2041.03 Old Timers Day at McDermott Park
Posted: Fri Jan 03, 2020 1:36 pm
Defensive purists... please turn your head in disgust.
It was a very quiet offseason in Brooklyn. The team had oodles of cash to spend and plenty of holes to fill. Ideally they would have used that money on a top flight starter. Well, there was only one of them available and his arm is made of glass. So the Robins balked at his high demands.
Rather then holding onto their money, Brooklyn made competitive offers for Sang-duk Sim, Aaron Stone, William Wood, Manuel Marino, and Maxime Manceau. Narrowly missing out on all five.
As camp broke, the team was set to put the money back into their pockets. One more glance at free agency saw some decent names at affordable prices.
Frank Mahaffey 1 year $4 mil
Mahaffey is a former second round pick who actually lived up to his potential. He is good for a decent OBP and 35-40 HR a year. Yet he has a stench that is unpleasant to most BBA gm's. He is an injury prone DH(or barely an OF) with a bad attitude. That stigma scared away the competition and allowed Brooklyn to swipe him up for a cool $4 mil. With Brooklyns new ballpark dimensions and lack of quality pitching outside of Rockville in the division, Mahaffey's 9 power should play huge. And while he was on the trade block virtually all of last season, Brooklyn may have a better sense of his market value and should be able to move him at the deadline to create some kind of asset for the future.
Alfredo Martínez/Alfredo Salazar 1year $2.3 mil each
These two are lumped together because it is the same thought process. $2.3 for an extremely popular player is a solid deal for a team low on fan interest that is not expected to win. Throw in that both players posted at least 1 WAR last year and $2.3 mil per WAR is a solid deal also. The fact that it is two players makes it doubly good. Both are very similar power/eye hitters who are past their prime and riding the wave down.
Chris Limón 1 year $2 mil
The Robins have been in on Limon each of the last 3 winter and finally landed their man. $2 million for a short side/bench player isn't a great bargain, but is a fair deal.
The always convoluted Brooklyn franchise seems to have a trick up their sleeves with these signings. The combination of elite power and elite eyes now runs up and down the lineup. Absent is defense though. Brooklyn has decided to punt defense and try to out slug teams this season. It's a niche approach that could either help the team peacock into the playoffs or could turn into a giant dumpster fire of a season. Either way, it will be fun to watch.