November 30, 2005
Konerko Stays Put
Paul Konerko decided to stay in Chicago today, taking less money from the White Sox than was offered by the Orioles. He'll get $12 million a year for five years, and form an intimidating power duo with likely DH Jim Thome. The contract seems like a pretty fair price for Paul. Once again, as we've seen so often in the free agent era, location mattered more than a few million dollars.
Who else is curious about which 6 teams Paulie refuses to be traded to?
Is Konerko really that much better than someone like Furcal? Granted, the Furcal numbers are all rumors, but most of the rumors have been at 10 mil or less per year.
With Furcal's great speed and defense, I am not convinced that he is less valuable than Konerko. A quick look at winshares and Furcal had 27 to Konerko's 24. And Konerko had a career year, whereas Furcal had significant struggles early in the year.
When you factor in Konerko playing 1b, it would appear that Furcal would deserve a bigger contract than Konerko got.
Dave,
I would guess that a lot of Furcal's win shares comes from playing an important defensive position well as he is not much better than league average at the plate. It's not that hard to find good defense at short, so I think its the offensive value of each player that is driving the market.
I have the feeling that, as long as Manny keeps putting up the numbers he always has, we'll be calling his contract a bargain by the end of 2008...
It makes sense if you think about it. Ballplayers are getting paid the kind of money where they're set for life regardless of what happens. The question for a guy like Konerko is "do you want to be set for life in a work situation that you know you enjoy with a championship team, or do you want to be slightly more set for life in a work situation that is an unknown?" The smart guy will take the first option.
Thank god my hometown Angels failed to sign Konerko. We have a perfectly good first base prospect named Casey Kotchman. Now if only management will have the good sense to move Darin Erstad back to centerfield. We can only hope.
The sad thing is this means the end of The Big Hurt in chicago. I wonder where he's gonna go. Plenty of teams would probably like him for a one-two year deal, and I think he could be a ton of help for them.
Oh, Good Job Kenny Williams. You just spent $60 million on a 30-year old first baseman who has hit .248/.324/.432 away from US Cellular Field the last three years.
Even with the signing of Konerko and the addition of Thome, the sox still do not have a capable avg. hitter to fill the 3rd spot. The combo of Jermaine Dye/Carl Everett at the 3rd spot worked this year, but they were hot and cold at all the right times. I'm not sure if the White sox can ride hot streaks all year at the 3rd spot.
"Oh, Good Job Kenny Williams..."
Look at it this way, he just saved at least a couple of gm's from themselves. The Orioles and Angels play at the cell a whole lot fewer times a year than the Sox do!
Hey Mike L without the period, your numbers include 2003 when he was horrible both home and away. Last year he actually hit a not to shabby 276/.371/.492 on the road. And your a little bit to quick to call him a 30 year old, as he doesn't hit that milestone until March. I do find a it little bit strange that everyone keeps calling Konerko old when he hasn't even turned 30 yet. What is this, tennis?
Woah, shouldn't have had my name like that since someone else did, oopsie.
It's true that I did use his down 2003 year because I like to use 3 year averages. His two year road average is .258/.338/.451 which isn't horrible, but is still below average for a first basemen (I haven't looked up what first basemen averages on the road are, but I assume them to be similiar to the overall rating, I'm sure this is a bit wrong though).
I just can't see him being worth that much money when he's only a great player at home.
Although it's true he doesn't turn 30 untill next march, the contract doesn't really matter untill the season begins, so he'll be 30 by then. He's close to coming out of the hitters peak range, so that's why the deal seems a little iffy.