Womack signs with Yankees
DMZ · December 7, 2004 at 11:29 pm · Filed Under Mariners
All I have to say about this is GO YANKEES GO!! YOUR SELF DESTRUCTION CAN NOT BE COMPLETE ENOUGH FOR ME!! WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
From NY Newsday:
He figures to slide into the leadoff spot in the Yankees’ lineup.
Tony Womack’s career OBP is .319. His career high was a league-average-ish .349 last year at 34. This cracks me up. The Yankees are crazy. And good for them! As long as we have salary capping, that’s more money for everyone else to spend.
2y at $4m is the word on the net.
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33 Responses to “Womack signs with Yankees”
And Theo Epstein’s laughter rings loudest of all.
Brian Cashman’s quote: “We’re going in a different direction.”
Truer words were never spoken.
Patience seems to be the key this offseason. Maybe, big maybe, we can pick up one those Belt boys.
This move is almost as loony as offering Mike Myers arbitration.
And here come the pretzels!
Wright at least has some upside, but without a real pitching coach it’s a massively risky (and expensive) move. The Womak deal, however, is pure nonsense.
Yes, Tony Womack does suck but it’s looking like he’ll make less per year to be New York’s starting second baseman than the M’s will pay Dan Wilson to be a backup catcher next year. Why can’t the M’s just say NO!
I was so looking fcrward to this day, hoping that he’d be non-tendered or some other team would sign him… Gee, what happened to all those teams that were interested in Wilson or was that just good placement in the papers by his agent to try and get the M’s to cough up a second year?
So is this what people mean when they say the Yankees buy championships?
(/sarcasm)
I’m getting real sick of people (both Yankee fans and Yankee haters) saying that Steinbrenner’s money alone guarantees a dominant team.
The strange thing about all of this is that Brian Cashman used to be quite intelligent. Not sure what’s happened to him….
Can someone please explain to me why Eric Milton was ever thought to be a good player. His stock never seems to slip below being a $6 to $9 Million a year pitcher, despite a career that has touched most the stops between between mediocre and bloody awful. His career ERA is 4.75 for heaven’s sake…
Hey guys, I’m a former Yankees fan who will never again root for a team who has all the money in the world, and decides to focus on signing Eric Milton and Tony Womack. Can I join your side?
Um, yes, you could… but while thie off-season still has some hope, historically it may not be your bag of cookies. Man, I’m hungry.
Side note: I was thinning my amazingly huge book collection today and found a two $20 gift cards for the Taphouse (“DINNING ROOM ONLY”) that expired. And I could have really used a beer and a decent meal today.
“So is this what people mean when they say the Yankees buy championships?
(/sarcasm)I’m getting real sick of people (both Yankee fans and Yankee haters) saying that Steinbrenner’s money alone guarantees a dominant team.”
Huh? You act as if they cut their payroll. And, to answer your question, in a way it IS exactly what they mean. The Yankees can afford to throw money at people that fail, without sinking their ship, because they’ll pick up anyone else they really want, too. They can afford to make stupid moves.
And that second line was a pretty big strawman. Who said anything about the money “guaranteeing” championships. No one is silly enough to believe anything is guaranteed. The complaint is the unevenness of the playing field. It sure helps their odds, right?
Or do you think the Yankees would have just as good a shot at the WS if they had, say, the A’s payroll.
The really, really weird thing is that this happens at the same time as Garciaparra signs with the Cubs for 1 / 8 with up to 3 in playing time (and playing time only, no performance clauses) inventives. I mean… Goddess help me, Bowden got pwnd on this one. Would you pay an additional 3.5 to go from Guzman to Garciaparra, and reduce your risk exposure with a one year contract to boot?
It’s just absurd that GMs seem willing to open their checkbooks for mediocrity this offseason, but unwilling to do the same for actual talent.
Ob Mariners: Additionally, I wouldn’t have a single problem in the world if Bavasi had signed that contract with Garciaparra. Fills our shortstop problem for a year while Lopez practices in Tacoma, puts fans in the seats, doesn’t bugger us for six+ years like the worst-case Beltre contract might (and I like Beltre). I wonder how it was that multiple mediocre shortstops (Guzman, Vizquel) signed for multiyear deals paying far over what they’re worth, while it appears that the entire GM community took a nap while the Cubs got about the best possible deal with the best shortstop on the market.
Call me crazy, but I think Renteria is about as valuable as Nomah, but that’s another thread for another day, but I agree, Nbarnes, that kind of deal would have worked for the M’s.
Is Womack such a bad signing? He’s better than replacement level, and that is the weakest position on the Yankees team. What other 2bs are on the market? (That’s not a rhetorical question, I actually don’t know.) There is no way in hell that Womack is the Yankee’s lead-off hitter – that should still be Jeter. But Womack is as good a 9-hole hitter as you will find.
I don’t understand the pitcher signings. With so much payroll, why, oh why would the Yankees not get the best available pitchers? Or do they know something we don’t?
Womack is the type of player that teams like the Pirates were ditching, and with good reason: He’s just not that good.
The Cardinals got really lucky that he produced a worthwhile batting average last year, and count me in among the really happy that he parlayed last year into another wasted roster spot on the Yankees. Here’s hoping they get his ’03 .226/.251/.307 line out of him.
As for Renteria, he scares me a little bit for his price tag. As a $4-5m shortstop, I wouldn’t mind. But if I’m paying him $8m+ I don’t wanna see him regress to pre-2002 .280/.330/.400 mediocrity. And I’m not sure what to think after 2004 fit that level of production to a T.
#14 – Polanco, Alomar, Kent, Grudz, & Rey Sanchez…
I’m assuming Womack will keep 2b on hold until Robinson Cano is ready. I can only hope…
hey, c’mon. *you* heard Bob Brenly during the NLCS. Tony Womack is a winner, who leads the team he plays for to wins. Hey, if he hadn’t gotten that hit in the WS, why Bob wouldn’t have been talking to you as a World Series Ring-Wearing baseball color commentator.
I agree with NBarnes that I would have been okay if the M’s had given Nomah that deal. For one, they’ve got money to blow in the short-term and a pack of players in the system in the long-term (though we know how the attrition rate on those guys can rapidly change your outlook).
And let’s be even more frank — if he’s going good at the trade deadline, you punt him and see if you can get some shiny objects. If you don’t get a decent offer, you offer him arb and get the draft pick.
And if he sucks — hey, the team was only going to pocket that money anyway if the didn’t spend it.
Actually my friends (my New York friends, anyway) make that argument pretty often: that since it’s possible to spend money stupidly, therefore payroll inequity is not a significant factor in Major League Baseball. It’s a remarkably self-serving argument, coming from Yankees fans, but it’s also fundamentally flawed. My favorite reply is an analogy: say George Steinbrenner and I have been invited to the same charity fundraiser. At the door you can buy tickets to a raffle, at $50 bucks a pop. I’m a little strapped for cash, so I only buy one ticket, while George pulls out his massive wallet and buys 100. Has he guaranteed a win? Of course not — there’s still a chance that my one ticket is the winner. But the more he spends, the better his likelihood of victory. Money can’t cancel chance, but it can make it less of a factor.
Back to the topic at hand: does anyone really believe the Yankees are done now? Sure, they’ve thrown a bunch of money at some questionable players, but my bet is they’ll keep on chucking it around as long as there are players left to be signed. They just lost to the Red Sox, for cryin’ out loud. This is just the beginning.
The Yankees can have Wright for that contract. Didn’t they learn anything from the acquisition of Esteban Loiza?
2003 CWS 21-9, 2.90 ERA
2004 CWS/NYY 10-7, 5.70 ERA
I expect Wright to promptly return to his old ways next year and have a fat contract to help him out.
Of course, this might not be the most crazy signing of the year:
Thursday, December 2, 2004
Cleveland Indians
Named Felix Fermin hitting coach for Buffalo of the IL.
Wow! That’s just amazing.
DMZ —
I don’t know about Washington state, but in many states it is illegal to have gift certificates/cards that expire. Once you pay the money, it is yours. Perhaps you can get that beer and meal after all???
Jaret Wright won 15 games last year, almost twice the number of wins from the M’s “most valuable pitcher” Ron Villone. Gloating about the Yankee’s stupidity sounds a bit hollow from fans of a 99 loss team.
Jaret Wright also has a career ERA in the low 5’s. INcluding last year. Plus an extended injury history.
We had Jaret Wright for us once…OK, his name was actually Paul Abbott. Had two pretty good years in 2000-2001 (going 17-4 in the last year). His years since 2001 go like this:
1-3 11.96 ERA
1-2 5.29 ERA
3-11 6.47 ERA
So, uh, you go, Yankees.
#21 is right. M’s fans should not gloat over the fact that the Yankees made not one, but two horrendously bad signings. But we should be glad that Felix Fermin is not the M’s hitting coach, or Tacoma’s for that matter.
Prospective Buffalo hitter: “Coach Fermin, can you help me become a better hitter so that I can reach the majors?”
Coach Fermin: “Honestly, you are better off batting with your eyes closed than listening to my advice.”
Actually, the Paul Abbott/Jaret Wright comparisons seem appropriate…
(from baseballreference.com)
Jarret Wright’s similar pitchers:
1. Paul Abbott (966)
2. Allen Watson (962)
3. Jeff Robinson (958)
4. Jimmie DeShong (957)
5. Ken Schrom (957)
6. Shawn Boskie (951)
7. Roger Pavlik (950)
8. Robert Person (949)
9. Kevin Ritz (949)
10. Ryan Dempster (948)
Wait a second. I can’t find Alfonso Soriano on the list of players offered arbitration. Unless Texas signed a deal with him (I can’t find that either), that makes him a FA.
To 25, teams have until (I think) December 20 to offer arbitration to non-free agents. The December 7 deadline is for filed free agents. Soriano is still Texas property. However, the following link notes the Rangers are closing in on signing Hildago and Sandy Alomar:
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/sports/baseball/mlb/texas_rangers/10366500.htm?1c
There’s a difference between yesterday’s deadline to offer arbitration to your free agent eligibles and the day to tender offers to arbitration eligible players (in two weeks).
And, actually, the Loaiza trade was a big win for New York. They dumped Jose Contreras and the 2 years/$16 million left on his contract and got to walk away from Loaiza after just two months.
The Yanks did toss in $3 mil.
Thanks. Brief confusion there.
Hmmmm…the Yankees signed Tony Womack, so how would I think the Mariners would respond to that? Lee Ann Womack. Or her PECOTA equal. Her best value to the team would be a postgame concert and probably a really weird-sounding collaboration with Sandfrog.
Why do the Yankees think that Womack will outperform Miguel Cairo? Cairo is 30 years old. Career stats: .273/.322/.370.
2004: .295/.346/.417 (all a career high). Womack is 35 and has a career average of .274/.319/.362. I don’t get it.
Ironically, one of the batters listed as most similar to Miguel Cairo is… Tony Womack!
#31, I agree, When I heard that they were going to upgrade 2nd base I imagined Jeff Kent. Does Womack bring intangibles? An attractive wife named Anna maybe? WTF