Shea Hillenbrand Expendable

It's an understatement to say that Angels' DH Shea Hillenbrand is an expendable player.  He's hitting .236/.250/.311 in 148 ABs, the third-worst hitting performance in baseball according to VORP.  Only Jason Kendall and Chone Figgins have done more damage to their teams.

Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times writes that the return of Garret Anderson and Vladimir Guerrero's need to DH could spell the end of the Shea Hillenbrand Era in L.A.  It was a lousy signing to begin with; $6.5MM wasted.  At least it was just money. Brian Sabean gave away Jeremy Accardo to acquire Hillenbrand last year.

So, who wants a double-play machine with no glove?  Tough call.  Open DH jobs are hard to come by.  Maybe the Giants would want him back, or the Tigers or Orioles could plug him in at first base. 

 

Comments

[quintjs]

Expendable as in begging another team to take him off your hands? like last year with Jeff Weaver? - what team dumped him again?

Was this contract ever justified? any rational given as to why?

"Hillenbrand's reunion with John Gibbons won't occur until the Angels face the Blue Jays on August 14th."
- Roto, from his post on the signing..

[Shane]

"or the Tigers could plug him in at first base."

No thanks. I'd much rather have Casey over Hillenbrand in a million years. Better line, way better defense and is a lefty which is what the Tigers line-up sorely lacks.

[bravesbeast]

The braves cetainly could use another right handed bat, i just do not know if hillenbrand is the answer.

[beaminack]

Shea is a clubhouse cancer.

[MarkH]

"Orioles could plug him in at first base."
Yeah...Right. When pigs fly. No thanks.

[bsox21]

Hillenbrand - arguably the worst contract in sports.

He belongs in the independent leagues.

[bobo]

"Hillenbrand - arguably the worst contract in sports.

He belongs in the independent leagues."

Thanks, you made my day with that one. Worst contract? Hahaha. You could sign ME for 1 year/$6.5M and it still wouldn't be remotely close to being the worst contract.

[Papelboner]

"Hillenbrand- arguably the worst contract in sports."

You can argue all you want, but he's far from the worst contract in sports.

[Dev0]

How about that Hillenbrand for Accardo deal now, Talk about Monster steals.

[Lardo]

"Hillenbrand- arguably the worst contract in sports."

Jason Kendall is making exactly twice what Hillenbrand is making to put up a line of .182/.227/.194. In addition, there are probably many other multi-year, pitcher deals that are worse (e.g. Pavano). Hillenbrand's contract is chump change/

[Dev0]

Jeff weaver is clearly a worse contract then hillenbrand.

[deadbeat17]

i dont see anyone trading for him.

i could see him being released and picked up for a minor league contract like C. Wilsons.

but i hardly see the point, he'll never have another 20 hr season again. and his glove is terrible.

besides everyone hates his personality as well.

[Zonis]

Lardo: Yeah, but at least Kendall was good when he first signed the contract. The stupid part of his contract is that they signed him for so long so that he would be useless at the end of his contract, though my guess is that they were hoping he'd be productive till now and THEN fall off a cliff, instead of 3 years earlier. And at least Kendall doesn't play a position thats there for its offensive value, unlike 1B/DH. Not that I am defending Kendall, I want him gone as much as the next A's fan, and more then Angel fans want Hillenbrand gone, but there was a reason for the contract.

But I'd say that the Jeff Weaver signing by both the Angels AND the Mariners, both times, is much worse then Hillenbrand. The Angels signing of Weaver because he not only sucked, but blocked... Weaver... and the Mariners because they SAW he sucked in the AL West and still signed him.

[foolintherain555]

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[Guitar Hero]

Just wanna say to all those who argued against Alex Rios being good in the offseason...well he's doing pretty good now. I wonder if the Marlins still interested in him...probably.