Smart Teams v. Less Smart Teams

by R.J. Anderson on Jan 5, 2009 7:26 PM EST Comment 34 comments

Smart: Signing a DH to a short length deal.

Less smart: Signing a player who should DH to a short length deal...to play left field.

Smart: Foreseeing the market's supply of near-equal corner outfield types and waiting for prices to dictate such.

Less smart: Jumping the gun to "set the market", and ending up overpaying.

Smart: replacing a black hole with a nice bat.

Less smart: Replacing a nice bat (and poor fielder) with an older, worse, and more expensive version of said player.

Smart: Not giving up a draft pick.

Less smart: Not offering arbitration, and giving up a first round draft pick for a 36-year-old.

Smart: Obviously.

Less smart: Well...

Key

Smart: Signing Pat Burrell for 2/16.

Less smart: Signing Raul Ibanez for 3/30.

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The Good Phight is POed right now.

Rightfully, of course.

The Phillies get complementary lawn darts though. That must count for something.

"And you just don't get it, you keep it copacetic..."

by Blicks on Jan 5, 2009 7:31 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

good post

by RayOfLight on Jan 5, 2009 7:51 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I guess a good question now is what are the Rays current payroll obligations?

Some really rough math has me looking at it being close to $65 million including the buyouts. Anybody able to confirm?

by kericr on Jan 5, 2009 9:43 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Also, assuming my math is correct, the Rays might be too sunk in payroll costs right now to try to get Upton a long-term deal

Might have to wait out Percival and Bradford and Trade Wheeler before we can get something done, unless attendance takes a huge spike next year.

by kericr on Jan 5, 2009 9:47 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

That was coming tomorrow, but let me run the digits real quick to confirm.

by R.J. Anderson on Jan 5, 2009 9:49 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Okay, without arb estimates, and simply 400k for those players, I have us at 53 mil.

by R.J. Anderson on Jan 5, 2009 9:54 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

You and I have got to have some pretty steep arbitration differences to arrive at those numbers.

But you’re also likely much more qualified than I am to be guessing those.

by kericr on Jan 5, 2009 10:08 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I didn't guess them. I just put their 2008 salary.

by R.J. Anderson on Jan 5, 2009 10:09 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I need to read

I’ve got 50.5 + 4M from the Baldelli Buyout + 250k Floyd buyout – 54.75M, not including Arb-eligible players.

by kericr on Jan 5, 2009 10:14 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Hm, where are we disconnecting.

Payer 2009
Burrell 8
Pena 8
Kazmir 6
Crawford 8.25
Percival 4
Bradford 3.5
Iwamura 3.25
Wheeler 3.2
Shields 1.5
Nelson 1.3
Price 0.75
Niemann 0.4
Longoria 0.55
Balfour 0.5
Bartlett 0.4
Gross 0.4
Navarro 0.4
Upton 0.4
Garza 0.4
Aybar 0.4
Howell 0.4
Sonnans 0.4
Hammel 0.4
Zobrist 0.4

Do you see any notable errors?

by R.J. Anderson on Jan 5, 2009 10:17 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Oops

I missed Joe Nelson, and I didn’t include any of the arb-eligible players.

by kericr on Jan 5, 2009 10:19 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

It'll probably jump a decent amount with arbitration

I figure that Bartlett, Navarro, and Balfour are probably going to pull a decent chunk in arbitration so it should be over 60M when all is said and done.

by kericr on Jan 5, 2009 10:23 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

That's probably safe to say.

I wonder if Bradford and Wheeler will be dealt.

by R.J. Anderson on Jan 5, 2009 10:27 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

i want bradford to stay, but wheeler gone

bradford is only here 1 more year and wheeler was horrible the during the stretch run/playoffs. anyone think getting rid of wheeler could speed up the process of signing BJ Upton?

MLB-Rays,Marlins,Twins, and Reds
NFL-Vikings,Lions(i know Shut up),texans, and Bills
NBA-Timberwolves(also shut up),Cavilers(bye bye LeBron in '10)
NHL- Wild and Penguins
College-Gophers,Gators,Longhorns and Irish.
all of the above mentioned teams are in order by my favorites

by RaysOfHope on Jan 5, 2009 10:30 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Bradford would be easier to get rid of then wheeler

Shorter contract and a better reliever (for this team). Unless Wheeler puts up good numbers for half a season and then we find a competitive team in desperate need of a reliever for the stretch run, the Rays are probably going to be stuck with him.

by kericr on Jan 5, 2009 10:32 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

ya Bradford would be easier to get rid of, but i want to get rid of wheeler instead

i dont have any trust in wheeler anymore after playoffs, he was pitching like he was about to crap himself.

by RaysOfHope on Jan 5, 2009 10:52 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Bradford also gives you a different look out of the pen

+ nice ground balls (if you know what I mean)

by fogelberg on Jan 6, 2009 12:58 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I think you'll enjoy this

http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/oracle/discussion/rays_signed_burrell/

The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.

by pocket8pin on Jan 5, 2009 9:51 PM EST reply actions 1 recs

isn't this about the time where someeone posts a series of pictures of ibanez trying to play outfield?

by walkoffwalk on Jan 5, 2009 11:35 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

the less smart team

has a ring though.

life isn’t fair.

by RollingWave on Jan 6, 2009 12:42 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

life will be fair when bj upton holds up that WS MVP throphy next year

by RaysOfHope on Jan 6, 2009 1:36 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

i got a boner

by daveh33 on Jan 6, 2009 1:55 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I got one of these

At least for this year, Phils fans win any argument!

Bleeding Green Nation - Philadelphia Eagles Blog

by JasonB on Jan 7, 2009 3:08 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

i didn't want to resort to that but...

you are absolutely right!

by PHIGHTINPHILS on Jan 7, 2009 3:49 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

stats...

first off let me say, Pat the Bat, P the B, Peanut Butter, whatever else i’ve happily called him over the past 9 years… you will be missed tremendously…

now to the brass tax…

Raul has hit over .280 since 2001 w/a career avg. of .286 wheras P the B went over .280 only twice (.281 and .282 so just barely) in the same span w/a career avg of only .257…
Mr. Ibanez has posted 338 RBI’s in the last 3 yrs as opposed to Pat’s 278…
Doubles over the last 3 years – Pat = 83; Raul = 111
Triples over the last 3 years – Pat = 4; Raul = 13

just a few things to mull over
dont get me wrong i LOVE pat… my season tickets at citizens bank park were in left field for the last 3 years…
also burrell vs. u guys in the WS: 0.71 avg, 1 hit (a double), 5 walks, 5 strikeouts…
we’ll see how ‘less smart’ and ‘smart team’s do this coming season… keep in mind, ‘less smart’ beat ‘smart’ in the ‘big game for all the marlbes’ (since we aren’t using any team names)…

by PHIGHTINPHILS on Jan 6, 2009 5:27 PM EST reply actions 0 recs