Late Innings

The corner-outfielder, DH market finally made another glacial step forward today. Two hitters were signed today. The Cubs inked Milton Bradley (and his .999 OPS from 2008) to a three year deal for 30MM. And the Rays (believe it or not) inked Pat Burrell to a two year contract for 16MM. He’ll be the team’s everyday DH in 2009.

When I saw the Burrell deal, I was shocked. This was once again a genius move made by Andrew Friedman. At 8MM a year for a .870 OPS hitter, Burrell is a bargain. And he might be even more valuable next year since he won’t have to bring a glove out to the field. Any ways many people agree with this statement, and are projecting him to be a .260 hitter with 30 home runs in Tropicana Field. BTBS said it elegantly today about the beauty of the Burrell signing.

It’s difficult to improve a team that made it to the World Series and had a third-order Pythagorean record of 97-65. But by replacing Edwin Jackson with David Price, adding Matt Joyce as a right fielder and inserting Pat Burrell as the DH, the Rays have done just that.

They also added in the fact that Burrell will essentially be paid the same as Mike Cuddyer, the Twins’ right fielder. That is 8MM is buying a 120 OPS+ outfielder for the Rays, and a 95 OPS+ outfielder for the Twins. That is a viable point, however the main point that should be discussed with these two signings is draft pick compensation. Bradley was a Type B free agent, Burrell was Type A, according to Elias. The Rangers offered Bradley (who made 5MM in 2008) arbitration. He rejected it. The Phillies refused to offer Burrell arbitration (who made 14.25MM in 2008.)

Many people questioned whether the Phillies should have offered Burrell arbitration or not. The one caveat is that if Burrell would have accepted, the smallest the Phillies could have paid him (according to labor rules) would be 11MM in 2009. However in reality, he would have most likely commanded 16MM for next season. It made sense for the Rangers to offer Bradley arbitration, given how cheaply he was paid in 2008. The same theory applies to Raul Ibanez, a Type A whom the Mariners offered arbitration to. Ibanez was well-underpaid in Seattle at 5.5MM in 2008, and at least he’ll finally have a solid paycheck in Philly.

Say what you want about the Phillies signing Ibanez (many negatives, some positives), however the issue here lies with arbitration. I still think the Phillies should have made an offer to Burrell. They would have known by the first week of December if he would have accepted it or not. And judging by how the players union generally prefers free agency to arbitration (Jason Varitek is surely wishing he accepted the Red Sox’ offer), Burrell would have most likely rejected it. And the Phillies would then have the Rays’ late first round draft pick in 2009 as a result of this…

As we have learned, the market for bad-fielding corner outfielders (aka DHes) is saturated right now. And Bobby Abreu still expects some team to offer him 18MM a year? The Pat Burrell news couldn’t have been good for him. And with the Rays and Cubs now filling their holes on their roster, I can’t honestly think of a team that could use Abreu. The Mets (and maybe the Braves and Nationals) are the only options that I can think of.