Daily Archives: December 9, 2008

Dodgers Sign Old Infielder, Part II

Posted on by 15 Replies


 
87toppscaseyblake.jpgAnd it is the one you think…

Blake has agreed to a three-year deal worth slightly more than $17.1 million. It’s believed the Minnesota Twins had offered him a two-year contract in the neighborhood of $14 million.

No analysis here, because simply scroll down to see any number of posts in which I’ve discussed why I think this is a bad idea. $17.1 million to Casey Blake over three years. Unbelievable.

For the record, Baseball Prospectus has a stat called MORP, which as they define it, is:

MORP is modelled based on the actual behavior of recent free agent markets, and accounts for non-linearity in the market price of baseball talent (e.g. teams are willing to pay more for one 6-win player than two 3-win players).As listed in a player’s PECOTA card, a player’s MORP includes the major league minimum salary of $380,000 for 2007. Further, in a player’s Five-Year Forecast, we assume salary inflation of 8% per year through 2010.

Blake’s MORP over the next three years? $2.65m, $1.925m, and $1m. Fantastic.

(Yes, I saw that the Dodgers signed AAAA infielder Hector Luna. No, don’t expect another “Dodgers sign infielder” post to discuss it.)

Dodgers Sign Old Infielder

Posted on by 5 Replies

But not the one you think!

While closing in on re-signing third baseman Casey Blake, the Dodgers further solidified their infield depth Monday night by agreeing to terms with veteran utilityman Mark Loretta on a one-year contract, according to agent Bob Garber.

AKA, “Smell you later, Nomar”.

 

mark_loretta.jpgActually, I know I’ve been pretty negative about everything lately, but I love this signing, especially for just $1.4 million over one year. In fact, when the rumor first popped up a week ago, I was completely in favor of it – why wouldn’t I want a guy who could play all four infield positions and absolutely destroys lefties, especially when it seems as though at least half of the infield will be lefty batters? DodgerThoughts points out that Loretta’s had an OBP of .345 or better since 1997, and that’s fantastic. He’s basically Nomar, but better: he might have never had Nomar’s pop, but he can play more positions, and he won’t rack up an extra $10 million in doctor bills. Not to mention that Nomar never would have taken that little to come back.

My only caveat here is that Loretta needs to be filling the Nomar/Big Sexy role. If he’s coming to be our Opening Day 2B, that’s a problem for me. But as a safety net/platoon partner with lefty Blake DeWitt, and an infielder who can still hit and provides immense versatility, I love it. Welcome home, Mark.