Free Agency Blunders

Milton Bradley is on this list of Tracy Ringolsby's 10 worst free agent signings of recent years. Could there be someone on this list the Cubs could swap MB for?

about 2 years ago Al Yellon 28 comments 0 recs |

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and I thought MB's contract was bad....

lacking the knowledge I should to make a guess here…I’m going to anyway…I think Posada only cause the Yankees would be the team to pay the most for MB and eat the most money for Posada.

"When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not." --Mark Twain

by cooliogirl47 on Nov 23, 2009 5:51 PM CST reply actions

Lowe

If I knew Harden was gone, I would like to see Lowe in the rotation.

by daily2b on Nov 23, 2009 5:56 PM CST reply actions

I'm leery of Lowe after his bad year last year.

But it might be a way to get rid of MB’s contract.

"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra

by Al Yellon on Nov 23, 2009 5:59 PM CST up reply actions

Call them!

by daily2b on Nov 23, 2009 6:04 PM CST up reply actions

If you could get the Braves to take...

Aaron Miles, and throw in Kelly Johnson, I’d do that deal in a second.

As for Ringolsby, the piece is very revisionist, generally a sign that someone of his stature was on deadline, and came up with some garbage off the top of his head.

The Astros knew exactly what they were getting in Lee; that’s on them. And how any conversation about bad Dodger contracts doesn’t start and end with Schmidt and Pierre is beyond me. Jeez, even Zito had to go through two years of adjustments just to be a serviceable fifth starter,

by Damen Jackson on Nov 23, 2009 8:38 PM CST up reply actions

No one is taking Aaron Miles.

Can we all just drop it now?

"Pounding sand since 1982...."

by cubswynn on Nov 23, 2009 10:08 PM CST up reply actions

Hey, ya never know.

Catch my act on Twitter as @dat_cubfan_dave.

by daver on Nov 24, 2009 11:49 AM CST up reply actions

Kelly Johnson will be non-tendered

You read it here first, after I read it…um…somewhere.

Actually, I think there’s a very good chance Johnson will be one of those guys hanging around in late January wondering why no one is offering a contract above $1 Mill.

Could be a decent pickup for the Cubs IF he is healthy. If not, he might still hit some, but his play at 2B can be atrocious.

Fontenot (fon-te-no): Cajun for "scrappy"

by cubzfan on Nov 24, 2009 7:10 AM CST up reply actions

BIG if

The guy can rake when healthy though

"If I were playing third base and my mother were rounding third with the run that was going to beat us, I'd trip her. Oh, I'd pick her up and brush her off and say, 'Sorry, Mom,' but nobody beats me." ~ Leo Durocher

by Musicdude10 on Nov 25, 2009 10:26 AM CST up reply actions

IMO

Sorri was a bigger blunder . We still have to put up with him for another 4 years . He handcuffed the Cubs as to not sign any big type A free agents . Sorri eats up 18 million a year

by CUBFANINAZ on Nov 23, 2009 6:34 PM CST reply actions

I hate to make you feel even worse ...

but I believe Soriano’s contract has five years remaining, not four. :)

Harry Caray: Marshall is going back to LA to get cocaine for his injured foot.
Steve Stone: Harry, that’s Novocaine.

by Julio Zuleta's Voodoo on Nov 24, 2009 8:52 AM CST up reply actions

Should Posada even count?

He was RESIGNED by his original team.

Randy Wells. A product of the Roy Halladay School of Pitching, located in Toronto, Canada. Possible relocation.

by Cub Style on Nov 23, 2009 7:55 PM CST reply actions

The real question:

How did Posada make this list and not Vernon Wells?

by aldimond on Nov 24, 2009 12:03 AM CST up reply actions

Agred

Methinks that cowboy hat of Tracy’s is on a little bit too tight and is cutting off blood circulation to his brain. He rounds up the usual suspects for a worse contracts list and he does NOT include Wells? To quote SNL… “Seriously?”

Wells signed for the same amount ($126M) as Zito who made the list.

When you factor in his $25.5M signing bonus ($8.5M a year from 2008-10), his salary each year is:
2008: $9M, 2009: $10M, 2010: $21M, 2011: $23M, 2012: $21M, 2013: $21M, 2014: $21M

And that’s not even in the top 10 of worst current contracts, let alone ever? Seriously???

Lou Brown: "My kinda team, Charlie, my kinda team..."

by ballhawk on Nov 24, 2009 9:47 AM CST up reply actions

Agreed.

Any article like this should START with Vernon Wells and go from there.

Catch my act on Twitter as @dat_cubfan_dave.

by daver on Nov 24, 2009 11:54 AM CST up reply actions

Vernon Wells... has never been a free agent...

and thus… is not eligible to be on the list of worst free agent signings.

But the article’s title is misleading, because the article is actually about actual contracts:

Ten current contracts that provide lessons for those who think that by simply writing checks they can buy success:

but the title is “Free agency blunders,” even though Dontrelle Willis is on the list and he has never been a free agent. Eric Byrnes has been a FA, but technically his current contract is just an extension of his previous. And to “Cubs Style,” Posada was a FA, the fact that he resigned with his original team does not make it any less of a bad contract. And agreed, Wells’ contract is truly awful.

You can't win in the postseason unless you can manufacture runs. - Hall of Fame 2B Joe Morgan

by dtc0405 on Nov 24, 2009 10:06 PM CST up reply actions

Aha.... thanks for the clarification

you’d think though that he would have at least acknowledged Wells’ contract and then explain why it wasn’t on his list.

Lou Brown: "My kinda team, Charlie, my kinda team..."

by ballhawk on Nov 24, 2009 10:36 PM CST up reply actions

Good point(s).

Catch my act on Twitter as @dat_cubfan_dave.

by daver on Nov 25, 2009 11:18 AM CST up reply actions

Pot shot throwing journalists

I get very tired of the “worst contract” type articles from “journalists” like Tracy Ringolsby.

Nobody would argue that in each of these cases the player hasn’t lived up to the expectations of their contract. Interestingly, Ringolsby’s name came up over at MLBtraderumors today in regard to the Barry Zito signing.

What he wrote at the time:

Tracy Ringolsby, Rocky Mountain News: "Why on Earth would the Giants shell out a seven-year, $126 million contract for free agent Barry Zito? Zito’s a nice pitcher, but he’s a middle-of- the-rotation guy.

What he says today:

Barry Zito, LHP, Giants. Signed to a seven-year, $126 million contract prior to 2007. Give Zito credit. He takes his turn every fifth day and does eat up innings. But his contract was the richest ever given a pitcher at the time he signed it, and he has four years remaining at $76 million. In three years he is only 31-43 with a 4.56 ERA despite pitching at AT&T Park, where he is 14-23 with a 4.65 ERA in 50 career starts.

ok, those seem pretty consistent, until you consider the rest of his quote from the time of the signing:

The only No. 1 starter on the free-agent market this offseason was Jason Schmidt, and the Giants let him go."

Yeah, Jason Schmidt, the Dodgers were thrilled with the value they got out of that signing!

I have no problem with his being wrong, it happens to all of us and that is part of the fun of the Hot Stove, but the self-righteous attitude and selective memories of these journalists bug the heck out of me.

Eamus Ursuli!

by WGNstatic on Nov 23, 2009 8:12 PM CST reply actions

Did he seriously say the Dodgers were better with Pierre in LF than Manny?

I think he did.

We can safely ignore this guy.

Even if Bradley’s signing was a mistake.

by aldimond on Nov 23, 2009 11:30 PM CST reply actions

284/.402/.443

what numbers are those?

Hint they are from about 4.5-5 months of the season..

4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42

by fischisgod on Nov 24, 2009 12:32 AM CST reply actions

Is this a reply to aldimond?

Catch my act on Twitter as @dat_cubfan_dave.

by daver on Nov 24, 2009 11:50 AM CST up reply actions

Seems like we've gone over most of the names on this list.

I guess I’d still look into the pitchers – Silva and Lowe, specifically (maybe Willis) – as a way out of the Milton mess.

Catch my act on Twitter as @dat_cubfan_dave.

by daver on Nov 24, 2009 11:59 AM CST reply actions

i think a better way to look at FA

is actually measure the signings that have worked over the course of their contracts

FA is largely fool’s gold and there are FAR more instances of these types of mistakes than great buys

as an organization we need to have an intervention and get off the FA addiction. Especially the mid-level FA’s who come with little likelihood of providing value above their contract

by DartmouthCubsFan on Nov 25, 2009 10:21 AM CST reply actions

I'd rather have a lot of these other guys...

… than MB.

Even Manny and his one year deal is more interesting to me than having MB on this team. At least with Manny, you have an idea of what to expect…

by TheHawkRules on Nov 25, 2009 1:18 PM CST reply actions

and that is anything and everything

with Manny you truly never know

baseball is a game of outs......pop out, ground out, line out, pitch out, strike out, fly out, and Fox and Bud's favorite black out

by Cubbie-Tim on Nov 25, 2009 9:15 PM CST up reply actions

http://umpbump.com/press/2009/11/25/what-they-need-cubs/

by Andronicus on Nov 27, 2009 8:28 PM CST reply actions

there were

worst signings than soriano. remember we won 2 division titles with fonzie. admit it when the fonz is on he is one hell of a ballplayer. BUT. there are as many bad times as good.. i think he will have a really good 2010 season.

by NOMAR on Nov 28, 2009 8:50 AM CST reply actions