Mike Cameron was picked as the "Best Free Agent Bargain" (so far) among free agents signed last offseason, beating out Milton Bradley and Kyle Lohse, according to FanGraphs (found via MLB Trade Rumors).
This tells us two things:
1. Cameron had a pretty good year, and should be retained for next year.
2. There aren't a lot of good bargains in MLB free agency, if $7 million for a suspension-shortened year of Mike Cameron plus a $10 million team option for 2009 is the best bargain out there.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
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23 comments:
That's a great point. People around here are so used to paying 400K a year for guys like Gallardo and Fielder, that they freak out when they hear a guy like Cameron is making 7M a year. It's like they feel for that money he should bat .400 with 200 RBI's. That Cameron contract was a steal this year, and you're not going to do much better than that in FA next year.
7m a year and he can't catch a friggin pop fly...put him on a plane.
Think Tony Gwynn will OPS .800?
HA!
Sign Cameron back up please.
Any thoughts on Peavy not putting Milwaukee on his "wish list?" That sucks.
Any thoughts on Peavy not putting Milwaukee on his "wish list?" That sucks.
If anyone should get 10M next year it should be me. I was the MVP of the Brewers in 2008.
I'm the high stepper, I am CLUTCH.
Cam struck out 1 out of every 3 at bats and hit a home run 1 out of every 18 at bats.
The Brewers need a CF that puts the ball in play more. They have enough free swingers under contract already in Weeks, Braun, Fielder, Hart and Hall.
Do you mean "put the ball in play" for hits, or "put the ball in play" for outs? Because if you mean for hits, I'd like to see a list of FA CF's who hit better than Cameron. If you mean for outs, why the hell would we want to make more outs?
Let's make a list of MLB CF's that had more than 430 AB's in 2008 and had a higher OPS than Cameron:
Carlos Beltran
Toriiiii Hunter
Curtis Granderson
Nate McClouth
Grady Sizemore
Josh Hamilton (Did you know he used to have a drug addiction?)
-end of list.
That's good company, and Hunter only beat Cam's OPS by .001.
Only 6 players better than Cam, and only 2 of them from the NL. Beltran will make 18.5M in 2009. McClouth hasn't even hit arbitration yet. Seriously, how do you spend 7M better than that? Also, Cam's contract has a 750K buyout, so the actual cost of him being here next year is only 9.25M. Steal.
What about Tony Gwynn? He can bat lead off, bat around 330, and probably steal 50 or so bases. And a full season in the majors I don't see why he wouldn't hit 10 plus HRs. He seems like the guy who should play centerfield.
But AP, don't you know that he strikes out a lot?
Forget about the fact that he carried the team in August, damn near slugged like Prince last year and took the 3rd most walks on the team.
Don't you know that he strikes out a lot?
Tony Gwynn Jr's career slug % at the major league level is LESS than .300. (Only 242 AB's I realize)
Even if you'd give him a .400 Slug % (Which will NEVER happen) he'd have to bat .409 to equal Cameron in OPS.
So......Congratulations in advance to TGJR being the first player in quite some time to bat over .400. Hope he enjoys Cooperstown.
Good luck Jack Z. Thanks.
I'd rather have the real Tony Gwynn than the Tony Gywnn we got playing CF next year.
why 430 ABs, ap? So you can omit Milton Bradley from that list (he had 414 BTW...and .321/.436/.563 with 22 HR and 77 RBI, a 112/80 SO/BB (vs. Camgoo's 142/54))?
I know he's been tagged a 'clubhouse cancer' but Prince can beat the shit out of him if he gets out of line.
In any case, don't omit info to make your case look better.
But the long/short is that Mike Cameron will be back and we will be paying him $10M. Which is an absurd amount.
Tony Gyynn Jr. is just awful. I wouldn't even call him a 4th OF, more like a 5th. Thing is, if his name was Bob Robertson Jr, fans wouldn't gave a crap about this guy. He is a contact hitter who strikes out a ton and has no pop. The guy doesn't even have doubles power.
How about move Tony Gwynn to 2b
Christ, relax Charlie. For your information I didn't omit a GD thing to make anything look better. I went to ESPN.com, and your precious Milton Bradley isn't included in their list of qualifying center fielders. The 430 AB's I chose was the bottom number of qualifying AB's on their list. I believe that was Gregor Blanco.
Also, a small note worth mentioning:
MILTON F'ING BRADLEY IS NOT A CENTER FIELDER!!!!
He's listed as a DH. He played precisely 0 games this year at CF. Only 20 of his 125 games this year had him at any outfield spot.
So, in conclusion, I hope the Brewers sign Mark Teixeira to play CF instead of Cameron in '09.
Holy cow, did I touch a nerve? Get out your Paxil, dude, you're about to have an episode.
And, since I know you looked at the ESPN stat page, I see Milton Bradley having played:
71 games as LF in his career
467 games as CF in his career
151 games as RF in his career
20 games at corner OF last season, but Texas used him primarily as a DH. They were the first team to primarily use him as a DH.
And its odd that you want Mark Teixeira for CF. Did you know he's actually a 1B, and hasn't ever played in CF in his career?
Mike Cameron's 2008 OPS+(OPS adjusted for park factors and vs. league averages...average is 100): 110
Other NL CFs:
Jim Edmonds: 112
Reed Johnson: 99
Rick Ankiel: 119
Michael Bourn: 57
Shane Victorino: 106
Matt Kemp: 108
Carlos Beltran: 129
Nate McLouth: 126
Aaron Rowand: 94
Lastings Milledge: 91
Cody Ross: 109
Gregor Blanco: 81
Willy Taveras: 56
And...
Milton Bradley: 163
I don't think the question is, "Can Milton Bradley hit a baseball?" I think the question is, "Can Milton Bradley be an everyday center fielder?" I think the anwer to that is "No."
Even with Cameron's suspension this year, he still managed to play 119 games in center. In 11 years he's only played less than 100 games in center twice.
Milton Bradley has never, ever played even 100 games at center in a single season. He had 3 years were he was kind-of sort-of a center fielder from 2002-2004. That's it. 73 games in 2005, 0 in 2006, 15 in 2007, and again 0 in 2008. That's less than 90 games in center if you combine the last four seasons. He also tore an ACL in there (2007), so I don't think he's gotten better recently at center field.
However, as far as hitting the baseball I agree he is very good. I just think that Brady Clark probably plays a better CF than Bradley does right now, so he's not really like a realistic option. Bill Hall has played almost twice as many games in CF since 2005, and I don't think he's a center fielder. Even if you assume the absolute best case for MB in CF, who do we get to play CF for the other 100 games of the season?
Yeah, I was just throwing it out there. He won't ever play anywhere but a corner OF spot from here out. And with Corey Hart's problems defensively last season, he's likely never going to be moved to CF.
Not only does he have attitude issues, he's got injury issues, and would need to play a corner OF spot if he played in Milwaukee.
Its just a shame that we look at Mike Cameron and say he's a good option at CF. In fact, that's utterly miserable.
BTW Corey Hart's OPS+ = 96.
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