Millwood nears deal with Indians
One year, $7 million. Remember last season when Boras said he had a multi-year deal for $10 million a season? Of course, he lies a lot. At any event, meet Kevin’s last big payday.
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I would not pay Millwood that cash, especially afer his struggles in Philly. Millwood is gonna get rocked in the AL. I agree with Mac with this indeed being Big Kev’s last big moneyshot.
I don’t at all mind agents and players trying to get as much as they can. But I do strongly disapprove of their lying to get it done, and Boras’s annual “this client has offers of this many years and for this much money on the table” is a tiresome act.
I have a question that might be a little off-topic, but the last post here refered to Langerhans as a “five-tool-player”. Well, you’ve got to run, catch, throw and hit, but what ist the fifth tool? Call me an idiot for not knowing it, but I’m just curious.
Hit with power.
“what is the fifth tool.”
Dewalt cordless drill. It’s amazingly useful and rare is the high schooler that has one.
Two quick things:
He was coming off an 18-8 year when the Braves traded him to Philadelphia on Dec. 20, 2002, for catcher Johnny Estrada.
It’s pretty funny that they still mention Estrada’s name. It was originally supposed to make fun of the deal, especially when they would throw in “26-year-old minor leaguer”. Have they noticed that the Phillies got screwed in the deal?
He pitched a no-hitter against Philadelphia in April
I really think they should give me a big league contract. Last year they let me pitch in pratice and I pitched a no-hitter against my team in a 3-inning scrimmage.
No, seriously, who did he no-hit again?
The Giants.
While we are getting educated here, can someone fill in the details on Langerhans? I’m enough of a fan to recall (and not fondly) his 8 cups of coffee with the Braves. I don’t remember any moment when I thought ‘My God! we’ve got to give him more playing time.’ I don’t remember any minor league reports like ‘Langerhans torches Pawtucket.’ I will admit to also missing the pending arrival of Laroche when he was handed half of first last spring. Does he really have five tools and when did he put it all together?
Mark, Langerhans had his first very good season last year in AAA putting up a .297/.397/.518 line. The 5 tool stuff is usually some scout talking about his observations about a players physical attributes and not the actual results of his career. I’m don’t know the formula used to convert minor league performance to major league but if Langerhans can hit say .270/.365./.450 then with his defensive rep he will be a pretty good outfielder at the major league level. His performance should be better than Charles Thomas’ because he has more power and patience than Charles.
It hasn’t been 8 cups of coffee. He had one at bat in 2002, 15 in 2003, and none in 2004. Maybe you’re thinking of someone else.
He’s probably thinking of Hessman, who’s much lauded power never seemed to appear.
Langerhans mle translates to .258 EqA and 10.7 RAR – in other words, Rob Mackowiac. Not too bad, considering the cost, but not as good as Marrero by a long shot – that is if you believe in statistical projections
BP had Marrero pegged for a .257 EqA this season, but he outperformed even his 90th percentile. If your Langerhans translation is correct, Langerhans projects about as well as Marrero, and at about 1/6 the cost. There’s always the chance that Marrero will hit .320 again, but since it costs $3 million to find out, I’m glad someone else is taking the risk.
Anyone know the overall accuracy of the AAA statistical projections (i.e. what percentage of players hit at or near their projection or something)?
The free agent pool is ever-dwindling. The suspense is killing me. Has anyone heard any decent rumors, or is the ‘smart money’ still on Bautista, Jones, and Langerhans/McCarthy in the OF?
Sansho good comments on Marrero. Last year screamed CAREER YEAR! or STATISTICAL ANOMOLY!I’ve been scouring the web and no news on who plays the outfield for the Braves other than Andruw.
Whats the consensus? Go with what we’ve got, acquire a league average guy (Dustin Mohr looks gone to the Rockies) or make a trade for a big bat?
I’d say the smart money is on a trade. I can see a platoon for one corner OF spot, but not for both.
I wasn’t trying to advocate Marrero – just using he and Mackowiak to illustrate what a “.258 EqA” meant in terms of performance.
I’m almost too embarrassed to post after the masterfully relevant post by Mortgage, but here goes:)
Perhaps Marrero isn’t as good as he hit last year, but I think his earlier statistics were marred by injury and illness (thyroid cancer?, also a knee injury I think). He had one pretty good year for the Cards, so last year wasn’t completely out of nowhere. Don’t be surprised to see his stats take a hit though, as Kaufmann Stadium favors pitchers.
I bet Mohr gets a lot more (get it?) after this year in Coors. Good career move (unless he pulls a Cirillo).
I hear you, spike. You know, if we had the actual Mackowiak instead of the equivalent Mackowiak, and say he played some 2B for us, would that give us a Keystone C*O*P*S* combo?
http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/2003/0523/1558437.html
thankyouverymuch….
I don’t know Drewdat. With the exception of Jim Bowden I think everyone knows what the Coors effect does to ones stats. Any takers out there for Preston Wilson or Jermemy Burnitz (I hope that its not us)?
Wait, isn’t Kaufmann Stadium a HUGE hitter’s park? I am half-retarded, but I thought I was sure of that…
Well there goes my post. 🙂
Actually Kaufmann inexplicably played as a pitcher’s park last year at 95 for batters and 96 for pitchers (not that I knew that, I thought it had always been one), but for years before it had been over 100, peaking at 117/115 a couple years ago.
I feel like Mohr may be a special case with some demonstrated worth prior to Coors (that .390+ OBP) and little opportunity to play before his trip there. It’s hard to get a feel for what his true level of performance is due to lack of data, at least without getting into theory, which many GM’s, I have to assume, don’t.
I like this signing for Cleveland. Little risk and he was a better pitcher than his ERA last year…
Thanks for the info on Langerhans. I was not confused with Hessman, give me a little credit. I just know that we had Wise, Hollins!, and Thomas up here last year and no one felt compelled to yell for Langerhans. This question may not get the same reaction, but what is up with Mohr? We don’t have MLE’s with him, we’ve got ML’s. His numbers don’t look so hot to me. What am I missing?
Juan “Gone” Gonzalez the Royals did not pick up his option for 2005. Even though he has been declining he would be a veteran that can platoon with Langerhans as Bobby Cox likes to do. He probably won’t be to expensive and would serve well with a one year contract giving our young talent a taste of the big leagues while still learning in minors. One thing though is that you would have to convince him to come to the national league which he has expressed not having interest in. Oh yeah the last time he had a one year contract was with the indians he batted .325 with 35HRs and 140 ribbies.
Gonzalez will never sign a contract to platoon, and would be too expensive to be a platoon player. He’s a very bad defensive player as well, which might not matter so much in left but definitely would in right in Turner Field.
I talked about Langerhans on a couple of occasions, but it was clear that the Braves wanted him in Richmond. Anyway, by the time he was playing his best ball the Thomas/Marrero platoon was going well.
Speaking of, don’t forget that the BP projections are usually as full-time players, or at least to players getting the normal percentages of PAs against both lefties and righties. If Langerhans were to get nearly all his PAs against RHP, his percentages would naturally be better. Similarly, Marrero’s projection was off partially (but not entirely, or even mostly) because he got more than the usual percentage of PAs against lefties.
If Mohr is really a .274/.394/.437 hitter, as he was last season, he’s a good enough temp. Remember, that’s in Pac Bell, a tough park if you’re not Superman. His OPS+ (park-adjusted) was 113, the same as Andruw’s, and Mohr’s was better on the OBP side, which is more valuable. With his defense, it’s something you can live with for a year if you get the offense from the middle infield the Braves get.
On the other hand, it was his best season by far. I don’t know, but he’s better than a lot of the alternatives. Since he’s going to Colorado, it won’t matter. It will be interesting to see how he does. The Rockies haven’t had a lot of patient hitters in their history, but those they’ve had have done spectacularly well. He might lead the league in doubles if he plays every day.
Juan Gone is team poison – I wouldn’t want him on the team if he agreed to play for free.
Any chance of picking up Rondell White from the Tigers? I just can’t see us going into the season with Andruw and some combination of 4 rookies.
Sports Weekly says this week that Brian Jordan might come back to the Braves since he wants to play in the NL again. Well see what happens.
Ugh…it’s over, Brian. Vaya con dios.
Brian Jordan? Juan Gone? No way. Schuerholz wouldn’t do that. I mean gambling on Drew and winning is one thing but even if Jordan gives you 150 games, what do you have? Gonzales will play somewhere but not in the NL. Whoever gets him should only tender him the minimum. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Langerhans in RF. Marte and Francouer will be in the OF in Richmond and Pearl respectively, but hey you never know.
In relation to the other options, I don’t have much of a problem with Jordan as long as we pay only as much as he’s worth. All we need is a warm body to compete for a spot in the outfield.
Didn’t Jordan slam Schuerholz when he was traded? The usual whining about disrespect, etc.?
Man he sucked last year, and that was WITH getting the platoon split in a very favorable hitter’s park. If you could get even the 02-03 version for a mil or so that’s one thing, but I don’t think you could get 300 PA’s out of him. Definite pass.
Errr…yeah, I forgot about last year in Texas. Yowza.
No, thanks, I’ve learned to live with debt, but what are the Braves going to do about the outfield? Is it down to choosing between Glanville and Bautista?
The Braves will make a buy-low trade for Austin Kearns and sign Magglio Ordonez to a 1-year deal, heavy on the incentives. Isn’t it obvious? Don’t we wish…
Langerhans or McCarthy are both better than Glanville or Bautista so I don’t think so.
I think that we will get a good OBP guy for LF. Our infield especially our middle infielders produce above average power for their positions relative to the league.
Kearns would be a good addition if we got him for the right price, although just like Drew his health would be an issue. Personally I am not big on the Brian Jordan bandwagon. He’s declined and brings too much of a attitude with him. I think Langerhans will get his shot to make a impact with the club.
I’d rather have Rico Brogna back than another go-around with Jordan. Dave Justice can’t be having that much fun in the ESPN booth; bring him back. I saw Ralph Garr at a charity function recently — he’d be better than Jordan too!
I know Brian Jordan isn’t the player he once was, but don’t forget that there were times when he was absolutely clutch for the Braves. I’m thinking about a couple of series with the Mets during the ’99 season, among other examples. He played hard, and he played with spirit. The Braves were lucky to have him on the team when he reached his peak.
Who let Terrence Moore in the room?
I’m sorry about the spammers. They don’t normally manage to get into the latest posts. I’ll delete them when I see them.
Brian Jordan, ick. I didn’t like him the first time.
I wasn’t advocating that the Braves sign Jordan again. I just didn’t see the point of bashing him when he’s down. If he’s that far off form, then pass. (By the way, that was a pretty good quip.)
but don’t forget that there were times when he was absolutely clutch for the Braves
Brian Jordan joins a parade of all-stars in the crappy-Braves-postseason-career department (JD and Sheffield, I’m looking at you two also). He hit about 245/308/397 in his Braves postseason career. had two en-fuego NLDS series against Houston and St Louis, but hit .200 in the NLCS against the Mets, had one lousy hit in the 4 game Series sweep at the hands of the Yankees, and hit 182 and 190 in his two series in 2001.
As for kicking him when he’s down, he’s such an obnoxious jackass that he just begs for it. his exit from town was just lame.
By the way, I shouldn’t have been so harsh on his 705 postseason OPS for Atlanta. Drew and Sheffield would have needed a nice hot streak to reach that level of prowess for us.
What do you think the chances are of landing Vasquez after he’s traded to the Diamondbacks? He’ll come with lots of cash, ala Hampton, but with possibly more potential. Think we could give them Hampton and Hessman and maybe a few other scrubs?
While I wholeheartedly support the idea of ridding ourselves of Hampton and his contract, let’s face it, it’s a pipe dream. Vazquez, like Hampton once upon a time, has been a Braves target for several years, but I can’t imagine that the D’Backs, having gotten decent value for Johnson, would flip that value for another of the ridiculous contracts that sank the team in the first place.
Of course, they did just spend $100 million on Glaus and Ortiz, so what do I (or, more to the point, they) know?
I’ve seen in a few places (nowhere official, though) that Hampton has refused to waive his no-trade clause. The Braves have apparently shopped him, but he’s not amenable.