Grading Wade: The Deals He Didn’t Make, Pt. 1

by AstroAndy on Nov 19, 2008 2:01 PM CST

Last season, Craig Biggio retired, leaving a big hole to be filled at second base.

If my memory serves me correctly, there were four major free agent contenders for second base (Matsui, Tadahito Iguchi, David Eckstein, and Luis Castillo), and one option already on the squad (Chris Burke). I think everybody knew last year that Loretta was going to be considered a solid utility/bench guy, but probably not in the running for full-time starter at the position.

Wade apparently targeted Matsui, Iguchi, and Castillo, and as everyone knows, we eventually signed Kazuo. At the time, the signing was ridiculed: mlbtraderumors.com called it “the early favorite for worst free agent signing of the winter,” and hinted that Matsui has no business being a starting second baseman. Cubs fans were thanking us for preventing Chicago from signing him.

Now is a good time to compare what we got with what we might have ended up with.

Kazuo Matsui (3 years, $16.5 million)
G, PA: 96, 422
AVG:   .293
OBP:   .354
SLG:    .427
OPS:   .781
RZR:   .799

David Eckstein (1 year, $4.5 million) – Blue Jays/Diamondbacks
G, PA: 94, 324
AVG:   .265
OBP:   .343
SLG:    .349
OPS:   .692
RZR:   .769 Blue Jays, .857 D-backs

Luis Castillo (4 years, $25 million) – Mets
G, PA: 87, 359
AVG:   .245
OBP:   .355
SLG:    .305
OPS:    .660
RZR:    .751

Tadahito Iguchi (1 year, $3.85 million) – Padres/Phillies

G, PA: 85, 310
AVG:    .232
OBP:   .292
SLG:      .306
OPS:   .598
RZR:    .862

Chris Burke
G, PA: 86, 165
AVG:   .194
OBP:   .310
SLG:    .273
OPS:    .583
RZR:    .963 (this is his RZR for 2B; he played utility)

Ignoring for a second the price we paid, we got the best hitting 2B and we got more games out of him than any of the other teams who signed FA 2Bs got out of their guys. Defense-wise he was middle of the pack, but I know there’s some weird discrepancies between the various defense rankings for Kazuo.

Money-wise, he wasn’t the worst contract, and he generally performed better than the people with smaller contracts. So he was better than our other options, and we paid for that bump in performance. Was it worth it? How say you?

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Addendum

There were some big concerns with Matsui’s home/road splits last year because of playing at Coors:

Home OPS: .864
Away OPS: .638
This year’s OPS: .781

So his OPS this season was closer to last year’s Coors OPS than it was his Non-Coors OPS.

Do you like his contract better now that you’ve seen him play outside of Coors, or do you think his inability to get through a full season is still a huge stumbling block?

by AstroAndy on Nov 19, 2008 2:10 PM CST reply actions

I think he was worth it.

Although.. that’s sorta borderline right now strictly on the number of games he played
And really, an easy way to answer this question:
Ask yourself how you felt when he had to sit for the 2nd and 3rd times? Made you say, “Damn.” didn’t it? Because he did a good job when he was playing.Ed Wade made a good move here, as we can see by the number of games everyone else played and what their hitting stats were. I feel like he did at the time too. That may change next year, but I’m happy so far. (I would be happier if he could play more games so there is room for improvement here!)

by entropic soul on Nov 19, 2008 2:46 PM CST reply actions

My only concern was his health he always like you said Damn he hurt again? But I also say way over paid him.

by wadero on Nov 19, 2008 3:30 PM CST reply actions

We paid about the going value it seems.

Everyone got what they paid for, relatively speaking, aside from the Mets – Who paid a little high. Would you rather have saved $2mm to get Iguchi’s .598 OPS?

by entropic soul on Nov 19, 2008 4:00 PM CST up reply actions

At the time, I thought the signing was ridiculous

But even with his health concerns, I think we made the best possible decision. I think, though, that the third will come back to bite him in the ass with Sutton knocking at the door hopefully.

I also have a concern that his defense will continue to wither with his back issues.

Clearly though, Wade made the best of the market, so tip of the hat to him.

The Crawfishboxes
A good friend of mine used to say, "This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains." Think about that for a while.

by Stephen Higdon on Nov 19, 2008 5:09 PM CST reply actions

Weren't we

gunning for Iguchi over Matsui?

Maybe it was from Petco, but he sucked.

by jonthefon on Nov 19, 2008 5:23 PM CST reply actions

He posted a OPS+ of 65

Which is terrible and accounts for his park factor. I didn’t realize he spent time with the Phillies.

by Stephen Higdon on Nov 19, 2008 7:05 PM CST up reply actions

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