Re: Alex Gonzalez and Escalating Baseball Salaries

On Sat, 23 Dec 2006 22:15:41 GMT, "gnork" <gnork44@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
quacked:

All in all it was a very
predictable year for him, very much in line with his career. So now he is a
free agent again, one year older with no signs of change from his
established level. The next thing you know Cincy has signed him to a three
year deal for $14,000,000 dollars. Why did at least one team's perception of
his value go so high without any significant on field improvement? He will
be 30 before next season begins. The price of mediocrity has gone thru the
roof.


The signing struck me as crazy. Still, two reasons --- defense is
getting a lot more attention from GMs for whatever reason, and AGon
got to play and show his excellent defense on a very big stage.

Now, if a team values defense a lot at SS, the pickings right now are
pretty thin. I do think you still can get excellent defensive SS for a
dime a dozen in the minors if htting is not a factor, but

(1) I may now be wrong (it once seemed v. true but seems less clearly
true now); and

(2) AGon, although a poor hitter, as your stats attest, is not a
hopeless hitter --- just bad by the very high standard of MLB.
.