The next financial efficiency report will feature the AL Central Champions, Detroit Tigers. A team that quickly forgot about their losing ways in the beginning of the 21st century.
They have an outstanding offense, now even more improved with the addition of Prince Fielder, and the most dominant starting pitcher in the Majors in 2011, Justin Verlander.
In 2011, the Tigers won 96 games during the regular season. This means that they won 47 games above the 49 games won line. Their payroll for 2011 was $105,700,231 (ranked tenth in the Majors), breaking down their expenses to $2,006,451.72 for every win they got above 49.
Their top five paid players were:
– Miguel Cabrera ($20,000,000): A worthy MVP candidate in 2011, Cabrera hit .344/.448/.586 with 30 HR’s, 105 RBI’s, 111 runs and a 1.0333 OPS in a career high 161 games. The slugger earned $666,666.67 for every home run he hit, $190,476.19 for every run he batted in, $180,180.18 for every run he scored or $61,162.08 for every time he got on base.
– Carlos Guillen ($12,922,232): Guillen hit .232/.265/.368 with 3 HR’s, 13 RBI’s, 8 runs and a .633 OPS in only 28 games. He earned $4,307,410.67 for every home run hit, $994,017.85 for every run batted in, $1,615,279 for every run scored or $478,601.19 for every time he got on base.
– Justin Verlander ($12,850,000): The most dominant pitcher in the Majors in 2011 went 24-5 with a 2.40 ERA and 250 strikeouts in 251 innings pitched. Verlander earned $535,416.67 for every game he won, $51,400 for every hitter he struck out or $176,027.40 for every run the opposition scored against him.
– Victor Martinez ($12,000,000): The switch hitting catcher hit .330/.380/.470 with 12 HR’s, 103 RBI’s, 76 runs and a .850 OPS. Martinez earned $1,000,000 for every home run he hit, $116,504.85 for every run he batted in, $157,894.74 for every run he scored or $52,173.91 for every time he got on base.
– Magglio Ordonez ($10,000,000): Ordonez hit .255/.303/.331 with 5 HR’s, 32 RBI’s, 33 runs and a .634 OPS. He earned $2,000,000 for every home run he hit, $312,500 for every run he batted in, $303,030.30 for every run he scored or $97,457.94 for every time he got on base.
Out of their top five paid players, only three lived up their expectations, actually two of them were outstanding, and probably among the best three players in the league, in my opinion (Cabrera and Verlander). Guillen was limited by injuries to only 28 games, making him incredibly pricey for the productivity they got from him.
Ordonez saw his playing time limited with injuries too, although he end up playing in 92 games. His power seemed to have vanished, slugging only .331 for the season, basically he slugged like a short stop while playing as a right fielder or a designated hitter.
Martinez proved to be valuable as a hitter for the Tigers, who saw time behind the plate with Alex Avila and but majority of his time was as the designated hitter. Unfortunately for the Tigers, they won’t have Martinez in 2012 because he suffered a torn ACL and a knee micro-fracture, but they are hoping that Fielder fills the void left for him next season.
The Tigers were a competitive team, with bright stars such as Cabrera, Verlander and Martinez, combining them with young talent such as Austin Jackson, Rick Porcello, Avila, Max Scherzer and Doug Fister. Their collective OBP was .344 (third in the AL), their SLG was .434 (fourth in the AL) and their OPS was .773 (also fourth in the AL). They also scored a total of 787 runs, fourth in the AL. Breaking down their expenses, each run they scored cost them $134,307.79.
Image by Keith Allison under the Creative Commons License.
The Los Angeles Dodgers have signed right handed relief pitcher Todd Coffey to a one-year deal with a club option for 2013, the team announced.
Coffey will earn $1MM in 2013, with the club option being worth $2.5MM with a $300K buyout.
Coffey posted a 3.62 era last season for the Nationals. He earned $1.35mm last season and also earned an additional $150k in appearance bonuses (made 69 appearances, $75k for hitting 60 and 65 appearances).
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The Cleveland Indians have signed Casey Kotchman to a one-year deal worth $3mm, Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reports.
Kotchman hit a .306 avg in 563 plate appearances for the Rays last season on a minor league deal that paid him $750k.
Image taken by Keith Allison and used under the Creative Common License Agreement.
Right handed pitcher Edwin Jackson has agreed to a one-year deal with the Washington Nationals, Jon Heyman of CBSSports reports. The deal is pending physical.
Heyman addsthat Jackson’s deal with the Nationals is believed to be in the $8-$12 million range. The 28-year old went 12-9 with a 3.79 ERA and 148 strikeouts in 199.2 innings with the White Sox and Cardinals in 2011. He has a career 1.0 HR/9, 6.7 SO/9 and 3.7 BB/9 in 203 games, 173 starts.
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The San Diego Padres have signed Micah Owings to a one-year Major League deal, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports. Owings will earn a base salary of $1mm.
Last season, Owings posted a 3.57 era while going 8-0 in 33 appearances with the Diamondbacks while working out of the bullpen.
In 2007, Owings posted a .333 batting average in 60 at-bats with the D’backs as he will routinely hit for himself even when pitching out of the bullpen.
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Billy Beane, the A’s General Manager, has been praised for building competitive teams by taking advantage of “market inefficiencies.” This means that he signs inexpensive players, that almost no other organization wants or would consider, because they overlook important statistics like OBP (on-base percentage), and give way too much importance to stats that aren’t that important like RBI’s (runs batted in).
He’s been known to sign players like Scott Hatteberg and Jeremy Giambi among others for their ability to wear down pitchers and get on-base. For him, the ultimate offensive statistic is the OBP.
The A’s are not getting positive results, and other teams like the Red Sox have adopted a similar approach to building a team, making it harder for the A’s to get cheap, but productive players. So why doesn’t Beane gives Gregor Blanco and Luis Jimenez a shot to make the team?
You might think that I’ve gone crazy, and yes, I have gone crazy, but in situations like this one, you have to think outside the box. Maybe you guys are not familiar with these two young players, but I’m going to tell you why I think they could work up in Oakland. It would be a low risk investment that would cost the team only a Minor League deal.
First there’s Blanco. A 28-year old center fielder with an incredible talent for wearing down pitchers and a keen eye for drawing walks. In three Major League seasons his career OBP is .358, or .100 points above his career batting average. I believe this numbers can still go up. In 2010 he played 36 games with the Braves where he hit .310/.394/.362. He was then traded to the Royals and in 66 games hit .274/.348/.369. In 237 AB’s in 2010 between the two teams he walked 29 times and struck out 50. Nothing impressive, but I’m sure he can improve.
This winter in Venezuela, Blanco hit .337/.478/.520 with 4 HR’s, 14 2B and 5 3B in 196 AB’s. He also walked 47 times and struck out 46. Impressive numbers that earned him the MVP award in the Venezuelan Winter League this year. In the semi-finals, Blanco kept his torrid offensive output up hitting .347/.484/.714 with 5 HR’s, 1 2B and 1 3B in 49 AB’s. He also has walked 13 times and struck out 11. Now tell me why doesn’t Beane gives him a Minor League deal with a ST invitation to see if he can makes the team? After all the kid fits perfectly in the OBP-driven offensive/cheap player category.
Jimenez is another case study. He has incredible power and is a left handed hitter. The other day, he hit two 450+ ft home runs in the same game in Venezuela. And one of them was well beyond the 500 ft mark. The ball left the stadium, and was apparently the longest hit in the “Estadio Universitario” (Caracas, Venezuela) history. In 10 Minor League seasons Jimenez has a hitting line of .284/.367/.468 with 121 HR’s in 2,876 AB’s. This year in Venezuela, Jimenez hit .300/.417/.486 with 10 home runs in 220 AB’s. He also walked 44 times and struck out 47.
For Beane and the A’s, these two players are not going to be pricey. Just a couple of Minor League deals with invitations to Spring Training. I think they will prove their value to a team that is always looking for bargains.
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The Seattle Mariners have signed Carlos Guillen to a minor league deal, Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times reports.
Guillen will earn a base salary of $1mm and has incentives tied to plate appearances included in the deal.
Last season with the Tigers, Guillen was limited to only 95 at-bats and hit .232.
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The New York Yankees have hired former Cubs General Manager, Jim Hendry, as a special assignment scout under General Manager Brian Cashman reports Bruce Levine of ESPNChicago.com.
Cashman believes Hendry will be an “invaluabe resource” (via Levine). “He can scout amateur players; he scouts pro players for us,” he said. “He’s as connected in the game as you can possibly be. Everybody loves this man.”
According to a source close to Levine, the 56 year old Hendry agreed to a multiyear deal with the Yankees. And another source close to Levine said Hendry’s duties will include “looking at minor league players, major league players and spending time with the major league team.”
The Cubs fired Hendry in August 2011. During Hendry’s tenure as a General Manager, the Cubs were 749-748, one game above .500 and won three division titles(2003, ‘07, ‘08).
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The Houston Astros have signed veteran pitcher Livan Hernandez to a Minor League deal, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports.
Hernandez went 8-13 with a 4.47 era for the Nationals in 2011. In 2001 with the Giants, Hernandez hit .296 in 81 at-bats, totalling 24 hits (4 doubles, 1 home run).
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According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, the New York Yankees have signed right handed reliever Manny Delcarmen to a Minor League deal.
The 29 year old last pitched in the Majors in 2010 with the Rockies and Red Sox. That year he went 3-4 with a 4.99 ERA in 52.1 innings. He also posted a 1.4 HR/9, 5.5 BB/9 and 6.5 SO/9 that season.
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