money and put JonnyMac there...nevermind, he could play third. Honestly, he's a career utility guy. I'll pass.
Orlando Cabrera, IF - Let's all start drinking should this come to pass...
Andruw Jones, OF - Could play either corner, is still 33, and might come cheap. If he meets that last one, give him a year or two.
Next up on the list was Felipe Lopez, so I figured that should indicate the level of talent left out there...it includes Eric Hinske and Reed Johnson.
Conclusion- not a lot left out there. I wouldn't mind Lee or LaRoche, and I won't be outright P.O.'d about Andruw Jones or Jorge Cantu. Other than that, steer clear of FAs.
34 comments
|
1 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Beltre's Glove
it IS special.In fact its likely more reliable to produce than his bat if anything
his glove is very special
Might be the best 3B in baseball.
by Tom Dakers on Dec 22, 2010 9:41 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
Adam LaRoche
An upgrade over Lyle
Not really.
Laroche: .788OPS, .339wOBA, 107 wRC+
Overbay: .762OPS, .332wOBA, 108 wRC+
Not much of a difference really. Might as well let EE and Lind platoon at first over signing LaRoche.
I’d bring in Manny in a heartbeat over LaRoche or Derek Lee.
So the lesson here is do not write past your bedtime, I guess...my apologies.
I don’t know why I listed Beltre’s glove as nothing special…it is among the best. Idiot me.
Thanks for the numbers as well, masterkembo. My reasoning (and this might be because I never really watched LaRoche) kinda stretches back to the beginning of the year, when Lyle couldn’t hit his way out of a wet paper bag…again, might be because I haven’t followed LaRoche as much, but I don’t really remember him getting into those kinds of slumps. I’m a fan of consistency. Which, if you knew me, would make absolutely zero sense….
I'm thinking that when the Leafs win the Cup, I'll lose my drinking problem.
by leafsfan4life94 on Dec 22, 2010 1:47 PM EST reply actions
I know the Manny thing has been beaten to death, but signing a declining player to a short term contract to fill out the DH role doesn’t mean its against the overall philosophy or direction of the organization.
Especially since at DH you aren’t going to be blocking anyone. Manny at DH Lind playing first with EE backing up both of them. I can’t see how that wouldn’t be better then EE DHing, Lind First and someone else riding the pine.
I guess I don’t see the argument for not getting him, you say its because it doesn’t jive with when we would be competing, that may be but if its a short term deal it isn’t like he would be taking up dead space on the roster then either. He would be gone.
Never Explain. Your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe it anyway - Elbert Hubbard
Twitter is the thing with all the tweets...
I agree that a short term deal would not hurt the overall philosophy
You have to think about it as bringing in someone not to help you compete, but to help you reap other benefits that could be gained from a mid-season trade or off-season draft pick addition.
I’m not that big on Manny being signed, but I wouldn’t be against it.
Ball.
Some Interesting Options
LaRoche for the next year maybe 2 until we find out if David Cooper works out or we find out our catching situation which should be getting crowded by 2012 – one of JPA or D’Arnaud will probably end up being a first baseman if we keep both with one of Perez or Jerolman backing up the other.
Reed - got a soft spot for him, always loved his hustle and work ethic and was a decent lead off when he was here.
Thome - genuine power still and from what was said out of Minny this season he is a character guy and pressence in the clubhouse with the younger guys
Hawpe – he could feast in the dome with his power – I think last year was an aberation to an extent, his power should return and he was a first baseman before being blocked by a guy names Todd Helton
Scott Podsednik - his speed never goes away, not a super left fielder but would be good at Roger’s Centre
Hank Blalock - if he can stay away from injuries he can be a .280 – 20 – 85 guy, a short term – incentive laden deal would not be bad on him
I want Bautista in RF, so the only free agents that really interest me at this point are ones that can play 2B or 3B.
I would have liked Orlando Hudson and the two-year deal he got from San Diego. With Hechavarria and Lawrie in the pipeline, I don’t want to see us commit to anyone longer than that – ideally a year plus a clup option.
So on this list, who does that leave? Jorge Cantu is one I guess. What’s the deal with Felipe Lopez? His offensive numbers weren’t good last year, but pretty good in 2009.
Speaking of Lopez, while we all applaud Anthopoulos’ acumen at getting draft picks cheaply, check out the sweet move pulled off by Boston with Lopez.
Theo Epstein signed him the last week of the season and for one week’s salary got 16 ABs and now presumably a supplemental pick after Lopez as a Type B free agent declined arbitration. Very nice.
The FA cuboard is bare...
any upgrades to this team will have to come from trades.
Lets kick some potentials around.
What would the Mets want for David Wright?
Even a mistake may turn out to be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement
by TonyFernandezSavedMyLife on Dec 23, 2010 4:15 PM EST reply actions
A hell of a lot.
Probably have to base it around Snider or Drabek…Wright’s really good, but the Mets might place way too high a price on him.
I'm thinking that when the Leafs win the Cup, I'll lose my drinking problem.
by leafsfan4life94 on Dec 24, 2010 12:10 PM EST up reply actions
Hawpe's off the map
Got a deal with San Diego…
I'm thinking that when the Leafs win the Cup, I'll lose my drinking problem.
by leafsfan4life94 on Dec 25, 2010 5:26 PM EST reply actions
Committing to Lind at first and having him develope into a useable player there seems to be the very best case scenerio, so signing a stopgap of any sort there doesn’t really appeal to me.
Lee could be a really good bat and a really good glove though, if he was cheap enough, I’d go for him, but he wont be.
After reading Thome’s name, I got to thinking, and I’m on that bandwagon now. He’s a good guy with a good bat, and he brings serious on base skills. For the price he’s likely to get, I’m all for him.
I like Thome a lot too, particularly amid all that talk about Manny, but Anthopoulos is looking to introduce some flexibility at the DH position and Thome gives you none as he can’t play the field.
Welll...
Thome has played in over 105 games in each of the last 5 years, and besides 2005 he hasn’t appeared in less than that since the early 90s, so he’s not all that bad an athlete (he played 1B/3B until that ’05 season as well).
It would probably be ugly to watch, but Thome provides an option at 1B or 3B in an emergency, and probably has better value there than most ‘pure’ DHs. It’s not much in the way of utility, but when looking for a DH I think it’s the bat that has to talk.
For reference, Thome seemed to be an average or better fielder at 1B – he probably wouldn’t look any worse Dunn.
Nah, stick a fork in Thome, he’s totally done in terms of defense. When he was traded mid-season in 2009 to the Dodgers in the NL, he made it clear to them that he could not play the field at all. As such, he was limited strictly to pinch hitting. It’s DH or bust with him, which from what Anthopoulos has said would be a step backward, as Adam Lind at least could play the field when he was the DH.
yeah, he hasn't played
in the field since 2005 (other than 4 games at first between 2006 and 2007 which I’m assuming were in interleague)
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
no go on Thome in the field
he has been solely a DH the past 5 seasons. He’s not going to magically become adept in the field again.
Also, while Thome absolutely rakes against RHP (both recently and career), he’s really not that good vs LHP. We have enough guys like that in our lineup already. Manny can hit LHP much better than Thome and hits RHP plenty well. He offers similar OBA potential and age-risk to Thome. I imagine they will also cost around the same. Manny is emphatically the choice for the Jays over Thome and all the other options for DH.
Of course
Obviously Thome is not a good fielder anymore and obviously he doesn’t want to play the field any more, but the key word I used was ‘emergency’. In the event on an injury, Thome could play first or third for a game and it probably wouldn’t look as bad as playing Glaus at short was all I was saying.
Well, that, and that he’s not a huge injury risk since he seems to be relatively durable and athletic despite his body type.
Since there’s already a platoon developing at first that can cover the outfield corners and/or third, I’m not sure how much utility AA really wants/needs to get out of the DH spot (I seemed to have missed the article where he said he was looking for that). Besides an injury stop-gap, the only positions not covered by the Lind/EE platoon are up the middle, and those aren’t usually positions played by DHs. As well, there aren’t really any other players you’d want to cycle out of the line-up.
Snider, Escobar, and Hill are all young players you want batting almost every day. Finding a person that will give you more value with the bat and play decent defense against righties or lefties than Wells or Bautista would be hard at their given positions, so they’re not really candidates to cycle out of the line-up either. So unless our 3B/RF option that we choose to go with isn’t an every-day player, there isn’t much of a need for flexibility from the DH position that I can figure out. We’ve also got Mac who can play the infield and Davis who can play the outfield. I think our DH can be just a DH without any problem.
Did I miss something? :P
Even if Thome could be pressed into emergency 1B or 3B duty at this point in his career
which I still dispute, his marginal utility in this regard is not really a point in his favour when deciding whether to acquire him or not. He would be acquired to DH, and he should be evaluated on that basis.
Also, Thome isn’t actually that durable. Despite DHing full time since 2005, he has only played >145 games once in that period. His other seasons were of 143, 130, 124, and 108. The latter two totals were in the last 2 seasons, so his durability such as it is, appears to be waning. I venture pretty much any of the other available DH options (including Manny) easily match, if not surpass, Thome’s durability when relieved of fielding duties and allowed to DH full time, as Thome has been and will continue to be.
As I’ve mentioned below, I question that Manny’s “character” issue is a significant one. I also think that Manny and Thome will command similar money (~6-8M for 1 year, plus possible option) this season. They both provide little, if any, defensive value and would be acquired solely to DH.
I think Manny is clearly the better option.
I agree
with basically everything you said.
I wasn’t trying to make a case for Thome as an every day fielder. My only point was that the only flexibility we really need from the DH position would be in the case of injuries and that in that emergency situation Thome can play the field with experience. It wouldn’t be great, but it’d look better imo to have Thome playing 3B for a few innings after a couple injuries than it would to have Manny. Very unlikely we get hit with multiple injuries to an infield position in the same game, but besides that situation, I don’t see any other fielding requirements for our DH (as jabalong said we’re looking for and need).
Thome played in fewer games partially because he was sharing time at his position as well, not all the games missed were due to injuries. I’d be perfectly fine with him playing in 125~ games for us, as I would be with most of the older DHs.
And character doesn’t matter unless it stops players from signing/resigning with us, causes players to ask for trades, causes players to fake injuries to force trades, or gets our players suspended for cheating. Should Manny get tagged again for cheating, or decide he doesn’t want to play for the Blue Jays anymore, that would have a serious negative impact on his value for us. I just don’t see as much risk with Thome.
Also
I agree that Manny would be a fine option as well. I just perfer Thome for character, durability, and price.
You wont get that...
…if Manny decides to quit on the Jays.
in 2008
when Manny was moved from Boston to the Dodgers after he supposedly “quit” on the team, he had put up a .398OBA with 20HR in 425PA (100GP) with the Red Sox up to the July 31 deadline that year. Immediately prior to the deadline, he had hit for a .473OBA in July and a .394OBA in June. The season before he was traded (2007), he managed “only” a .388 OBA with 20HR in 133GP.
In 2010, he was moved from the Dodgers to the White Sox, this time being claimed off waivers on August 30 after having missed most of July and August with injury. His pre-All Star break OBA was .412. His post-break OBA was .404. In 2009, his OBA was .418.
Manny’s antics in the field may be well publicized and tiresome, but he has always been and remains an excellent hitter who by many accounts has always worked diligently at that craft. He will not need to field with the Jays, they have an open DH slot and no OF needs to press Manny into. He has said he has a good relationship with John Farrell and would like a chance to play for him.
I’d say Manny seems like a good fit. But maybe we shouldn’t let the results sway us, since we all know that Manny always quits on his teams.
by SuckaMD on Jan 4, 2011 5:45 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
He is a great hitter, and probably will be next season. I’m not sure why you’re hung up on proving he’s a great guy. He pushes the staff around, gets suspended for cheating, and fakes injuries.
I’m not against Manny, I’m actually neutral on signing him, but to deny that there’s a real risk he fakes injury, gets caught cheating again, demands a trade, or does something else to get suspended is looking through rose coloured glasses don’t you think?
Jorge Cantu
I’ve gotta plug Cantu 1-2 years (plus an option) deal again to play 3rd. Worst case with this, Lawrie or Hechevaria are ready to go and we trade Cantu for a player to be named. I’d also like to point out that Bengie Molina is still available and wouldn’t be a horible option to provide further depth at the catcher position. After Arencibia and Jose Molina we don’t have any MLB ready catchers in our system. He might even prove to be a better option at DH than Encarnacion.
Jeroloman is a fine option as an emergency backup
if JPA or J. Molina go down. You don’t need to go signing guys to major league contracts to be a third catcher. I guess I’d be fine with B. Molina on a minor league deal if he’d sign one, but I’m not sure he would and I don’t think it’s really necessary/a priority.
also, Cantu isn't better than E5
E5 was worth more WAR last year in ~150 fewer PAs, he has better career numbers than Cantu and Bill James projects him as better next year. Signing Cantu when we have E5 is redundant and unnecessary.
Catching depth
It would be nice to have a catcher ready at AAA with a lot of MLB games under his belt, like Raul Chavez who I’m assuming isn’t coming back (is he?). That said, we’ve signed Ryan Budde, who while he hasn’t played many MLB games, he’s had a few appearances in each of the past four years and has been kicking around AAA forever, so he ought to be alright in an emergency, at least defensively.
I’d also agree that Brian Jeroloman should be ready to fill-in as a call-up if needed this season. Beyond how each of them is doing at AAA, which is probably the key determinant, it might depend on who goes down. I could see Jeroloman filling in for Arencibia, but not for Molina, as you’d want more experience than an Arencibia/Jeroloman tandem, in which case Budde would be the preferred fill-in for Molina.
Personally though I’d have been happier with someone more experienced than Budde, I’m fine with opening the season as we are at catcher currently. To me this is the year to bring in some youth at that position with Arencibia. And with highly rated prospects behind Jeroloman, this is also an important year for him to step up, so I’d be happy to have a look at Jeroloman too if Arencibia goes down for any reason.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on Bluebird Banter
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
Baseball Nation Recent Stories
In Association With
Big League Stew - MLB - Yahoo! Sports
- The Citi Field All-Star game has finally been made official for 2013
- Brett Lawrie receives four-game suspension, fined for ‘aggressive actions’ toward umpire
- PNC Park security guard loses finger in struggle with fan during Pirates game
- Create-a-Caption: Partying like it’s 1988
- The Ron Washington puppet is watching you while you sleep — and has possibly jinxed the Rangers
