So
much went on in baseball this past week that this could easily be a 10,000 word
article. I will spare you that and try to limit myself to touching base on only
the stories I found to be the most urgent and interesting in the week that was.
This will probably be just a precursor to even more action this week, as the
Winter Meetings are now underway down in Tennessee. Buckle your seatbelts,
kids.
***Former
MLB union head and labor pioneer Marvin Miller died last
Tuesday at
the age of 95. Miller helped found the Players Association in 1966 and guided
them through legal battles and obstacles, which ultimately led to free agency
and exploding player salaries. His 16-year tenure as head of the union was
easily the most productive of any of his colleagues in baseball or other
sports.
Although
many now decry the high salaries and occasional strikes, Miller’s work provided
players with fundamental rights and the ability to claim some of the vast
amounts of money they were making for the owners. When Miller joined the MLPA
in 1968 the minimum play salary was $6,000. That threshold was $480,000 as of
last season.
Miller
has tragically not yet been enshrined in the
Baseball Hall of Fame. He
fell two votes shy of induction in 2009 and missed by just one vote in 2010.
There is little doubt that enemies he made during his time with the union have
contributed to his exclusion. He must get in one day, as he is the definition
of a baseball pioneer and contributor. It’s just a shame that personal grudges
kept him from enjoying while he was alive what he had earned through his life’s
work.
***New
York Mets third baseman David Wright agreed to the largest contract in team
history,
coming to terms on an eight-year, $140 million pact. Although Wright is the
face of the franchise, it seems that he is getting paid more because of his
past performance than the value he will offer over the life of the contract.
Wright
will be 30 by the time next season starts and has already seen his power reduced
since the Mets moved to Citi Field. He hit a home run every 20.4 at bats when the
Mets played at Shea Stadium, but has seen that drop to every 28.3 at bats since
moving to his new home in 2009.
A
team that has struggled financially so much in recent years handing out such a
contract seems like an iffy proposition. Wright is a good player but can’t be
considered more than a fringy star at this point in his career. Letting him
walk now may have been a disastrous PR move for the franchise, so now they have
rolled the dice that he can defy the creep of time over the next decade.
***Another
week and another player suspended for
testing positive for a banned substance. Yawn. This time it was Philadelphia
Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz who was caught using an amphetamine and received a
25 game suspension to be served at the beginning of next season.
Ruiz
issued the same boilerplate apology that has become standard fare among the
fraternity of positive testers in recent years. Yeah, yeah, we get it. They’re
real sorry. Until the punishment reaches the same financial levels as the
possible benefits from taking banned substances, players are going to continue
gambling in an effort to add zeroes on to their pay checks.
Many
will likely equate Ruiz’s positive test with him having the best stats of his
career at the age of 33 this past season, when he hit .325 with 16 home runs
and 68 RBI. Even though there is no proven correlation between the substance he
took and any on-field benefits, it’s a label and virtual asterisk his career
will now carry forever because of the way such things are seen by so many fans
and journalists.
***Another major free agent was taken off the market when B.J.
Upton agreed to a five-year, $75.25 million contract with the Atlanta
Braves. The center fielder, long regarded as one of the most toolsy players in
baseball, had spent the first eight years of his major league career with the
Tampa Bay Rays.
The move is curious from Atlanta’s standpoint. Upton’s best season came
in 2007, when he hit .300 with 24 home runs, 22 stolen bases and a .386 OBP. In
the five seasons since then he has topped a .246 batting average just once and
has seen his OBP dip precipitously, to the point it reached .298 this past
season.
It seems like every season people are holding their breath for Upton to
break out and turn into the star he was envisioned to be when he was the second
overall pick in the 2002 MLB Draft. Perhaps it’s time for the baseball world to
realize that Upton is what he is; a guy with a little pop, some speed and good
outfield range. He is not a player who can anchor a lineup. I can’t think of many
players who turned the corner a decade into their career, especially after having
been in decline for as long as Upton has. Let’s hope that whatever bad habits
Upton has developed since his slide doesn’t rub off on young Atlanta star Jason
Heyward.
***The Cincinnati Reds have apparently decided to finally give Cuban
flame thrower Aroldis Chapman a chance to be a starter. This decision was made
by the three-year,
$21 million contract they agreed to with Jonathan Broxton, who spent the
second half of last season with the Reds after being traded from the Kansas
City Royals.
I have seen many question why the Reds would want to monkey with a
lights-out closer, like Chapman proved to be in 2012. However, when you have a
pitcher with his talents, it’s something that has to be done. Chapman won’t
throw 101-105 MPH or strike out 15.3 batters per nine innings like he did last
year as a reliever, but he has the potential to be very good.
Some legitimate concerns about this experiment include the fact that
Chapman has never thrown more than 109 innings in a season since coming to the
United States in 2010. He will undoubtedly be on a closely scrutinized pitch
and innings count in 2013. Also, Broxton has shown signs of increasing decline.
His strikeouts per nine innings (7.0 in 2012) has been nearly cut in half since
its high point of 2009, when he had a mark of 13.5. According to FanGraphs.com,
his average fastball velocity has dipped from 97.5 MPH to 94.8 MPH during that
time. On the other hand, his 2012 FIP of 3.03 shows that he was still an effective
pitcher, even if he isn’t working with the same weapons. At 300 pounds, it will
be interesting to see if he can hang in as an effective closer for the Reds
over the next three seasons with his bad body type and declining skill set.
***With all the flak being showered on the Marlins for their recent fire
sale, a small market team finally made headlines for doing something positive.
The Tampa Bay Rays locked up the face of their franchise, third baseman Evan
Longoria, to a six-year,
$100 million extension that will keep him through at least the 2022 season.
The contract is a gamble being taken by both sides. Longoria gave up all of his
arbitration and free agency years to take the sure-fire money now. The Rays are
banking on him maintaining a high level of play until he is 37, which is when
the contract runs out.
Longoria is close to being a star at a premium position. Although he
missed half of the 2012 season because of injury, his .896 OPS and 149 OPS+
would have been career highs, suggesting he is coming into his peak. This
contract makes him Tampa Bay’s equivalent of a George Brett or Robin Yount. It’s
hard not to admire the commitment represented by both sides on this deal. It
will be both brilliant and mutually beneficial if it ends up working out for
both parties.
**********************
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