Bonus graph for Tuesday
Does not include this month
Does not attempt to correct for some nick changes
Does not attempt to include DJC’s brief impersonations (etc)
USSM Swag open question
So we’re making, approximately,
diddly
—
squat
on USSM stuff @ Cafepress (viewable here). We would like, I’d say, to make enough to pay at least Cafe Press’ fee for running the store. Here’s my question for you, dear readers: are there things we should be offering? Pushing them more? New designs? Or are we better off just punting the shop entirely if the items are going to be Cafe Press-level expensive? Read more
More PMR defense goodness
David Pinto’s been putting out the 2006 defensive ratings in bits and pieces, so let’s catch up on the first three.
LF: Raul Ibanez is horrible. He’s above Carlos Lee, Chris Duncan, Bobby Kielty, and Manny Ramirez.
CF: Ichiro is ridiculously good. Reed was the worst in the league in his limited time.
1B: Sexson’s pretty bad.
Update: Dave’s comment makes me want to clarify this — he’s right, and I should have said “Raul Ibanez’s rating is horrible” or something similarly clear.
News of Tuesday, November 21st
Morneau is the AL MVP. I’d have voted for Jeter.
Alou signs 1 year, $8.5m deal
Juan Pierre gets a 5y, $45m deal. Boggle boggle.
Nintendo (and for that matter, Microsoft) have still not supplied USSM Labs with evaluation units
Today’s graph is attendance and win percentage
Full seasons since the Baseball Club of Seattle purchased the team in mid-1992
Graph of the day
Mariners total payroll and rank among MLB teams since the Baseball Club of Seattle purchased the club in mid-1992 (so 1993 on), revised because people are dumb
Note that rank is of 28 from 1993-1998, and of 30 from 1998 on.
Monday’s signings, rumors
Catalanotto signs with Rangers for 3y, $13m
Garciaparra reups with Dodgers for 2y
Added by Jason: Ryan Howard wins NL MVP
Soooo… hitters, apx 2006 win value from offense, new contract annual value
Henry Blanco, 0, $2.6m
Sean Casey, -1, $4m
Alex Cora, -1, $2m
Mark DeRosa, 2, $4.3m
Jim Edmonds, 2, $9.5m
Alex Gonzalez, 0, $4.6m
Wes Helms, 2, $2.7m
Aramis Ramirez, 4, $15m
Alfonso Soriano, 6, $17m
Scott Spiezio, 2, $2.3m
Frank Thomas, 4, $9m
By the way, here’s the contracts of Frank Thomas. The 2006 base salary of $500k was so low I felt obligated to include the incentives he made, but otherwise this is straight:
Don’t Call It A Comeback …
… I’ve been here for three weeks. And my log-in and password still work. Excellent!
Folks, Dave has on occasion kvetched about cross-country flights, which is certainly a truism. Let me vouch for the fact that moving across the International Date Line is no less trying. Between getting my project set up, trying to furnish a home, fill out myriad mystifying forms and leap headfirst into two mutually-unintelligible languages (three, if you count English), chores aplenty have rolled in. This has left me wondering whether there is an opposite of “combobulated.”
Oh yeah.
Keeping up on baseball news has been shuffled down on the priority list somewhere just above “is there any drawback to living with wild geckos?” and just below “register for the health care system.” I’ve been a lot better at keeping up my Okinawa blog, but then, this place is the epicenter of the next year for me, so I’d better. If you’re interested in mundane details about my apartment, political and environmental news about a place you might not know much about, and the occasional bit of strangeness, pop on over.
Though my absence is no doubt helping the average Post Intelligence Quotient over here, I’ve been looking for an excuse to duck in, say “hi,” and hopefully bring something in the way of Japanese baseball news to the table.
It’s the offseason here, too, but here’s what I’ve got: the Yokohama Bay Stars train in Ginowan City, where I live now. They just did a little meet n’ greet with some American kids. The Bay Stars (along with many Japanese teams) will be back in Okinawa in February for spring training.
That’s right, they have two offseason camps. Rumors that they force pitchers to throw hundreds of pitches during each are unsubstantiated, but let’s just say I’m bringing the camera in three months.
Mariner fan photo blogging: while I was strolling around Highway 58 today trying to sign up for local cultural activities, I ran into these two kids, who were anxious to try out the only English word they know — and, coincidentally, the phrase that I popped over here to say — “Hi!”
Always happy to meet another Mariner fan, I pointed out in Japanese that I’m from Seattle, where the Mariners play. They looked perplexed and then laughed, as it became readily apparent that the young fella wasn’t so much a baseball fan as someone who thought the hat looked sweet.
I also saw a weird advertisement featuring Ichiro today, but neglected to bring my camera, which is always — always — a mistake. At least it will give me fodder for another post sometime in the next several months.
Kidding. Kind of.
Sorry, Cubbie fans
Jim Hendry has just tied a monumental millstone around the necks of the Chicago Cubs franchise, reportedly agreeing to an eight year, $136 million contract for Alfonso Soriano.
Good Lord. This offseason is a repeat of the Hampton/Neagle/Vaughn stupidity.
Comparison Fun
You know I think the free agent market is nuts. You know I support acquiring talent via trade instead of paying these prices. You may not know that there really are good deals to be found, even in this sea of insanity. For instance, look at this comparison of left-fielders:
Player A: .287/.358/.457, 601 PA, 79 runs created, 32 years old, well above average defensively
Player B: .300/.355/.540, 624 PA, 113 runs created, 30 years old, terrible defensively
Player A is more of a line-drive gap hitter with athleticism. His defense is probably worth +5 to +10 runs a year, and even more on a team with a spacious outfield and a flyball pitching staff.
Player B is a classic slugger with power who doesn’t walk enough to be a superstar, but has enough juice in his bat to be a very effective player. His defense is a detriment, but the bat more than makes up for it.
When factoring in total value, Player B is probably 15 to 20 runs better, assuming neither undergoes drastic decline. Player B should make more money, and since he’s two years younger, should get a longer contract, but the differences shouldn’t be monumental. A few million more and an extra year, maybe two, for Player B. Given their worth relative to the ease of finding a left fielder who can hit, I’d say Player A is worth something like 2 years, $10 million and Player B is worth 3 years, $24 million. Or something like that.
Player A is Emil Brown, who the Royals can’t give away, because he’s arbitration eligible for the first time and is probably going to be awarded a salary of $3 to $4 million for 2007.
Player B is Carlos Lee, who has half the teams in baseball fighting to give him a 5 year, $75 million contract.
Major League GMs are willing to pay an extra $11 million a year for “power”, which optimistically translates to a 15-20 run advantage for Lee, and guarantee Lee all-star money through the rest of the decade. Meanwhile, Dayton Moore can’t find anyone interested in Emil Brown, who he’d like to move to create a spot for uberprospect Alex Gordon.
That doesn’t make any sense. Carlos Lee is a better player than Emil Brown, but the difference isn’t huge. The difference certainly isn’t worth an extra $11 million in 2007, much less the commitment from 2008-2011. So please, please, please stop telling us that these contracts are “market value”. They’re free agent value, but the baseball player talent industry is a much larger market than that segment of the population.