Boo Birds

by R.J. Anderson on Dec 30, 2006 1:00 PM EST

The Baltimore Sun is reporting the Orioles have offered former Rays 3B / OF / DH / resident jerk Aubrey Huff a 3 year, 18 million dollar offer. If I'm Huff I take it, then prepare for the 'Johnny Damon effect' once I return, possibly some cheers for giving the team your services at a high level (and that screws Tubs Hall) and then nothing but an array of boos for badmouthing the town and really just being 'above the team'.

The O's are building a nice stable of ex-Rays with Danys Baez (whom I have no beef with other than he's quite possibly the most overrated relief pitcher in the game), Chris Gomez, and now the Huffster. Gleefully I shall finally hear Dewayne Staats call the following "A slow grounder to second and Huff is retired." without slamming my head against my desk.

Update [2006-12-30 19:26:38 by R.J. Anderson]: The Sun is now reporting the deal has been signed, 3 years, 20 million.

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Hmm

Their choices are Huff and Craig Wilson. Oddly, I'm not sure I wouldn't take Wilson.

by Not That Chuck on Dec 30, 2006 4:24 PM EST reply actions

I would take a look at Wilson honestly..

I believe he was on 'my list', though I'm not sure Dustan Mohr isn't as good of an option for us.

by R.J. Anderson on Dec 30, 2006 4:52 PM EST reply actions

Considering the market

This wasn't really that bad of a deal for the Orioles. If Huff could ever deliver some balanced production in the first half, it may even be worth it.

by Patrick L. Kennedy on Dec 30, 2006 6:51 PM EST reply actions

If he's their answer for LF

I'm not sure I like him over Craig Wilson all that much then....

by R.J. Anderson on Dec 30, 2006 6:55 PM EST up reply actions

I'm not a big Craig Wilson fan

to be honest. The guy is the definition of an 'all or nothing' hitter. He hits for a mediocre average, and K's an obsenely high amount. He has nice power... and that's about all I can say for him. Basically, a slightly improved, right handed version of Russ Branyan.

by killa3312 on Dec 30, 2006 11:57 PM EST reply actions

I must agree with you

Huff is inconsistent, but he is a pretty balanced hitter.

by Patrick L. Kennedy on Dec 31, 2006 1:52 AM EST up reply actions

Yeah

He grounds out to both sides of the infield relatively well.

by Not That Chuck on Dec 31, 2006 12:23 PM EST up reply actions

Dang...

you beat me to it.

by R.J. Anderson on Dec 31, 2006 12:28 PM EST up reply actions

Huffster

Well, who got the better deal Marlins with Aarone Boone at 1 Mil per year or O's with Huff at 6 mil per.

I don't have numbers in front of me but seems like the contract Huff signed is not much more than deal our previous GM signed him to.
I fault his agent for bad advice in not having his client overpriced for the market which hurt his bargaining ability.

That stated, I think O's got a nice signing here.

DRAYS BAY

Baseball Happpenings

by David Bloom on Dec 31, 2006 3:23 PM EST reply actions

Oh Aaron Boone is terrible

Expecting an already poor player to do anything in that pitcher's park is expecting too much.

by Patrick L. Kennedy on Dec 31, 2006 6:27 PM EST up reply actions

but..

he's Aaron F'n Boone, also Pat, nice job on the new header thingy....

by R.J. Anderson on Dec 31, 2006 6:31 PM EST up reply actions

That will not last

The header is going to be tweaked somewhat from its current form so that the color of the header matches that of the sidebar headers. But thanks for the compliment.

by Patrick L. Kennedy on Jan 1, 2007 2:02 AM EST up reply actions

Patrick...

by R.J. Anderson on Jan 1, 2007 10:59 PM EST up reply actions

Hah!

Boone is basically this year's Wes Helms for the Fish (corner infielder off the bench/pinch hitter). The signings don't really compare.

by Not That Chuck on Dec 31, 2006 7:32 PM EST up reply actions

they absolutely

don't compare. But, how sad is that Huff was reduced to point that O's got such a good deal. I mean for what Angels shelled out for Mathews Jr. who has one year of a track record of production for twice the money Huff got.

DRAYS BAY

Baseball Happpenings

by David Bloom on Dec 31, 2006 10:10 PM EST reply actions

The thing is

Aubrey Huff is no more than a DH who can occasionally play some 1B or 3B, while Matthews Jr. is a medicore CF. Matthew's big contract is based off a career year and one overplayed catch.

Huff has nothing to show for himself, same old horrible defense and 2nd half hitting.

by Jacob Larsen on Dec 31, 2006 10:16 PM EST up reply actions

How is any of that superior to Huff?

Matthews certainly isn't worth $4 million more off of the difference in his defense and Huff is a superior hitter. Your hatred of ex-Rays is clouding you judgement, Huff wouldn't hold every significant offensive record in this club's history if he was as bad as you say he is.

by Patrick L. Kennedy on Jan 1, 2007 2:01 AM EST up reply actions

2 Things

I don't hate every ex-Ray, just ones who go out of their ways to run their mouths(Hall and Huff, basically). Huff was running his mouth for the majority of his time here, especially AFTER we signed him to an extension. Who goes on a country music station just to complain about your employer. Wait, isn't "I hate my job" one of the categories for country music songs? Goes along with "I lost my girl/dog/house/pick-up truck."
Huff holds every significant offensive Rays record because there's not much to the record. The Rays history isn't full of unbreakable records hit by offensive dynamos. It's just a matter of time before Crawford, Rocco, Gomes or someone else break Huff's easily breakable records.

by Jacob Larsen on Jan 1, 2007 10:39 AM EST up reply actions

Every player that has been jettisoned

You've made some remark like "don't let the door hit you on the way out" about every player this offseason, regardless of whether they were an ass or not. Harper and Hollins, two people generally considered to be very nice guys who have done a lot for this organziation while keeping their mouths shut, you have been ragging on all offseason. Do I want them back next year? No, but I give them a bit more due for their time spent here than you do.

I will re-interate. EVERY OFFENSIVE RECORD. No matter how bad this team is, you have to be a pretty good hitter to wipe clean the record book of a baseball team, and Huff qualifies in that respect. He has an .819 career OPS for a reason. Do I like the guy? Absolutely not, but I won't deny that he is a good hitter.

The thing is, with every signing of an ex-Ray by another team this offseason, you have called seemingly every one a bad move. Not all the players we let go suck, and not all of the contracts are bad. This happens to be one of the good signings.

by Patrick L. Kennedy on Jan 1, 2007 9:22 PM EST up reply actions

Only two ex Rays I dislike..

Huff and Hall....Hall just plain sucks as a ball player, and Huff while he was a good player for us, his little 0-22 streak w/RISP didn't make me shed a single tear. If the O's want to pay Huff for .190 through July then more power to them, gives us an automatic out and a new object of dis-affection to go along with Fatty.

My favorite ex-Rays : Lance Carter, Jason Tyner, Julio Lugo, Jared Sandberg (for purely comical reasons), Midre Cummings (same as Sandberg), and Fred McGriff.

by R.J. Anderson on Jan 1, 2007 9:46 PM EST up reply actions

Also I won't comment for Jake..

But for myself when I did the 'goodbye letter' to Perez and Meadows, it was tongue in cheek and to express that I'd personally rather have two guys like Elliot Johnson and Juan Salas doing average or below than two older vets with little to no upside. I do honestly hope for the best for Meadows, Perez, Hollins, ect. even if I'd acted like I dislike them...

by R.J. Anderson on Jan 1, 2007 9:48 PM EST up reply actions

I agree with you completely

I don't disagree with the personnel decisions made, but rudely-worded statements expressing glee at the misfortune of players who served this team well with regards to fan/community relations is a bit unecessary, if I do say so myself.

by Patrick L. Kennedy on Jan 1, 2007 10:46 PM EST up reply actions

Well

Rudely worded comments to media, paper or radio, for no apparent reason than airing personal gripes is a bit unnecessary...if I do say so myself.

That's bush league, wait, "minor league".

by Jacob Larsen on Jan 1, 2007 10:51 PM EST up reply actions

Toby...

get away from the computer, we all know you do enough 'e-mailing' to ruin your wrist.

by R.J. Anderson on Jan 1, 2007 10:53 PM EST up reply actions

I wasn't referring to Toby Hall

I really don't care what you say about him, he's a jackass. I was talking more about Harper and Hollins.

by Patrick L. Kennedy on Jan 1, 2007 11:13 PM EST up reply actions

I don't like them either

And any statements expressing disgust at them are welcome in this writer's opinion, but for the production Huff gives the O's, no matter how imbalanced it may be, $6 million is worth it.

by Patrick L. Kennedy on Jan 1, 2007 10:43 PM EST up reply actions

6 MIL is worth it?

To live through his normal 1st half "slumps" and his constantly decreasing 2nd half stats?

Nah, I'd take my risks with Craig Wilson or Aaron "Bleepin'" Boone.

by Jacob Larsen on Jan 1, 2007 11:02 PM EST up reply actions

Well, then you aren't interested in winning

You moan about Huff's first half swoon like Wilson isn't prone to very skewed splits. Why spend about near what you would for Huff for a player who sucked last year with New York and is essentially Russ Branyan plus.

And Boone? Please. He of the .677 and .684 OPS over the last two years?

by Patrick L. Kennedy on Jan 1, 2007 11:12 PM EST up reply actions

It's Baltimore

Look at their farm system(except for Brandon Erbe and Billy Rowell) and 90% of their roster, they're definitely not interested in winning.

Peter Angelos is interested in the Nationals being moved away from his turf and vetoing any decisions that his front office makes.

by Jacob Larsen on Jan 1, 2007 11:55 PM EST up reply actions

None of that matters

I said that you taking Wilson or Boone over Huff means that the team you would, proverbially, be running is not interested in winning.

by Patrick L. Kennedy on Jan 2, 2007 1:11 AM EST up reply actions

Get the facts straight

None of these ex-Rays, especially one Aubrey Huff, are "franchise" players. Every one of them had huge flaws, whether it be character or on-the-field, that stand in the way of them every becoming "great" players.
I posted the "Na Na Na Na" thing in regards to Hollins, nothing more. I honestly had no ill will towards the guy, but I'm glad that we figured out that we could do much better than D-Holl as our 4th OFer.
22-29 W-L record, a career ERA of 4.93 and a career WHIP of 1.43 in 411.2 IP. While Harpo was a model citizen, I'll give you that, he wasn't a good reliever. His best years were in 2003 and 2004, when he managed to keep his ERA under 4. Those 2 years are the only things seperating Harpo from having a career ERA over 5. He racked up innings, but he wasn't that good in many of them.
Rays fans have to temper their devotion to, dare I say, mediocre players that are basically "roster fillers". Huff, on the other hand, may have statistically been one of the best Devil Rays of all time but we've got far better players on the team and in the wings that are going to make us forget every frosty 1st half that Huff brought to the Rays.

My problem is, some of us overrate some of the players that we lose. Lugo, before us, was nothing more than a fringe major leaguer for Houston who was more worried about "off-field" problems than playing for the Astros. We made him better, but we knew that he's not a key piece to this franchise.

Same goes for Huff, same goes for Harpo and same goes for just about every "alright" player that the Rays have sent away in some way or form.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

by Jacob Larsen on Jan 1, 2007 10:43 PM EST up reply actions

Eh...most players

like Tomas and Hollins are said to suck until they are released or hurt, then everyone hopes for their best a la Doug Waechter.

by R.J. Anderson on Jan 1, 2007 10:46 PM EST up reply actions

Get the Facts Straight

No one has ever said anything remotely close to that, at all. Of course they're not franchise players, but they are useful role players who will help the teams they signed with. They don't need to be great players, all they need to be is serviceable and add some production to the lineup, and Huff and Lugo do that with their respective teams.
We can do better than Hollins as a fourth outfielder? Sure we can, but I don't see who on the current roster really represents this upgrade. You routinely bash Elijah Dukes as a malcontent and considering that you think Upton should be in Triple A to whom, exactly, are you referring?
My problem is not with the departure of underperforming players, it is with the extremely awkward glee that some take in their departure. The move makes sense, yes, but for players who never have done anything stupid to disgrace this organization and have been class acts, the enthusiasm at their departures seems very out of place.
Certain Rays fans need to stop letting their personal dislike of ex-players and/or the teams they sign with get in the way of objective analysis of those players. I have not once advocated anything other then terminating the relationship between underperforming players and the organization, and you know that quite well. However for those among the departing players that were exemplary citizens with the ballclub, something other than excessive glee needs to meet their departure. The present and future of this team are irrelevant to the observation of Huff. When you said "Huff, on the other hand, may have statistically been one of the best Devil Rays of all time", you said it all. There is nothing more to argue. The statistics illustrate that your decidedly over-negative impression of Huff's play is simply unfounded.

No one is overrating any players, however you vastly underrate them to serve your interests as seeing the present team in a better light, which is quite unnecessary, as the current team can stand by itself. Numerous players over the course of their career improve, many from minor league journeymen to stars commanding large contracts. Lugo is one of those such players, not a star and not getting a huge contract, but a good player for his position who was given a salary right in the area of what was expected. I think that bringing Lugo back would have been a decent move at the right price, but I lost no sleep over not being able to do it.

And your comment about his off-field issues is quite odd. Please, what is your rationale for connecting Lugo's performance in Houston with the false criminal charges filed against him?

by Patrick L. Kennedy on Jan 1, 2007 11:05 PM EST up reply actions

Painting pictures is for Picasso

1. In Patrick-like fashion, you post stuff without even knowing the complete story.

I've got a dislike for Lugo, that is true, but it's a dislike for him as a player but not as a person. What confuses me the most is how, until he had 1 year left before Free Agency, he basically put up the same stats with year-by-year slight improvements mixed in and all of a sudden he become a "star in the making" and a 9 MIL/Year Free Agent? He's an aging short-statured shortstop, so why did baseball suddenly forget that?

Huff, on the other hand, is "The Greatest Ray of all Time" who tallied 128 HRs and other easily breakable team records. We've got 2 players who are 3-4 20-HR seasons from easily breaking that record and the others, before they turn 28. That's completely disregarding Gomes and Young, who are 2 players who have the potential to be 25+ HR hitters before they reach their "peak" years. Huff's feats aren't as god-like as your making them out to be.

While I do call Dukes a malcontent and an all-around problem-child, I can't stop the NDRO from making decisions and it seems like they're hell-bent on getting Dukes ABs. I can't disregard his potential, but I'm never going to be wearing a Dukes jersey. Damon Hollins can't even stand on AubreyT's "Superman"'s cape. You're right, I do think that Upton needs to be in AAA. He's worthless right now, as a fielder and as a hitter. Either trade him or get him psychiatric help, seeing as something's blocking him from getting over his ego and mental lapses.
Harper has done nothing to disgrace the organization? HA, I say! Wasn't he the same pitcher to give up 9 Runs in one inning, twice? He may have been a great guy to be around, but he surely wasn't a great reliever. I take glee in his departure, seeing as he hasn't been anything more than a bullpen pitcher as a Rays pitcher. Hollins was a career AAA hitter, before we were forced to sign him due to 2 fluke injuries happening to our starting CF. What are Harper and Hollins doing now? One is going to Japan, probably to finish his career, and one has no job because Lou can't possibly talk Hendry into signing Harper with a straight face.
Outside of Huff's offensive numbers, what has he done as a Devil Ray? The correct answer is field horribly and whine....the organization that loosened up the purse-strings to sign him to an extension sure deserved continual rips and jabs, didn't it? Surely, I have no reason to bash him unmercifully...he's such a great man and a hero to Devil Rays fans everywhere. We should build him a statue outside of the Trop, right beside a Jose Conseco and Fred McGriff one, and bow/praise it on a daily basis for we were never worthy to sit in his prescence. He, in fact, was the only man to ever knock the famed Chuck Norris off his feat...using only his pinkie finger.

Rays fans don't overrate players? Ha! I must remind you of many message board threads which there was heated arguments on whether or not it was dumb to trade Lugo, rather than resign him. Or how we shouldn't have traded Mark Hendrickson, with the season that he was having for the Rays in 2006?

by Jacob Larsen on Jan 1, 2007 11:52 PM EST up reply actions

Ah yes

It is me that, of course, doesn't know the whole story. Never you, of course not.

I don't think Lugo is a star in the making, but he is certainly serviceable, and while $9 million is a bit of an overpayment, I think that Lugo will certainly hit well for Boston and be a good presence. His hitting stats speak for themselves. Everyone is aging, but that doesn't mean Lugo is old.

Once again, you don't seem to understand what I'm saying. Huff is the best Devil Ray hitter ever, right now. I never made him out to be a god, I don't know where you got that, but his hitting stats speak for themselves. He is quite good.

What is the alternative for Dukes? He can't go back to Durham, and his hitting speaks for itself. What are you going to do about him? It isn't an optimal situation, certainly, but Dukes is clearly a great hitting prospect, why not give him ABs.

If you are going to send Upton to Durham, you might as well release him. He has nothing to gain down there, he didn't make it to the majors with the great hitting stats he put up several years ago, and his defense will either be good, or it won't. It doesn't matter where he plays. The potential that he holds dictates that you handle him differently from other prospects.

You seem to once again confuse my sentiments about those players. I never said that they were decent, but rather upstanding citizens that represented the DRO well. He was no worse of a releiver than a lot of the other pitchers we had over the years, and gave us two good seasons. If you think giving up nine runs in an inning once constitues a player being a disgrace, than you had better start naming out all of the elite starting pitchers that have had bad starts at one time or another and bombed in their first couple innings.

And then you blabber further by saying things that imply incorrectly that I have anything nice to say about Aubrey Huff. I never said that he was a good person to have around the DRO, and I never said that he didn't deserve to be bashed. I merely said that he is the best player statistically to put on a Rays uniform, and there is nothing you can cite to dispute that.

Rays fans overrate departed players by the same amount that you underrate them. However personally, I never said that the Lugo trade was a mistake, and certainly not the Hendrickson trade.

by Patrick L. Kennedy on Jan 3, 2007 12:10 AM EST up reply actions

Overplayed?

That catch was awesome. That beats the catch that Ken Griffy Jr broke his wrist on and Jim Edmonds catch with the Angels in my opinion. I look forward to seeing it every time it's on. Overplayed would be the media coverage of Dice-K and the Bo Sox and/or anything Gammons finds noteworthy.

by SeanDubbs on Jan 1, 2007 2:08 AM EST up reply actions

Do not blame Huffs agent

Considering Huffs numbers the past two years the contract is not bad. Take a look:
2002-2004 .307/.362/.524
2005-2006 .263/.328/.446

That bottom line looks an awful lot like Shea Hillenbrand.

When you look at Sean Casey's deal ( 1yr 4 million) Huffs deal looks even better.

by TomT on Jan 1, 2007 1:05 PM EST reply actions

The difference between Shea and Huff is...

Shea is mediocre for the entire season, ending with respectable numbers. Huff, on the other hand, sucks horribly in the 1st half and turns it on in the 2nd Half.

My question for Baltimore is, how many "meh" corner OF options is too many? Why sign Huff for 3 years, you'd waste less money trading for him at the deadline when he's starting to heat up?

by Jacob Larsen on Jan 1, 2007 3:37 PM EST up reply actions

Re: Painting pictures for Picasso

Lugo's OBP and Slugging since 2003
2003 .333/.427
2004 .338/.396
2005 .362/.403
2006 .341/.421

I do not see the big spike in production.

As far as being a short-statured shortstop, well he at least 3 inches taller than Eckstien, 6 inches taller than Patek and as tall as Ozzie, Reese, Rizzuto, Bowa, Vizquel, Guillen, Harrelson etc all players who performed as well in there 30-34 yo seasons as they did in there late twenties.

by TomT on Jan 2, 2007 8:30 PM EST reply actions