Things were much different when the Tigers acquired Jhonny Peralta six weeks ago. Detroit was in contention and Peralta was hitting just .246/.308/.389. Even though his contract includes a 2011 option, the Tigers added him with 2010 in mind. Now, the Tigers' playoff hopes have unraveled, but it has been no fault of Peralta's. His play has improved since joining the Tigers, so they may even keep him.
Peralta said last month that he hopes the Tigers pick up his $7MM option and repeated as much to Steve Kornacki of MLive.com yesterday. But the Tigers are the ones who must decide whether to bring the infielder back or find another shortstop via trade or free agency.
After playing third for the Indians, Peralta is back at shortstop in Detroit. He doesn't distinguish himself with his defense, though (UZR has Peralta as about average from 2008-10). Peralta is hitting .275/.342/.458 in Detroit and he has already hit as many homers for the Tigers as he did in Cleveland (7). It's a major improvement and if he can keep it up and play a respectable shortstop he'd be worth a net cost of $6.75MM.
Miguel Tejada, Orlando Cabrera, Alex Gonzalez, Juan Uribe and Adam Everett signed for $6MM or less last offseason, so it's hard to imagine Peralta finding $7MM as a free agent, despite his strong finish. The Tigers would likely be able to find a serviceable free agent shortstop more cheaply, so if they pick up the option it shows that they believe Peralta can continue hitting this well.
i have no doubt dombrowski is thinking about exercising the option… but he shouldn’t. much more value out there for 7 million per (either in trade or sign).
Peralta seems ,to me, to be someone a team would regret paying $7 mil for. Guys drop off the face of the earth at a certain point. I think he got refreshed by a possible playoff race and a new team and pushed himself. Peralta is gonna age poorly as a SS but he may be a productive 2B for a couple more years at $5 mil total. He’d look good as a backup utility type for the white sox. Just guessing.
Picking up Peralta’s option would definitely be the Dombrowski way. Lavish extensions for current players and avoiding free agency as much as possible.
Peralta 2009: .254/ .316/ .375/ .691 OPS
Peralta 2010: .246/ .308/ .389/ .697 OPS (with Cle)
Peralta 2010: .273/ .344/ .460/ .804 OPS (with Det)
Peralta 2008: .276/ .331/ .473/ .804 OPS
Which Peralta are we getting for $ 7 million?
Two seasons in 2009- 2010 are pretty bad, go go with very limited range at SS.
But in five weeks, he seems to have regained his 2008 form with the Tigers.
Is it the rebirth of the old Peralta, or the reincarnation of Edgar Renteria?
Will the REAL Jhonny Peralta please stand up!
BTW- Peralta does nothing to get the Tigers the needed replacements for the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th spots in the lineup.
Crawford 2nd, mags 3rd, and boesch 5th would fill in those blanks.
You could throw rhymes in there too–he might be better than we are giving him credit for.
Crawford, yes but DD won’t pay the money
Magglio, yes if he picks up where he left off before he got hurt, but Boras likes to hold out, hold out, and hold out
Boesch, no. Still a minor leaguer until he makes some big time adjustments.
There is no No. 5 hitter in the organization. Try Werth, Hawpe, Manny, Dunn, Kubel, Vladdy, etc.
With $ 75 million coming off the books, there’s no excuse to not field a major league lineup.
One spot can be held open for Boesch/ Raburn/ Wells/ Clete Thomas, etc.
i like reburn and wells out of them
I could deal with werth and i think Crawford is a 50/50 shot with dd. I think Jackson has shown just how much a real outfielder is worth in that ballpark. I do agree boesch needs work but I feel he’ll settle in and start in right next year-he’s a great outfield arm and has good speed so he makes sense. The problem with most of the five hole guys you mentioned is there lack of defense and I truly feel Mags will be back in our DH next year
A healthy guillen isn’t a bad 5 hitter but if you have mags an cabbie batting 3-4 any 260 hitter would work because of the protection ahea in the lineup
Crawford to Detroit isn’t that unlikely
rhymes could really be a good player. i would rather have 2nd rhymes 3rd maggs and 5th dunn. and then improve the pitching
Well two outta three is a good start, but I would not rest my playoff hopes on Boesch. I would hold one OF spot and two bench spots for Boesch/ Wells/ Raburn/ Clete Thomas, but I wouldn’t COUNT on them to protect Cabrera in the lineup. With $ 75 million, DD doesn’t need a crap shoot like that. .150 since the break doesn’t cut it. BB has some work to do, and it may take him some time.
Geoff Blum (38) – $1.65MM mutual option
Orlando Cabrera (36) – $4MM mutual option with a $500K-$1MM buyout
Juan Castro (39)
Craig Counsell (40)
Alex Gonzalez (33) – $2.5MM club option
Cristian Guzman (33)
Jerry Hairston Jr. (35)
Omar Infante (29) – $2.5MM club option with a $250K buyout
Cesar Izturis (31)
Derek Jeter (37)
Julio Lugo (35)
Jhonny Peralta (29) – $7MM club option with a $250K buyout
Nick Punto (33) – $5MM club option with a $500K buyout
Edgar Renteria (35) – $10.5MM club option with a $500K buyout
Jose Reyes (28) – $11MM club option with a $500K buyout
Miguel Tejada (37)
Juan Uribe (31)
Omar Vizquel (44)
This is the list of free agent SS’s available according to mlbtr. I am not overly impressed with any one player on the list when money starts getting factored in. As far as I can tell Peralta has fit in well with with the Tigers. He has decent pop in his bat and while his defense will not necessarily win any games, it will not lose any either.
For the money I think the Tigers should retain him and see how the next year goes. If he does well for the first half of next year they should consider signing him to a multi-year deal.
Peralta is not the answer at SS. I have not seen him make an impressive play in the field yet. He has the range of an ottoman. His option is at $7 Million!!! Just say NO!
Alex Gonzalez would be better defensively, hit a similar amount of HR’s and be cheaper! Regardless of how thin the ss position is, there are better places to spend the money. As long as Detroit has Santiago and Worth capable of fielding the position at a high level, SS should not be a high priority for Detroit. Offense can be found at OF, DH and 3B, all open positions at seasons end. 2B and SS can be filled in house.
Peralta will only be 29 next year and he’s had success in the past so there’s no reason to think this year is an aberration. He’s not been consistent but he’s getting to an age where inconsistencies should start to smooth out. I don’t know if he’s worth $7 million next year or if I would pick up the option if I were making the decisions for the Tigers. Still, it’s not a huge amount of money, the Tigers are going to have plenty of money to work with and Peralta definitely fills a need, so picking up the option wouldn’t be a horrible decision. I’m guessing they either pick it up or negotiate some kind of extension at a lower annual salary, maybe 3-years, $15 million.
Tigers have an opening at 3B in 2011. Peralta’s defense is better at 3rd.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, whether it’s now the Tigers (or the Indians before), the best move IMO is to DECLINE the option and then offer arbitration.
He will not get $7M (or $6.75M) in an arbitration case should he accept. More like $5.5M tops. And if he declines then signs elsewhere, the Tigers get a 1st round sup pick for him as he’s a Type B. I doubt Jhonny would even get $5.5M on the open market so he may accept the arby offer. Saves the Tigers money and still get to keep him. It’s a can’t lose situatoin for the Tigers…..unless of course they pick up the option.
Jhonny has been my favorite player since he came up at the ripe age of 21. He’s not worth $7M in 2011. Not as a SS, not as a 3B.
First, I totally agree there are not a lot of good short stops available this off season. (Ok, if Reyes was available I’d reconsider or if were going to trade for Hanley Ramierz I’d understand..AND REMEMBER you defensively conscious fans, Adam Everett may still be available AND cheap!)
Secondly, the Tigers have other needs to fill and it’s easier and less trouble to pay Peralta the money for next year, pencil him in at SS/3B and move on to other more pressing off-season issues that you need to fix. Worse case, Peralta and his $7 million would join Carlos Guillen’s $13 million coming of the books at the end of next year and the great SS search can start next off season for 2012.
Third, folks, were arguing about a few million dollars when the Tigers might have an extra $50-70 million dollars to spend. Do you want to be nickel and dimming Peralta and his agent during the free agent period just to save a million or two? What if the Yankees get sick of Jeter and his requests for $15 to $20 million then offer Peralta $11 million to join the Yankee’s instead?
My 2 cents, pay the man his money for next year, then work on improving the team where it needs it most…
Totally agreed. Peralta for 7 mil is not a bad contract at all for them next year
Totally agreed. Peralta for 7 mil is not a bad contract at all for them next year
Just for a bit of perspective;
Career stats average of 162 games
Derek Jeter .314 BA 17HR’s 80 RBI’s 23 SB’s (2010 salary: 22.6 million dollars)
Jhonny Peralta .264 BA 19HR’s 81 RBI’s 2 SB’s (2010 salary: 4.85 million / $7 million 2011)
Yes, absolutely Derek Jeter is better…hands down. But, who would you rather have, Derek Jeter OR Jhonny Peralta AND Carl Crawford for 2011? lol…..
(and in fairness, you other guys are right, I think Peralta’s market value is a bit high at $7 million, but the Tigers can fudge the difference and move onto other larger problems.)
Pick up the option! They have been awful from the SS hole ever since the Adam Everett era began. He fits in this offense.
I don’t think he sucks–mid twenties is still young and pitchers have adjusted to him. If he works hard in the offseason I think he could be a 280 hitter. If he bats behind mags and cabbie he’s a 300 hitter. If he has protection in front of him he will be much better. He’s got great range for an outfielder and a canon for a right arm. I think he is a work in process but I sure wouldn’t give up on him with how brilliantly he’s been at times this year. He’s a big left handed bat who is fearless at the plate. I’d say the lad definitely has some great potential but he has to work on reading pitches and has shown much improved patience at the plate
You can’t call tha tear he was on a total fluke. I agree that he is definitely rough around the edges but I think that given his ups and downs and some work on the offseason he will continue to mature. He reads fly balls well but needs to be more precise on his paths to them and he does need to learn how to adjust to major league pitching. I don’t know if the minors would help him anymore. I say you throw him against the wall and see if he sticks next year. The way he hit the ball earlier in the year is too much to look past–you can’t bat .340 over a 45 day span and not have potential. I think he will surprise you if he has a pair of bats batting in front of him again.
Um….Jhonny only makes $4.6M this year….so 80% of that is not $5.6M. It’s in fact $3.68M.
You just made my point in a way. Tigers are already going to pay him at least $250K (buyout on option). So let’s say they just offer exactly what he’s making this year….they’d only really be costing themselves about $4.2-4.5M.
According to his “value”…he’s been worth $6.6M this year.
So even if they get stuck paying him $5-6M, it’s not really that bad, especially on a 1-year non-guaranteed deal (arbitration deals like that aren’t guaranteed, this is why Varitek reportedly turned down the BoSox arby offer 2 years ago).
Boesch’s BABIP in the 1st half was .384, he was bound to come crashing at some point, and he’s been awful against RHP so far this season, to the tune of a sub-.700 OPS. I think he still has potential, I just think his ceiling is that of a solid everyday player, and that he still has work to do to reach that ceiling.