Good news for the M’s
The Astros have reportedly agreed to terms with Carlos Lee on a 6 year, $100 million contract. Bad for the Astros, who have just inherited a decent player for an all-star salary, but good for the Mariners.
Why?
This is essentially the move the M’s needed to have happen if they wanted to exploit the market and reshape the roster by trading Richie Sexson. The two teams who are most interested in Sexson are the Giants and the Orioles. Both teams have significant cash to spend and covet a RH power hitter to add to the middle of their lineup. Neither team has been able to get any of the free agents they’ve chased to take their money, and an already mediocre market is now smaller by one big name.
The M’s should absolutely take advantage. With both teams running out of free agents to offer money to, Richie Sexson is going to look like a legitimate option for both Brian Sabean and Mike Flanagan. At this point, the chances of the M’s both removing Sexson’s contract from the payroll and getting a legitimate talent back in return are as high as they’ll ever be.
It’s a sellers market. Take advantage.
+It’s like telling someone who wants to buy a BMW “BMW’s are overpriced, you should buy a cheaper oneâ€. But there ARE NO cheaper ones, so if they want a BMW they will have to pay what the “market will bearâ€.+
He’s right. Players are paid exactly their market value. Every time. It’s a tautology.
However, if you tell someone who wants to buy a BMW, “BMWs are too expensive. You can get the same great handling, mileage, and driving experience for far less by buying a Lexus,” you’re sharing useful information. Does your friend want to buy the BMW or the excellent driving experience?
As a fan, I hope my team’s management is buying future wins. I believe that the Astros, Dodgers, and Angels paid much much more for the future wins represented by Lee, Pierre, and Matthews than those wins cost to acquire by other means – even as the average cost per win rises throughout the majors in the years to come.
Could I be so far wrong about the future cost of wins? Wrong enough that Lee and Soriano’s (and Sexson’s) contracts are worthwhile? Possibly. Wrong enough that Pierre and Matthews’ contracts are worthwhile? Not unless the major league minimum salary is raised to 6 or 7 million.
On another tangent. Companies do pay premiums for smaller companies which they attribute to “Goodwill.” Two points about that.
1) The acquiring company believes it can convert that goodwill into revenues in the not-too-long-term (or else they wouldn’t bother).
2) Acquiring companies as a group consistently underperform the market in the several years after making their acquisition (they’re evidently wrong more often than they’re right about the fungibility of the goodwill purchased).
I’d love to see the M’s trade Sexson and Washburn. I don’t think it’s very likely.
Whatever happened to an impending Reed deal?
How about Jeremy Reed’s performance?
Instead of trading Richie Sexson to the Baltimore Orioles or the San Francisco Giants for a couple of above-average pitching prospects, I’d rather see Bill Bavasi attempt to deal Sexson and Jarrod Washburn to the New York Yankees — without the Yankees receiving any monetary compesation from the M’s, of course — for nothing more than left fielder Melky Cabrera.
Subsequently thereafter, Bavasi should attempt to trade Ben Broussard to the O’s for starting pitcher Rodrigo Lopez; Lopez would undoubtedly bolster the M’s currently undermanned rotation. Furthermore, in lieu of either Sexson and Broussard at first base, the M’s could sign a defensively apt, yet offensively inept player like Doug Mientkiewicz to one-year, $2,000,000 contract.
With all things considered, those’d be a set of shrewd, cost-efficient moves.
Nah, instead of bigtime moves, the Mariners today signed Willie F Blooqmuist to a contract extension, locking him up for 2008. Yeah, we were all worried they’d let the scrappy utilityman get away…
#98, I believe you are refering to the Sexson Albatross thread posted almost two weeks ago? The thread does a good job explaining why Sexson is a poor value, but it does not outline players that would put up at least Sexson’s on field performance (850 OPS, or 3 wins or whatever) that are available and cheap and easy to get. I’m not suggesting they do not exist, but I would really like to see a list of realistic possibilities there.
I would like to unload Sexson’s contract like most of you. I just don’t want to downgrade the 2007 team to do it.
How about Sexson and Soriano for Manny? Would Boston bite?
#38
dude,
signing carlos lard for 6 years at 17 mill a year was bad. b-a-d BAD. unless they really only care about the first 2 or 3 and are writing off the rest as lost money and an excuse to not spend more because there is no “flexibility” we’re gonna be sorry for a long time. the lee contract is the stupidest one of the year by a LONG shot. and you talking to a devout astros fan here you know… and i was laughing at the cubs for paying soriano for 8 years. well, shut my mouth…
as for beltran
i’m REAL touchy on that subject just like every stros fan not in the media. that SOB didn’t never mean to sign with houston. he had a contract for a book called “my first year in pinstripes” before new years day, when the stros front office was still trying to see him and boras was making excuses to keep us away while begging the yankees to sign him to a below market contract. then they came up with that lame **** about a no trade AFTER beltran had already agreed to play with the mets. so please don’t tell me it was about no money in houston. he wanted to go to new york. period. gerry hunsicker had him all figured out and mclane was too dumb to listen.
anyhow dave,
look at sexon like this – at least you CAN trade him. but to baltimore? the organization that turned down lidge, everett, ensberg and burke, yeah ALL of em, for miguel tejada???!!! who needs a 1B with his stats who is gonna pay that kind of money? well, actually, the giants!!! and i think richie is old enough to play there now…
and honest i am not no hypocrite for writing about what the players are wirth. i guess carlos lard IS “worth” more than lance berkman for the simple reason that he found a dumdum willing to pay him. and oh yes i know he will almost certainly not be worth half of that in a few years
As a die hard OSU Beaver fan, I’d like to thank those that took time out of their day to poke fun at Oregon’s ghastly uni’s which are only matched in their hideousness by the Lee and Soriano bloated contracts.