The Giants are close to a two-year deal worth close to $22MM with first baseman Aubrey Huff, reports Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. The deal will include a club option for 2013.
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Nice to see that the dominoes are starting to fall.
Oof. Huff had a a great year and I thought two years in San Fran as well, but not at $11M per… that’s a bit of an overpay. I thought more like 2/17 or 2/18 at the most.
Huff has had years like this before and almost never sustains it for multiple seasons. I could definitely see this becoming an albatross quickly.
I guess Belt is going to have to wait another season. Or maybe they’ll pull a Molina/Posey and trade Huff halfway through the season if Belt is dominating Triple-A. Either way Huff deserves a good contract after that year he had.
Does anyone know if Huff can play any other position?
There was some talk of him moving to left field earlier in the season to make room for Posey (pre Molina trade), but I think there is a difference between playing the outfield and playing it well, especially with the number of outfielders the Giants have.
Belt played both corner OF positions last year (about 30% of the time in AA and most of his games in AAA) so the plan may be to transition him to a full time OF. His SB/3B numbers show he should have the foot speed for the OF and he was drafted as a pitcher twice so he should have the arm for the OF. My guess is that the Giants roll with DeRosa in LF until July and then bring Belt up to take over LF.
$11m/year for Huff = mistake
2/22 for Huff? I mean they did win the WS and all but come on..
Huff deserves it. He’s a great clubhouse presence, seems to be a really good guy, he’s a hard worker, entertaining, and is fun as hell to watch on the diamond. He was a 10 million player this year, so even if he plays at a value of 7 each the next two, the Giants still get three years for about 8 each. Consider the extra 4 mil a bonus for this year 😉
Granted this is only a 2 year deal but this is why teams get suckered into bad contracts. They pay top dollar for a player that most likely won’t give it the same results as before. Then again, they may be considering the value he brings to the clubhouse which none of us will know the true value for sure. Either way $11MM/yr is pretty laughable for a guy like Huff. There’s no way they’re going to be able to trade him later if they try.
Huff – 2010 WAR – 5.9. 3 million dollars.
Hiroki Kuroda – 2010 WAR – 4.2. 15 million dollars.
Aramis Ramirez – 2010 WAR – 3.58. 18 million dollars.
Hiroki Kuroda – 2010 WAR – 4.2. 15 million dollars.
Mark Teixeira – 2010 WAR – 4.2 – 21 million
Todd Helton – 2010 WAR – 0.4 17 million dollars.
Above Chase Utley, Joe Mauer, Ichiro, Brian McCann, Adrian Gonzalez, Jayson Werth, Hanley Ramirez, Konerko, could go on and on.
I am all for seeing if he can sustain – The last time he was in the same place for two straight years was Baltimore, 2008, and he hit .304 with 32 HR and a silver slugger.
So in 2010, his SO were close to the same, his BB were way up, and he scored 100 R, while playing 3 different positions and made three errors total. 9th in the NL in defensive WAR (and 5th in fielding %).
All I am saying is – Remember all the articles saying “meh” or “This is stupid” when he was signed? And hell, wouldn’t Giants fans WANT guys like JT Snow, Will Clark and Huff around to mentor Brandon Belt (if he’s the new savior at 1B)? The Giants have ALWAYS been good at honoring their veterans and retirees, and history, and Huff made history for the Giants this year.