Vernon Wells, John McDonald Placed On Waivers

Wells has 117 million and 6 years left on his contract. If they could eat 39 million and send him away, I would do it. If you think about it, the Jays only paid him $9 million for this year. Yes that would be like paying him $49 million for one year, but the AAV was really $18 million, meaning the loss would only be $31 million, spread over 6 years, which is about $5 million a year. Plus, if they get a decent prospect back, that might give you similar value in talent:dollars anyway. Is it feasible? Maybe, because the trading team would be getting Vernon for 6/78, which is $13 million a year. Vernon probably still has a reputation as a good defensive CF and his bat hasn't been bad this year, at 290/330/457, with injuries. Compared to the Rowand contract, which seems pretty reasonable, I'm sure some team would bite. He'd also have to waive his opt out clause probably.

The reason I'd do this is because in my opinion, this team needs to blow itself up, and every other piece is pretty easily moveable except for Vernon. He is turning 30 next year and I think he'll be an okay player the next few years but hardly great. May as well sell high and let someone else have him for age 34-35. It'd be a smart sunk cost, and Alex Rios could take over in centre. OF is not a big problem.

What are the chances Boston places a claim on McDonald? God knows he's a better SS than Lugo. But with the recent emergence of Lowrie, would Boston dare make such a move?

ibanez for wells
jk

I take that back. Nevermind. I knew he was lame with the bat, but I didn't realize that he was ABSOLUTE garbage. OPS+ of 51 - I was expecting something at least in the 70s. B-R-U-T-A-L

“Perhaps this is how the Dodgers will finally get McDonald, though I don't think they necessarily need him when Berroa essentially gives you the same thing and can actually hit the baseball from time to time.”

…Hahaha… Did I just read “Berroa” and “hit” in the same sentence ~ a sentence that didn’t include the work “cant” and phrase “worth a sh!t”?

Anyway, MacDonald is infinitely better than Berroa; he doesn’t hit quite as crappy, he actually has a little bit of speed/baserunning-smarts, and he is one of the best fielders you will find at the position. Berroa offers absolutely nothing, he’s a stop-gap with no actual skills at all…

“What is the point of placing a player on waivers if a team does not intend to trade that player? Is it strictly a salary dump attempt?”

…No, basically everyone gets put on waivers around this time ~ we just normally don’t hear about too many of them. It’s a great was to get a gauge of interest for players you might actually want to move. Its also one of those where the more names hitting the wire means the possibility that teams miss the player you are actually trying to pass through and work a trade for. If the Jays have been contacted about MacDonald for instance, they would want to try to get him to clear waivers or atleast make it all the way to that interested team ~ flood the wire with names and maybe a guy on the list slips past. Cant imagine it works very often, but why not try… There is most likely a hundred or so names on the wires right now though, really almost everyone gets put on it in the first week or two after the deadline...

"Best defensive SS in baseball, though."

Um, no. McDonald is an excellent defender, but he is definately not better than Cabrera, Furcal, Aybar, Maicer Izturis, Young or Greene.

"…Hahaha… Did I just read “Berroa” and “hit” in the same sentence ~ a sentence that didn’t include the work “cant” and phrase “worth a sh!t”?"

At least Berroa has some pop in his bat, which McDonald definately doesn't. Their speed is a wash and Berroa has actually out performed McDonald on defense this year.

"Berroa offers absolutely nothing, he’s a stop-gap with no actual skills at all…"

I guess that 4.74 RF9 means no actual skills then? Or all the excellent throws and heads up defensive plays.

AA: "Um, no. McDonald is an excellent defender, but he is definately not better than Cabrera, Furcal, Aybar, Maicer Izturis, Young or Greene"

McDonald's range and arm strength is probably equally or greater then all of those SS.

He is something special in the field.

Too bad that when he enters games the opposing teams pull their outfield in.

"McDonald's range and arm strength is probably equally or greater then all of those SS."

Stronger arm than Furcal or Aybar? I don't think so.

Like I said, McDonald is an excellent defensive player, but he is most definately not the best in all of baseball.

"…Have you ever watched a single team other than the Angels, Dodgers or Padres? Every comment you have seems to somehow include something along the lines of “__so&so__ Dodger/Angel is actually the best…”."

I watch plenty of other teams. Naturally, living where I do I will watch more of the Dodgers and Angels. I'm not going to say that Casey Blake is better than A-Rod and I am not going to say that Jeff Kent is better than Brandon Phillips, but examples are going to come to mind more quickly for the guys I see play more than 100 games a year on TV or in person than players I see less often. Also, notice I included a, gasp, Texas Ranger and a, gasp, Chicago White Sox? But hey, you hate the L.A. teams, I get it.

"…Ahh yes, that .264 SLG screams “pop in his bat”. And the .314 SLG (640 AB) he has posted over the last three years is soooo much better than the .317 SLG (690 AB) MacDonald sports over the same time. MacDonald “definately" doesn’t come close to the kind of “pop” Berroa brings to a club ~ youre right…"

Um, I can't even believe you are trying this. McDonald has never hit more than 3 HR in his MLB career and not more than 5 in his professional career (in High A). Meanwhile, Berroa has hit double digit homers in 2 MLB seasons and had hit 10 in 51 games at AAA this year before the trade.

"Also, MacDonald has played only 40 games this year because of his early season injury. Otherwise, he kicks the crap out of Berroa with the glove. And no, Berroa has no speed and is statistically a miserable baserunner. But hey, he’s a Dodger so he must somehow be the best, right?"

No speed for Berroa? Funny, the guy I am looking at has stolen 21 and 14 in separate MLB seasons, along with having 5 or more triples 3 times, while McDonald has never stolen more than 7 bases. Further, while I stated numerous times that McDonald is an excellent fielder, his RF numbers this year are lower than all of those players. I even agree with you that McDonald is a better defensive player than Berroa, who has played excellent defense this year and in his career.

"Uhhh, RF9 is factored by dividing Assists + PutOuts by the number of games played. It has next to no barring on true ability, and is dependant on your situations. But hey, you found a random unimportant stat which you want to act like somehow means a Dodger player is better than he is ~ surprise, surprise…"

Wait, wait. Are you eschewing a sabermetric stat? How are you ever going to defend you Adam Dunn obsession now?

Further, you got the equation wrong. A + PO/G is the Range Factor equation. 9(A + PO/I) is the equation for Range Factor 9 Innings and is much better for determining the value for part time players like Berroa and McDonald. Also, while I think all RF equations are less valuable for positions like 1B and C that rely on others for PO numbers and skew based on the type of pitching staff, range factor IS a good tool for measuring the ability of the middle infield and 3B.

As for Berroa generally, of course I would rather have a ton of other people starting at short for the Dodgers. I wish Furcal was healthy and I wish Nomar could stay healthy, because both produce at a very high level. I would have been happy with a reasonable Jack Wilson or Orlando Cabrera trade. I would take just about every regular starting SS in the league over Berroa. Hell, I would take Julio Lugo back if the Red Sox paid his contract, but I wouldn't take McDonald when he would A) cost more and B) add nothing, except a little better defense.

I can't see why putting these guys like Wells, Sheffield, etc, on waivers is such a big deal? On August 1st, you basically put your roster through waivers at some point, trying to get certain players past to be able to trade them. That's all these teams do this time of year. They're just creating trade options if certain players go through. Will Toronto dump Wells on somebody if he's claimed? Not likely, but that is a huge contract, so the claiming team doesn't know if they may get stuck with a contract, so that's the gamble on putting in a claim on a guy like Wells.