AL West Preview--Part One

So with the Spring Training games starting Today, I felt it was time to preview the season and make some predictions for the upcoming season. I also devised a system for doing this. Starting with this post i'm going to look at each division and see how they stack on a position by position basis from top to bottom. The point system for this will be golf-style (i.e. the lower the score the better i.e. the strongest team by position gets 1 point, 2 points for second, etc......this will be the scoring system for position players......)

For Pitching (Part Two of each divisional post) the scoring will be adjusted to equalize for hitting and pitching. For the AL, the scoring will go 4.5, 9, 13.5, etc. from best to worst for starting rotation and the bullpens (Note: In the NL it will be 4, 8, 12......)

With Further Ado, here are my rankings for the AL West

Catcher:

Kurt Suzuki-1

Jarod Saltalamacchia-2

Jeff Mathis-3

Rob Johnson-4

By far the weakest position area division wide. Ironically, this is also the only position where the A's stand out offensively. Out of the only three the only thing memorable is how long Saltalamacchia's last name is. Kurt Suzuki will have a solid year for the other 3 teams, a glaring weakness.

First Base:

Kendry Morales-1

Daric Barton-2

Chris Davis-3

Mike Carp-4

Not sure if Morales is going to repeat last year (my prediction: about .300 hitter still but homers in the low 20s) but he's still the class of the AL West first basemen. Daric Barton is never going to be a power threat but he's a solid candidate for having a bounce-back season. Chris Davis, is an entirely different story.

As i've mentioned earlier, I received Ron Shandler's baseball forecaster in the mail about a month ago and have taken a look at the numbers for various players that have piqued my interest. I've also came up with an All-Star team that no player want's to be a part of, The Bill Hall All-Stars.

Named after former Brewer Bill Hall. Back in 2006, I was convinced Bill Hall was going to be a star player for the Brewers for years to come. He had a massive power surge (went yard 35 times) sure he struck out a lot (even then) but the sky seemed the limit. If I knew then what I knew know I would have known better. Obscured in his power spike was the fact that his Contact % went from 79 to 70 from 2005 to 2006. After a slight bump up in 2007, the contact rate has crashed to 64% (15% drop in a 5 year stretch).

Based on this info, I invented the Bill Hall All-Star team for players whose contact % dropped 10% or more in a five year period as a way to predict other players whose production is sadly going to spiral downwards.

What does this have to do with Chris Davis? Well factoring in the data in the Baseball Forecaster (which factors in Major League Equivalent numbers with actual MLB numbers) plus data from AA and above shows a 13% drop in contact rate in the last few years. Translation: I'm not buying on Chris Davis having a breakout season now or ever.

Second Base:

Ian Kinsler-1

Jose Lopez-2

Howie Kendrick-3

Mark Ellis-4

Position-wise, the toughest call to make as these players are fairly close from top to bottom. Kinsler has the best combination of upside and proven track record which allowed him to be above his competition.

Shortstop

Erick Aybar-1

Elvis Andrus-2

Jack Wilson-3

Cliff Pennington-4

Aybar, Andrus and Wilson are all players who strike me as more valuable to an actual team than a fantasy baseball team. While Andrus will probably be the best of these players within 2 or 3 years, I still think Aybar is a slighty better player until proven otherwise. Pennington is a distant 4th here as I wouldn't be surprised if he's one of the leagues weakest hitters this year.

Third Base

Michael Young-1

Chone Figgins-2

Kevin Kouzmanoff-3

Brandon Wood-4

The ranking for Third Base was amongst the more difficult one to make (primarily because of Brandon Wood). On talent alone, he would be in the top-2 but on the same token it's hard to justify ranking him above proven players like Young and Figgins before he even sheds the AAAA label. I wouldn't be surprised to see him go deep 25-30 times but we don't know whether he'll actually do it. While Wood's ceiling is higher than Kouzmanoff, he gets bumped to last as unlike Kouzmanoff, Wood has yet to prove he can produce at a big-league level.

Left Field

Juan Rivera-1

Milton Bradley-2

Josh Hamilton-3

Rajai Davis-4

On talent alone this Bradley or Hamilton would have gotten the nod but injury concerns bumped both of them down. I originally though Hamilton was going to bounce back in '10 but the fact that he's already dealing with injury issues gives me second thoughts. On pure talent alone, Bradley would have a good shot at #1 but it's a given he's going to either get injured, suspended and/or incite a brawl to the level of the 1984 Padres/Braves fight and get banned for life.

Center Field

Torii Hunter-1

Franklin Gutierrez-2

Julio Borbon-3

Coco Crisp-4

Torii Hunter far and away stands out amongst this group......he's an asset with both the glove and at the plate. Gutierrez is an asset with the glove but his offensive numbers will likely regress in 2010.

Right Field

Ichiro Suzuki-1

Nelson Cruz-2

Bobby Abreu-3

Ryan Sweeney-4

Went back and forth on this one. Ichiro may not have the power of Cruz and Abreu but is a better all-around player. Despite not placing him number 1, I still see Nelson Cruz having a nice follow-up to his breakout season.

Designated Hitter

Hideki Matsui-1

Jake Fox-2

Ken Griffey Jr.-3

David Murphy-4

I still think Matsui has a couple strong years in his bat. Jake Fox going to Oakland was one of the more under-rated signings this winter and I think he'll be one of the dark-horse signings.

Griffey Jr. has had a great career but he's definitely on the down side of his career.

Well, we have the offensive players ranked by position for each team in the AL West.....at the half way point of the AL West preview, the rankings are as follows (Note: The Lower the score the better)

Angels-16

Rangers-19

Mariners-23

Athletics-30

D-Back On Draft

So today, the Rockies signed Nick Bierbrodt to a minor league deal. Normally, I wouldn't use the signing of a minor league free agent who hasn't played since the year I graduated from community college (2004) as fodder but Bierbrodt does hold a place in the history/answer to a trivia question arena as he was the first person ever drafted by the Diamonbacks. I decided to take a look back and see how the D-Backs have done with some of their other first round picks. Why? Because it's Tuesday and I have a couple hours to kill until the new episode of Lost comes on

1996: Bierbrodt: Things didn't quite go as planned. He made 5 starts for the D-Backs, and played briefly for the Rays, Indians and Rangers. Despite his struggles on the field, Bierbrodt is someone worth respecting as he's keep on pitching even after getting shot in the chest.

1997: Jack Cust

One of the poster children for 3-true outcomes (alongside Adam Dunn). The D-Backs didn't get much benefit out of him as he only played 3 games for them back in '01. In all fairness, 3 other teams didn't get much out of him before he established himself as a regular for the A's. Coming in to this year, he's the 3-time defending leader in strikeouts and has finished in the top-10 in Walks the last 3 years. He might hit .240 but i'd take his .240 over the .240 David Eckstein hits any day.

1999: Corey Myers:

Out of all the sports, Baseball tends to be the sport where a top-5 overall pick is the farthest from a sure thing. This pack is a classic example of this. Despite being picked 4th overall, he has never played in the bigs. The last year he played (2007) he didn't exactly light AA and the Independent Leagues on fire. He did make it to AAA from 2004-2006 but never lived up to his high draft pick.

2001: Jason Bulger

Like Cust, another player who has proven he can play in the Big Leagues. Like Cust, another player where an AL West time and not the D-Backs are the beneficiary of said ability to play at a big league level. Like Cust, someone who had a cup of coffee (9 games in '05) for the D-Backs. Like Cust, a late bloomer (made the most of his first chance to play regularly at 30 busting a 127 ERA+).

2002: Sergio Santos:

Interesting for a few reasons (other than being born exactly two months after me). Santos was originally drafted as a shortstop and was a bright enough prospect to get top 100 status from Baseball America in '04 and '05. However, if he ever sees any big league action it's going to be on the mound and not at short as he converted to a pitcher last year. If he ever becomes a sucessful major leaguer, it will be for a team other than the one that drafted him (this seems to be a recurring theme). Interesting trivia fodder as well as he was a throw-in in the trade that sent Troy Glaus to the Blue Jays.

2003: Connor Jackson

2003: Carlos Quentin

It took seven years but the D-Backs finally nabbed someone in the first round that's started for the D-Backs. Had a few productive years in '06-'08 but was slowed by valley fever last year. He might not be a star but the D-Backs have done worse in the 1st round.

Quentin played 138 Games for the D-Backs in '06/'07 before being traded to the White Sox for a minor leaguer in the winter of '07. Quentin responded by being a late season injury away from winning the MVP. Quentin is one of those players with the talent to be the star but has trouble staying healthy.

2004: Stephen Drew

The second straight season the D-Backs drafted someone who has gotten significant playing time for their team. In his 4 seasons he has alternated between above-average and below-average OPS+. He's still fairly young (27) and it still looks hopeful that he could turn into one of the better players in the league.

2005: Justin Upton

It looks like the D-Backs figured out this first round draft thing around 2003. With the potential Upton has, he could make the draft failures of the early years nothing more than a footnote. He's only 22, he's already an All-Star, he's improved every year he's in the bigs, it's conceivable that he could be an MVP-Caliber one of the best players in the league by the time he's 25. To put things in context, 3 of his most similar players through age-21 are in Cooperstown (Hank Aaron, Sam Crawford & Willie Mays). Cases could be made for two other players (Ron Santo and Vada Pinson) and another is one of the elite hitters in the game today (Miguel Cabrera). In other words, the sky is the limit.

2006: Maxwell (Max) Scherzer

Moved through the minors quickly making his debut in '08. Showed signs of his potential in '09 as he struck out 174 batters and had an 111 ERA+. The one thing for sure is if he realizes his potential it won't be for the D-Backs as he was traded to the Tigers over the winter.

2007: Jarrod Parker

Too early to tell with him but off to a strong start in the Minors. Just finished his second season in the minors in '09 and seems to be moving through the system quickly as he held his own in AA. 17-11 3.31 era in 44 Minor League starts, doesn't give up many homers and strikes out nearly a batter an inning. Has the stuff to be a star but he needs to recover from Tommy John surgery first. The Sporting News baseball preview that I bought at the grocery store the other day has a high assessment of Parker as they project him to be their ace by 2012.

2008: Daniel Schlereth

Out of all the D-Backs first rounders, the quickest to make it to the Bigs (he debuted last May, a little less than a year getting drafted and after only playing 1 game above AA). While he struggled in 21 appearances last year, it looks like the sky's the limit for him. If he can improve upon his 7.4/BB per 9 innings, the D-Backs could have another star on their hands.

2009: Bobby Borchering

2009: A.J. Pollock

In the wow I feel old department, Borchering was born in the first year I consciously remember following baseball (1990). Way too early to tell what they have in Borchering as he has a whopping 22 games of Minor League experience under his belt (.241/.290/.425).

Another player where its too early. Had a line of .271/.319/.376 in 63 games.

Well, that was an interesting look at the D-Backs On Draft. It splits fairly evenly into two halves where they got relatively little out of the first rounders from 1996 to 2002 but they've gotten more productivity from 2003 on.

Best Pick: Justin Upton

Worst Pick: Corey Myers

Ed Wade's Contract Was Extended: Why?

It looks like Ed Wade will be the Astros General Manager for awhile longer as his contract is extended through 2012. The timing of this move is a good time to look at some of the moves he made. A sentence-by sentence breakdown of the section of his Wikipedia page detailing the "highlights" of his tenure in Houston (which i've placed in bold) makes me scratch my head and wonder why?

On November 8, 2007, Wade traded relief pitcher Brad Lidge, along with reserve infielder Eric Bruntlett, to the Phillies in exchange for second-year outfielder Michael Bourn, middle relieverGeoff Geary, and third base prospect Mike Costanzo.

In all fairness, Lidge has become unpredictable from year-to-year (i.e. he was terrible in '09). However, Lidge going through 2008 without blowing a save and helping the team he got traded to win a World Series doesn't bode well for Wade's argument for getting an extension. (Event though Lidge's replacement Jose Valverde had a good season). On the bright side, they were able to get rid of Eric Bruntlett who has been a non-impact in Philly

And what did they get in return?

1) Michael Bourn

Getting him may look good now but a closer look shows that he can steal bases and play defense but not much else. Sure, he had a respectable average (.285) and on-base percentage (.354) but he still was a slightly below average offensive player and was aided by a high BABIP .367. In other words, don't expect a repeat of 2009 and don't expect Bourn to carry this team to a title, unlike the player he got traded for.

2) Geoff Geary

Geary has already come and gone. He had one really good season ('08) but struggled with injuries and on-field performance in ('09) at which point he was granted free agency.

The third player that they gave as a throw in (Mike Costanzo) is a non-factor in this process as he was traded to Baltimore in the next deal to be discussed.

Verdict: Epic Fail. I don't care how bad Lidge struggled in '09 or what he does from here on but his contributions in '08 are worth more than Michael Bourn and Geoff Geary.

On December 12, 2007, Wade acquired shortstop Miguel Tejada in exchange for Luke Scott, Matt Albers, Costanzo, Dennis Sarfate, and Troy Patton. The trade was controversial, in part because Tejada was mentioned as a possible steroid user in the Mitchell Report, which was released the day after the trade.

Well, it could have been worse. At least he didn't give Gagne $10 million the week before the Mitchell Report came out. In the last couple years, Tejada hasn't exactly performed like someone worth trading five players for. He's been a fairly average player, (although he has hit .298, its a fairly empty .298 as drawing walks seems to be a foreign concept to him). For what it's worth he has been an All-Star the last couple years but he's still not the same player he was in Oakland and Baltimore. Miguel Tejada Fun Fact: He's led the league in Grounding Into Double Plays in five of the last six years.

What they gave up to get Tejada:

Luke Scott:

Even if this trade was just a straight up Tejada for Scott, this trade would already lean slightly in favor of Baltimore. He's hit more homers the last couple years (23/25), his OPS+ has been higher (111/115), he's still younger than Tejada (31) and doesn't have any steroid controversy surrounding him. While his batting average is lower (.257/.258), Scott is still a better bet offensively and likely has more productive years left than Tejada.

Matt Albers:

He's still young (27), he has shown flashes of promise but the jury is still out on him. He had a strong '08 but struggled a bit in '09. Tough to tell what future brings but Baltimore looks to at least get some productivity out of him.

Mike Costanzo:

Non-factor. Hasn't even played in the bigs.

Dennis Sarfate:

A bit older than Albers with a lower ceiling. He's had a couple pedestrian seasons filling space in the Baltimore bullpen.

Troy Patton:

Hasn't played in the bigs since the trade.

Verdict: Another bad trade. Not as horrible as the Lidge trade but Wade still gave away too much to get Tejada. On the Tejada for Scott level alone, it slightly favors Baltimore but doesn't look too bad for Houston. However, if Albers and Sarfate end up being productive arms for Baltimore this trade could still turn out to be a pretty big fail.

The day after the Mitchell Report, he traded Chad Qualls, Chris Burke, and Juan Gutierrez to the Arizona Diamondbacks for closer Jose Valverde.

While Jose Valverde has since moved on to Detroit, he did have a couple productive seasons closing for the Astros (more than what you could say about the first trades discussed).

What the Astros gave up to get him:

Chad Qualls:

Qualls has had a pretty solid couple years in Arizona. Got his first extended look as a closer last year saving 24 games. His full impact on this trade could still be limited by injuries though.

Chris Burke:

Only played 86 uninspiring games for Arizona with a .194/.310/.273 line before moving on to San Diego. Non-factor as far as this trade is concerned.

Juan Gutierrez:

Pitched fairly well in 65 games last year. Still fairly young (26) and what he does from here on will affect the balance of this trade. For what it's worth the message left by his Baseball-Reference page's sponsor is pretty amusing.

Verdict: As of now, the Astros have the slight edge. However, a few more solid years from Qualls and/or Gutierrez could make this another lopsided trade against the Astros, anyone noticing a trend here?

On June 25, 2008, Wade was engaged in a dispute with Astros reliever Shawn Chacon. After a while, Chacon burst and grabbed Wade by the neck and threw him to the ground. The Astros suspended Chacon indefinitely. This event eventually led to Shawn Chacon

being released. He has not played in Major League Baseball since.

Sure, this has nothing to do with horrible trades but an amusing story of epic-failure on both ends. Looking at what Chacon had "done" for his career (2005 not withstanding) even $2 million seems like a steep price. At current tally this is 2 bad trades, a 3rd trade that could place him at a disadvantage and a player that thought so highly of him he decided to do a re-enactment of the Latrell Spreewell/P.J. Carlesimo incident from the 1990s. Also, coming from a player that wasn't good enough to make this as big of a deal as previous said incident has also got to say something.

In December of 2009, Wade and Astros signed reliever Brandon Lyon to a 3 year/15 million dollar contract. Tom Verducci of SI.com commented,"Two different GMs were aghast to hear the Astros are paying $15 million over three years to reliever Brandon Lyon. Both of them had to have the numbers repeated to them twice, thinking surely they had misheard what will be one of the worst contracts of the winter.

Under the don't knock it till you try it philosophy, it's tough to slam a GM for a move that hasn't even played out yet. However, with his track record from the last few years, any move he makes with this type of reaction needs a bit more scrutiny. Sure, anytime a middle reliever gets signed to 2 or more years it is a stretch but GMs stretch for players all the time.

Looking at Lyon's last five seasons, he probably should have only gotten a year or two but i'm willing to at least give some benefit of the doubt before signing off on this move being an epic fail. A first look at his numbers show that he's had an OPS+ over 120 in 3 of the last 4 years (including 2 seasons at over 160+). If his past history holds up the quality of this signing comes down to how he is handled. If they let Lyon do his thing in middle relief, the pay will still be a bit high but at least the contract won't be a Carlos Silva level atrocity. If they try to put him in the closer's role, then the talk of how bad this contract is will have more than enough merit.

Looking at what the Astros have done on the field since Wade took over doesn't bode well for him either as they have won 73, 86 and 74 games the last 3 years. Based on the trades he's made, the general direction the team has gone in and the way people are looking at moves that haven't had a chance to be a bust yet, it doesn't seem to fit the profile of someone that would get their contract extended. But look at the bright side, at least the Pirates won't be lonely at the bottom of the NL Central for the next few years.

Rod Barajas only getting a big-league deal with the Mets: Smart Move or the Mets being the Mets?

So, the Mets signed Rod Barajas to a one-year deal today. The Mets were also the only team to offer him a big-league deal. The Mets are also not known for being the smartest team in baseball.

The first question to ask is would Barajas be an upgrade versus the pre-existing options at Catcher.

As it stands, the Mets have options at Catcher just not very good ones.

Option 1: Henry Blanco

Probably the slowest running baseball player I have ever seen. His best-hitting performance which came last year still had him hitting slightly below league average. Generally limited to about 200 At-Bats a year...definitely a player I have never been high on.

Option 2: Chris Coste

Known more for not getting called up until he was 33 and writing a book about it. He hit fairly well in his time in Philly but his time in Houston was a pretty epic fail. Looking at the trusty forecaster, his home run totals should rebound to the 9-ish range but his drop in contract rate is a red light.

Option 3: Omir Santos

Looks to be the most likely option to start. Another player who didn't get to the bigs until fairly late (27) . Had a pretty mediocre season in his first extended shot with the Mets last year. Considering he's already pushing 30, it's safe to say any improvement offensively is going to be limited and if Shandler's forecaster proves right, the previous prediction sounds highly optimistic.

Option 4: Josh Thole

The youngest and most promising out of the bunch. Held his own in a September call-up but it's difficult to prove much over 57 plate appearances. Hits for a decent average but power and defense aren't amongst his strengths.

Looking at the other options, it looks like the Mets are going to be pretty weak behind the plate (unless Thole has a massive breakthrough this spring).....at first blush it looks like Barajas deserves at least a shot.....now time to actually look at Barajas:

Option 5: Rod Barajas

Historically, Barajas has been the polar opposite of Thole as he's historically hit for a terrible average but is a solid source of power. His average will rebound a bit as he had a low .234 BABIP

but expecting him to save the Mets is an expectation nobody has (as reflected by the modest 1-million dollar deal). Despite his pop, he has never had an OPS+ above 100 (something he shares with Henry Blanco).

Still, this is a case of the Mets being the Mets. While Barajas could help a decent amount of major league teams, the Mets aren't the best fit. The one strength of Barajas' hitting (home runs) is likely to be obscured by playing half his games in Citi Field where home runs seem to be suppressed. Pretty much, the Mets aren't better or worse off regardless of whether Blanco or Barajas is the back-up getting 200 plate appearances a year.

Why Signing Chien-Ming Wang is a good move by the Nationals

So, Chien-Ming Wang just signed with the team formerly known as the Montreal Expos.

While I have been critical about them signing Adam Kennedy over Orlando Hudson and signing Willy Taveras, to a contract, there is a decent chance the Nationals get this signing right.

As a disclaimer, I am fully aware that Wang has been hampered by injuries which could make the following discussion null and void.

One reason I think this is a smart signing is that ghastly 9.64 ERA is highly fluky and there's no way he could pitch that bad for two years in a row. Taking a closer look at his 2009 numbers it looks like he got horribly......horribly....atrociously unlucky last year. Hitters had a .407 BABIP against him. That is 110 points higher than his career total. Whatever comes up must come down and that BABIP should regress to somewhere around that .297 career total (regardless of whether or not he pitches better) which in turn should return his numbers closer to his 2005-2008 totals.

Point being, even if he doesn't pitch any better in 2010, his ERA should drastically improve as a BABIP that off the charts high is not sustainable for the long term. Another reason is he got unlucky with fly balls turning into home runs. While Wang struggled both at home and on the road, getting away from Yankee Stadium should help. Opposing hitters had a 1.091 OPS against him at home. It's clear that he got unlucky with giving him home runs as well as his 1.5 HR/9 innings allowed is twice as high as his previous career high ( and more than three times his totals from 2006 & 2007 when he led the AL in this category).

Also, Wang isn't that old (he'll be 30 by opening day) so I wouldn't write him off as washed out. From his prior body of work, it is clear he knows how to pitch ( outside of 2009, he was an above league average pitcher and as recent as 4 years ago he was second in Cy Young Voting).

My point is don't write of Chien-Ming Wang because the bottom fell out in 2009. He didn't have a bad season because he forgot how to pitch, he had a bad season because he got about as unlucky as a pitcher could be within the scope of 42 innings. The Nationals have made a lot of dumb moves over the year, this move bucks the trend as it is a savvy low-risk high reward move.

Jamie Moyer......looking to break precedent

To Jamie Moyer, age seems to be nothing more than a silly number. Even though he is 47, an age where most pro ball-players are managing somewhere or moving to the broadcast booth, he is still open to continue his career into 2011 and beyond.

At this point, this raises the question of how much does Moyer need to accomplish in the 2010s to be the greatest 47-and up pitcher of all time.

By even making it to 47, he will pass several pitchers on the all-time oldest pitchers list as several pitchers called it a career at 46. When he makes his first pitch this year, he will be the sixth pitcher in history to pitch in the big leagues at 47 and older. He will join the company of:

Phil Niekro:

A hall of fame pitcher who is in despite what he did after turning 47, not because of what he did. His age 47 year was respectable 11-11 4.32 era 96 ERA+ respectable but not all star worthy. However, his age-48 year the bottom fell out as he went 7-13 6.30 era 72 ERA+ with 3 different teams. An example of being able to use the knuckleball to extend a career deep into middle age.

Hoyt Wilhelm:

Another 47+ pitcher, another knuckleballer (and another Hall of Famer). Wilhelm had a bit more success going 6-5 with a 3.40 era 127 ERA+ and 13 saves in his age 47 year. In limited duty in his age 48 season he was effective going 0-1 2.70 era 122+ before retiring after struggling in his age-49 year.

Jack Quinn:

The first non-knuckleballer and non-hall of famer to make it to 47. Although he is in the unique pitch category, as he was one of the last pitchers legally allowed to throw the spitball. Like Wilhelm, Quinn enjoyed some success after his 47th birthday, leading the NL in saves in his age 47 and 48 seasons.

Nick Altrock:

1 game, 2 innings in his age-47 season.

Satchel Paige:

Pitched 1 game, 3 innings at age-58.

What will Moyer's likely place in history be?

Looking at historical precedent, a pretty good shot to re-write the record books in some areas. Two of the five pitchers (Altrock and Paige) are on the list due to single appearances.

Versus the other three pitchers, Moyer is the only one not to have a specialty pitch that is known for being difficult to hit, although he has a really slow fastball.

It's unlikely he'll be an all-star at this point of his career (like Wilhelm) although it is conceivable he could have the best starting pitching season for a 47-year old (Niekro had a respectable season but Moyer is still capable of pitching at an average to slightly above average level).

A close look at the numbers provided by Ron Shandler's Baseball Forecaster indicate he could have a solid season. His decreased strike percentage is a cause for concern but his hr/f rate was the highest in 5 years indicating he could give up less homers and thus improve on his disappointing 2009 numbers. Either way, it should be fun to see Moyer strive to make some history in the new decade.

If the Nationals lose 100 times again, this may have something to do with it

Today, the Nationals signed Willy Taveras to a 1-year deal. Why they signed him is beyond me. Taveras is the ultimate 1-tool (stolen base) player. Yes he can run and steal bases (while limiting how often he gets caught)......but the Taveras signing (even to a modest $400,000) makes me scratch my head and think along the lines of how does he keep finding work?

Despite hitting in hitter-friendly parks the last couple years ('08 in Colorado, '09 in Cincinnati) Taveras' hitting performance has been nothing to write home about (55 OPS+ in '08 48 OPS+ in '09......ouch). On top of that, he's gotten 400-plus plate appearances in those seasons while not even being close to being an asset at the plate.

If nothing else, getting rid of Taveras does seem to improve teams (Rockies went from 74 to 92 wins after he left Colorado and the Reds seem primed to improve from their 78 win season in 2010.) Still, if Taveras somehow gets another 400+ plate appearances and they lose another 100-plus games (again), we at least know where a lot of the blame can get distributed to.