Jim Leyland went ahead and smoked my prediction before game 7 even started as Neifi Perez gets the starting nod over Brandon Inge. There’s always a pinch-hit opportunity, I guess.
Tuesday: 04.10.2007
Stolen Thunder
Well, I had been absent for a few days and so I guess that’s what I get for dropping the ball. I was going to talk a bit about Brandon Inge and his early season woes, but Billfer beat me to the punch yesterday! While Inge isn’t concerned and thinks he’s really close, Billfer is a tad less optimistic. I tend fall somewhere in between the two. Billfer points to Inge’s contact rate being 6% off of his career rate as a negative whereas I see that as reason to easy up on the panic button. Inge thinks he is taking perfect swings, but dealing with a bit of bad luck. Could it be that perhaps, as Billfer says, Inge’s newfound level of patience has been a detriment? I would say no. Frankly, it is just too early to make sweeping judgments one way or the other. I am impressed with the effort by Billfer as always, though. I’ll go ahead with my first in-season prediction and say that Inge gets his first hit tonight against Jaret Wright, who enters the game with a 15.43 ERA.
Thursday: 04.5.2007
Game 3: Postponed
After a wild, windy win yesterday, the Tigers will have an unscheduled off day thanks to the weather. The game will be made up on September 10th, which is funny because playing it then runs the same weather risk they encountered today. I only caught the condensed version of yesterday’s game and there was plenty to like from an offensive standpoint. There is going to be anytime you put up 10 runs, but the lineup left 31 runners stranded including eight from Brandon Inge. As a team, the total was 12.
My favorite stat from yesterday: 9 walks including three from Magglio Ordonez. Three of the walks did come against Victor Zambrano, who could find away to walk someone that swung at every pitch. It doesn’t matter, though, nine walks against eight strikeouts works for me regardless of who it comes against. Curtis Granderson had a great day with two hits including a grand slam, five RBIs, a walk and a stolen base. He did strikeout twice, but he gets pass with that kind of stat line.
I’m really getting worried about Fernando Rodney, who imploded once again allowing two runs on three hits in two-thirds of an inning. I like how the bullpen shapes up to shorten the game, but it is not going to work until Rodney gets his act together.
The team heads to KC for three starting tomorrow 7:10 Central.
The best news of yesterday came when the MLB announced that they struck a deal with iNDemand to keep the MLB Extra Innings on digital cable. I was content to use MLB.tv especially with their premium feed coming through very nicely, but now that I have cable (I didn’t last year), I want to be able to watch games on TV.
Tuesday: 04.3.2007
Opening Day: Spoiled by the Jays
While the end result wasn’t exactly what the Tigers fans would’ve have wanted, there was plenty to like about game 1 of the 2007 season. Jeremy Bonderman struggled in the first inning, but settled down and was locked in with five goose eggs. And while he did allow three runs in that first inning, he wasn’t really roughed instead the Jays nickel-and-dimed him. They even went strongly against their general philosophy in the first inning with two stolen bases. A blooper that fell in between Craig Monroe and Carlos Guillen led to the third run.
Even more impressive than Bonderman getting back on track, was the fact that the offense didn’t allow the three-run first to be the end of it despite facing Roy Halladay. The team as a whole looked markedly more patient this game than they did at any point during 2006. Curtis Granderson did strikeout once, but looked very solid at the plate going 2-for-5. Placido Polanco picked up where he left off in the playoffs going 3-for-5 with a run batted in. Gary Sheffield was 0-for-3 in his Detroit debut, but did notch two sacrifice flies that helped the Tigers draw even at 3 before heading to extra innings.
Fernando Rodney looked very similar to his two appearances that I saw in Lakeland. The non-roster invitees he was facing late in those games didn’t make him pay nearly as much for his mistakes as the Blue Jays did yesterday. He stuff wasn’t necessarily off, but he couldn’t close hitters out despite getting ahead. Billfer notes that during a part of last year, pitching coach Chuck Hernandez was trying to Rodney to rely less on the changeup and look more to the fastball. After an at-bat with Troy Glaus where he threw three straight changeups and eventually lost Glaus to an RBI-single, maybe that should once again be a focus for Hernandez and Rodney.
Overall, the team looked solid and battled back against one of the AL’s finest. I’m not going to pretend that I’m not disappointed with the loss, but it is just one game and it could’ve been much worse considering that first inning. Wednesday afternoon brings another quality matchup with A.J. Burnett toeing the rubber for Toronto against Mr. Gum, Nate Robertson. In his final spring start, Thursday’s starter Justin Verlander was filthy and he’ll get the nod against Toronto’s Gustavo Chacin.
Friday: 03.30.2007
Zumaya Hits 107 MPH???
I’d love to think that this was completely legit, but I feel like this was probably just a glitch with the radar gun:
Thursday: 03.29.2007
Spring Training Extravaganza: Day 2 – The Day In Pictures
I’m pretty wiped from another long day in the sun, so I’ll let the pictures do the talking today.
I got to the yard around 10:30 AM only to find out that they don’t open the gates until 11:00 AM. Oh well, at least I was there from the start. I was contemplating a move to the berm to see if I could catch some batting practice home runs, but instead I decided to stick around and see what autographs I could catch.
There you see ESPN’s Steve Phillips interviewing Gary Sheffield after batting practice. The interview was a good 20-30 minutes between the two. I’m wondering how much, if any, was off the record as it seemed that Phillips turned off the recorder part way through. Just prior to this interview, I got Phillips’ autograph as he walked from the batting cage to the area they were seated at in the picture above. I’m not a huge Phillips fan by any stretch, but he was very nice and I responded in turn as we bantered for a good 2-3 minutes. One lady asked Phillips the following, “Are you someone famous?”
, 
This is flamethrowing reliever Joel Zumaya during some sort of photoshoot. Not sure what it was for, but he was nowhere to be found after the shoot. Hopefully he pitches Friday against the Yankees.
Magglio Ordonez and Craig Monroe heading to the locker room after some quality batting practice. The two respectfully declined to stick around and sign autographs. Neither were snide or rude, just said that they were busy and would try to be available later. Monroe made himself available about an hour after this just before game time as he made his way to the dugout.
Curtis Granderson warming up in the bottom of the first. While I preferred my Wednesday seats because of their proximity to the Tigers’ dugout, these actually offered a better view.
Jim Leyland signing a bunch of post-game autographs, including my program!!!!! I had moved from my seat and was making my way around the stadium to the exit as Todd Jones closed things out. I stopped immediately to the left of Detroit’s dugout where Leyland had sat with Gene Lamont just outside of the dugout all game. As Jones closed out the final scrub that Houston offered up this afternoon, I hopped down a few steps to see if Leyland would hook me up. He was very kind with his time and continued to sign despite saying he had to go three or four times. I was the second one to get an autograph and snapped the above picture and the two below immediately after.
Another great day in Florida!
I had initially planned to go to Sarasota this evening for the Cincinnati Reds and Minnesota Twins game, but I was just too tired. Tomorrow the Yankees will be here and I will be on the berm hoping to catch a baseball.
Wednesday: 03.28.2007
Spring Training Extravaganza: Day 1
I actually arrived in Lakeland Tuesday afternoon, but with only a few hours of sleep Monday night before the flight out and a couple of fantasy baseball auctions to get through, I pretty much just stuck around the hotel and relaxed save a pre-trip to Joker Marchant Stadium just so I’d be acclimated with the area. My plan was to wake up super early on Wednesday, eat the free breakfast downstairs at my hotel and then head to the ballyard. That didn’t quite happen. It turns out I was really tired! It was a 1:05 start against the Los Angeles Dodgers so even waking up at 10:45 AM left me plenty of time, but I was aiming to catch batting practice and snag a few autographs.
After showering and grabbing something to snack on from 7-11, I made the five minute drive to the stadium at around 11:45 or so. I arrived in my seat shortly thereafter and was extremely impressed with the view. I was hugged up against the Tigers dugout about six rows up from first base. I knew had picked “Best Available” on the web when there were plenty of seats left, but I was still pleasantly surprised and overwhelmingly happy with what I got. I got there in time to catch the back half of Dodgers’ batting practice. The part where guys like Tony Abreu and Larry Bigbie are hitting. However, I was also able to watch Andy LaRoche take some cuts and he was raking, including two moonshots to left.
The game was broadcast on FSN Detroit meaning announcers Mario Impemba and Rod Allen were on hand. I remember that when I first started subscribing to MLB.tv to watch the games, I absolutely hated the pair. I’m not 100% why, but I just really didn’t care for them. They have since grown on me to the point that I quite enjoy them now. I guess the adage is true: Winning does cure all! I snapped the pic below when they came to do their on-field opening. Shortly after their appearance, many of the players began to filter into the dugout and stopped along the way to sign autographs for those seated near the dugout. For whatever reason, the geriatric manning our particular section had a “Kids Only” policy and wasn’t allowing others to filter down there even though there wasn’t an overwhelming group seeking signatures. I was two rows higher than his blockade which left me out in the cold and severely miffed. I can understand wanting the kids to have access to their favorite ballplayers, but to make it exclusively for them? Get outta here with that crap, grandpa!!
FSN Detroit’s finest:
I was happy to see Gary Sheffield endearing himself to the fans by taking as much time as anyone else, and maybe even the most, to sign memorabilia. I loved the move the day it happened and continue to become more and more comfortable with it when I see things like this, however small they may be. I also liked what I saw three innings later when Sheff clocked his team-high fourth Spring Training home run into the left field Bermuda. His blast gave the Tigers a 3-0 lead, and could’ve led to a 4-0 lead had backup catcher Dane Sardinha not been gunned down at the plate by about 50 feet on the play before. Obviously, the pitch sequence might’ve played out differently, but I bring it up more to call into question the motive of 3rd base coach Gene Lamont. In fact, it was one of two flubs on the basepaths that kept the Tigers from having a really big inning against Derek Lowe. Carlos Guillen was pegged down at third trying to stretch his hit into a triple. Without the benefit of replay, I cannot tell if it was Lamont’s aggression or Sardinha’s lack of speed of Guillen’s poor decision that led to the two outs.
Celebrating #4 for Sheffield
Back to Lowe for a second, I was surprised to see him hitting 90+ on the gun several times. Maybe I just didn’t realize that he threw that hard or maybe he hasn’t until this year, either way, I was caught off guard. The Tigers weren’t though; they knocked him for seven hits in four innings of work.
Guillen’s next error was in the field and it led to the Dodgers tying the game as he misplayed a routine groundball that would have ended the inning. Starter Nate Robertson went through three innings unscathed, but the fourth inning was filled with seeing-eye singles and bleeders only to be capped off with Guillen’s error allowing the Dodgers to tie it at three. The game remained that way for the duration ending in a 3-3 tie as both bullpens locked one another down. Los Angeles’ pen amassed nine more strikeouts in addition to Lowe’s four giving the Tigers a total of 13 showing that 2006’s bugaboo might still loom large. It should be noted that only four of the strikeouts were by regulars: Craig Monroe, Marcus Thames and Ivan Rodriguez (2).
Speaking of Thames, he looked great at first base. In order for Jim Leyland to find him 400+ ABs, Thames was going to have to learn first so he can give Sean Casey a rest from time to time. Unlike the Sheffield experiment that the Yankees pulled in the playoffs, Thames was quite adept in his positioning, his picks and holding the runner. I’m a huge Marcus Thames fan, so anything that gets him more time in the lineup is a plus in my book, but I’m even happier that it appears as though he won’t be a defensive liability while out there.
One of the funnier moments at the game came late when Neifi Perez predictably failed at the plate and in the midst of pin-drop silence a fan yelled: “You suck, Perez!!!” Too true, too true. Meanwhile, my happiest moment of the day’s events was when Curtis Granderson was lifted from the game and headed to the locker room. He took a moment for the fans in a small area between the stands and the locker room and I was able to snag his autograph on my program. Instead of telling him that I sponsor his Baseball-Reference.com site, I asked this doozy, “Is that really you on your MySpace page?” I guess I’m a 14-year old girl or something… jeez. For the record, it is.
No need for zoom when you’re this close
It turns out that I was part of history in my first ever Spring Training game. The 5,972 people in attendance helped to break the attendance record for the Tigers in Lakeland previously set in 1979. The guy next to me said it was 1989, but he couldn’t hear me when I was shouting into his ear, so I don’t trust him. I’m going to go with the ’79 that I heard.
I left the game with the beginnings of a fully expected sunburn. My nose got the brunt of it given the absence of a hat. For whatever reason, it’s really splotchy on my arms so it looks like I have some sort of skin disease. Hopefully it evens out Thursday and Friday. I got back to my hotel room and starting poking around the internet. I decided to see what games hadn’t been played in Grapefruit League action. Once I saw that the Yankees were hosting the Houston Astros at Legend’s Field, I decided that I must go. I knew that Tampa Bay/St. Pete’s wasn’t too far away having flown into Tampa, but I wasn’t sure how things would play out at 5:00 with traffic and all. I needed to be better prepared for autographs for the next two games here in Lakeland, so I decided that if things looked fine on the highway as I went to Target to pick up some things, then I’d head out to Tampa. The roads were damn near empty and so after picking up my Sharpie and some cards for signing, I jumped back on I-4 and headed to Tampa.
The only real traffic I hit was in Tampa itself after getting onto I-275 South, but I only had to be on that highway for two and a half miles! After driving in Austin traffic, this was a cakewalk. I knew that Yankees’ Spring Training was popular, so I wasn’t realistically expecting to walk up to the box office to snag a ticket, but I knew scalpers would be on hand. The first two guys I saw were on the side of the road a mile or two from the yard. I decided to see what they were offering to get a gauge of what I’d need to get in. I didn’t budget for this trip, so I wasn’t going to pay through the nose. The guy who greeted me was a slightly thinner version of Michael Moore so I immediately distrusted him. He didn’t have a single ticket, so he called for The Greasy Worm working someone a few yards away. When TGW gets over to us, he and Michael Moore have the following exchange:
MM: He needs a single
TGW: Oh great, I have that box seat. How much… wait… did you tell him how much?
MM: No, no…
TGW (to me): Hey man, listen. As you know, the Yankees are very popular and they have a lot of season ticket holders and they generally sell out, but I have a box seat here for you. I can let it go for a hundred.
Me: A hundred what?
TGW: A hundred bucks man!
Me: Umm… well I have $20.
He proceeds to give me directions to an ATM. I guess he thought I was actually going to pay $100 not only for a Spring Training game, but for a Spring Training game at the home of a team I hate! I pulled away and called my sister. She’s generally a solid voice of reason to turn to when in need. No, I wasn’t going to ask her if I should pay $100, but instead I asked her if she thought I should just peace out and forget about this. We came to the conclusion that I should park somewhere relatively cheap, take a walk around and see if I can’t get in for $20-30.
After paying $10 for parking (and that was cheap for Legend’s Field!), I decided that I really didn’t want to pay any more than $20 for this game. It had already started and again, I hate the Yankees! The first guy I saw had a single and met my $20 requirement, so I was in. The ticket’s face value was $17, so I was more than fine with paying a $3 surcharge. The Yankees already had a 1-0 lead on a Bobby Abreu single by the time I reached my upper level seat.
While Legend’s Field is most certainly nice, I prefer the more intimate Spring Training atmosphere found at Joker Marchant earlier in the day when I saw the Tigers. Legend’s looks more like a Triple-A ballpark like Dell Diamond, home of the Round Rock Express. Again, it’s beautiful and the Single-A Tampa Yankees are easily playing in the fanciest park, but I was hoping for the closer environment again. Still, I’m really glad I went. I ended up next to two cool guys in their late 20s that lived in Florida. The one was wearing a Tigers hat and the other a Cardinals shirt. This was their 11th Spring Training game of the season. Being from Florida, they bounced around catching games here and there. They both agreed that Philadelphia’s Clearwater home was the best of the bunch.
Darrell Rasner was ripped by the Astros to the tune of nine hits and seven runs in just over four innings and Ron Villone was no better in relief. The Astros held a commanding 10-2 lead after five. Luke Scott tattooed a Rasner offering parking it into the right field trees and Chris Burke went 2-for-5 with a double and triple. Imagine if Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee had played!! There were two foul balls in the section next to us, but nothing headed our way all night. Both foul balls were caught with the face of an elderly gentleman looking to barehand the ball. How the second guy didn’t learn from the first, I’ll never know.
One of the guys I met, Wes, knew a young lady in attendance with much better seats than us. In fact, she was in our section, but in row AA. We were in row J. They were her company seats, so once her co-workers left she invited us down for the remaining inning and a half. Here’s a look at the disparity between the two seats:
What I paid for
Where I ended up
I couldn’t have asked for a better first day and I know things will only get better as I’ll be at the park earlier tomorrow and more prepared should I run into Mr. Granderson again.
One final note: I subjected my eyes to this drek tonight and almost died laughing. Homerism aside, how this clown ranks Minnesota above Detroit is beyond me. They have ONE starter!! He is an absolute super-stud, but even still he can only pitch every fifth day. Right there, these pathetic rankings lost all of their credibility. Of course, even before C.C. Sabathia’s injury today, I’m not sure the Cleveland Indians have even arms to merit the #2 ranking. Not only does this guy spell his name D-a-y-n, but he is wildly uneducated in the study of baseball. The Twins third, HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
Let’s Play Two
Tuesday: 01.16.2007
Winter Wonderland!
This was the scene in Austin, TX today as we experienced our first bit of snow since 2004. The “Winter Blast” as it’s being called has given me some time off as we were released from work early yesterday and told to stay home altogether today. Many cities deal with this kind of weather for months at a time, but its rare appearance here in Central Texas leaves many unprepared and thus pretty much closes down the city.
Let me take a second to wish eveyone a severely belated Happy New Year as I’ve been neglecting to post much of late and not since the year turned over. I haven’t lost my drive for the site or anything like that, but things have been quiet on the Tigers front and my new quest has been taking up the bulk of my free time. Meanwhile, the latest bit of Tigers news is pleasant as they avoid arbitration with all four eligible players. The team inked Omar Infante, Craig Monroe, Nate Robertson and Fernado Rodney to one-year deals.
In other Tigers-related news, the radio situation has been cleared up with WKRK 97.1 joining to simulcast with WXYT 1270 this season. Though I never experienced first hand here in Texas, many complained about the signal strength (or lack thereof) by 1270, thus the collaboration will increase the broadcasting power of the 2006 American League Champions.
New slugger Gary Sheffield will release a book this Spring that will shed some more light on his involvement with Barry Bonds and BALCO, but doesn’t disclose anything particularly new or groundbreaking. Inside Power will be released in April.
Finally, I have purchased my plane ticket and game tickets for final three Spring Training games in Joker Marchant Stadium in late March. I have never been to Spring Training, but I’m already extremely excited. The games I’ll see are against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Houston Astros and New York Yankees. I’ll be sitting in sections 108, 209 and 102, respectively.
Friday: 12.22.2006
Finally, Some Time To Breathe
After about a month of 12-hour days, the holiday rush is finally over. For those of you that don’t know (or care), I sell computers for a living at Dell and the past month has been a whirlwind of action. Mandatory overtime three hours a day, short lunches, difficult customers and non-stop flow of calls have all finally ground to a halt with Christmas just three days away. Now, I enjoy the next three days off before heading back on Tuesday without knowing what to expect. Will there really be much demand for new systems? Well sure, there’ll be people who asked for some money from everyone to put it all together to get their own computer, but I imagine that the bulk of the calls will be related to customers unhappy with their orders and wanting something free, irate about unshipped orders that didn’t make it in time to get under the tree and those just looking to return their systems. As such, I’m sure the company goals will be adjusted accordingly.
Enough about that, though, this is a baseball blog after all. I realize to those (maybe one or two) that have been coming here regularly, posts have been infrequent. The rant found above is the sole reason why. Though I’ve stopped posting, the baseball world hasn’t stopped producing a steady stream of news as the hot stove continues to burn in full force. Some big names remain unsigned, namely Barry Zito, while plenty of trade rumors crop up daily. Today alone produced a bevy of news involving two of the most prolific power hitters of the modern age. Sammy Sosa is working out his body in hopes for a return to the game this season. Sosa endeared himself as one of the most likable characters in baseball during the home run chase of ’98, but a drop in production buried in allegations of steroids abruptly derailed the tail end of his career. Last season, he received barely a nibble on the open market and chose not to play at all. He likens his 2006 absence to those of Ted Williams, Barry Bonds and Frank Thomas. The former missed time due to war, while the latter two battled through injuries to return after a lengthy period of time off.
Speaking of time off, Ken Griffey Jr. is already injured. The painfully unlucky slugger broke his left hand in an at-home accident that will leave him in a cast for three weeks. His spring training status is uncertain as of now. Maybe he’s using his injury time early this season so he can play more games for the Reds. All joking aside, it really does suck to see such a great player continually fall prey to series of maladies. Junior has topped 155 games just four times in 18 seasons and has yet to top 145 games since joining Cincinnati in 2000.
Detroit Tigers news has been scant since my last posting almost three weeks ago. Jeremy Bonderman and Brandon Inge were both locked up and Jose Mesa joined the club. Let’s take a look at the three moves in order. There was a bit of talk about Bonderman being moved at the outset of the off-season to get some legitimate power hitting in Motown. Once the Gary Sheffield trade was completed, it looked a lot less likely that Bonderman would leave. After a four-year deal worth $38 million dollars was completed, his fate is sealed. Bonderman enjoyed a career-year during the dream season in Detroit with career bests in win percentage (.636), ERA (4.08), WHIP (1.30), K/9 (8.5), and strikeouts (202) while pitching a career-high 214 innings. Bonderman, who turned 24 shortly after the postseason, was the prize of the Jeff Weaver deal with the Oakland A’s and New York Yankees despite being the player to be named later.
Inge has made tremendous strides all around since joining the big league club in 2001. Once regarded as one of the worst offensive players in baseball, Inge has solidified himself as a power-threat with slick glove work down at the third base making him an integral part of the Tigers’ future. His sweeping improvements have been rewarded with a four-year deal that netted him $24 million dollars. His fielding received rave reviews all summer long as opposing announcers constantly made comparisons between Inge and some of the most renowned third basemen to play the game. He did still make 22 errors, second-most in the American League (Alex Rodriguez, 24), but drew the praise from his ability to make plays the rest of the third basemen weren’t even getting to, as evidenced by his major league-best 3.45 range factor and .825 zone rating.
The departure of Jamie Walker to Baltimore left a void that needed filling. Mesa fills the roster spot, though not the role as he is right-handed. Instead, it appears as though Wil Ledezma will become the lefty set up with Mesa in more of long-relief role. He was fair in Colorado a year ago posting a 3.86 earned run average in 72.1 innings. He struck out 39 and walked 36 batters.
Saturday: 12.2.2006
Analyzing The Off-Season
It’s been some time… too much time if you ask me, but with the 12 hour work days and the recent holiday, I haven’t had much time to for writing. Detroit’s trade for Gary Sheffield set off what has so far been an electric off-season with plenty more to come. Several signings have taken place and even a few other trades have transpired since the Sheff acquisition. There has been money to burn, too, primarily in the Windy City as the Cubs landed the biggest fish to date with their Alfonso Soriano signing. There has been some outcry regarding the money Soriano got, $136 million over eights years. It’s been compared to the Carlos Beltran deal because of it’s similarity in the figures, but I don’t think it is completely apples to apples. I do think the Beltran deal was a smarter investment, but the context of each is different because of the teams that made the moves.
The Cubs planned to make a splash in this off-season from the outset. It started with hiring of Lou Piniella, then the inflated signing of Mark DeRosa ($13 million, three years) and continued with the Soriano deal. They have been rumored to be after ace starter Jason Schmidt as well. Frankly, they needed to maybe over pay a little bit to land someone like Soriano. Despite the fact that the Beltran signing is better on many levels (he is younger, a markedly better fielder and a better hitter), Soriano is no slouch.
Even when you remove his intentional walks (16), he still increased his walk total by 55% during his remarkable quest into the 40-40 club. Defensively, he came a long way from refusing to go out to his new position during a spring training game. He racked up a very impressive 22 base runner kills, the best amongst all left fielders in baseball. His fielding percentage (.969) left plenty to be desired, but he had the best zone rating of all left fielders at 2.28.
The 2006 Cubs posted an anemic .268/.319/.422 line, thus a bat like Soriano’s was in high demand this November. I don’t like to argue that just because the Cubs had the money means they should throw it away, but I also think this a case where spending a little extra to ensure you get your guy is a solid move. As a Tigers fan, I know plenty about overpaying to get the name you need to start something. The Cubs haven’t been nearly as bad as the Tigers were in their down period, but things haven’t worked out as planned for some time in Chicago.
The spending spree hasn’t been confined to Chicago. Gary Matthews Jr. robbed the Los Angeles Angels blind signing a five year deal worth $50 million dollars. I won’t deny for a second that Little Sarge had one helluva year for the Texas Rangers, especially out in centerfield with highlight plays almost nightly, but I can’t figure out what made the Angels think that he was worth $10 million dollars a year for the next five years at age 31.
He set career highs in at-bats (602), home runs (19), runs batted in (79), runs (102), hits (194), doubles (44), average (.313), on-base percentage (.371) and slugging percentage (.495). My biggest hang up here is the age factor, plus his overall defense is slightly overrated. His range factor was 11th among baseball’s centerfielders and his zone rating was 2nd worst at .847. I just don’t see the value in a five year deal worth that much for a 31-year old.
I like Soriano deal quite a bit based on a need-to-cost ratio, but I’m vehemently against the Angels dropping that much money on Matthews. I’ll take a look at a few other moves this off-season in my next post as well.
Baseball By Paul 