Nats - Signed Anderson
Washington Nationals - Signed IF Marlon Anderson to a 2-year, $1.85 million contract for no reason in particular.
Pinch-hitter extraordinaire!
Remember playing Musical Chairs in kindergarten? There’d always be some kid who wouldn’t quite grasp the complex rules and stands there looking stupid while everyone’s sitting down and starts bawling until the kindergarten teacher gives him or her a rainbow sticker or an oatmeal cookie. That’s the existence you live when the nicest thing someone can say about your playing skills is you’re a good pinch-hitter.
Luckily for Marlon Anderson’s accountant, his kindergarten teacher isn’t a 26-year-old psych major making $25K, it’s Jimmy Bowden, who throws millions at anybody whose name he remembers when he’s not batting his eyelashes at the dreamy Aaron Boone. I think I’d rather have the oatmeal cookie in my employ - they’re tasty, with or without raisins, and don’t make Cristian Guzman a very rich man.
As a player, Anderson won’t hit much, or field much. But golly, he won’t suck quite as bad as the pitcher! And isn’t that worth a million?
2006 ZiPS Projection - Marlon Anderson
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AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB BA OBP SLG
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367 36 87 18 1 7 37 30 52 7 .237 .296 .349
Dan Szymborski
Posted: November 19, 2005 at 01:00 AM |
17 comment(s)
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1. Grunthos Posted: November 19, 2005 at 01:24 AM (#1738022)By the way, after each new Bowden signing, I remind myself that he's got a very good chance of being Boston's new GM, and I giggle myself to sleep...
Thanks, Dan. You've just undone years of therapy, you big jerk.
Anderson -12.4
Oatmeal Cookies 5.3
Oatmeal Cookies with Raisins 7.1
Oatmeal Cookies with Raisins and a glass of milk 13.6
How can you not give big money to a guy who hit a game-tying inside the park HR?
Yeah. It'd be one thing if Bowden had just wasted this money on a guy he erroneously believed was solid insurance against Jose Vidro's knees continuing to decay like... well, mine.
But he already installed Damian Jackson and Bernie Castro in that role, to say nothing of the incumbent failures on his roster (though Spivey's probably a goner).
So this is truly bizarre. I'm on record elsewhere as predicting that Bowden ultimately will get the Sox job as the least of evils, but I really could see Lucchino--yes, even Lucchino--understanding the frightening nature of this move, and saying "no mas."
Huh? Not that Baerga was anything special, but he is hardly to blame for the team slump. They really ended up right where they should have.
As for Anderson.. he is better than Baerga, but that is all I can say for him.
He used to play the deepest 2B I've ever seen when he was with the Phillies. He had a lousy first step, so he tried to make up for it by playing really, REALLY deep and trying to get a better angle.
So I go to the park last year, here in Philly, and there's Marlon Anderson playing 2B for the Mets. But, wait, no, he's actually playing RF for the Mets. It's just that it was only a few steps deeper than when he played 2B for the Phillies.
This amused the hell out of me. It also made me glad I wasn't a Mets fan. RF? Were they drunk?
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