Diamondbacks decline LaRoche option
by kishi on Nov 2, 2010 5:53 PM EDT
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PrintThe Diamondbacks announced this afternoon that they will not be picking up Adam LaRoche's $7.5 million option for next season. LaRoche put up a pretty solid season for the Diamondbacks last year, hitting 25 home runs with a career high 100 RBIs and some solid defense at first base, though he did put up his lowest OPS+ since 2005.
With the question of LaRoche resolved, we're left with one more position to consider for the off-season- will we see him replaced at first base by a free agent like Paul Konerko, or will Brandon Allen be giving a shot at the position next season? If Allen is put back at first, it then means we need to figure out who will be playing in left field next year.
Rough week for LaRoche, first the team he rejected an offer last off season from wins the World Series, and then his option isn't picked up...
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Allen in leftfield
is not a step forward for this club. Allen at firstbase may be acceptable if the monies saved are used to continue to build the pitching staff.
Allen at either position
Is a step forward on what we’ve had at either position for the last few years, particularly when salary is taken into account.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qU_9zTD9B98&feature=related
Apparently there's an epilepsy warning on this video. But it's so incredibly cool.
by Dan Strittmatter on Nov 2, 2010 8:50 PM EDT up reply actions
I'd consider Parra
Not starting the majority of games in left field a step forward in and of itself. I don’t know if Allen can man LF consistantly, but he’s a young player and we probably aren’t going to be competing this year. May as well give him a chance.
Our Single-A team is better than your Single-A team
by Zavada's Moustache on Nov 2, 2010 8:51 PM EDT up reply actions
He was replacement-level this year
With a .371 BABIP…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qU_9zTD9B98&feature=related
Apparently there's an epilepsy warning on this video. But it's so incredibly cool.
by Dan Strittmatter on Nov 4, 2010 12:02 PM EDT up reply actions
And past his prime years...
He’s an option for a bench bat, I’d say.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qU_9zTD9B98&feature=related
Apparently there's an epilepsy warning on this video. But it's so incredibly cool.
by Dan Strittmatter on Nov 4, 2010 1:00 PM EDT up reply actions
Nevermind
he’s in his prime years. Oh well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qU_9zTD9B98&feature=related
Apparently there's an epilepsy warning on this video. But it's so incredibly cool.
by Dan Strittmatter on Nov 4, 2010 1:01 PM EDT up reply actions
I am not surprised at this move
for $7.5mil, it just wasn’t quite enough.
I stopped reading. Now I just write sarcastic, angry comments.. -- soco
Not surpised either
but technically it was for $6mil with the buyout
http://letswriteanotherstorytonight.blogspot.com/
by pepperdinedevil on Nov 3, 2010 2:11 AM EDT up reply actions
I had a bad feeling all along
That this would be the end result :(
Goodbye Buck Commander….
"In the book of life, the answers aren't in the back." ~Charles M Schulz
This sounds nice and all
But why would Berkman want to do this presuming he wants to, y’know, win? And if Allen was slated for LF, why wouldn’t we have kept a solid regular in LaRoche for a mere $6MM?
I think Allen is slated for 1B.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qU_9zTD9B98&feature=related
Apparently there's an epilepsy warning on this video. But it's so incredibly cool.
by Dan Strittmatter on Nov 3, 2010 9:31 AM EDT up reply actions
because we can get berkman for 6 mil
and i’d much rather have berkman for 6 mil than laroche for 6 mil
i mean, if berkman doesn’t want to play here then there’s nothing to talk about, but i doubt many ppl would want to pay berkman anything over 6 mil. if we had to outbid other ppl and pay 8 mil for berkman, i’d probably still be willing to do that
by blue bulldog on Nov 3, 2010 12:52 PM EDT up reply actions
There's no way we him for that little money
He was a 2.1 FG WAR player this year and a 3.4 FG WAR player in ’09. The year before that? 7.5 FG WAR. He gets between $8-10 MM per year. If his knees are healthy again, teams know how valuable he is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qU_9zTD9B98&feature=related
Apparently there's an epilepsy warning on this video. But it's so incredibly cool.
by Dan Strittmatter on Nov 3, 2010 1:34 PM EDT up reply actions
that and the Twins may be needing a 1B more
and be willing to pay a lot for it rather than having Cuddyer butcher 1B and Kubel do the same in RF for another season.
this is a pretty cool article
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/contract-crowdsourcing-results-first-baseman/
i’ll admit, i probably underestimated his price. it looks like his average guessed salary is slightly below 8 million. still, i wouldn’t be surprised to see the huge supply of good first basemen to drive his value down. all i’m saying is we can easily get a 1B who performs at laroche’s level or higher for 6 million this winter.
the other thing is that expectations seem to be konerko’s avg salary will be 3 million per year higher than berkman’s. i’d definitely rather have berkman than konerko, if we can pay 3 million less
LaDeparture.
Krauss watch 2010: 7-27 8R 5BB 12RBI
by Reynolds rapper on Nov 2, 2010 11:04 PM EDT reply actions
It took a concerted effort
to avoid titling this “DBacks DCline LaRoche’s LaOption.”
"If it's not rolled in a pancake, it's not real American sushi."
How about LaFreeAgency?
Krauss watch 2010: 7-27 8R 5BB 12RBI
by Reynolds rapper on Nov 2, 2010 11:48 PM EDT up reply actions
Language-ist
Krauss watch 2010: 7-27 8R 5BB 12RBI
by Reynolds rapper on Nov 3, 2010 3:09 AM EDT up reply actions
As a writer
I always appreciate when I can provoke such a visceral response in my readers.
"If it's not rolled in a pancake, it's not real American sushi."
random musings that are semi-related
A’s picked up Coco Crisp’s option (not that there was much doubt there)
but this does mean that Rajai Davis is probably expendable for them. should we try to acquire rajai davis? he could be a legitimate leadoff threat, especially if we managed to teach him how to take a walk. with his tools, he should also be a plus defender in left field, and we could keep allen at 1st.
that would make our lineup look something like Rajai, Upton, KJ, Young, Montero, Reynolds, Drew, Allen, Pitcher, which would be a pretty balanced lineup in my mind. we could also flip KJ and Upton, to get a lefty to bat 2nd.
I'd be down if the cost was low enough.
Don’t expect him to replicate his ‘09 BABIP (and thus his ’09 production), and know that he’s a 1-1.5 win guy, and you’ve got a nice player. Definitely nicer than Gerardo Parra. I could definitely see KT trying this. Perhaps Rajai/starting arm for Reynolds if the A’s are thinking of non-tendering Kouzmanoff?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qU_9zTD9B98&feature=related
Apparently there's an epilepsy warning on this video. But it's so incredibly cool.
by Dan Strittmatter on Nov 3, 2010 1:37 PM EDT up reply actions
I think Renyolds is safe
With the release of LaRoche, they said they wanted to cut the K’s down, and this will help.
I would not be opposed to Daivis either.. But i think we are gonna wait for a bit and see who is available in the market for 1B and LF, that will determine where Allen will play next yr.
If we can get a decent 1B at a good Price, allen will start LF..And same goes for the opposite of that.
Not gonna happen, but Prince Fielder at 1B!!!!!! LOL
Freeze it..and make a popsicle
Fielder is a nice pipe dream
We talk about guys who can “shrink the ballpark,” a la Konerko with his power, but Fielder could do it in two ways – with his home runs and his body size.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qU_9zTD9B98&feature=related
Apparently there's an epilepsy warning on this video. But it's so incredibly cool.
by Dan Strittmatter on Nov 3, 2010 3:24 PM EDT up reply actions
Does WAR take "gravitational pull" into account?
Or is that considered an “intangible”?
"I don't wanna sit around watching you 'give it your best.' Either stop sucking or get out of the way."
Don't count on Reynolds being safe
I stopped reading. Now I just write sarcastic, angry comments.. -- soco
+1
"In the book of life, the answers aren't in the back." ~Charles M Schulz
by Rockkstarr12 on Nov 3, 2010 11:03 PM EDT up reply actions
I like the Davis idea okay.
But prefer Berkman. Nady would also be okay.
"Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good too. " ~Greg, age 8
Nady?
Ehhhhhh…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qU_9zTD9B98&feature=related
Apparently there's an epilepsy warning on this video. But it's so incredibly cool.
by Dan Strittmatter on Nov 3, 2010 8:34 PM EDT up reply actions
no....a ton better.....
parra can’t steal bases. rajai davis will get you 50 a year given 150 game starts.
they both don’t walk.
davis should have a much better BABIP
You can't steal first
And get this:
Davis career BABIP: .326
Parra career BABIP: .335
Not that it matters, Davis is clearly a better hitter and runner. It’s just not enough of a difference to give up anything of value.
sorry
i was wrong about the BABIP. i just guessed at what allowed Davis to have a better BA than Parra, but I guess that comes from a lower K rate
i mean, obviously we aren’t going to give up Davidson for Davis. but i think having someone with Davis’s speed at the top of our lineup would be useful, and hopefully our FO will at least explore that option since i’m guessing the A’s will definitely be shopping him after signing Coco Crisp.
i agree
whole-heartedly that OBP is really important for leadoff spot. but speed can help too. if anything, i think that’s why we should consider moving upton to the leadoff spot, if we don’t get a high OBP speed guy in the offseason.
i think we’re just not comparing the same things. obviously my favorite option is for us to go out and get berkman or lee (preferably berkman) to man first and stick allen in left. if that were the case, i’d want upton to leadoff. but if we don’t go out and acquire a 1B (maybe because the FO for whatever reason doesn’t think allen is ready for LF) and we have to acquire a LF somehow, i think getting davis is a reasonable option…
or i mean, like i’ve said in other comments, we could just break the bank and go after crawford. which would make me really happy too.
by blue bulldog on Nov 4, 2010 10:41 PM EDT up reply actions
We don't really have a big on-base guy
Pre-sickness Conor Jackson was a good on-base, no(t much) power guy.
Going on the saber-recommended lineup (1 = OBP, 2 and 4 best hitters etc, 3 = low OBP, high ISO), I’d have something like this:
Drew – Upton – Reynolds – Johnson – Montero – Young – Allen – Parra
Obviously it isn’t going to be Parra (please don’t let it be Parra) and if whoever plays 1B/LF is a good hitter, he’d bat near the top of the lineup. Also some L/R changes would probably be smart.
i'm just curious, where did you find this saber-recommended lineup
and also, what does best hitter mean? just best wOBA?
in a down year, upton had a better OBP than drew in his best year. i love drew. but i just don’t think his OBP is that good that leadoff suits him.
upton might have more power than drew, but at most, he’s probably hitting 12 more home runs a year (just to make number crunching easier). assuming equal probability that upton’s home runs come in plate appearances where he’s leading off a game, versus not leading off a game, that means in your version, upton has 3 extra home runs in his first at bat with a chance that drew is on base (as opposed to my version, where these 3 extra home runs drew is not on base). drew gets on base at around a 350 clip. so that means, one of these home runs had drew on base. over the course of 162 games, that additional run added via upton’s home runs coming from the 2-hole as opposed to leadoff has very marginal value
i think having 10-20 points better OBP than Drew and having Upton leadoff as opposed to Drew (who i would bat seventh probably) means a lot more over the course of the season. i’m also assuming upton’s OBP next year will be between 10-20 points better than drew, which i think is a reasonable assumption
sorry, also need to clarify
assuming upton gets 4 at bats a game
I pulled it out of my :)
no....you shouldn't think of it like that
as leadoff hitter, he bats behind the our 7th, 8th, and 9th hitters (Drew, Allen, Pitcher)
as 2nd hitter, he bats behind our 8th, 9th, 1st hitters (Allen, Pitcher, Drew)
there will be a marginal difference. in fact, i think most statisticians agree that lineup changes only make marginal differences on season outcomes (like, at most one game….totally pulling this out of my butt right now, but i have read something to this effect somewhere i swear)
by blue bulldog on Nov 5, 2010 12:17 PM EDT up reply actions
I won’t say anything about this until it is all over. However, I think there is a reasonable chance we’re going to pay $6M for inferior players who just don’t K at LaRoche’s rate. That’ll be irritating.
"Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good too. " ~Greg, age 8
+1
This is my biggest concern.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qU_9zTD9B98&feature=related
Apparently there's an epilepsy warning on this video. But it's so incredibly cool.
by Dan Strittmatter on Nov 3, 2010 8:40 PM EDT up reply actions
you've got it
I’m about at the point where I want to make some of those sparkly MySpace graphics with “Outs are outs. DON’T WASTE OUTS” in pink script.
i just can't see this happening.....
there are too many 1B in the free agent market/trade market this year.
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