In an Insider-only piece, ESPN's Keith Law broke down the market for corner infielders. He lists Kevin Youkilis as the best value buy and James Loney as the worst. Both players ended the season in the AL, and here are some more links from the so-called Junior Circuit…
- Cody Ross told WEEI.com's Rob Bradford that he and the Red Sox never got close to a new deal during the exclusive negotiating period this week. "They had a ton of opportunities," said the outfielder. "We talked about this back in July and we couldn't work anything out up until the deadline. Now it only makes sense to listen to other teams."
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports says the Angels have lost leverage against Zack Greinke following the trade of Ervin Santana and the declining of Dan Haren's option. GM Jerry Dipoto still has plenty of time and pitching options available to him at this point of the offseason, however.
- Rich Dubroff of CSN Baltimore.com listed the five worst contracts in Orioles history, led by the five-year, $65MM pact given to Albert Belle. He hit a superb .297/.400/.541 in the first year of the deal, but he slid to .281/.342/.474 in year two and didn't play at all in years three, four, and five.
I looked back at Belle’s numbers. I forgot he had such a good first year with the Orioles…..after that…..not so good.
Might have been a 500 HR guy if he remained healthy.
Its a shame. Sandy Koufax-like career to a lesser extent. Huge offensive peak with little longevity.
Koufax was a pitcher, there is no comparing a pitchers career to that of a batters. He’s comparable to Juan Gonzalez’s career more than anything.
Belle was a tough guy for the Orioles fans to really rally behind and support, attitudinally speaking. This was true no matter how well he might have performed. King Peter offered him that contract reflexively and in panic mode, to counter some other big free agent signings by the Yankees that off-season. He still regrets it, and his regret has stymied is willingness to seek top free agents ever since.
When I wax nostalgic about bad Oriole contracts, Glenn Davis is near the top of my list. Total bust.
Glenn Davis came from a very bad trade not a free agent contract.
Shane-O-Mac!
I think Zack Greinke had all the leverage regardless of what the Angels did. All they did was deplete themselves of valuable depth in the event that he walked.
Agreed. If Haren is being valued around the league as a 4/5 starter then his signing with the Angels or being let go has no bearing on Greinke. Now, if we were talking about the Dan Haren of old then yes, Rosenthal would be right.
If the Angels wanted to they could easily bring someone in today to fill that 4/5 slot. Would that suddenly give them leverage with Greinke? Doubtful.
The best pitcher on the free agent market always has all the leverage was my main point.
When you lose 4 of the 5 last world series you don’t get to call it “so called”.
Not really sure what that has anything to do with anything.
What ever happened to Belle anyways? Why didnt he play out his contract, I cant recall?
In regard to Ross, I really like him for the Jays LF spot. He would be affordable, he’s dependable, a good team guy and he can get on base. I see him being an option
“What ever happened to Belle anyways? Why didnt he play out his contract, I cant recall”
Degenerative hip disorder. forced retirment from the game and why Angelos is so gunshy of FA.
Hip injury for Belle.
I don’t want Ross on the Jay’s lineup, that 7-8 million that a team gives him should end up going towards starting pitchers who have qualifying offers. The Jays have a protected first round draft pick, it only makes sense.
I pity whichever team signs Greinke. He’ll be paid like an ace even though his last three seasons have been pretty pedestrian. Must be nice to be able to live off of 2009 for so long.
They might get a (fairly) reliable pitcher (if his head is on correctly), but unless he pitches like he did in 09 he won’t be worth the money. He’s one of the most overrated pitchers in the game.
No one’s going to pay him to pitch like he did in 2009. No one pays anyone to pitch like he did in 2009.
No, but someone will (over)pay him to pitch like an ace….does his 106 ERA+ over the past three seasons scream “ace” to you?
It screams he should be getting CJ wilson money. Not Jered Weaver money and DEFINITELY not Vernon Wells money… how do you think it would make the Angels backup outfielder feel to know he’s making less money than a #2/#3 pitcher?
CJ Wilson is a questionable ace too. Look at his last season. Good pitcher, but I wouldn’t call him an ace.
He didn’t look overrated when he went back to the AL this year he was on it and went a good 6-2 in 9 starts
What are you talking about? He had a 3.53 ERA (107 ERA+) in 13 starts in the AL this year. And W/L record? come on.
Read it again. He is agreeing with you
I think he is saying 3.53 ERA is pedestrian for ace-type contract player.
Precisely. For someone who is consistently referred to as an “ace”, he’s sure been average over the past three seasons. This isn’t like a “one bad season” flukey year either. He’s been consistently average for the past three.
When you compare Greinke’s last three seasons to Anibal Sanchez’s last three seasons, Sanchez is the one with more WAR and a higher ERA+ overall, yet he’s never referred to as an “ace”.
Good for Greinke, that he will be able to parlay one other-worldly season into big $$$, but probably bad for whatever team signs him.
Neither of them are “aces.”
I completely agree. I said the same thing at another forum. He’s a major overpay.
He pitches really well on bad teams. A recipe for disaster for any big market team.
Lots of bad Orioles contracts. Segui was definitely a worst contract than Baez. Hard to put one year deals on there, but overpays for 1 year or Atkins and Mike DeJean has to be in consideration as honorable mentions just because of how absolutely awful they played.
Personally, I dont see injuries as a reason to label a contract bad. Injuries are something most players cant help. In the case of Belle he had two great years to start out the contract, for some reason the second year was labeled bad even though the numbers were still pretty stellar. Roberts,, again,, tough situation, that is also not a bad contract on the GM and ownership, Roberts was a very key franchise player that if healthy is worth the dime on that deal. Now,,, when players act out or play terrible for the contract then yes,, bad news. Its like Jays fans complaining about Vernon Wells deal, he was given the dime that he needed to stay in Toronto and then suffered injuries and so on.
Belle had a bad reputation as well so I think it stems from that ( I remember hating him when he played). He was a good player though and I do agree that the team can’t control who gets injured and the talent was certainly there.
Now the Baltimore Media is running the “Operation Apologist” angle now.
They are going to attempt to rationalize Mr Angelos’s aka Mr Cheap”O” inability to spend during this current offseason by marching out previous free agent or contract extension failures.
1st Belle was a disgrace to the uniform before he came to “Charm City” so why Angelos wanted him in an Orioles uniform in the first place is/was beyond me.
2nd The Orioles could list all their signings from 1999 to 2010 of starting and relief pitchers as abysmal. It wasn’t just Erickson and Ponson. Kevin Gregg, Mike Gonzalez and others could have easily been listed here as well.
As for the signing of Brian Roberts, it was unfortunate. What makes it even more unfortunate is the lack of drafting a potential starting second baseman. We have no one in the system that is going to replace Roberts once that contract of his is finished.
Look the bottom line is I wish the media would come right out and say Angelos is either not going to come out and spend ever again because of past failures and the fact he is a cheap”O” or because Mr Angelos is poor.
Let me recap the 3 reasons so it’s clear.
1.) Past Failure
2.) Cheap”O”
3) Poor or lack of “cash flow” wealth.
Not to mention insurance paid 75% of the last 3 years of Belle’s contract which is why they had to keep him on the 40 man roster even though he wasn’t going to play again.
I hate to keep beating this drum but as a fan of a team that missed the playoffs in the last couple of years with a top 3 team salary, cash flow is not as much of an issue. It’s how it’s spent.
Cheap “O”… They opened the season with the same payroll spent on their players as the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds.
No Jerry….you don’t have time, nor options. An an Angel fan, you dealt for Greinke with prospects, you blew up the staff (granted, Santana should go, but Harens year might have been a fluke), and not we have nobody. You better get Greinke, and soon.