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kutulu · 03-09-2005, 02:27 PM

You know, the DBacks are probably the most misunderstood franchise in baseball. As a fan I hardly understand them. It's very strange. I've read and heard interviews with the owners and the impression I get from them is 'fuck it, we have billions, this isn't a money-making venture' In 2004, they convinced the investors to commit to something like $100 over the next 10 years. By trading Randy Johnson, the DID move their highest price player for Vazquez. They also got a good lefty and $9M cash for it. In the Green trade they got like $10M and they renegotiated his contract so that it runs through 2007 for a total of $32M (Green was due $16M in 2005 alone). The funny thing is that despite the huge attendance drop last season, 2004 was the best financial year for the team (even though they still lost money).

This season, despite the "free spending" they did, they still will open the year with a payroll about $10M lower than last season. Remember, they were freed of RJ's $17M, Finley's $8M, Mantei's $9M, Dessens's $4M, and lots of other smaller contracts. People talk about the DBacks spending money like drunk sailors but they fail to mention that the team payroll is UNDER $60M for 2005 (not quite Stienbrenneresque).

Now about the offseason moves of getting Glaus and Ortiz:

Glaus: Without a doubt he's one of the top offensive 3rd basemen in baseball. Although he has an injury risk associated with him, the $/year amount is in line with other contracts out there for similar players. The fourth year is what could make it a bad deal. As long as he's healthy (remember he had surgery instead of trying to push through the injury that forced him to lose time over the last two years), he'll easily hit 30-35 HR and could possibly hit over 40 in such a hitter friendly park like BOB.

Ortiz: He is a different story altogether. I've never been an Ortiz fan but he defies logic somehow. His DIPS plain ass suck but he's somehow able to win games and post reasonable ERA's despite the terrible walk rates and uninpressive K/9 rate. He does alright because he keeps his HR rate relatively low. If he can keep the HR do a reasonable level, he'll do alright for at least the first two years of his contract with AZ.

Overall, I think people are selling the team way short. Will they make the playoffs? Most likely no, but who knows the NL West is a shitty division. The Giants are a bunch of old men with a crap rotation (Schmitt and who?). The Dodgers are much weaker than last year (Drew at his best isn't much better than a healthy Green is, no Beltre, but good rotation). Padres are the same, and the Rockies still suck. Furthermore, any evaluation of the pitching and hitting of these NL west teams has to inlcude the fact that the teams got to play 19 games agains the DBacks which were basically a AA team after May (hitting, pitching and fielding).

03-09-2005, 02:27 PM	#7 (permalink)
kutulu Junkie	You know, the DBacks are probably the most misunderstood franchise in baseball. As a fan I hardly understand them. It's very strange. I've read and heard interviews with the owners and the impression I get from them is 'fuck it, we have billions, this isn't a money-making venture' In 2004, they convinced the investors to commit to something like $100 over the next 10 years. By trading Randy Johnson, the DID move their highest price player for Vazquez. They also got a good lefty and $9M cash for it. In the Green trade they got like $10M and they renegotiated his contract so that it runs through 2007 for a total of $32M (Green was due $16M in 2005 alone). The funny thing is that despite the huge attendance drop last season, 2004 was the best financial year for the team (even though they still lost money). This season, despite the "free spending" they did, they still will open the year with a payroll about $10M lower than last season. Remember, they were freed of RJ's $17M, Finley's $8M, Mantei's $9M, Dessens's $4M, and lots of other smaller contracts. People talk about the DBacks spending money like drunk sailors but they fail to mention that the team payroll is UNDER $60M for 2005 (not quite Stienbrenneresque). Now about the offseason moves of getting Glaus and Ortiz: Glaus: Without a doubt he's one of the top offensive 3rd basemen in baseball. Although he has an injury risk associated with him, the $/year amount is in line with other contracts out there for similar players. The fourth year is what could make it a bad deal. As long as he's healthy (remember he had surgery instead of trying to push through the injury that forced him to lose time over the last two years), he'll easily hit 30-35 HR and could possibly hit over 40 in such a hitter friendly park like BOB. Ortiz: He is a different story altogether. I've never been an Ortiz fan but he defies logic somehow. His DIPS plain ass suck but he's somehow able to win games and post reasonable ERA's despite the terrible walk rates and uninpressive K/9 rate. He does alright because he keeps his HR rate relatively low. If he can keep the HR do a reasonable level, he'll do alright for at least the first two years of his contract with AZ. Overall, I think people are selling the team way short. Will they make the playoffs? Most likely no, but who knows the NL West is a shitty division. The Giants are a bunch of old men with a crap rotation (Schmitt and who?). The Dodgers are much weaker than last year (Drew at his best isn't much better than a healthy Green is, no Beltre, but good rotation). Padres are the same, and the Rockies still suck. Furthermore, any evaluation of the pitching and hitting of these NL west teams has to inlcude the fact that the teams got to play 19 games agains the DBacks which were basically a AA team after May (hitting, pitching and fielding).