Baseball Notebook: Hot Stove League Transactions
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by Niteowl049
Gabe Kapler Signs With Brewers
Brewers made a strange move yesterday signing Gabe Kapler to a one year contract. Kapler hit 49 of his 64 home runs in his second, third and fourth seasons. In the other six years of his career he has hit a total of only 15 home runs. He does have a .270 lifetime average.
With Bill Hall and Corey Hart being everyday outfielders that leaves Gabe Gross, Gabe Kapler and Anthony Gwynn to share playing time at the other outfield position. Even though Kapler came comparatively cheap at $800,000 for one year I don't see the reasoning behind this move. It is time for Anthony Gwynn Jr. to play everyday but it doesn't look like it is going to happen anytime soon. If the any of the three non-everyday players gets 200 at bats I will be surprised.
Dontrelle Willis a $29 Million Pitcher?
Tigers may have jumped the gun on giving Dontrelle Willis a $29 million contract for three years. Willis was 22-10 in 2005 but in the last two seasons combined he is 22-27 despite having the best run support of any pitcher in the NL with 6.27 runs scored per nine innings while he is pitching. So the move to Detroit is not likely to improve that number in 2008. Two seasons ago his ERA was 2.63 but in the last two seasons it has been 3.87 and 5.17 so it has almost doubled from 2005 to 2007.
There is no rationale for giving a pitcher $29 million coming off of two non-winning seasons. He made $6.45 million last season so he is getting a close to $4 million raise. In 2005 he gave up 11 home runs in 236 innings but in 2007 he gave up 29 home runs in 205 innings plus he gave up 241 hits in those innings. Nowadays all a pitcher needs is to have one spectacular season and they are set for life. A case in point is Carl Pavano who won 18 games in 2004 with the Marlins and has a 5-6 record in three seasons with the Yankees but has made $27 million in those three years.
Phillies Ink Jenkins to $13 Million Contract
Geoff Jenkins has been signed by the Phillies to a 13 million contract for two years. Jenkins may be a good player but his offensive numbers are not that great compared to those of departed outfielder Aaron Rowand. Listed below is a comparison of the offensive numbers of the two players:
At bats: Rowand 612 Jenkins 420 Runs: Rowand 105 Jenkins 45
Hits: Rowand 189 Jenkins 107
Doubles: Rowand 45 Jenkins 24
Home Runs: Rowand 27 Jenkins 21
Runs Batted In: Rowand 89 Jenkins 64
Total Bases: Rowand 315 Jenkins 198
On Base Percentage: Rowand .374 Jenkins .319
Slugging Percentage: Rowand .515 Jenkins .471
Batting Average: Rowand .309 Jenkins .255
Extra Base Hits: Rowand 72 Jenkins 47
What these stats show is that Jenkins is not even close to being the offensive player Rowand is and Jenkins may be in for some boos in Philadelphia if he is slow getting out of the gate after opening day. The signing of Jenkins leaves the Phillies with an outfield of Shane Victorino, Pat Burrell and Jenkins with Jayson Werth as the fourth outfielder. Werth had 49 runs batted in while batting 255 times in 2007 so in effect he could have had 100 runs batted in over a full season of 500 at bats. That leaves T.J. Bohn, Chris Snelling and Chris Roberson to battle for the the fifth spot in the outfield. Greg Dobbs who played 17 games in outfield in 2007 could fill in also if needed.
