With today’s signing of David Freese, the Pirates became the latest club to strike a fairly low-dollar, one-year pact with an established veteran. Among the other position players who weren’t bound by a qualifying offer and ended up signing during camp were Juan Uribe (Indians), Austin Jackson (White Sox), and Pedro Alvarez (Orioles).
Interestingly, it was quite possible to imagine several of those names ending up with the other clubs that made late-breaking deals. Now that the chips have fallen, let’s take a closer look at the fits:
David Freese, Pirates, $3MM: Freese fills an immediate need with Jung Ho Kang expected to miss time early, and will apparently take up the right-handed side of a platoon at first base alongside fellow offseason addition John Jaso. While Michael Morse and Sean Rodriguez also could have fit there, they could spend time in the outfield. And it’s worth noting that Pittsburgh could ultimately mix things around by moving Jordy Mercer out of full-time duties at short, as Kang did play in 60 games there last year.
Juan Uribe, Indians, $4MM: Cleveland reportedly preferred Uribe to Freese, and paid a bit more to add the older option. He does seem to carry a bit more upside, with better recent results at the plate and in the field, though he’s also been held to active part-time duty in recent years. There’s no question that the organization filled a need with the move, but it’ll be interesting to see whether Uribe or Freese turns out to be the better performer in 2016.
Austin Jackson, White Sox, $5MM: Jackson is yet another player that could have ended up in Cleveland, but instead he’ll suit up for the division-rival White Sox. Again, the fit is evident: Chicago added a quality defender up the middle, enabling Adam Eaton to play in the corner while decreasing the need to rely on Melky Cabrera and Avisail Garcia. It would be a surprise at this point if Jackson were to return to the power/speed combination he showed earlier in his career, but he’s only 29 and has a reasonable floor given his solid glovework.
Pedro Alvarez, Orioles, $5.75MM: Baltimore probably didn’t have quite as much to offer Jackson as did Chicago, since center field remains the realm of Adam Jones, but it’s arguable that he’d have represented a better fit. As it is, though, the O’s have added another impressive power bat to their lineup; it’s easy to forget that, in the midst of defensive struggles, Alvarez hit 27 home runs and slugged .469 last season. The move also means that Mark Trumbo will spend significant time in the corner outfield, though, which carries quite a bit of risk.
So, which of these moves looks best to you?
I’m surprised the Alvarez signing is leading the poll right now, considering Trumbo now has to play in the outfield, barring an injury. I think Freese could turn out to be a steal for the Pirates.
Alvarez was always an obvious fit in Baltimore. The idea should largely be to platoon Trumbo and Alvarez. Davis remains the best right fielder on the roster so they had really better add one unless they wish to see a repeat of last year’s revolving door of disgrace or a different yet equally tired version in the form of Trumbo.. Byrd or Bruce would work.
His cost was near the same as Jackson and has averaged 29 homeruns a season despite only playing 3 full seasons out of 7. He will more than likely platoon with Trumbo as their splits line up nicely. Also by all accounts Trumbo is not as bad in the field as his reputation. Even as an average right fielder he will be a significant upgrade over David Lough, Travis Snider, De Aza, etc.
I don’t really follow the Orioles much, but if they’re going to use Davis/Trumbo in RF, who do they have as a late innings defensive guy to replace them in the field? Or, who’s available cheap to get?
Right now it’s Nolan Reimold or Joey Rickard. Rickard is interesting, he’s a rule 5 guy that looks ready to contribute at least as a speed guy with good defense. Davis will not play right field more than probably 5-10 games. I think it’s Trumbo as the right fielder with Reimold and/or Rickard as the late inning defensive replacement
“Alvarez hit 29 home runs and slugged .461 last season.”
He hit 27 home runs and slugged .469 last year. Perhaps you meant over the last three years.
Nope he a right, 27 homers and .469 slugging percentage in 2015 in 150 games. He has 81 homers over last 3 years and a career slugging percentage of .441. Missed some time in 2014 but in 2013 he had 36 homeruns. Has averaged 29 homeruns a season for his career and he’s not even 30 yet.
Yeah I must’ve drawn that stat from my post on Alvarez and mis-read it.
Why don’t the Angels go After a Byrd he still can hit and the Angels are the new cheap team perfit fit
None of the above. Ian Desmond for the win.
Nevermind I just noticed you went with players that weren’t held up by qualifying offers. Why can’t we edit posts?
I can’t select Alvarez because of how much Baltimore paid for someone who nobody else wanted. Chris Carter signed with Milwaukee for 1.5 MM. I would have thought that set the market for no field, no walk, platoon players.
I think it’s Freese or Uribe. Both guys you want in the clubhouse, both contributed offensively and defensively, and both are fits for their respective clubs. Plus, at their age 1yr makes perfect sense.
Jackson/Alvarez/Freese/Uribe in that order. Uribe was a good signing for the Indians. Alvarez/Jackson would have been better. The Indians didn’t sign Jackson/or Alvarez because Boras is their agent. The Indians don’t like Boras clients due to when Choo was an Indian. Boras wouldn’t let Choo sign an extension. Therefore Jackson/& Alvarez had to wait a long time. If they had a different agent the Indians would have signed Alvarez/Jackson in December instead of Napoli/Davis.
Yeah that’s not true. The Indians wouldn’t sign an extension because they didn’t want to fork out the money Texas did.
The late inning defensive replacement will be Joey Rickard the rule 5 guy from Tampa Bay. He has been impressing the Orioles and will make the team and could even get a good amount of starts in RF. The also have Nolan Riemold as well.
What about Ian Desmond. Possibly the best 1 year signing was left off the article
Why was the best 1 year deal left off the list…Ian Desmond.