Gary Matthews Jr.

I understand that Gary Matthews Jr. has been advised by his agent not to comment on the recent steroid raid to which his name was connected.  Any kind of admission might put his contract in jeopardy (although even that seems doubtful).  Like it or not, though, Matthews has already been found guilty in the court of public opinion.  This paragraph from the L.A. Times says it all:

"Asked whether he had ever used performance-enhancing substances, accidentally or otherwise, Matthews said, ’I haven’t read the story myself and I don’t have all the information. Until I get more information, that’s my position.’"

I can’t think of a good reason why he would say that if the real answer to the question was simply, "no." 

According to SI.com, Angels center fielder Gary Matthews Jr. was allegedly sent HGH in August of 2004. A number of other high-profile athletes were linked to Tuesday’s steroid raid.

Interestingly, Matthews’s big league success actually began in 2004, and his isolated power has remained steady since that season.  It seems possible that he started taking performance-enhancing drugs at the beginning of the ’04 season, but who knows.

Will the Angels be able to use this as a way out of his lousy five-year, $50MM contract?  Highly unlikely, in my opinion.  HGH wasn’t on the banned substance list until 2005, and Matthews has never tested positive for anything.  There probably won’t be any suspension and the Jason Giambi situation indicates that the Angels can’t void his contract based on this information.

Here’s a link at Matthews’s minor league teammates in ’04.  Based on the SI.com article, one of them may have been involved as well.

The Angels appear to have signed Gary Matthews Jr. to a 5 year, $50 million deal.  I recognize that this is a new market, that the teams have tons of money, that free agents are getting paid more than they would’ve been last year.  But I’m sorry, this is completely ridiculous.

Matthews has had one good season in his career.  Of course, that was last year, and it was great, so he positioned himself well for the market.  But the dude’s 32, he’d never been much above average before, he put up his good offensive numbers in a major hitter’s park, and he may not be that great of a center fielder.  Having GMJ under contract for the next five years ensures that the Angels will have an overpaid corner outfielder even after Garret Anderson’s contract runs out.

Sarge’s career line is .263/.336/.419.  According to ZiPS, Maicer Izturis is going to have a better season than that.  (I know Izturis doesn’t play center, just…eight figures for utility infielder offense?)

Now for the implications: this would seem to suggest that the Angels won’t be going after Andruw Jones or Manny Ramirez, though trading prospects for Manny would’ve been smarter than doing this.  It also might mean that Chone Figgins is expendable, though he’s coming off the worst offensive season of his career, so his trade value might not be much.

Also, we can expect the Dave Roberts sweepstakes to heat up, and perhaps see another team or two get involved with Julio Lugo, who is willing to play center field.  Just like the Juan Pierre deal, this would indicate  that Roberts will have no trouble getting the $15M/3y he’s after.  Lugo ought to have teams giving him the $32M/4y he wants, too.  Depending on how he adapts to center, Lugo could be a better player than either Pierre or Sarge, if not in 2007, for the life of their contracts.

One more thing: speaking of center fielders, you may be interested in my Hardball Times column today, which analyzes the difference in defensive skill between CFs and corner guys.  I also take a look at how Alfonso Soriano might do in center based on his 2006 performance in left.

By Jeff Sackmann