So according to the "experts", the two best unsigned FA hitters are Shea Hillenbrand and Aubrey Huff. Much has been said about what poor decisions these two players would be for the Pirates. I am not so quick to jump on the bandwagon. Some random facts that may or may not sway your opinions...
Hillenbrand is not a terrible hitter, he just isn't necessarily Lefty McThump. From the start of the '03 season through the middle of last season (when he was traded from Toronto to San Francisco and stopped getting everyday at-bats) he was averaging (based on the loose but not unreasonable assumption of 580 AB's = full season) .300 - 18 - 80. Now, those aren't amazing numbers, but they're an improvement on anything we've had in recent years. I think he would be a reasonable investment if he could produce like that and we could get him for no more than 4 to 4.5 million per (say 2 years 9 mil?)
Huff. Poor poor Aubrey Huff. The man hit .261 - 22 - 92 in '05, his worst year to that point, which i find rather impressive. Last year Huff played in 63 games for Tampa and hit .283 - 8 - 28 up until his trade. That is very respectable - it translates to roughly .283 - 20 - 71 over a full season. Add into that the fact that he is traditionally a slow starter (career .250 in April/May and .298 after that), and that his slow start was exaggerated by missing almost a month with injury, and those numbers are much more impressive (in the 44 games between his first post-injury hit and the trade, he hit .346). Then he went and played 68 games for Houston. Forgive me for being impressed, but .250 - 13 - 38 in only 224 AB's is pretty darned good (especially considering those numbers are .274 - 8 - 21 AWAY from Minute Maid Park). I figure, worst case scenario he becomes Sean Casey, but that's a reach considering his better track record as far as power. Again, I have no problem with the Pirates offering him a reasonable and short-term contract.
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- Geeves
- Pittsburgh, PA, United States
- Student of the game. Mainly baseball and hockey, but sometimes basketball, golf, football, and hey, why not, curling. (Especially after that calendar. whew.) Just presenting my own angle on the usual information.
2 comments:
Nicolas, just a philosophy question...
Win now? Or win later?
Basically, do you want DL to spend cash just for the sake of spending, or do you want him to invest in the future?
I'd rather have him go after younger position players to build on his core--and if he has to spend money, put it into a durable RHSP.
Shea Hillenbrand is a decent defensive 1B, but I wouldn't want him at 3B. I don't think he has the pop left (especially as a RHB at PNC) to be an everyday 1B. I suppose he could platoon with Doumit, but that's just stunting Ryan's growth, imo. If you're giving Doumit regular AB's, give them all to him--not some.
I don't know--I didn't really organize my thoughts on this one, I'm just trying to figure out if we still disagree on everything.
c'mon now cory. don't go crazy on me. yes, huff or hillenbrand (huff moreso, hillenbrand was a throw-in because he should be cheaper) is not the future of the organization. but i have significantly more confidence in giving either of them a contract than burnitz or randa or casey last year. thise potential contracts i mentioned would take up less than 1/3 of the available free cash.
i think huff would be a nice piece. if he plays up to where he is capable of, he would be at least a marginal improvement over anyone we could play there. he would be an improvement on winning now without really having to sacrifice any of the winning later. and if he puts up a monster year or two he becomes significant trade bait.
i would gladly pay for that, just not more than 5.5 per year
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