Top Free agents of 2018 suck

[navamind]

$13 million per year difference? I don't see it. Donaldson didn't play for the Braves before. Paying for past performance is a non-issue. They paid him to produce and thru 1/4 of his contract, he hasn't.

good thing there's about 120 games left

 

[kburjr]

good thing there's about 120 games left

Which is more games than he has played in each of the last 2 years. He's 33, injury prone lately. $23 million is a stretch. I hope he comes back strong but he is turning into a DH at best. .250 25-30 HRs. Not elite

 

[navamind]

Which is more games than he has played in each of the last 2 years. He's 33, injury prone lately. $23 million is a stretch. I hope he comes back strong but he is turning into a DH at best. .250 25-30 HRs. Not elite

There is certainly a possiblility that Donaldson breaks down, just like there's the possibility that Moustakas reverts to being the average player he's been the majority of his career. Though to Moose's credit, the ability to play 2nd base gives him some more room for error with the bat.

 

[kburjr]

There's no such thing as a bad one year deal. If he completely falls off the map, the Braves could simply cut bait and it wouldn't hurt them in the future the way it did when they had to pay Derek Lowe and Dan Uggla to play for other teams, or having to lump in BJ Upton with Craig Kimbrel just to be able to move him, which greatly diminished the return we could have got for Kimbrel had we traded him alone.

I can agree with a 1 year contract but $23 million to cut a guy? Glad I ain't the GM

 

[kburjr]

Which is more games than he has played in each of the last 2 years. He's 33, injury prone lately. $23 million is a stretch. I hope he comes back strong but he is turning into a DH at best. .250 25-30 HRs. Not elite

I could see the Braves moving him to An AL team mid-year if he doesn't ramp it up. Eat some salary and move on.

 

[Chewbaccer]

I can agree with a 1 year contract but $23 million to cut a guy? Glad I ain't the GM

Wouldn't hurt my feelings one bit if they shipped Anthopoulos back to Toronto.

 

[kburjr]

Wouldn't hurt my feelings one bit if they shipped Anthopoulos back to Toronto.

That your GM?

 

[Chewbaccer]

I could see the Braves moving him to An AL team mid-year if he doesn't ramp it up. Eat some salary and move on.

He hasn't been dead weight by any means, but he's pretty damn annoying. Charlie Culberson can't see the field, and our third baseman of the future is being a defensive liability in left field to make room for Donaldson.

 

[kburjr]

Anyways, this is just for discussion. I think the money is just getting out of line for second tier players and even some elite players.

 

[Chewbaccer]

That your GM?

Yep.

He has a hard on for former Blue Jays.

Brought in Jose Bautista last year to be our third baseman when we didn't need a third baseman.

Signed Josh Donaldson to the biggest one year contract in MLB history to play third base when we didn't need a third baseman.

At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if we moved on for Donaldson, but traded for Edwin Encarnacion and put him at third base when we don't need a third baseman.

 

[Shanemansj13]

Lmao what? Machado is a SS/3B with a 122 OPS+ and Donaldson has a 124 OPS+. They're doing pretty well. Harper's struggling, but it's pointless to fret about performance when you're only a quarter of the way into the first season of their contracts. Sandoval's first 30 games in Boston went pretty well (hit .302/.372/.448), we all know how that one panned out.

Yeah only a quarter in but I wouldn't have a problem with complaints early. $300M is A LOT. Donaldson is on a one year so completely different.

 

[mr.hockey4242]

Lmao what? Machado is a SS/3B with a 122 OPS+ and Donaldson has a 124 OPS+. They're doing pretty well. Harper's struggling, but it's pointless to fret about performance when you're only a quarter of the way into the first season of their contracts. Sandoval's first 30 games in Boston went pretty well (hit .302/.372/.448), we all know how that one panned out.

Yeah I keep seeing comments about Donaldson being bad

I haven’t watched him at all this year. But his stats are pretty damn solid.

Definitely better than Harper and only on a 1 year deal

 

[DrewScott]

And then you have DJ Lemahieu, AKA, steal of the off-season.

Yup, the Yankees did it again!

 

[tducey]

Harper's disappointing but the others are doing relatively good. Also it's only May yet, plenty of time for these players to get used to their new teams and perform as well as they can.

 

[Hornsstampede2.0]

The Phillies are averaging nearly 11,000 more paying fans per game than last year.

That is 3 times the second biggest increase of any other MLB team.

The Phillies knew what they were doing.

They wanted the best possible FINANCIAL RETURN first, and the production second. It is a business after all.

 

[Cedrique]

I wasn't a huge Harper fan before but I have no problem with the signing so far. People underestimate how much having a guy like him (power, plate discipline and speed if you do walk him) in the lineup makes all the players around him better. Would you want to pitch to him at CBP the way the ball flies out in right field? So he was a really good fit for the Phillies, especially since they were about to go into the season with no real left handed power. So he won't have any eye popping stats but he'll take his walks and still get his 100+ runs and 100+ RBIs and make the team better.

 

[Chewbaccer]

Donaldson is one of the hottest hitters in the game right now. He and Markakis were slumping in May but they have both started hitting and the offense is rolling

 

[navamind]

since this thread was made:

Donaldson: .270/.385/.559, 140 wRC+, 2.9 WAR
Moose: .257/.325/.496, 106 wRC+, 1.2 WAR

 

[navamind]

Donaldson wins

 

[Cedrique]

Donaldson wins

Yeah Donaldson was probably the best signing of the year. Along with LeMahieu. With all the injuries they had it was huge for him to play 145 games and hit so well. But it is crazy that we were even discussing all those free agents a month and a half into the year. In the end, none of those guys was a bust (yet).