8:46pm: Smith will earn $2.415MM, MLBTR's Tim Dierkes has learned.
8:28pm: The Rockies and Seth Smith have avoided arbitration by agreeing to terms on a one-year deal, the team announced via Twitter.
Smith, 29, was eligible for arbitration for the first time. The outfielder has been a productive offensive player thus far in his career, posting a .275/.348/.485 line in 1,449 plate appearances. The left-handed hitter is well above average against righties (.290/.364/.518) but struggles mightily against southpaws (.202/.269/.319), so he's best deployed in a platoon.
Smith, a second-round pick of the Rox in 2004, was projected by MLBTR's Matt Swartz to earn $2.6MM through arbitration.
Yay !! Now maybe the Rockies will stop trying to pass him on to everyone else .
Not likely.
do you still think the rockies will trade him i know the A’s and mariners still have intrest
Now that his price is set and potentially lower than originally expected, I would imagine the Reds will try to swoop in and trade for him if they have the firepower
There should be a package that sends Smith and Chatwood to the M’s for Figgins and Vargas
The Rockies aren’t trading any MLB pitching right now.
But they would sort of get pitching in return here, right?
i dont think they will trade chatwood but you never know what about 1 of oaklands pitchers like ross or outman
I’m okay if Smith is traded and I’m okay if he stays. He is productive and very clutch. I don’t understand why everyone hates Seth Smith.
He’s a platoon player. Those are very valuable if used correctly (if I were a Braves fan, a Diaz/Smith platoon would make me excited) but I think fans aren’t happy with the fact that teams are serious about trading a piece for Smith to be an answer. Braves fans are particular upset that Wren has been seriously considering trading Prado to the Rockies and seeing Smith as their new leftfielder since Prado seems to be a fan favorite, which I don’t them for, but they do have to realize that Prado’s value is plummeting for every inning he doesn’t play in the infield (mostly second), and I doubt that Prado plays more than 10 games at second or 30 games at third next year, not to mention Prado kind of sucked with the bat last year because of the staph.
I’m a Braves fan and would be dissapointed to see Smith in the LF spot over Prado . Not because of the fact of Prado being a fan favorite . But mainly because Prado’s career norms would be as adequate or even better than those of Smith . And Prado’s career splits would suggest that he hits RHed pitchers as well as LHed pitchers about the same . With Prado in LF , we wouldn’t have to platoon . And the Braves have struggled more so against LHed pitchers and Smith would not be able to help us in that area . He would basically be a ‘throw in’ piece in any trade with the Rockies .
I would never argue for trading Smith for Prado straight up….though if you want to talk career norms, Smith vs RHP and Diaz vs LHP is an upgraded bat over Prado. I understand where Wren is seeing the fit, and trust me, a lot of Rockies fans would’ve rather seen the Rockies platoon Smith with an Andruw Jones type player than sign Cuddyer for 30 mill. The Cuddyer signing was done because the Rockies FO viewed him as an All Star bat, for his 1B ability, and because of Tim Wheeler. We won’t trade you guys Wheeler because we see Wheeler starting in the OF when Cuddyer moves to first for the inevitable Helton injury/retirement.
I’ve always thought Smith + DJ LeMahieu made sense; in a way DJ is very similar to Prado’s contact skill and has similar minor league numbers.
I forgot the stats…..881 OPS vs RHP for Smith and .874 vs LHP for Diaz. Prado is a career .775 OPS bat,and his career best is .838.
Alternatively Smith plus Kent Matthes would make sense as well, and Matthes is a higher rated prospect than DJ but DJ being a Prado type made more sense to me.
Matt Diaz struggled last year . He also showed no power at all . I think Wren is either banking on Prado to return to his career norms or looking to acquire a LFer who can handle both LHed and RHed pitchers . We have struggled badly against lefties . So if we do go the platoon route , we may look to acquire someone for the OF who can hit LHed pitchers .
I’m not really all that familiar with the Rockies prospects past Wheeler , Blackmon or Arenado . So those names you mentioned have me clueless to their value .
Smith has been phenomenal off the bench. .336, .430, .599 in 165 plate appearances and a .321, .421, .560 line as a substitute overall. In that sense he’s been clutch, but his numbers with RISP and men on aren’t all that great. Not anything terrible, but you have to take into account that at least half of these plate appearances came at Coors where he has a career .925 OPS compared to a .798 mark away from Colorado.
Like Matt said, he’d be a solid platoon player for a lot of clubs and the Braves(I bring them up for obvious reasons) could use another guy with a decent walk rate at this point, but not at what the Rockies are/were asking. Plus, he’s no wizard with the glove and is limited to the corner outfield spots….
Smith should stay, but I’d have liked to have seen an EXTENSION rather than just this. Because, if he has an improved season his price will go sky high and the Rockies watch him walk off into free-agency. Especially after the way they shopped him like a cheap trick.
Smith is a trade piece because of the presence of Cuddyer, Blackmon, Wheeler, and Colvin. We don’t need to trade him, but it’s probably the best idea. Don’t bring out the cheap talk when the Rockies have spent money and prospects to make their team better so that they can use Smith to upgrade another position like 2B or the rotation.
You can’t… CAN’T trust Fowler, as he’s had to be sent down every single year at some point and then rebounded at the very end of the season. Smith is IMPORTANT insurance against a 3rd year of Fowler doing this in a row.
Ignoring Fowler’s MASSIVE home/away splits(which vastly improved in 2011), I think he can be trusted. He’s reached at least 505 plate appearances since becoming a full-time player in 09, he’s provided at least adequate defense, he’s affordable and under team control for a few more years, and he’s put up a .358 OBP over that span. Sure, his pre-break numbers aren’t great(his OBP is still solid though) and his base-running needs some work but production is production man. Guy was a 4-win player last season….You want him to be more consistent, but I’d rather him catch fire down the stretch than the other way around….
Alright, so I’ve been trying to come up with a reasonable trade proposal between the Rockies and Braves and I think I might have found it.
Braves get: Seth Smith, Wilin Rosario, Jordan Pecheco, and Edgar Gonzalez
Rockies get: Cristhian Martinez, Martin Prado, Freddie Freeman, and one of Arodys Vizcaino/Brandon Beachy/Mike Minor/Randall Delgado
The Rockies would have to apologize to MLB and it’s fans for allowing Dante Bichette and his face to blossom into an All-Star. Guy looks exactly like Randy from Trailer Park Boys….
I’m a Rockies fan and think thats a horrible trade from the Braves perspective. The Rockies side of the trade wouldn’t be enough to land just Freeman let alone adding 3 others. LOL
Rockies still need a 2B and another RH bat for the OF with Colvin and Blackmon on the roster, not to mention they STILL need a reliable starter to fill out the rotation.
Not sure if this helps in any of those regards, other than the presence of Colvin may free up O’Dowd’s mind with respect to moving either Wheeler or Blackmon to fill one of those needs.