Comments on: Defense Hits The Market

By: Joe R

Joe R — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:55:10 +0000

It’s Philly, where Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins have become stars and don’t seem to notice how much Utley’s outperformed them.

By: Kincaid

Kincaid — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 07:47:27 +0000

It seemed like last offseason, as teams weren’t opening up the checkbooks for all-hit no-field guys, neither were they putting much value on premium defenders who couldn’t also hit. Even a couple of the players listed in this post were free agents last year and are free agents again this year because they weren’t valued highly enough to get multi-year deals (including Felipe Lopez, who probably has at least as much value in his bat as in his glove, and who has a long history of being a subpar middle infielder before this year, so I’m not sure he really belongs on this list).

Crede signed a $2.5 million bargain contract a year ago and has put up very similar value and playing time this year to last. Adam Everett got a $1 million deal. Omar Vizquel signed a minor league deal. The perceived cuts in spending on good-hitting butchers didn’t seem to be accompanied by much increased spending on light-hitting glovesmen. The ones who were on the market were still undervalued.

I’m not saying teams haven’t changed how they value defense, but if $7.8 million for one year (the difference between Wilson’s option and his buyout) is considered pricey for a premium defensive shortstop like Jack Wilson who has been pretty close to league average over the past few years despite a weak bat, even for a team that values defense highly like Seattle, then are teams really valuing defensive value as much as offensive value? This year should be a better test, but the indications so far aren’t as strong as just looking at the market for hitters last year and speculating it’s because of a major shift in defensive valuation, especially if you’re still not expecting Jack Wilson’s option to be picked up.

By: Kincaid

Kincaid — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:54:12 +0000

Total Zone does (at Baseball-Reference). He hasn’t been any better at Pac-Bell than on the road according to that.

By: jpdtrmpt72

jpdtrmpt72 — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 01:18:46 +0000

and yet, I always have to point it out to some people, and apparently dave cameron as well, that Utley is the best second baseman in baseball defensivly as well. I’ve been to soooo many phillies sites that talk about moving him to first base in a few years.

By: jpdtrmpt72

jpdtrmpt72 — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 01:16:47 +0000

yeah, they pretty much have to. they have no other way of filling that gap unless they can sign beltre or something.

By: Samuel Lingle

Samuel Lingle — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:28:00 +0000

I’m sure there are a lot of teams who would be happy with Vlad as a DH for next year…

By: Travis L

Travis L — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:11:21 +0000

I can only assume that you mean “big DH market” to mean that the guys are large, physically. Those guys look to me like they’re going to generate a lot of days on the DL, and some below average DHing. Is there anybody in that group you’d give a multi-year deal to? Or anybody you’d even want to give a large single-year deal to?

By: phil

phil — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:35:20 +0000

The Phillies will most definitely pick up Pedro Feliz’ option.

By: Chad

Chad — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:26:58 +0000

That’s results oriented thinking, so not really the best way to evaluate the situation. But still, a good year.

By: Joe R

Joe R — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:04:43 +0000

They dump the old, terrible guy, bring in the more SABR-inclined guy, team goes from laughing stock to above .500 team in a year.

Sounds like a pretty good first year of work IMO.