Thanks to fangraphs new WAR, Value in Dollars and Salary features, we can easily see how much a player made vs. how much he was worth. For the Rays, getting more value for less buck is essential if the team is going to continue it's recent success. We all know Andrew Friedman has made some excellent moves via trades and signings, but now we can actually see how good those moves have been in terms of dollars.
Today, I take a look at the signings/trades of 2007. A few ground rules here:
- The player must have been acquired by Friedman prior or during the 2007 season. To qualify using "worth" a player must have had at least 150 PA's with the team during the year.
- Josh Paul and Ben Zobrist do not meet the 150 PA requirement set for using a player's worth, but they did receive a Major League Salary and are included in that portion.
- Hee-Sop Choi signed a split minor league contract for 2007. He was released before the season started, but just to show how good the other signings were, I included what would've been his entire 2007 salary.
Here is the list:
|
2007 |
BA |
OBP |
SLG |
WAR |
Salary |
Worth |
|
Wiggington |
0.275 |
0.329 |
4.58 |
0.4 |
$2.70 |
$1.60 |
|
Norton |
0.243 |
0.358 |
0.347 |
-0.5 |
$0.80 |
-$1.90 |
|
Paul |
0.190 |
0.234 |
0.248 |
-0.4 |
$0.60 |
- |
|
Navarro |
0.227 |
0.286 |
0.356 |
0.4 |
$0.40 |
$1.60 |
|
Pena |
0.282 |
0.411 |
0.627 |
6 |
$0.80 |
$24.60 |
|
Harris |
0.286 |
0.343 |
0.434 |
2.1 |
$0.40 |
$8.50 |
|
Iwamura |
0.285 |
0.359 |
0.411 |
2 |
$1.80 |
$8.10 |
|
Wilson |
0.251 |
0.291 |
0.354 |
-0.4 |
$0.40 |
-$1.50 |
|
Zobrist |
0.155 |
0.184 |
0.206 |
-1.1 |
$0.40 |
- |
|
Choi |
- |
- |
- |
- |
$0.97 |
- |
Salary & Worth in terms of Millions.
Obviously the big number that jumps out to you is Carlos Pena. After being released by the Rays at the end of spring training, the Rays ended up getting $24.6 million dollars of production from Pena for $800k. This is by far the best signing made in the Friedman Era and one of the most cost effective moves we'll ever see.
Other great values in 2007 were Brendan Harris and Aki Iwamura. Both infielders cost a combined $2.2 million, but provided over $16 million dollars of production. Ty Wiggington and Greg Norton proved to be worth less than their actual salaries in 2007 after giving great value in 2006. Again, shortstop cost the Rays a lot more than the actual production with Josh Wilson giving -$1.5 million dollars of value.
Overall Friedman spent just $9.27* million dollars on these players and got a whopping $41 million dollars worth of production thanks to Pena, Harris and Iwamura.
*includes 1.97 million in sunk costs(Zobrist, Paul, Choi)