Saturday, December 11, 2010

Crawford and AGone to Red Sox. Dunn to White Sox; Maggs Re-Sign Crucial

It's probably no surprise that I wanted them to re-sign Magglio Ordonez no matter what else happened. He's one of my favorite players and I think he gets way too much negative flack for being such an excellent hitter. He's not even a poor OFer by most standards, yet people ee what he made while he was here and like to cry.

Maggs is a huge reason this franchise came from being the worst in the league to competing every year. He has been one of our most productive hitters, and only Miguel Cabrera has been more of a force since he's been here.

So...we didn't get Dunn (who literally can't play OF and blows hard in the field), or Carl Crawford. Dunn we should ahve gotten 5 years ago. He's been available on and off forever and I've always wanted him, but I am not real upster we didn't get him. He doesn't really have a position on the team now except LF, and there is no way he would hold that spot.

Crawford is getting way more than a guy of his skill set deserves in my opinion. Guys with speed value almost always underperform their contracts. I'd love to have him, and I don't care about money since Illitch doesn't seem to, but I can also see him being an albatross about year 4, or 5 of that contract. Because he has a bit more power than most speed guys he definitely deserves more, but I am never comfortable with giving guys like him 5+ years. He's getting 7 at around $20 Million per years. You just don't give that to guys who rely on speed so much. Power guys you can still get production out of at 37-38 years old. Once a speed guy loses that he's way overpaid.

That being said, Illitch isn't a penny pincher so having all these guys doesn't exactly worry me.

You have to get Maggs back though. People seriously underestimate the impact that Victor Martinez is going to have here. With him, Maggs, and Miggy in the middle of the line up we are going to be a run producing force. Laird is no longer here, Paralta is an upgrade at SS, Scott Sizemore looks like he might be improved, and AJax you never know. We're out LF and RF right now so Maggs is someone you can't screw around with. We NEED him back. We really don't wnat to depend on Guillen having to play LF, or even 2B really. We may end up signing someone that is selling Polaris Sportsman ATV Parts if we don't act soon.

We're a long ways away obviously, but if we get Maggs I think our offense is plenty good enough to compete for the division. The pitching is all that matters. Coke needs to have a solid year, Porcello needs to take the next step, and so does Scherzer. All while Verlander has a Cy Young type season. Just like any other year, A LOT needs to go right.