Last time, I talked about FA outfielders.
So this time, let’s look at FA infielders (ignore Furcal – he ain’t coming here – and most DEFINITELY not for at least 50 mill for at least 5 years. Watch the Yanks sign him and put him in RF or something so Captain “Gold Glove” can stay put…)
(all stats from yahoo.com, espn.com and thebaseballcube.com)
(all contract info from mlbcontracts.blogspot.com)
Catchers: (note – must be BETTERN Brad Ausmus – we already got no-hit backups, so whoever would have to be a full time, like say, 120 games/ year at LEAST) Brad, by the way, just finished a 4 mill for 2 years contract.
- Alomar, Sandy TEX – um, NO
- Bako, Paul LAD – puhleeze
- Bennett, Gary WSH – OPS and OBP even worse than Ausmus – yes, it CAN happen
- Casanova, Raul CWS – even they didn’t play him
- Castillo, Alberto OAK – see Casanova
- DiFelice, Mike – NYM yeccccccchhhhhh
- Diaz, Einar STL – the backed up-est backup – he musta got maybe 10 AB last year
- Fick, Robert SD – hasn’t been a real catcher since his Tigers days 5 yers ago
- Flaherty, John – NYY – Randy Johnson’s private catcher. He staying. He also sucks (to put it nicely) – -
- Greene, Todd – COL – Club declined option for 2006 – he’s a backup who spent the last 4 years in extreme hitters parks – he’s not great, but he hits more HRs and doubls than Chavez, but he’ll be more expensive than Quintero and he’s another righty hitter.
- Hernandez, Ramon SD $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ – to put it mildly. He’s gonna get 6 or 7 mill a year for 4 or 5 years. BUT not from us.
- Hinch, A.J. PHI – Declined minor league assignment (he’s no good)
- Huckaby, Ken – TOR – Declined minor league assignment (also no good)
- Johnson, Charles – TB – puhleeze – he been outta baseball for 2 years
- LaRue, Jason – CIN Homeboy – we’ll talk about him
- Lieberthal, Mike – PHI – Club option for 2006 – well, he’s slow, can’t throw, can’t hit. nuff said
- Molina, Bengie – LAA $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ – probably going to the Mets or back to the Angels
- Perez, Eddie – ATL – we already GOT 2 backups who can’t hit
- Piazza, Mike – NYM – needs to be a DH
- Pratt, Todd – PHI – we already GOT backups – his hitting numbers are almost like Brad’s except that he slugs a little better.
- Santiago, Benito – NYM he’s retired (?did he do roids???!!!!)
- Stinnett, Kelly – ARI Declined minor league assignment – yet another backup, he gonna be 36 and he hits like Brad
- Jason LaRue – Houston boy – would like to have another homie – the Reds have Javier Valentin, maybe they’ll let LaRue walk – lessee: he gonna be 32 in March, catches 110 – 120 games/ year, had his best hitting year ever last year (still not exactly Piazza 99) has lifetime .243 BA, .326 OBP, .421 SLG, .747 OPS – a little bettern Brad, but not much. He was paid 3 mill this year, 2.6 mill and 1.25 mill the 2 years before
Well, forget the 2 biggies. I would think the only guy we really might could go after is La Rue – he’ll probably be more expensive than Brad, although not real too much, and I’m not sure that the few extra XBH are really worth it.
What do yall think?
-
First Base (like we need another, but let’s look for utility guys)
- Anderson, Marlon – NYM – gonna be 32, does bat lefty, lifetime OPS of .694. yeccccchhhh
- Colbrunn, Greg – TEX – I think he been hurt most of the last 2 years. He was VERY good before that – lifetime OPS .799, but he is a 1B/DH, although he did play a little 3rd, but he’d really hafta be a PH and he’s a righty.
- Franco, Julio – ATL – 1B only
- Hansen, Dave – SEA – gonna be 37 in a few weeks, spent most of his career with LA as a platoon guy, 1B/ 3B, not real too impressive – had a BAD year last year with Seattle (who didn’t?)
- Hatteberg, Scott – OAK – Club declined option for 2006 (we don’t want him neither)
- Hernandez, Jose – CLE – Mr. K – had 1 good year with Milwaukee and that was a LONG time ago.
- Konerko, Paul – CWS $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
-Lee, Travis – TB – 1B only
- Martinez, Tino- NYY – Club option for 2006 – ugh – they can keep him – if you can’t make it in St. Louis, we don’t wantcha neither
- Mientkiewicz, Doug – NYM – Club declined option for 2006 – 1B only
- Millar, Kevin – BOS – um, he might could think bout Japan
- Offerman, Jose- NYM – I do NOT understand how it is possible this guy keeps getting ML jobs he so bad
- Olerud, John -BOS – most likely staying there – 1B only
- Palmeiro, Rafael – BAL – the absolute STUPIDEST person to ever play baseball. Makes Rube Waddell look like a rocket scientist. He gone from baseball and I’ll bet forever. Dumbass.
- Perez, Eduardo – TB – 36 year old righty – we’ve seen him for years – 96 – 98 with Cincy then 99 – 03 with the Cards. He’s spent the last 2 years with the D-Rays. He’s an actual utility guy, plays 1st, 3rd, RF and LF. Lifetime .247 BA, .326 OBP, .429 SLG, .755 OPS. He isn’t as handy with the glove as Viz or as good with the bat as Palmeiro…
- Saenz, Olmedo – LAD – they need his bat – they ain’t got much and I think he’ll probably stay.
- Snow, J.T. – SF 1B only – good glove, too. still.
- Sweeney, Mark – SD 1B and OF – 36 YO lefty. He’s been all over, is a bench/platoon guy and is pretty good. Had a career year with the Padres in that tough pitchers park last year – .294 BA, .395 OBP, .466 SLG and .861 OPS over 221 AB. Unusual to have a career year at age 35 (I can just hear Mccain and Bunning from here) but his lifetime stats are .262 BA, .356 OBP, .404 SLG and .760 OPS. Salary $550 K and has been 400 – 500 K for several years. Worth thinking about if the Pads don’t want him back…
- Ward, Daryle – PIT bad glove, not consistent at the plate – don’t think we want him back
Tags: Houston Astros, MLB
All I see is your fab expose of MLB over-expansion by about 10 teams. Didn’t realize there was so much OLD, SLOW, DUMB, INEPT, OVER-PAID, SPOILED junk on the trash pile. Who the hell pushed for 30 “MLB” teams? It’s looks like we have 20 MLB franchises plus 10 barnstorming “House of David” teams. The joke’s on us, kids, for taking all this no-talent sludge seriously.
Well, we need to bring back Ausmus if we want Clemens. Ausmus + LaRue would be good. Ausmus is getting a bit old to be the regular catcher anyway.
I kind of like the idea of offering Nomar a total incentive laden contract. He’s got a good bat and his defense is servicable, but definitly not Everett quality. The question then would be what would we do with Everett? Trade him? Keep him for a defensive replacement? Put him on the bench for insurance WHEN Nomar goes down? I like Everett a lot and it would be sad to screw him like that. But with Bags locked at 1st and Purp’s love for Burke and Lane, I really don’t see where else we can significantly upgrade the offense. Glad I’m not the GM.
hi yall!!
well robby, don’t know bout teams 21 – 25, but i can tell you fer SHER that teams 26 – 30 were added cuz the owners wanted the fees to pay for collusion.
but gotta agree with your about a lot of el cheapo filler…
- annie, you right about ausmus and clemens. and i think you right bout making him the catcher for clemens and pettitte and larue the catcher for whoever else
- jason, i made the same sort of comment over at baseballmusings and was surprised bout reading comments like NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO we luv adam, he ROOLS, don’t get rid of him
i mean, i do LUV the guy, but we gotta get offense from SOMEwhere and i can’t see biggio or baggy getting better. who knows, maybe willy taveras will turn into rickey henderson…
lisa
Oh gosh, I hope not. Then we’ll hear interviews where Taveras will start talking with the reporters and saying things like, “WillyT is done working the count ’cause WillyT’s gotta RUN!” and “Willy is not interested in hitting with men on base because they GET IN MY WAY!”
Perhaps we can persuade him to use a different mentor — i’m thinking lou brock works, but i’ll settle for biggio…
As we know, TB, FLA, COLO, and Ariz were the franchises awarded in the 27-30 expansion. The teams which were added when MLB expanded from 20-26 teams were; Toronto, KC Royals, San Diego, Montreal/Washington, Seattle Pilots/Milwaukee, Seattle Mariners.
I do know that the Mariners were hastily added as a result of a lawsuit filed for the loss of the Pilots to Milwaukee, after just one season in Seattle. Why baseball felt is was necessary to put the expansion Royals in KC just two years after the A’s moved to Oakland, who knows? KC was always a Triple A market with a major league presence from 1955, forward. Montreal and Toronto probably got in just to add an “international” flavor, although given the fact that they are/were North American franchises just north of the U.S. border, it seems like frivolous thinking.
San Diego made the most sense – nice weather, growing population base, etc. Putting a franchise in the Kingdome all those years was a dirty trick to play, even on the people of Seattle, if you ask me. My hindsight take is that if there were no franchises in Kansas City, Tampa Bay, Miami, Denver (with its video pong venue), and Montreal prior to the Washington relocation, and Oakland, the sport would be much better off for about a dozen obvious reasons. We know the owners were looking to reap the windfall of the “buy in” cost to the expansion franchises, but they have been giving it back ever since the glut of bad match-ups started to take effect. I mean, don’t the Yankees miss playing the Indians and White Sox on a regular basis every time Tampa Bay comes into Yankee Stadium?
Yeah, I don’t think they should go for LaRue. He’s pretty cheap, but
considering how tight they are on salary, it’s still too much to pay
for a
guy that’s another above-average defender without a bat. We need
hitters.
That’s why I like the idea of Nomar. I don’t think that getting him
would
screw Everett. I think that Everett is enough of a team player to
realize
that we need power, and he just can’t give it to us. He’d still get
enough
playing time, in the 7th-9th innings. However, I can’t imagine Nomar
taking
an incentive-laden deal. He knows he’s not going to play 150 games
next
year, and there’s probably someone desperate enough to offer him a real
contract and just pray it pays off. So, I can’t imagine him taking it,
but
it would definitely be worth a shot. You never know.
He might take the opportunity to try to get back at Chicago for the way
they
dismissed him.
hi yall!!!
i see yall STILL not coming up with any new ideas
sigh
me neither
- robby,
SURE tha yankees missin the white sox and indians – tampa bay been kicking yankee ass…
austin,
larue isn’t such a bad hitter and he is DEFINITELY better than quintero or chavez. and annie is right – brad gettin too old to catch full time. we’ll hafta see who goes for nomar – he just might could get desperate. you think he sorry he spit on boston’s 4 years for 60 mill???!!!
lisa
If we want someone to give Ausmus more off days, how about we deal for Valentin instead of Larue? He’s a switch hitter with some power, and much cheaper than LaRue. Plus we wouldn’t ever have to lose to the Reds again on a Valentin homer…I think that’s happened in each of the last 2 seasons.