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Baseball Primer Newsblog— The Best News Links from the Baseball Newsstand
Monday, December 19, 2011
Heyman says 2 years, $15 million. That is one expensive pinch hitter!
The D-backs have agreed to terms with free-agent outfielder Jason Kubel on a two-year contract with an option, a baseball source confirmed Monday.
The move is somewhat surprising in that the D-backs had not been linked in any rumors to Kubel, nor had they been rumored to be in the market for an outfielder.
Kubel, 29, hit .273 with 12 home runs and 58 RBIs for the Twins in 2011. He was originally drafted by Minnesota in the 12th round of the 2000 First-Year Player Draft…
Over his career, Kubel has split his time between the outfield corners. With the D-backs, it would appear that he would become the starting left fielder with Gerardo Parra being shifted to a fourth outfield position, or used in a trade to acquire another position of need.
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1. JJ1986 Posted: December 19, 2011 at 04:25 PM (#4019298)I KNOW he won't be $15MM better than Geraldo Parra over the next two years.
Can Kubel play first at all? That's what they need.
Could Parra handle CF? He doesn't really hit enough to be a great corner OF. I know the D-Backs have Young there already, but I was thinking about Parra's value in a trade.
He could be a David Murphy-type with better D. Aren't the Nats looking for a CF?
So....Captain Obvious....why wouldn't you just sign a regular 4th outfielder? Nate McLouth signed for $1.75M. Why not do that?
Chone suggests he would be below-average but not awful in CF ... but his handful of innings in CF suggest he'd be pretty awful.
Kubel also isn't an everyday player with his history of knee problems. He needs a break a couple days a week.
Unfortunately, both he and Parra are LH.
But don't Upton and Young play virtually every day? At their ages, you'd hope they'd give you 155 Gs or so.
I don't think you want to sit either one of them to get Kubel or Parra in the lineup.
Makes more sense to trade Parra somewhere he can start, and get a RH 4th OF.
Ah, Parra for Alfonso Soriano?
If Parra was RH, this would work out great. Give Kubel ~80-90 G's in LF, 40 at 1B, all vs. RHP. Parra replaces Kubel for D in late innings.
So, basically, they need to trade Parra for a RH version of himself.
They just traded one to Oakland.
Are the DBacks afraid of Parra in arbitration?
The guy hit 3 homers tonight, driving in 6
Jason Kubel was the signing off the off season. Towers came up aces with this signing. He's having a career year, and doing a large chunk of the damage at lefty friendly Chase. Good call by Towers to believe Kubel would thrive in Chase field.
Home 182 PA .331/.412/.713 15 HR, 50 RBI, 22 BB, 45 K
Away 169 PA .257/.320/.414 5 HR, 20 RBI, 15 BB, 44 K
:)
Sure, but they're only half of them. Kubel has obviously been amazing at home and apparently takes advantage of Chase Field really well but I find "signing of the offseason" to be excessive praise for someone who is only good because of a park effect. It puts a significant limit on the value he can produce.
What is this, the ESPN message board or something ? No need to slap down us uppity D Bbacks fans. We are thoroughly aware of how regression in other areas has turned this team into a disappointment. But this thread deserved to be bumped because the Kubel signing was almost universally panned as a bad one in sabermetric circles, and even though I am not on record in this particular thread, I was in agreement with much if not most of the sentiment that felt the signing was redundant at best. I was wrong too.
Example 1 and Example 2 There were more
The ball park ain't swinging the bat.
I also object to this. Kubel may not have been the signing of the year, but saying that he's "only good because of a park effect" is a ridiculous way to characterize his season.
That stadium probably has the best hitters background in MLB. If they ever want to turn the park into a more neutral ballpark, all they have to do is break up the hitters background a bit. (Although I'm not sure exactly how they would do that).
It seems quite likely that, going forward, the Gold Glove LF or RF will be more likely to lose his job than the old Gold Glove "OF" (who was usually a CF) was.
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