Nelson Cruz?

[Mondo Jay]

M's are at 90 million now. (about like last year). I wonder how much more they will spend?

If they get Upton that lineup is pretty legit. Getting Upton would likely mean giving up Walker though.

 

[Mondo Jay]

How much did the M's outbid everybody else by to get Cano to come to Safeco?

There's overpaying, and there's overpaying.

I think it is a good move. The M's should have got someone to hit behind Cano last year. Clearly, Cruz coming off his PED suspension scared several teams off last year.

 

[Mariners_44]

That's probably the case...the main concern with Cruz is that he's 34, and big-body type sluggers generally don't age well (the decline/crash is more rapid and more severe than the average player).

David Ortiz is the age that Cruz will be at the end of this contract, and he is still mashing the ball while being in worse shape than Cruz. Saying that he can continue to produce remains to be seen, but if he pulls an Ortiz this will be a great deal.

 

[dumbrabbit]

So are you suggesting that Stanton is overpriced as well?

Along with A-Rod, Sandoval, Ramirez, Pujols, Cano, Seager, Fielder, just to name a few others.

 

[StanMarsh51]

David Ortiz is the age that Cruz will be at the end of this contract, and he is still mashing the ball while being in worse shape than Cruz. Saying that he can continue to produce remains to be seen, but if he pulls an Ortiz this will be a great deal.

Ortiz is an anomaly however...he declined significantly from the ages of 32 to 34, then suddenly had a second prime from ages 35 on.

Ortiz from:
Ages 27-31: .302 AVG, 156 OPS+
Ages 32-34: .257 AVG, 120 OPS+
Ages 35-38: .298 AVG, 156 OPS+

 

[SeattleCoug]

If ownership doesnt mind the $$ amount on the contract then I dont mind it. This coupled with the Seagar contract shows me they are finally willing to open the wallets a little. As for the 4 years, yea definately not ideal. I however see this as a 2 year contract more then anything. Not sure how many more prime years of Felix and Cano are left so its important do what you can to win a championship the next 2 years

 

[Podunkparte]

Very happy to see this news today. I also don't care about the money. It's not mine and there's no cap. We need a right handed power hitter and we went out and got the best one from last year. Simple as that.

Reports are he's mostly our DH and that we're still looking for a right fielder with Alex Rios and Torii Hunter being mentioned. I'd rather have Rios than Hunter.

Jackson - CF - R
Ackley - LF - L
Cano - 2B - L
Cruz - DH - R
Seager - 3B - L
Rios - RF - R
Morrison - 1B - L
Zunino - C - R
Miller/Taylor - SS - L/R

Well would you look at that. A balanced lineup!

 

[Banned 10x]

Very happy to see this news today. I also don't care about the money. It's not mine and there's no cap. We need a right handed power hitter and we went out and got the best one from last year. Simple as that.

Reports are he's mostly our DH and that we're still looking for a right fielder with Alex Rios and Torii Hunter being mentioned. I'd rather have Rios than Hunter.

Jackson - CF - R
Ackley - LF - L
Cano - 2B - L
Cruz - DH - R
Seager - 3B - L
Rios - RF - R
Morrison - 1B - L
Zunino - C - R
Miller/Taylor - SS - L/R

Well would you look at that. A balanced lineup!

I like the look of that lineup. 3-4-5 look formidable.

 

[Mariners_44]

I like the look of that lineup. 3-4-5 look formidable.

I say we go ALL-PED team, and sign Melky Cabrera rather than Rios.

 

[unlvmariners]

I say we go ALL-PED team, and sign Melky Cabrera rather than Rios.

I agree I would rather have Melky Cabrera also, but I think Seattle is looking for someone that fits the RF mold better than Cabrera.

I would rather have Torii Hunter on a one year deal than Rios on a multi year.

 

[HammerDown]

By the current market, the yearly amount we gave him isn't that crazy at all, actually.

I'm betting other clubs were offering him near the same amount of money, but only for 2-3 years. If that's correct, then it would be more accurate to say the M's signed him for too long.

A very compelling case is made here:

Why Nelson Cruz will fail spectacularly with the Mariners - SBNation.com

Not here to rain on your parade, but I'm not sold on this guy AT ALL.

 

[Msfann]

Hate me if you want, but I gotta say it, fellas.

You gave him WAY too much. You know that, right?

A lot of players don't want to come play for Seattle because of a history of being such a crappy team with a crappy FO. Seattle might have to overpay for a bit to get things turned around. But if signings like this help the team win then other players will be more willing to come here.

 

[cezero]

A very compelling case is made here:

Why Nelson Cruz will fail spectacularly with the Mariners - SBNation.com

Not here to rain on your parade, but I'm not sold on this guy AT ALL.

boy has he written some moronic blog posts over the years

 

[NWinAZ]

Yankees overpaid for years and own the most championships. If getting a player that helps you win is considered overpaying, then I am glad M's joined the overpay parade. Keep it coming.

Still need another SP or two (Anderson and Volquez work fine for me) and a couple more bats (Blanks, Young, Reynolds (one of) and Bruce, Cabrera, Hunter (one of). Anything more or better would be icing on the cake.

 

[Mondo Jay]

A very compelling case is made here:

Why Nelson Cruz will fail spectacularly with the Mariners - SBNation.com

Not here to rain on your parade, but I'm not sold on this guy AT ALL.

 

[seahawksfan234]

Hate me if you want, but I gotta say it, fellas.

You gave him WAY too much. You know that, right?

The annual salary is roughly market value for a hitter of his caliber, age and injury concerns included. The Mariners just gave him 1 more year than he was worth, which is what is required to get him to come to Seattle where many hitters have come to see their career end.

 

[seahawksfan234]

A very compelling case is made here:

Why Nelson Cruz will fail spectacularly with the Mariners - SBNation.com

Not here to rain on your parade, but I'm not sold on this guy AT ALL.

The Mariners need hitting. If you want to win, you've got to take risks. For too many years the Mariners front office has shied away from taking those risks and grossly underbid on free agents then saying "Oh well, we tried".

The article brings up many valid concerns, but the fact is that the Mariners do become a better team with Cruz on the roster. They went out and signed the guy who hit the most home runs in MLB for 2014.

 

[NWinAZ]

yup

 

[HammerDown]

Wasn't my intention.

Put it this way, if the Padres had signed him I'd be complaining louder than if they'd sign Flablo Sandoval.

 

[StanMarsh51]

Yankees overpaid for years and own the most championships. If getting a player that helps you win is considered overpaying, then I am glad M's joined the overpay parade. Keep it coming.

Still need another SP or two (Anderson and Volquez work fine for me) and a couple more bats (Blanks, Young, Reynolds (one of) and Bruce, Cabrera, Hunter (one of). Anything more or better would be icing on the cake.

Sure, but there's a difference between overpaying someone in their typical prime years compared to 34-38. When many of those guys that the Yankees overpay are in their mid-30s, it often becomes a disaster to deal with. Quite frankly, both sluggers and big-body type players don't tend to age well, so if you're both, that could be a recipe for disaster.

Fangraphs had an interesting article the other day how Sandoval might age, but the interesting thing in it is the graph which shows how bigger bodied type players (such as Cruz) tend to decline earlier and more rapidly than normal.
Which Pablo Sandoval Did the Red Sox Buy | FanGraphs Baseball

Just looking at the past 2-3 years, look how much sluggers such as Pujols, Howard, Hamilton, Teixeira, and possibly now Fielder (guys that were hitting 40 HR just a few years ago) are aging in their 30s...not well. The notable exception is Ortiz, but keep in mind that he declined significantly from ages 32-34 then suddenly found the fountain of youth at age 35 (an anomaly).