Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
November 22, 2006
New Angel in the Outfield

MLB Trade Rumors links to a piece on Fox that puts Gary Matthews Jr. in an Angels uniform for five years and $50 million. From Trade Rumors reaction:


Matthews has had one good season in his career. Of course, that was last year, and it was great, so he positioned himself well for the market. But the dude's 32, he'd never been much above average before, he put up his good offensive numbers in a major hitter's park, and he may not be that great of a center fielder. Having GMJ under contract for the next five years ensures that the Angels will have an overpaid corner outfielder even after Garret Anderson's contract runs out.

Sarge's career line is .263/.336/.419. According to ZiPS, Maicer Izturis is going to have a better season than that. (I know Izturis doesn't play center, just...eight figures for utility infielder offense?)

I've been a booster of Matthews for a long time. I always thought there was some underlying talent, the ability to get on base that was never allowed to develop. Last year he showed it, but he was 31 at the time and playing in a very good offensive park. I don't really expect that to last very long. There have been some players who played better in their 30s than their 20s, but those people usually turned 30 at the cusp of an offensive explosion (Paul O'Neill comes to mind). It seems to me the Angels had to one up the Dodgers on giving a lot of money to an iffy centerfielder. At least the better player got more money.

Are there a lot of other offers on the table for these players? Was someone else offering Matthews a four year deal at $40 million? Or a five year deal at $45 million?

It's an absolutely terrific year to be a free agent.


Posted by David Pinto at 01:40 PM | Free Agents | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Ok, does anyone here think that the Rangers will regret letting Matthews and Derosa go? Which one do you think will be able to repeat last season?

Personally, I would pick Matthews as most likely to succeed, but I don't blame the Rangers for not putting up that crazy money...

Posted by: Andy at November 22, 2006 02:45 PM

They might, MIGHT wish they had them around in 07, if both hit like they did in 06...but are they going to regret not paying GMJ $10MM a year from age 34-36? Not so much...

Posted by: the other josh at November 22, 2006 03:17 PM

From ESPN:
(http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2672448)

"San Francisco was also said to be offered $50 million over five years before the Angels matched that package."

Looks like this is the year that the money trees are blossoming again in the MLB.

Posted by: The Southpaw at November 22, 2006 03:39 PM

A .249 career hitter in seven previous seasons before batting .313 this season. A case of hitting the market at the right time. Wait until the pitchers start to go in FA this year. If you thought the Blue Jays overpaid for A.J. Burnett or the Yankees for Pavano, wait until you see what Barry Zito gets offered. The numbers could be staggering. Oh yeah guess what the league MVP's made this year:

AL: Morneau, $385,000
NL: Howard, $355,000

Now obviously these guys are in for a huge payday but look at the contracts of two of the Mets exciting young superstars:

3B David Wright, 6 years/55M
SS Jose Reyes, 4 years/23.25M

What a bargain for the Mets. Now they did sign Beltran to a huge contract but he lived up to that in year 2 of his
7 year/119M deal.

My bet is Gary Matthews will never live up to 10M a year. Not for the next 5 years. But anyone who watches enough baseball could have told you that. If he gets 10M a year, what is Vernon Wells worth? Even Soriano at 17M a year, I think Wells is better than both of them. Will Wells get 20M a year when and if he becomes a free agent after the 2007 season? If I were the Blue Jays, I would give him what he wants NOW! If not, Texas will find a filler in CF for next year and pay Wells whatever he wants in the 2007 offseason. Toronto won't have a chance in trying to resign him.

Posted by: Jason McAdams at November 22, 2006 05:27 PM

Jason, good points across the board. I actually expect Pavano to earn his keep this season. It will make for an interesting Spring Training story. The players seem to dislike him as much as the fans at this point. Will be amusing to see the Bronx embrace him after he wins a couple games.

Posted by: abe at November 22, 2006 06:07 PM

Any chance the Angels will still be in the mix for Manny Ramirez? At 2 years and $38 million, he's looking like a bargain, yet the Sox seem intent on moving him this year.

Posted by: Chad at November 22, 2006 09:13 PM

Sarge Jr, aka Private when he was with the Cubs, ain't that good. I still remember that nice catch he made though. Comes in hard on a sinking liner, gets a little leather on it but it pops back up in the air as he is sliding on his back. He reaches up and behind him with his meat hand and pulls it down. pretty exciting.

Posted by: chris at November 23, 2006 12:16 AM
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