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Adam Eaton

Lots of signings

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Adam Eaton is going to the Phillies for $24M over three years.  It’s an interesting harbinger of the contracts to come–that isn’t far out of line of all the $21/3 contracts that have been signed in the last couple of years.  Eaton is a bit of an injury risk, I suppose, but there’s nothing else keeping his value down.  Aside from the obvious cases–Barry Zito, Andy Pettitte, and Jason Schmidt–the only pitchers on the market who may get bigger deals that Eaton are Gil Meche and Ted Lilly.  It would be fascinating if the market for pitching remained as people predicted, while the market for hitters exploded.

David Dellucci signed a similarly sane deal to go to Cleveland: he’s getting $11.5M over three years.  Given Casey Blake’s versatility, Eric Wedge can play the hot hand with a number of players, including Dellucci, Blake, Jason Michaels, Shin-Soo Choo, and Ryan Garko.

It looks like it’ll be Gregg Zaun, and not Rod Barajas, who serves as the Blue Jays catcher next year.  Apparently the Barajas talks hit a snag, and Zaun stepped right back in.  That means Barajas may be headed to one of Zaun’s earlier targets: San Francisco, or a backup job in New York or Boston.

Speaking of catchers, I’m sure you’re all relieved to know that Chad Moeller found a job for 2007.  He got a major-league deal to join the Cincinnati Reds, which is Wayne Krivsky’s way of saying, "Jason LaRue, you suck!"  Interesting how Brewers backup catchers stick around in the division: if Gary Bennett stays with the Cardinals, two of the worst backup catchers in baseball will be former Brewers in the NL Central.

By Jeff Sackmann

Cardinals Tidbits

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Several good items from Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

  • Scott Spiezio is resigned to a 2-year deal.
  • Jocketty’s focus seems to be on pitching at the moment: talking about Vincente Padilla, Adam Eaton, and Kip Wells, and trying to bring Jeff Weaver back.
  • Also looking for a Mark Mulder-like rotation filler–a nice thought, but I would think that a pre-FA starter would be incredibly pricey in this market.
  • Luis Gonzalez and Julio Lugo are unlikely.

By Jeff Sackmann

Adam Eaton Dealt To Rangers

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Kevin Towers made a great trade today, acquiring promising youngsters Chris Young and Adrian Gonzalez (plus Terrmel Sledge) for Adam Eaton and Akinori Otsuka.  I didn’t think a deal was imminent yesterday, but I also didn’t think Jon Daniels would surrender a comparable, younger pitcher in the trade.

In what way is Adam Eaton better than Chris Young?  Putting their numbers side by side, I’d say Young is already the preferable pitcher.  Their strikeout rates are comparable, and Young’s superior control results in fewer baserunners.  Young’s durability is an unknown, but it couldn’t be much worse than Eaton’s.  Eaton’s had a nice assist from Petco, while Young threw well in his initial exposure to the pitchers’ hell that is Ameriquest.  Throw in the fact that Young is four years away from a big payday while Eaton is right around the corner, and this looks like Jon Daniels’s first misstep.

What’s more, Adrian Gonzalez is a better bet than Akinori Otsuka.  Gonzalez hit .338/.399/.561 in his third crack at Triple A this year.  He never stuck with the Rangers, but only received 192 at-bats in the Majors.  He’s a useful player at his current level, and at 23 years old he can certainly improve.

Otsuka showed some serious signs of decline in his second Major League season.  He’s 33 years old and had a dangerously bad walk rate in ’05.  Strikeouts were down as well.  He still may be helpful to the Texas bullpen, as he appears to keep the ball in the yard.  But keep in mind that’s based on just 66 non-Petco Major League innings. 

The Otsuka-Gonzalez part of the deal is still fairly reasonable in light of each team’s needs.  Replacing Eaton with Young, however, heavily favors the Padres. 

Adam Eaton On The Block

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ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick spoke to Adam Eaton last week, and his article definitely gives the vibe that the righthander won’t be staying in San Diego past 2006. 

Eaton’s opinion of the Padres’ three-year, $17MM offer?

"It was almost like a slap in the face compared to what I’m capable of doing."

That’s an amusing statement.  Here’s my translation:

"I’ve pitched almost 800 Major League innings and have posted a medicore 4.35 ERA for my career.  I’ve never pitched more than 200 innings or had an ERA below 4 in a season, in a pitcher’s ballpark to boot.  But since I’m under 30 and don’t completely suck, I’m worth at least $10MM per season.  I’m insulted that you’ve only offered me $5MM per season."

Given that impressive resume, it’s no surprise teams are beating down the door to acquire Eaton.  No, really, they are.  These are the interested parties, according to Crasnick:

Rangers
Nationals
Tigers
Orioles
Red Sox
Cubs

Thoughts on a few of these suitors:

The Rangers have been shaky about including both Gerald Laird and Adrian Gonzalez to get a deal done, and they reportedly backed out of such a deal earlier this month.  Eaton has been below average in home run prevention throughout his career, so I’m not sure he’s the best fit for Ameriquest.  But Texas can’t count on Vicente Padilla to fill the void left by Kenny Rogers, so it’s likely they’ll bring another starter in this winter.

If Eaton could remain healthy, he’d give Washington solid starting pitching depth.  1-5, it’d go John Patterson, Livan Hernandez, Eaton, Brian Lawrence, and Ryan Drese.  Top prospect Mike Hinckley will need some time before he’s ready to step in.  A swap of Ryan Church for Eaton sounds like fair value to me, and Church would be a nice fit in left field for the Pads.

I’m not sure that the Cubs have what Padres GM Kevin Towers would want for Eaton.  Plus, the point of Hendry adding another starter was seemingly to add a durable pitcher to the mix in the event that Kerry Wood can’t make 30 starts.  Eaton is anything but durable.   

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