Top 5 Worst Offseason Moves

[love_that_reefer]

This is a list of MY top five worst offseason moves, either free agent signings or trades. I want to read what your top five are too. Here we go:

5. Oliver Perez- 3 years/$36 million: Perez is the poster boy for inconsistency. One year he will look like an ace and then the next look like a #5 starter. Perez is making $12 million a year to be a #3 starter. Not once has Perez ever pitched over 200 innings and he sports a career ERA of 4.39, .19 over the league average. Perez is getting over a $6 million dollar raise for walking over 100 men and sporting a 4.22 ERA. Doesn't make a lot of sense does it? Perez is making way too much money for an unreliable middle of the rotation guy with a career WHIP of 1.43.

4. A.J. Burnett- 5 years/$82.5 million: Burnett when healthy is a top 10 pitcher. Only problem is he isn't healthy all that often. Burnett has only made 30 starts twice in his ten year career. Burnett has had many stints on the DL in his career including having TJ surgery back in 2003 and has elbow and shoulder problems since. Burnett will be 32 this year and has never posted back to back 200 IP seasons in his career. He is unreliable unless you need to borrow money. The Yankees took a huge gamble on Burnett and Sabathia for that matter but Sabathia has had no real history of injuries. Five years was way too much to give a guy like Burnett. Like I said, when Burnett does take the mound he is a damn good pitcher. Its just too bad he doesn't take it as much as he is getting paid to do so. $16.5 million a year for five years is just too much for a guy who can barely make 30 starts, especially when you have to forfeit draft picks for him.

3. Edwin Jackson for Matt Joyce: This has to be the worst trade of the offseason. The Tigers desperately needed some starting pitching so what did they do? They traded a very promising young OFer for a pitcher who melted down at the end of last year and was left off the postseason roster for the first round of the playoffs. Only reason he was added to the ALCS and WS roster was because of injuries and even then he barely got to pitch. When he did pitch, it was just in mop up duties. Jackson went 14-11 last year with a 4.42 ERA and 1.50 WHIP. Only reason Jackson did so well was because he had the best defense in the league behind him. Jackson has a career ERA of 5.15. Matt Joyce is coming off an impressive rookie campaign hitting 12 HRs, 33 RBI and posting a .831 OPS in just 242 ABs. Joyce is also a good defensive OFer and should start in RF for the Rays. Joyce will turn some heads this year. The Rays got an absolute steal in this trade while the Tigers got another mediocre pitcher.

2. Kyle Farnsworth- 2 years/$9.25 million: Farnsworth has posted ERA's north of 4.30 in three consecutive seasons but yet he is one of the highest paid middle relievers in baseball. It makes no sense for the Royals to fork over that much money for such a lousy setup man, especially when they traded away two good, cheap relievers in Ramon Ramirez and Leo Nunez. Farnsworth has only had three good seasons in his 10 year career and his last one was in 2005. This was just a big waste of money for the Royals who could have gone out and got someone much, much better than a setup guy with a career ERA of 4.47.

1. Milton Bradley- 3 years/$30 million: Bradley had a career year last year while playing in only 126 games last year. The man couldn't stay healthy even as a DH. That's why he is my worst offseason signing. Bradley is now being asked to patrol RF for the next three years in the NL with no DH while never being able to stay healthy, not even as a DH. He has only played over 100 games three times in his career and he is now going to be 31 this season. This is the same guy who tore his ACL arguing with an umpire in the middle of a playoff race. Bradley had been suspended in the middle of a playoff race before that. Now he is going to Wrigley Field where they are no stranger to sucking done a few and giving their players who don't do well a hard time. That just smells trouble. Bradley can't stay healthy, contract is too long and Bradley is unreliable down the stretch. All reasons why he is the worst offseason move.

[realmofotalk]

1. Mike Hampton - 1 year/$2 million: A complete waste of time and money for a pitcher who hasn't thrown 100 innings in over four years.

2. Claudio Vargas- 1 year/1 rotation spot: Dodgers failing to replace ace Derek Lowe in the rotation is perhaps the worst non-move of the offseason. Can Manny pitch?

3. J.J. Putz for Franklin Gutierrez, Endy Chavez, and Aaron Heilman: The M's gave up one of their few bright spots on the team in return for two outfielders with career OPS averages of .717 (Gutierrez) and .680 (Chavez). The M's later dumped Heilman for Ronny Cedeno and Garrett Olson, neither of whom is terribly useful.

4. Edgar Renteria 2 years/$18.5 million: Sure, he looks like Hanley Ramirez compared to Omar Vizquel, but we're talking about an aging middle infielder who's on the downswing defensively and his offensive production last year was even worse than the one he posted in his one year with Red Sox.

5. Rockies trade for Jason Marquis: When he gets to Coors Field, more people will cry. Home Run Watch 2009. EA Sports. It's in the game.

6. Orioles signing Mark Hendrickson.

7. Josh Willingham and Scott Olsen for Emilio Bonafacio and P.J. Dean: Why the **** does Bonafacio's trade value keep going up?

8. Padres picking up Brian Giles' $10 million option and then feeling pressured to trade Jake Peavy's near identical salary.

[HollywoodLeo]

8. Padres picking up Brian Giles' $10 million option and then feeling pressured to trade Jake Peavy's near identical salary.

1. Peavy is still a Padre

2. Giles was owed 5 mil either way, they're hoping to trade him before the deadline. If they do they end up paying him roughly the same amount they would have by not picking up the option (maybe a little more), but get a prospect or two in return instead of jack shit.

[love_that_reefer]

Renteria had a good second half after he got in shape last year and always plays better in the NL. Plus he didn't cost a draft pick. Mike Hampton is hardly a bad move considering he will be in the rotation and doesn't make a lot of money. Definitely not #1.

[realmofotalk]

1. Peavy is still a Padre

2. Giles was owed 5 mil either way, they're hoping to trade him before the deadline. If they do they end up paying him roughly the same amount they would have by not picking up the option (maybe a little more), but get a prospect or two in return instead of jack shit.

Christ, you're a poor sport.

The buyout was 3 mil, the club option was 9 mil (correction on the aforementioned 10 mil). Khalil Greene was traded for jack shit and replaced by friggin' David Eckstein. It's clear that their offseason plan was cutting salary. Why else would Peavy be involved in trade talks? It seems like the Giles option was picked up before Moores realized he was in deeper shit with his divorce settlement.

[HollywoodLeo]

I wasn't denying their general offseason plan.

I was merely explaining why they picked up Giles' option despite it.

[realmofotalk]

Have a problem with my list? Then spend some time and make your own list. Please, tell us in your own words how all the other sucka GM's in the division had a worse offseason than Sire Towers.

[HollywoodLeo]

Don't have a problem with your list at all. I simply disagreed with part of it.

[catman]

I have a hunch Ronny Cedeno will be a decent player for the Mariners. He is good with the glove and has decent speed. I do agree that moving JJ Putz for the prospects may have been a bit short-sighted, but who knows.

[Saber]

Don't forget 3/30 for Raul Ibanez.

[Slyder]

Top 5 Worst offseason moves:
5. Raul Ibanez Phi- I know I know, hindsight is 20/20 but to rush out of the gate with EVERYONE screaming ECONOMY and give Ibanez 3/30 to replace Burrell (who ended up taking LESS) bad move.

4. The fact anyone wanted Jason Marquis let alone trade for him...

3. Reds Resigning David Weathers (arby) AND Mike Lincoln. Weathers had a good year and Lincoln had a decent year, but to resign both really took a large chunk out of what ended up being a very small FA $. Either or and stuck Roenicke or another young arm or cheap vet would have been fine and saved some cash for bigger concerns (Like the offense).

2. 6.5 mil option exercised on Hank Blalock... Thats 100k per game if he plays the same number of games he did last year (65). Why not hold on to that money and add some more you know pitching to the team and get a power hitter on the cheap?

The #1 absolute WORST move in all of baseball this offseason. For more than 1 reason and should be obvious to anyone who knows me. This will be long.

Signing Willy Tavares to a 2 yr 6 mil dollar deal. You might say its not a budget breaker like an Eric Milton was. Yes true but when you take into account the other contracts for Jerry Hairston Jr., Ramon Hernandez (half price due to Freel), David Weathers, and Mike Lincoln that adds up to some significant $$$.

Tavares wasnt needed at that price. We have a couple of cheap options in house (Dickerson and some of the AAA guys), want to bring in a vet to compete? Fine. But Tavares was brought in and immediately written into the starting lineup not compete after a season where he couldnt even find 1st base if you dropped it on his head. Forcing Dickerson to move to LF and squandering a wonderful market for the Reds to try and get some legitimate help.

Plus Duhhhsty Baker is still the manager. We saw what happened last year with the rope Duhhhsty gave Patterson. By the time Patterson was moved out of that role (2 months) the team was already too far behind. I fully expect Tavares to be run out there everyday regardless of how pitiful he does, killing any 1st inning runs as he grounds/bunts out to the pitcher to start the game. Yes he's fast, but what good is speed if he cant make it to 1st base.

Tavares goes from a park you would think helps him (lots of room, lots of places to bloop stuff) to the absolute worst type of park for him to play in (very small, surpresses 2b and 3b) as he has less power than most of the Little League players I watch. He makes no sense for a team like the Reds. In closing those fans who miss "small ball" watch the Reds and remind yourself Dunn and Griffey were the reasons we sucked for the past 8 years as weve gone from losing a lot of games 10-8 to losing most games 3-1 if were lucky with this absolutely putrid offense takes the field.

[cjkalt]

CJ's List:
5. Jeremy Affledt 2 years/ 8 million - I can't blame the Giants for agreeing to this deal at the time considering what Marte had just signed for (More on Marte later) but the reality is that considering what Beimel got they paid at least 2x too much for him

4. Kyle Farnsworth- 2 years/$9.25 million- I'm not sure why they'd pay this much for him considering the bad season he had last season and the fact they traded away Ramierez, I understand trading him if you can buy a reliever for less than a OF, but the way the FA market shaped out they would have been better off keeping Ramierez and getting the OF via FA

3. Edgar Renteria 2 years/ 18.5 million- This reminds me of the Red Sox JD Drew contract; all your fans know its a bad deal before you do it and you hope for the best. But come June, Giants fans will be wishing they had Orlando Cabrera in their lineup and the best part of that would be... he'd cost you over 10 mil less if you signed him for 2 years... this was just a bad deal considering the surplus of SS available

2. Damasco Marte 3 yrs/ 12 million- Yikes!!! considering left handed relievers that were better than market (Ohman and Beimel) could only get a 1 year deal for a max 2 million (and that includes the surplus the un-competitive Nats have to pay) Marte getting 4 million for 3 seasons is a gross overpayment

1. A.J. Burnett- 5 years/$82.5 million- This is a ton of money for a guy who heading into last season was a .500 pitcher. He has only had 2-3 full seasons, he's had a rich injury history and has never had to pitch with real pressure before (Pitching in Florida and Toronto might mean all the fans that have seen all of his starts over the 7 years might equal 1 years worth in NY) AJ won't be as bad as the last ex-Marlins SP to pitch for the Yankees (Carl Pavano) but they will regret this contract just as much.

[love_that_reefer]

Affeldt was the first FA signed and cost no draft pick. Something to keep in mind.

[realmofotalk]

Not an awful offseason move at face value, but I predict the Brian Fuentes signing will be a bust.

[love_that_reefer]

Ibanez already has a two run HR and an OF assist! BooYah!