Oh, and not to harp too much on the awful Ibanez signing, but similar players keep signing better deals:
Ibanez — $13.25M over 3 years, 32-34
Carl Everett — $7.5M over 2 years, 33-34
Reggie Sanders — $6M over 2 years, 36-37
Rondell White — $6M over 2 years, 32-23
Jose Cruz Jr. — $6M over 2 years, 30-31
Juan Encarnacion — $8M over 2 years, 28-29
Those numbers are the end are the players’ age during the contract.
Things just keep getting better.
According to the Times, a deal for Cleveland’s Omar Vizquel is all but done. Carlos Guillen is likely to be involved in the trade, as Vizquel and Scott Spiezio (I hate typing his name) will fill the left side of the infield, making Guillen expendable.
I’m no big Guillen fan, though I do think the deal they just signed him to is quite reasonable for his services — I wouldn’t want to be paying him, say, $5M a season, but that $2.5M number looks pretty good. Vizquel, on the other hand, will cost a minimum of $7M ($6M for next season, $1M buyout for 2005) and possibly more (in addition to the 2005 option at some cost I can’t find, he has a $1M “personal services” contract for next season which may or may not come with him). There’s also the fact that he can’t hit, making this a bum deal.
What’s amusing, though, is that this is likely to be a good PR move for the M’s. Vizquel was extremely popular during his time in Seattle (remember that “Older Women for Omar” sign at the Kingdome?), whereas Guillen has a reputation (deserved or not) for always being hurt (as well as driving too fast, but that’s another issue). For the most part, people seem disappointed with the likes of McCracken and Spiezio… I hope they don’t get suckered by this Vizquel deal, though.
Perhaps the M’s will pick up a prospect in the deal (which they should be able to justify, given the salaries of the players involved), in which case it wouldn’t totally suck. In that case, Vizquel is a one-year place holder for Jose Lopez. While expensive, especially considering Rey Sanchez could have done the same thing at 1/6th the cost, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
Ah, who am I kidding? This is going to suck.