tireball.com

On the surface signing Omar Vizquel on the heels of a season in which he hit just .266/.316/.345 in 177 at-bats while a member of the Texas Rangers may seem like a procedural move to round out the bench. However, this is the Chicago White Sox and while Vizquel will be behind Mark Teahen at third, Alexei Ramirez at short and Gordon Beckham at second he figures more often then not to be used as a defensive replacement considering Omar Vizquel at 42 years of age is a better defensive player then all three.

Last season the White Sox were 28th in baseball in fielding percentage only above Arizona and Washington. Only Washington, Arizona and Kansas City committed more errors on the year.

While moving around the infield for the Rangers, Omar appeared at three different positions last season and in 207 total chances committed 0 errors.

On the other hand Alexei Ramirez committed 20 errors at short in 650 chances and was right around average when it comes to range. Teahen had 11 errors in 248 chances at third base for Kasans City last season to finish below the league average for fielding percentage, he’s also a below average fielder in terms of range over the last three seasons. Gordon Beckham who played third last season made 14 errors and finished with a league average .957 fielding percentage. Beckham however did have a higher range factor then most third basemen but it’s unsure  how yet another position change will effect him.

Vizquel still has the tools on defense and manager Ozzie Guillen shouldn’t have any qualms about making late substitutions that bring Vizquel into games.

In a way it’s almost comical that Vizquel doesn’t still have a starting gig. Mind you only 7 times in his 21 year career has he posted an OPS above .700 and five of them came between 1996-2000. A career .273 hitter with a .338 on base percentage and a .355 slugging percentage Vizquel became a star in the majors with the glove and when you compare him to the guys playing today, he’s still a better bet with the glove then almost all of them.

Vizquel alone doesn’t fix the defense in an instant but he does when he’s on the field.

Popularity: 9% [?]

In the days following the World Series teams begin to decide if they are going to pick up player options, players start to tell newspapers how much they like each potential suitor and a laundry list of common sense baseball moves take place.

Case in point the Kansas City Royals.

The Royals have perhaps been the team with the most transactions revolving around it. The Royals started off the off season by picking up two players the White Sox had seemed to be down on and in the process dumped Mark Teahen and his position-less $5 million dollar salary.

In Josh Fields the Royals got a backup option at third base, a decent second option at first base and an occasional DH who with strong power swings could once again show shades of that 2007 season in which he hit 24 homers in 100 games for the White Sox.

The other player in the deal was infielder Chris Getz who seems to be relegated to a utility role as the Royals already have a second basemen in Alberto Callaspo. Last season Getz hit .261/.324/.347 and showed great speed as he was successful in 25-of-27 stolen base attempts. Getz doesn’t figure to steal many at-bats from Callaspo but gives manager Trey Hillman another nice part to play with, just hopefully he steals Willie Bloomquist’s at-bats and not Billy Butlers.

As for Teahen that decision seemed pretty easy to me. He enjoyed his best year in the majors in 2006 when the former first round pick  hit .290/.357/.517 with 18 home runs and 10 SB’s in just 109 games. Since that season he has been extremely mediocre with the Royals. He has never even come close to duplicating his 2006 season and for his career he is a .269/.331./.419 hitter. The White Sox figure to return him to third base and move Gordon Beckham to second base.

Then the Royals announced the declining of three options for 2010. Yasuhiko Yabuta who was owed $4 million in 2010 was given the $500,000 buyout which considering his 7.14 ERA and 1.82 WHIP in 43 appearances was about as oblivious as wiping after you use the toilet. Then again only a team like Kansas City could have gotten in this type of contract mess in the first place.

The Royals also declined the $8 million option for 2010 that was tied to Coco Crisp. Crisp had season ending rotator cuff surgery in both shoulders so giving him the $500,000 buyout again was an easy call. Limited to just 41 games in 2009, Crisp batted .228/.336/.378 with three home runs, 14 RBI and 13 stolen bases in 180 at-bats. Though the Royals declined his option there’s strong belief that the two sides could again partner up on a lesser amount in an incentive laden deal.

Then there’s Miguel Olivo who had his $3.3 million option declined, as the Royals opted to pay the $100,000 buyout instead. This one was a little tougher to call as the Royals are expected to non-tender John Buck in December and Olivo actually had a pretty productive season last year. He finished with a career high 23 homers and 65 RBI and his .249/.292/.490 line resulted in the highest OPS of his career. Olivo also set a career high with 19 walks last season… yes 19.. and he struck out 126 times. Another problem with Olivo is he never hit for any type of average and last seasons numbers are greatly inflated by what can mainly be deemed as a fluke-ishly high home run total. Had the amount been less it’s likely this option could have been picked up but considering the risk for the money the Royals couldn’t afford to roll the dice on this one.

So while the Royals have made a bunch of transactions they’ve only done  the ones that we already knew they would do in the first place. The team will still look for a catcher this winter, another outfield option and field trades for one of their starting pitchers as well. It’s not bad that the Royals did all this now, it’s just what was going to be done sooner or later anyway.

Popularity: 4% [?]