On this day seven years ago, the Angels signed Vladimir Guerrero to a five-year contract worth $90MM. The deal also included an option for a sixth year at $15MM, which was eventually picked up. Vlad hit .337/.391/.598 with 39 homers in his first year with the Halos, taking home the AL MVP award. During his six year stint in Anaheim, Guerrero was a .319/.381/.546 hitter with 173 homers, winning that one MVP and finishing in the top three of the voting two other times.
Vlad is still looking for a job this offseason, but then again so are plenty of other DH's. Here is this week's batch of links…
- Friarhood remembers Trevor Hoffman's time with the Padres.
- RE-Think The Game looks at the pros and cons of the Rafael Soriano signing.
- Baseball Time In Arlington looks at the Rangers' payroll levels in the past and going forward.
- The Process Report pictures a contract extension for David Price.
- Wahoo Blues breaks down Chris Perez's arbitration case.
- FanSpeak wonders if the Orioles should sign a DH.
- Dock of the Rays looks at how Tampa can spend some of its remaining money on the open market.
- The Sports Banter put together some productive free agent platoons.
- The Nats Blog wonders if the Nationals should flip Ian Desmond with Danny Espinosa defensively.
- Rooftop View explains why the Matt Garza deal is no good for the Cubs.
- Meanwhile, the composite believes the Garza deal helps the Yankees.
- Cubs Billy Goat Blog tries to predict the Cubs' future.
- Todd Van Poppel Rookie Card Retirement Plan is curious to know where the Athletics' infield depth is.
- Rays Prospects chatted with Baseball America's Jim Callis about Tampa's minor league system.
- Reds Minor Leagues put a dollar value on each team's farm system.
If you have a suggestion for this feature, Mike can be reached here.
i’ve always been a baseball fan, but when Vlad signed with the angels, that is probably the point where i started to get really interested in the game as a whole, how FA and the draft works, etc. I miss that guy
I clicked on the Todd Van Poppel Rookie Card Retirement Plan link, and an even more interesting read is his conspiracy theory about keeping fans out of Oakland’s stadium, in essence paving the way for their move to San Jose. Great research and a great read!
David Price would be smart to look at the bad contracts signed by Longoria, Pedroia, and Youkas before he signs long term. He would be better off going the route of
Tim Linceum.
Maybe, but he’d also be gambling that he’d be able to stay healthy through his arbitration years.
The draft doesn’t seem to produce as many star players as you think in the first round. In the last few years only 18 star players were picked in the first round. Of those 18 players 14 were in the first seven picks. Those players were picked by bottom teams. They are Zimmerman, Brawn,Tulo, Upton,Verlander, Grienke, Fielder, Gonzolez, Mauer, Texeira,Hamilton,Beckett, Longoria, and Price. Of those players only Verlander, Price, Longoria, and Beckett pitched for their original team in the world series. Beckett being the only player to win the series with the original team the marlins. That team supplimented their team with free agents to win. This would lead you to believe that you can’t win with draft picks alone, and that first round picks are more expensive and just as risky as 3rd or 4th round picks.
im pretty sure Vlad’s deal with the angels was 5 yr. at $70 mil. with the $15 million opt. which made the deal 6 yr $85 million. for a player like Vlad i think the Angels got there moneys worth. can’t say that about to many teams these days. Boy have things changed, and in only 6 years. somebody has got to put a stop to these blowup contracts. Bud Selig needs to induce a cap or scott boras needs to retire.
Is the Billy Goat blog high? No way in hell the Cubs would trade Brett Jackson for someone like Kelly Johnson. I’m really hoping that piece was written tongue in cheek.
how is the Red Sox farm system ranked 19th? Just because we got rid of Kelly & Rizzo did we drop that low?
hey man iam way desapointd on the yankees sining rafael soriano look they don’t need a reliver thy already have mariano rivera to close and a bunchof othr good relivrs in robeertson and chamberlin and ivan nova i think yankees need to look for a started not relive yankess use your brai for once and look for what you need and not what you want I HATEE THE YANKES
The soriano move was an act of desperation to make up for all the big fish they lost out on.
Yes, the Billy Goat article was tongue firmly planted in cheek.