Ken Griffey Jr., Pedro Martinez, Trevor Hoffman, Ivan Rodriguez, Jeff Kent, Frank Thomas and Omar Vizquel — seven players who have helped define a generation — don't have teams to play for in 2009. And it probably will stay that way for at least a few of them.
Article Source: NBC Sports7 great players, forgotten in free agency
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Seeded on Wed Dec 31, 2008 8:06 PM EST (NBC Sports)
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The writing may be on the wall for most of these players, which is kind of sad. It's been fun watching them, particularly Ken Griffey Jr.
I'm surprised that the Tigers don't make a move for Hoffman, he'd be better than Rodney there.
I know it would seem to make sense. One thing likely holding Hoffman back, however, is that he is a Type A free agent.
That means that the team that signs him has to give up a first-round draft pick. That might not be worth it to the Tigers, and other teams. Especially when you consider that Hoffman is on the tail-end of his career, and you would likely only sign him to a short-term deal anyway.
Very true. I have only a passing knowledge of the Tigers' farm system, so I won't comment on if they can or can't handle giving up that first-round pick. But seeing as how they appear to have the pieces in place to try for a Series win sooner rather than later, I could see it as being worth the risk. Other than that, I wonder if a trade for a solid middle reliever/closer for some of our players withoit a place (Raburn, Santiago, and either Robertson or Willis) could be in the works.
Yep, I guess that's the big question regarding the Tigers. Make a move for a guy like Hoffman now and shoot for the moon? Or play it safe and hope you can win with what you've got or less-costly options.
I haven't seen much regarding the Tigers lately. Apparently they were after lefty reliever Joe Beimel, but his agent decided to look elsewhere after Detroit didn't make him an offer during the winter meetings.
Is acquiring Hoffman rely shooting for the moon?
If there is one thing I've learned about baseball, it's trust the San Diego Padres when it comes to relief pitchers. Kevin Towers knows how to find relievers off of the scrap heap and he knows when to jettison them. I think the only reason the Padres have kept Hoffman around as long as they have is more for sentimental reasons than performance. Hoffman has been an ok closer the past few years, but far from dominant. Last year, he was actually worst than average. The dude hasn't thrown more than 60 innings since 2006, and he hasn't thrown more than 70 since 2000. For comparison, Mariano Rivera has notched 70 innings or more the past six seasons.
I actually think that Hoffman has been a bit overrated since he's considering one of those "home town guys" who's played the majority of his career for just one franchise and is basically the only thing they have to show over the past decade or so. Hoffman's career ERA+ (his ERA compared to league average) is only 144 (average is 100, higher is better). That's fine, and would dominant if he were a starter, but closers are expected to be even better. By comparison, Mariano Rivera has an ERA+ of 199, that is he's been twice as effective per inning in limiting runs than league average. Hoffman has only exceeded 70 innings five times over his 16 season career. He's the very definition of the only one inning at a time closer. In comparison again, Rivera has 10 seasons of more than 70 innings out of his 14 year career.
Hoffman's had a nice career for himself, but I just think it's very overrated thanks to being his team's only start for so long, and accumulating all of those saves, a number that really doesn't mean all that much as far as actual performance goes.
As for next season, there is no way I'd ever think to surrender a first round pick for him. Not when he's only going to give you league average performance and a very set role of 9th inning only. I bet Chris Britton, a reliever the Padres grabbed for next to nothing after the Yanks released him to clear up the 40-man roster space end up having a better season than Hoffman. And that's exactly why the Padres grabbed Britton on a minor-league deal and letting Hoffman walk.
I trust in Kevin Towers.
No. I didn't mean that literally. I meant that as a philosophy, acquiring Hoffman would be a win-now move. Personally, I wouldn't sign Hoffman either, not when it means giving up a first-round pick, and particularly not when coming off a fifth-place finish. I think it would make much more sense to search for a low-cost option.
I agree about the low-cost option in terms of closers, especially since I don't think Rodney is the man to close out games for the Tigs, but who's really out there that we could get for that? I don't think anyone from the farm is ready to step into that role either for the team.
That's the thing with the low-cost option, you don't get a name for your closer. Just sign as many hard tossing guys as possible, tell them to throw strikes and sort it all out during spring training and April. Yea, some closers like K-Rod and Mariano were ace set-up men before handed the closers job, but there are a lot of really good closers out there who basically received on-the-job training, Eric Gagne, Joe Nathan, JJ Putz, Jason Isringhausen. You just have to trust your scouts, and of course have scouts worth trusting.
Considering the glut of corner outfielders still on the market like Dunn, Many and Burrell, Griffy is screwed. His best hope is that the Mariners invite him back on a minor league deal for sentimental reasons (and that his bat is still better from DH than Jose Vidro).
Ivan Rodriguez is completely washed up, he's no better than Jose Molina now. Omar Vizquel is pretty washed up as well, and has been for the past two seasons. Though I do question how good he ever really was.
If I had a DH spot to fill, I'd choose Kent over Thomas. I wouldn't even think about letting Kent touch the field, but I'd give him a 50/50 shot at .270/.350/.450, which aren't the worst numbers in the world. However, before touching either of those two, I'd wait for to see if guys like Giambi, Burrell or Dunn could be had on cheap deals.
Now Pedro, he's the name that intrigues me the most. He just has such a competitive drive, and I think his pitching intelligence is so high that he can reinvent himself like Mike Mussina did and still have a few more years of very useful ball pitching 170-180 innings a season. I actually like him more for $5 million than Brad Penny. However, if he wants to play, he'll probably take less to prove he still has it in him. He'd be a great forth starter for the Dodgers, and he could help mentor some of their young pitchers. I can see him putting up late-career Greg Maddux-like numbers, just more strikeouts and less innings.
Any average AAA DH could put up better numbers than Vidro last season. :)
And yet the Mariners gave him 308 at bats ;-)
I hate to see Pudge declining like he did. If he's willing to take a massive pay cut, he'd make a pretty good platoon catcher. I also wonder if he could boost his numbers a bit if he made a move to a first base position.
I don't see the point in that at all. Almost all of his value now is in his catching defense. As a catcher his bat is just terrible (teams do employ guys like Jose Molina and Paul Bako), as a first baseman we're talking worst in the game, and with no defensive value either.
And that, my friend, is one of several reasons the Bill Bavasi nightmare is finally over. :)
Burrell is off the table. Signed with the Rays.
A nice signing by the Rays, in my opinion. I seeded it and started that conversation over here for anyone who is interested.
That's a pretty good All Star team right there!