~~~Unofficial Baseball Offseason Thread~~~

[CrazyPsycho]

Gammons is reporting Glavine is staying with the Mets on a one year deal. Seems right, as the Braves can't afford what the Mets were probably throwing at him. I'm glad he's not coming back to Atlanta, fans seemed about 50/50 on him coming back. Apparently ESPNews said it was 11 million...

[Propertarian]

Ray Durham resigns with Giants...terms not disclosed

[Propertarian]

[ QUOTE ]
Steve Phillips said something the other day about the Red Sox maybe being interested especially if they trade Manny but its baseless and I am almost positive the Red Sox aren't interested.

[/ QUOTE ] The Red Sox have announced already that they are not interested in Bonds.

Expect the unexpected with Bonds...come on Jim (Tribune claimed the other day that he has a wad of cash to spend...still). With nobody even willing to admit that they want him, and several teams openly saying they do not, despite being fifth in MLB in EQA last year, he is going to be one of the best deals this offseason.

[BWebb]

[ QUOTE ]
Ray Durham resigns with Giants...terms not disclosed

[/ QUOTE ]

I was just going to post this. Word is that the deal is 2/$14m. Ugh, not sure how I feel about this. Durham had an awesome season last year, but has not been able to stay healthy during most of his time in San Francisco. He's 36 right now, so I doubt that will somehow improve. Plus, 2nd base was the only position we had a somewhat legitimate prospect (Fransden) to play. I think I would have been happier with a Fransden/Loretta platoon this year. It would have been cheaper and it could have provided a chance to see if Fransden is a everyday ML or not.

[Propertarian]

On the other hand, Durham is a genuine star.

VORP (measure of durability and quality of performance) over the last three seasons for three second basemen signed:

Durham: 107
Kennedy: 49
Derosa: 11.9 (Kennedy signing was better than Derosa signing, I know).

Both are younger than Durham, but Durham has shown no sign of decline (unlike Kennedy, whose performance has faded three st8 years). Durham is probably half a dozen runs a season worse on defense than the other two. Still a better contract than Kennedy or Derosa, however.

[Propertarian]

BTW-Durham is also better than Pierre or Matthews and got less $ for less years...it could have been way worse for the Giants.

[kyleb]

[ QUOTE ]
With nobody even willing to admit that they want him, and several teams openly saying they do not, despite being fifth in MLB in EQA last year, he is going to be one of the best deals this offseason.

[/ QUOTE ]

Billy Beane has said he wants him.

Clubhouse spirit is directly and positively correlated with the team's performance. Almost all GM's believe this. However, most of the GM's have the wrong variable marked as the independent.

[kyleb]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Ray Durham resigns with Giants...terms not disclosed

[/ QUOTE ]

I was just going to post this. Word is that the deal is 2/$14m. Ugh, not sure how I feel about this. Durham had an awesome season last year, but has not been able to stay healthy during most of his time in San Francisco. He's 36 right now, so I doubt that will somehow improve. Plus, 2nd base was the only position we had a somewhat legitimate prospect (Fransden) to play. I think I would have been happier with a Fransden/Loretta platoon this year. It would have been cheaper and it could have provided a chance to see if Fransden is a everyday ML or not.

[/ QUOTE ]

First of all, Ray Durham was 34 in 2006. Second of all, it is nearly impossible for a 2/14 deal for a legitimately great player to turn out bad. The years are low and the money is insignificant to the Giants' payroll. Even if he got injured and retired after the first game of the season, the signing would have still been a good one.

Durham has played in 12 consecutive seasons in the MLB with over 110 games in each season, with a steady batting average and isolated OBP numbers. He is hitting smarter as he grows older and adapting to his body, and the Giants are lucky that the fact that he randomly slugged .538 last year didn't end up costing them an arm and a leg like Gary Matthews did.

By WARP3, Ray Durham has been worth 6 wins to his team every season over the entirety of his MLB career with the sole exception of his major-league debut (where he was worth 3.1 wins over replacement value).

He has shown exceptional durability for a middle infielder, and while his speed/defense has been fading due to basic injuries and age, his power has been steadily picking up as a replacement while at the same time maintaining his walk ratios and cutting down on his strikeouts.

Basically this signing is outstanding and likely to be a top three FA signing for this offseason. I rate it very highly.

EDIT: The article says he is 36, but Baseball Prospectus says he is 34. Interesting.

[moorobot]

Durham signing is one of the best this offseason; he's better than Eaton, better than Matthews, better than Pierre...Yet who got more cash?

[moorobot]

Beane may want Bonds, but he is probably too costly for the A's, and it seems highly likely that the A's will sign Piazza to DH if the Padres don't offer him arbitration.