John Buck is probably the best free agent option now for catcher. I have no idea why the Royals...

John Buck is probably the best free agent option now for catcher. I have no idea why the Royals would let him go while picking up the corpse of Jason Kendall. Teams are still convinced that veteran catchers can have value above and beyond the numbers. The search to quantify that still goes on.

Sean "CHONE" Smith

over 2 years ago Matt Klaassen 6 comments 0 recs |

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I'm not saying I disagree with Smith's evaluation.

I am just wondering why Rodriguez and Kendall got multiyear deals for more money per year than Buck, who is undoubtedly a better player. An article in the Star said that the Royals didn’t pursue Barajas because he would have cost even more than Kendall. Are that many teams still this horrible at evaluating the value of catchers?

If so, that makes me feel slightly better about the Royals signing Kendall. Not that it’s any better of a deal, but it helps me be optimistic that Moore is making incremental improvements in judgment; i.e. at least he’s not the only one stupid enough to overvalue old catchers whereas he is the only one stupid enough to value Yuniesky Betancourt at all

by KCBear on Dec 14, 2009 4:31 PM EST reply actions

The other guy is Mike Rizzo

GM of the Nationals. YOu know, the guy who doesn’t want to trade Adam Dunn, even though he’s a 1-win player making $10M in the NL.

I'm not a sabermetrician, but I do play one at FanGraphs.

Can't get enough of me? Check out my Twitter feed.

by Matt Klaassen on Dec 14, 2009 8:21 PM EST up reply actions

So teams shouldn't copy what the Royals are doing?

I used to work with an old man that told me- Son, every workplace has a dumbass. If you don't have one where you work, then I'm afraid you're it.

by Warden11 on Dec 14, 2009 8:48 PM EST up reply actions

I should clarify

Adam Dunn is a 1 to 1.5 win player in the NL because he has to play the field. PUt him on an AL team where he can DH every day, and he’s a 2+ Win player.

I'm not a sabermetrician, but I do play one at FanGraphs.

Can't get enough of me? Check out my Twitter feed.

by Matt Klaassen on Dec 14, 2009 9:22 PM EST up reply actions

Can we trade him Jose Guillen and $12M for Dunn?

Works for me.

by AxDxMx on Dec 15, 2009 12:52 AM EST up reply actions

That would be great

But I think a big part of the appeal of Dunn for the Nats is that he is at least somewhat of a “name” (even if not a “star”) player. That’s a team and a market that is struggling to get butts in the seats, and I’ll go out on a limb and say a guy like Jose Guillen isn’t going to do it. Not that Dunn’s an electrifying player by any means, but who would you rather go watch? Especially in the NL, where they both have to play the field?

"Now…put that in your [BLEEP]ing pipe and smoke it." -Hal McRae

"I was doing this when BJ was in his father's nutsack." -Renzo Gracie

by Sweep_the_Leg on Dec 15, 2009 10:18 AM EST up reply actions