The Stars saw a significant decline in 2059 after taking a dev hit as Habib still hit 13 homers but saw his average/on-base percentage drop to .213/.272. Seeing his WAR drop to 1.1 for the season made his salary look way less appealing as Habib is on a $8.2M contract that was signed prior to the current GM’s arrival. Habib has two more player option years left aft the 2060 season at $8.2M per clip.
Prior to the 2060 opening day, Habib took another dev hit – a massive one – seeing is overall rating plummet to 35 compared to the 65 he had just two years ago. His range went from 12 down to 7 as well which seemed aggressive in the scouts' assessment for the 32 year-old but the numbers seem to be backing it up. At this point, Habib has been relegated to the 4th outfielder with Koray Kapkin taking over the majority of the centerfield innings. Koray has responded so far hitting .279 with 4 homers in this young season.
Another free fall that started a year prior to Habib’s was that of Ruben Vasquez. Ruben’s demise can at least be linked to his year-long shoulder injury but his salary for 2060 is sitting at $8.5M with a player option of $10.7M in 2061. His WAR as a full-time starter last season was 0.7.
Between the two players their WAR from last year combined to 1.8 for a cost of $16.7M (roughly $9.3M per WAR instead of the typical $2.7M that the Valencia front office shots for). This is playing a large part of the front office’s stance on getting finances under control rather than selling out the future to add pieces to make a run now.
Below is a picture of Habib after the dev monkeys were finished with him this off-season – he is the one lying on the ground.