The Yankees have signed lifelong Athletic Eric Chavez and one-time All-Star Ronnie Belliard to minor league deals, per LoHud.After peaking as the best third baseman in the American League in 2002, the injury-plagued Chavez enjoyed two more elite seasons before beginning his descent into mediocrity starting in 2005. Chavez hasn't appeared in more than 90 games since 2007, a season in which he managed a .322 wOBA and was worth 1.1 WAR. Since then he's essentially been a non-entity, and the primary memory I have of Eric of recent vintage is his breaking up Phil Hughes' no-hit bid in his second start of 2010 in Oakland.
Ronnie Belliard's had a fairly well-traveled career, and actually wOBAed .369 for the Nats in 96 games in 2008 -- more success than Chavez has had recently -- but was pretty wretched for the Dodgers last seasons, managing a pathetic .276 wOBA in 82 games.
Since you're here you're undoubtedly interested in their projections. Oliver thinks Chavez will wOBA .297 over 239 PAs, and be a detriment to the team, at -0.5 WAR. Oliver's slightly kinder to Belliard, projecting the infielder at a .312 wOBA over 378 PAs, worth 0.0 WAR. Marcel basically agrees, giving Chavez a .289 wOBA and Belliard a .319.
We also didn't get a chance to weigh in on Wednesday's Justin Maxwell-Adam Olbrychowski trade, although as others have noted, Maxwell's best-case scenario would essentially be serving as a more patient Greg Golson. Bill James oddly has Maxwell at a .336 wOBA over 144 PAs, Marcel .317 over 276 PAs and Oliver a Major League Equivalent .321 wOBA across 471 PAs. Those are actually decently respectable wOBA projections for a 5th outfielder, so perhaps Maxwell ends up playing some sort of small role on the 2011 squad.
Getting back to Chavez and Belliard, while I wouldn't expect either of these guys to produce anything, once again there's nothing wrong with shopping in the bargain bin on the chance something seemingly past its expiration date turns into a WAR surprise. Chavez is probably history, but Belliard could potentially be a serviceable backup infielder -- at the very least he should represent an upgrade over Ramiro Pena and his appalling .236 2010 wOBA.
Hi, Larry,
ReplyDeleteI Just wanted to correct one apparent typo in this piece. The sentence that begins thusly:
"The Yankees have signed lifelong Athletic Eric Chavez . . ."
should have read:
"The Yankees have signed lifelong Un-Athletic Eric Chavez, who has made Nick Johnson look like a health nut the last few years."
I guess this signing is yet another example of Cashman's munificence as a GM.
By my recollection, the Boy Genius has pulled off exactly one great trade in the last two years, the trade for Swisher; one decent trade, the trade for Wood, who we've since lost; and one passable trade, the one that brought us Logan and the disappointing Vazquez for Melky and a good, but very young, prospect.
All of his other trades and signing the past two years, to the best of my recollection, have been an unmitigated failure. Which leads me to ask this question:
Other than his big check signings -- which either of us could have done, Larry -- what has Cashman done the last two+ years that would make you believe he's anything but a grossly overrated and underperforming GM?
I respect you tremendously as a writer, as evidenced by the fact I read all your articles, but I just don't get your support for Cashman as a GM. What has he done, beyond opening a checkbook now and then, to make you think he's anything but an inept GM?
His two latest gaffs are likely to cost us any chance at a W.S. title this year:
1) He mishandled the Lee negotiations and had NO backup plan if that deal fell through.
2) He had NO backup plan if Pettitte retired, unless you consider Garcia, Colon, and Mitre as legitimate options in the hit-happy AL East.
And while we're at it, why in the world did he trade for Justin Maxwell, 27, who batted a whopping .144 with three home runs and 12 RBIs in 67 games in the inferior NL East last year? (To be fair to Maxwell, I should note that his .144 BA was 57 points below his career average of .201.)
Another brilliant move by the Boy Genius: the pennant is nearly in hand! And please don't tell me we signed him for outfield depth. If Maxwell is Cashman's idea of outfield depth, we're in even worse shape than I imagined under his leaderless-ship.
Sorry for all the negativity, Larry, but I’m fed up with Cashman's incompetence and his whining that he wants to be more than a checkbook GM. I hate to break it to you Cash, but that’s all you’ve ever been or, apparently, ever will be.
Cashman needs to be fired and replaced with a competent GM (i.e., a man with an intelligent Plan A and multiple workable Plan Bs).
Hey Wayne,
ReplyDeleteI started to respond in the comments, but the response sort of took on a life of its own and seemed to merit a full blog post. Look for it tomorrow morning.
As always, while we agree on a good many things in the world of the Yankees, I doubt we'll ever see eye-to-eye on Brian Cashman.
Best,
Larry
Ronnie Belliard is a vast improvement over Ramiro Pena...RB is going to be on the opening roster coming out of camp at Nino's expense...If not, I'll be very surprised. Great bargain bin grab. Chavez on the other hand could provide some late-inning pinch hitting spark, but that's probably it.
ReplyDeleteHow about the Os getting Vlad?? They already had a great DH in Luke Scott too. Completely new Baltimore 9 on paper this year...