11) What was the best free-agent acquisition (note, this does NOT count the Santana deal, which was a trade)
Eugene Tierney: My favorites have been the low risk/high reward moves: Bartolo Colon signing a minor league deal with Boston could be huge with Schilling going down. He provides insurance if Lester or Buchholz aren’t ready and won’t cost much. The same goes with Mark Prior signing with the Padres; if healthy, he could turn into the starter the Cubs envisioned. Kyle Lohse and Matt Clement could be great moves for the Cardinals too.
Aaron Cameron: No contest. The A’s signed quadruple-A OF and former Barry Bonds understudy, Todd Linden to a minor league contract. This spring, Linden went out and hit .577, like he always does against minor league pitching. Then, when the A’s announced he hadn’t made the team, he’s spent the last two weeks ripping the franchise, burning bridges and turning himself into a toxic cancer that even a stupid, needy team like Pittsburgh wouldn’t want. Keep rockin’, Todd.
Mike Hulse: Honestly, in a year where there were no big “OMGOMGWTFBBQBBQ!!!!111!!!11111!!!ONEONEONE!!!!!!” acquisitions, I have to start looking outside the box. Honestly, I can’t believe I’m about to type this…but here goes.
Troy Percival…2 years….8 million…Tampa Bay Rays.
Yup, you read that correctly. No, it’s not a typo. No, I’m not crazy. Hear me out. Tampa had the WORST pen in baseball last season. They were historically awful. Percival’s a major risk for sure, but at 4 mil per season, he’s on the cheap. If he’s there, he can help develop the pitchers, and if he can stay healthy, he’s going to lock down the pen, save 30 games like he always used to do, and provide much needed stability. I feel like a Closer is the #2 guy on your staff behind your ace starter if you can find one. If you have a guy to lock down the end of a game, it changes the thinking of the other team. If your closer is shaky, teams feel like they truly have all 27 outs to work with.
Chad Jorgenson: I might be off my rocker here, but I’m going to say Eric Gagne. He was actually doing decent in the closer role for Texas before he got shipped off to Boston, and he’s back in the NL with the weaker lineups. Add in the NL Central isn’t exactly the best division in baseball and Gagne could have a very good season, maybe not a 50 save season, but mid to up 30’s and a respectable ERA.
Thomas Daniels: Eric Gagne by the Brewers. They overpaid for him, but moving back to the low-pressure NL Central and he’s almost back in Canada, so that can’t hurt. Lost in his awful finish in Boston was the fact he was destroying the AL West with the Rangers for the first half the season. In 34 appearances with Texas he pitched to a 1.05 WHIP with a 210 ERA+. It gives the Brewers a real closer and if Turnbow avoids another awful year it gives the Brewers a really, really solid pen.
12) What was the single worst free-agent acquisition?
Eugene: Kaz Matsui signing with the Astros – Matsui got the contract from the Coors Effect. The Astros should have called the teams that signed Jeff Cirillo and Vinny Castilla after they left Colorado. They also should realize that they have a former All Star and perfectly good second baseman in Mark Loretta.
Aaron: The Angels signing of OF Torii Hunter gets the silver. A fluky spike in batting average last year drove his other numbers up across the board and the Halos get five years of his decline. The gold goes to the White Sox for handing RP Scott Linebrink a FOUR year deal. His last good year was 2005 and his affinity for giving up the home run (21 in his last 146 IP) won’t be helped by his new home park.
Hulse: Torii Hunter…5 years, 90 million? Torii Hunter is worth 18 million per year? Really? When did this happen? Anaheim, for years, has pursued a bat to protect Vlad Guerrero in the lineup, so they drop 18 per on a guy who should hit like .280 with 25 HR’s. Oh, and they have him until he’s 38…and they just dropped 50 mil on Gary Matthews, who’s basically Torii Light. 140 mil over the next 5 seasons for 2 guys who do the same thing. Savvy.
Chad: Troy Percival. He retired because of arm trouble, never had surgery, and now I’m supposed to believe his arm will hold up throughout the year. Let alone the 2 years he signed the contract for.
Daniels: Curt Schilling, 1-year/$8 million from the Red Sox. After guilting the Red Sox into giving him one more year, it turns out that he probably won’t even throw a pitch. God-fearing, honest man that he is, he decided to rightly give the money back to the Red Sox. Just kidding. Honorable mention goes to the one-year still left on Carl Pavano’s deal.
13) Are you a stathead or a seamhead? If you’re a seamhead, explain how you can be so wrong about life. If you’re a stathead, tell seamheads why they’re wrong about life.
Eugene: I’m more stathead, but I have studied mechanics and scouting. I like to think I’m a nice blend of both.
Aaron: I’m a bit of both. I think there’s plenty of room for new ways to analyze the game, even if I don’t need VORP to tell me that Albert Pujols is a good player. Conversely, there is nothing like sitting in the stands and watching the game unfold in front of you. If I had to choose, I probably lean more towards stathead. Mostly because of our shared hatred for gritty, untalented white ballplayers who “get the most out of their talent”.
Hulse: I am both. I am neither. Both statheads and seamheads have value. The only people who are wrong are the ones who don’t give the other side any credit. People who discredit On Base % as being less important than batting average are dumb. People who simply, blindly trust someone’s VORP because it’s got a cool sound and never actually watch baseball games are equally dumb. People who think ARod “failed” in the 2005 ALDS against Anaheim even though he sports an OBP of like .450 are dumb. People who think that there’s absolutely no difference in how a player will perform in May as opposed to October? Dumb. All schools of thought have some value.
Chad: Seamhead. If you can’t figure out who’s good and who’s not from the basic stats and watching the games there’s something wrong with you.
Daniels: I strongly tend toward stathead. I do think that character and “team guys” and clutchiness exist… I just think it tends to be very, very over-rated. Clutch is just the ability to treat 2 outs, man on, bottom of the ninth exactly the same as top of the first. That said, seamhead’s bull-headed insistence to rely on statistics like wins and batting average is dreadfully stupid. Walks are not counted in to the batting average because the guy who invented the box score 100 years ago was a cricket fan, which didn’t have walks, so he decided “eff it, walks don’t count.” We use a statistic invented by a Brit just because that’s the way it’s always been done. This means if you like batting average you hate America. Chew on that.
14) Will this be the year the National League finally wins the All-Star game?
Eugene: Not in the farewell to Yankee Stadium – I think they’ll win next year when I’ll be present.
Aaron: God, I hope so. I’d hate to think that Freddy Sanchez will have to spend another summer getting razzed by winning All-Stars like Gil Meche. Do it for Freddy, guys. Do it for…whatever city he plays in.
Hulse: Who cares? Seriously. The All Star Game itself sucks. The Home Run Derby is cool, but the game is a bunch of guys playing to not get hurt for like, 2 innings. Of course affects the biggest point of the season, the World Series.
Chad: I’m gonna go with no. But they could. If anyone actually cared.
Daniels: In Yankee Stadium? Tough sell. I’m going with no.
15) The cheapest tickets for the home run derby on Stub Hub are currently $550 while the cheapest tickets for the All-Star game are $794. What kind of moron pays a thousand dollars to see an exhibition game?
Eugene: Me, but I’d spend the whole time at the stadium trying to get autographs. Some of those would pay for the ticket, if I ever decided to sell them.
Aaron: Not THIS moron, I can tell you. Still, I can’t hate on those who do. I’d probably go as high as $250 or so and I’m sure there are people who think that’s just as insane. However, I’ll concede that baseball’s All Star Game is absolutely unwatchable beyond the player introductions and the first inning or two. OK, $275, but not a nickel more.
Hulse: The same kind of moron who actually wasted question 14 on a prediction about the same exhibition game, if he had that kind of money to spend. So would I. If I could just light a grand on fire because i had the money…I’d go too. The game might suck, but it’s at Yankee Stadium in its final year before we get its replica.
Chad: Obviously they are statheads and don’t know any better.
Daniels: I couldn’t believe this when I saw it. I was kind of digging the idea of going to the All-Star game this year…. For like $50. People paying $500 to watch a glorified work-out need to be off my planet… mostly so I can afford to go.
Tomorrow our band of adventurers continue to ignore the fact that regular season baseball is going on right now and look at some fantasy guys for 2008 along with trades and your least favorite baseball announcer. While you wait, you can always check out Part I and Part II.
Stay tuned later today for Cam’s AL West preview and Eugene’s NL Central preview.
