Free Agency Begins, Wackiness Ensues

Jason Michael Barker

Perhaps it's El Niño. Or the lockout in the National Basketball Association. Or maybe there's something in the water. Whatever the reason, baseball teams are doing silly things recently, and I'm not talking about zany promotions such as "bag of live angry ferrets" night (first 20,000 kids only) or even the Angels hiring a pitching coach named Richard Pole.

The Dodgers started the madness by signing Devon White to a three-year deal worth over $12M with a club option for the 2002 season. This deal is doesn't make sense for several reasons. First, LA already has Gary Sheffield, Raul Mondesi and young Roger Cedeño, who would make a fine outfield. Secondly, White isn't all that great.

In eleven full seasons in the bigs, White's career high OBP is a mere .341, and his career .317 mark leaves something to be desired. Put him in Dodger Stadium, a hitter's nightmare, and those numbers drop even more. Finally, there's his age. White, who turns 36 in December, is no longer in the prime of his career, and it's reasonable to expect his skills to decline rapidly. A one-year deal might have made sense, but three? I'd be surprised if he's still capable of playing regularly by the end of his contract.

You hear lots of people complaining about the salary structure established when Mike Piazza signed his contract, worth $13M per season, and how it's going to ruin baseball. On the contrary, his contract could be a good thing for baseball, if general managers and player agents knew how to interpret it. Case in point, Anaheim's six-year, $72M offer (and Boston's reported matching offer) to Mo Vaughn. Piazza is the best player at his position in baseball history, and his value has been set at $13M per season. Vaughn is nowhere near the best at his position in history, let alone in the game today (McGwire, Thome, Frank Thomas in past years). Is he worth $12M per season under the Piazza Scale? Certainly not. It's deals like these, in which good players get elite-player money, that screw things up.

The Detroit Tigers have reportedly offered free-agent 3B Ken Caminiti a three-year, $21M deal. It's nice to see the Motor City Kitties willing to spend some cash, but wouldn't that money be put to better use elsewhere, perhaps on a starting pitcher? Cammy, who turns 36 next spring, is another player for whom a three-year deal is a potential disaster. His offense has dropped off each of the last two seasons, every year he misses a number of games to injury (remember seeing him in the World Series?), and his once-stellar defense has become simply average. As with White, Caminiti probably won't be a regular in three years.

Finally, the Mariners and Phillies got together and made a little deal of their own, swapping Paul Spoljaric for Al Leiter. Wait a minute, this is how the M's plan on revamping their bullpen, by trading a young, left-handed flame-thrower with upside for an aging mediocre arm who makes $3M per season? According to management, the Mariners had $10M to work with this off-season. Well there goes a considerable chunk of it, and they still need a starting pitcher, more help in the bullpen, and yet another LF candidate. This deal was made for two reasons -- Seattle manager Lou Piniella's liking for "veterans," and his inability to handle young pitchers even if his life depended on it. Another year, another bullpen disaster...

about the author

Jason Michael Barker was recently arrested for disturbing the peace when he was found yelling a bit too loudly in downtown Seattle. Seems he was preaching the merits of on-base and slugging percentage over batting average and RBI.