goonys evil twin

Every word that has been spoken on the issue by anybody that matters suggest he will be the everyday 2B.

So? This is absolutely stupid. DeRosa is a bad utility player. Soriano is an impact regular. This comparison is absurd. 40 doubles and 74 RBI with a .357 OBP are not numbers put up by a bad utility player. Why is it so hard to believe that the guy figured something out and is entering his prime later than most? I think he proved he's better than just a bad utility player last year. You cant just ignore what he did last year, those are really good numbers. At the worst hes a good utility player next year. At worst he repeats 2004. At best he repeats 2006. And there's a wide gulf in between.

So? This is absolutely stupid. DeRosa is a bad utility player. Soriano is an impact regular. This comparison is absurd. Mark DeRosa is not a bad player. Career OPS+ of 90.

No, some people don't like the signing because he's not good and it's a significant chunk of money.

So? This is absolutely stupid. DeRosa is a bad utility player. Soriano is an impact regular. This comparison is absurd.

I don't know how you can say that. DeRosa averages what, 10 homers and 50 RBI's a season? Soriano can triple his HR totals and he can double DeRosa's RBIs. Average and OBP wise, he matches up with Soriano, but that's about it. You missed the point. DeRosa was crappy for two years then good for one, and now he's getting paid like a good player. Soriano was good for two years and great for one, and people are clamoring for him to get paid like a great player. Soriano has had good numbers for 4 of his 6 full-time years in the big leagues. The only years that he struggled were his rookie year, where he only had an OBP of .304 and his final year with Texas where he had an OBP of .309. While those are pretty crappy years, the other 4 years have been pretty decent for Soriano. While last year was his highest in terms of OBP and HR's, he had three seasons with a higher average. Soriano deserves to get paid...maybe not $16 million a year money, but he's going to get that nonetheless because teams are going to be desperate to add a guy that can not only hit for power, but be a threat on the basepaths. DeRosa meanwhile has only had 1 good season in his career. I just think comparing Soriano and DeRosa is comparing apples to oranges. I think you need to read the post again, I don't know how else to rephrase it than what I just said. DeRosa was crappy for two years then good for one, and now he's getting paid like a good player. Soriano was good for two years and great for one, and people are clamoring for him to get paid like a great player. And? The Soriano/DeRosa comp is absurd. Soriano was just as good in 2002 and 2003 as he was in 2006. DeRosa has been a part time player, and a bad one, and just had a career year. And he still wasn't an everyday guy.

If I was a betting man, I would say that DeRosa has been signed as our 2B instead of Jones' platoon partner. Exactly why people are in an uproar about this. This guy is not a starting position player, he's a suber sub at best and thats putting a nice spin on it. He should not get the playing time that Theriot should get. Unless Piniella comes out and publicly states that hes a platoon player for the team (he won't specifically name Jones) and a rare starter, then I cannot fathom why this guy is on this team let alone being paid what he will be. I wouldn't have a real problem with spending $4 million on an actual "super" sub. The problem is this guy isn't super. He's been as bad as Neifi and Macias at times in his career. If he was a regular 100 OPS+ guy, who routinely put up an 800 OPS in limited playing time, fine, that player can help the team. DaRosa has not done that, and at his age, with his history, he's not a good bet to do it for the next 3 years (or even 1/2 years).

That is contrasry to news reports, which indicate Soriano was the number one target coming out of the meetings. I can't reading anything that mentioned to DeRosa for the Cubs, other than sports writers speculation. The first guy Hendry signs out of the meetings is the guy they were dead set on signing. Soriano might be a target, like Furcal was, but he's not deadset on signing him.

That's also assuming they repeated 2006, career years for both, and are used only in such a platoon role, an impossibility.

Thats what I thought of this signing; a right-handed version of Walker. I don't feel particularly bad about this signing, but not particularly great either. Todd Walker was never as bad as DeRosa is capable of being, he's usually been much better. And he cost $2.5 million.

Unless Lou asked Hendry to beef up the bench big time due to the day games and this might put a couple of young guys on the bench to save some dough.. Ding ding ding ding! I think you hit the nail on the head. But you still didn't have to run out and pay him 3x what he deserved. We way overpaid. If we paid him about $2m, I wouldn't care. If that extra $2m per is the difference between a crappy OF and JD Drew, I'm going to be bloody ticked. And I believe that is what's going to happen. Just like a couple years ago we signed Neifi, Rusch and Burnitz to terrible deals when we could have added most of that money together and possibly could have gotten a top tier FA like Drew, and possibly Beltran. Except the excuse will be they weren't interested in Drew and this money had nothing to do with it. It's pretty clear DeRosa was the guy they had their eyes on after the meetings.

No. Hendry hired a driver to take care of it and he chartered a private jet for DeRosa to take home.

He could. It's not likely. But he could. There is negative talk because this guy has absolutely sucked for significant portions of his career. He could repeat his fine 2006. But he could also repeat his abysmal 2004. We don't know. It doesn't make much sense to sign a player with that amount of uncertainty to this kind of contract. People would die if this money went to a free agent Kerry Wood. But at least Wood offers significantly greater upside. (not that I would have given him that money).

Blame this on the crowd that thinks Placido Polanco was the Detroit MVP.

If he repeated his 2005, he'd be fine #2. Unfortunately, his career trends don't support the idea of giving him that role.

This crap again? That's exactly what I was thinking after 12 pages of this thread :). Calling people who put thought into the ramifications of such a signing chicken little is pretty much BS if you ask me.

Seriously though, you drive into the city and park by Penn Station? Why not just drive to a Jersey train station and take 2 trains? I live in Jersey, but I usually only go to Shea on weekday nights, after working in Manhattan.

This crap again?

DeRosa's 2004 was as bad as anything Macias has done. And I was talking about the pointless idea of valuing a guy who plays 6 positions just because he plays 6 positions. DeRosa is a better baseball player than Macias, he's also capable of being just as bad in any given year. And like Macias, he's grossly overpaid. He makes over 400% more than Jose, but certainly isn't 400% better.

When they come out of the organizational meetings with their eye on somebody, they do whatever they can to tie him up quickly. Too bad the silly goofs never put their eye on anybody who can help the team get better. I think this move might not be that bad if the proper moves are made from here on out. DeRosa can help a team in the right role. He can also hurt the team if you can't figure out what that right role is.

When they come out of the organizational meetings with their eye on somebody, they do whatever they can to tie him up quickly. Too bad the silly goofs never put their eye on anybody who can help the team get better.

I like that he can play 6 positions. I'm not thrilled, however, by his .331 career OBP. I don't like that he can play 6 positions. It's a worthless trait. Macias could play 6 positions, Bynum probably could do. Guys who play lots of positions, but aren't good at any of them, are not valuable. If he's a starting 2B, it's a huge risk for a crap player that has never been a starting 2B. If he's a utility guy, it's an absurd contract for a guy who can't even produce much in limited duty.

i'd rather have a solid starting lineup than a solid bench, though i'm sure you'd agree with that also. I think DeRosa is solid just nothing great He had a 59 OPS+ in 2004. Nobody who is solid puts up the numbers he put up from 2003-2005. He's inconsistent, if nothing else. He's capable of mediocrity, but doesn't repeat it.

"People" might use it when they like. I use career, trends and recent all the time. DeRosa doesn't have much in his favor, not for a 3-year deal.

so we have something to talk about? Jim cares about us.