I told him I liked Murphy and he was like, “Yeah, he’s OK, but I’m hoping Mike Jacobs gets the starting job.” He then went on to tell me how good Jacobs is and how going to the Mets (team that drafted him?) is going to “energize him.”

I don’t really know what to say when people talk like this. I don’t want to burst their bubble, and part of me thinks that being a baseball fan would probably be more fun if I could delude myself like that. But man, Mike Jacobs? I felt like I was talking to Dayton Moore.

I like how… people want to quote numbers on players without actually doing the research.

Here are some relevant numbers:

2007 1.4 WAR
2008 -0.6
2009 1.3
3-year average = 0.7 WAR
CHONE 2010 projection = 1.6 WAR

WAR includes offense, defense and position. He’s a good hitter, but he’s such an awful fielder that it really kills his value. An average player is about a 2.0 WAR. And what he’s done and projected to do in these numbers are playing half of his games at Coors Field and almost all of his games against NL pitching. You have to discount his numbers at least a little if he moves to a more neutral park in the AL (think maybe 1.4 WAR). So he’s a below average player. I really don’t think yet another below average player (who isn’t exactly cheap) would be a good add for the Royals.

I’m no expert on Hawpe, but what are we missing? Sometimes people draw conclusions from too little or conflicting defensive data, but in Hawpe’s case, there is a pretty large sample of data (5,728 innings in the OF) and he has been consistently horrendous. It really looks like his offense – defense = a below average player.

Why would KC trade and take on more salary when they could sign Dukes for little to nothing and have more team control less money and actually can play passable defense. Hawpe is a DH only and if you aren’t gonna pick up his option then KC could’ve signed Jim Thome for 1/2M.