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Ray Flowers

Winter Meetings Review: Hitters

December 10, 2009 6:40pm CST

Chone Figgins to Mariners
The only name on this list worth starting in mixed leagues, Figgins signed a four-year, $36 million deal to add his name to the top of the Mariners order right behind Ichiro Suzuki (there is a vesting option for a fifth season). "We landed a very nice piece," general manager Jack Zduriencik said. "He was a guy we targeted, and we're still going to be active." It's a bit unclear at the moment as to who will knock Figgins, the projected #2 hitter, in since Russell Branyan and Adrian Beltre don't appear likely to return. Regardless, look for Figgins to get on base, move Ichiro around, and to do his fair share of damage for the Mariners.

Coming off a season which included career bests in runs (114), OBP (.395), hits (183) and walks (101), the 31 year old Figgins brings a stable skill set to the Pacific Northwest. Part of that skill set is the ability to steal bases, and each season since 2004 he has swiped at least 34 bags, and while it may not seem like a big number, he is the only player in the game who hit that mark in each of the past six seasons. As mentioned, he also flashed the best walk rate of his career - the sixth straight year it has improved - and as a result his batters eye was up to 0.89, another career best.

Though moving to Seattle causes him to have to call one of the poorer hitting parks in baseball home, Figgins clearly isn't a hitter that depends on his home yard to help inflate his numbers (though it should be pointed out that in his career he has hit .016 points higher at home - .300). It certainly matters how the club will fill out the middle of it's lineup as a lot of Figgins value is derived from crossing home plate, but as long as he is healthy and on the field, Figgins and Ichiro should form one hell of a tandem at the top of the order in Seattle.


Mark Teahen to White Sox
The deal that brought Teahen to Chicago for Chris Getz and Josh Fields went down over a month ago, but it wasn't until recently that Mark signed a three-year deal worth $14 million to man third base for the Sox the next handful of seasons (this move sends Gordon Beckham to second base).

Does this contract make sense? Only if the White Sox know something the rest of us don't. Teahen owns a career line of .271/.331/.419, far from inspiring and a nearly identical line to what the average AL hitter has done since Teahen started his career in 2005 (.269/.336/.426). Would you pay nearly $5 million a year for a merely "average" hitter? That's strike one. Teahen has never posted a BB/K mark over 0.47, two tenths below the big league average last season. That's strike two. Wanna bet he's a strikeout victim? Even though his HR/F rate is average (10.5 percent for his career), the fact that he never hits the ball in the air (30 percent fly ball rate) has led to a G/F ratio that Joey Gathright would be proud of at 1.70. With such an inability to lift the ball he has only once in four seasons hit more than 15 long balls (18 in 2006). That's strike three.

Perhaps he will continue to develop, but a 27 year old third sacker that despite three 500 at-bat seasons has never hit 20 homers or knocked in 70 runs certainly isn't someone I would want to turn the hot corner over to.


Pedro Feliz is headed to Houston.
Pedro Feliz joins Astros
Feliz inked a one-year deal for $4.5 million to man third for the Astros which almost certainly signals the end of the line for Miguel Tejada in Houston (he is thought to no longer have the range for shortstop, so sliding over to third seems like the play). This isn't a bad deal, the club only signed him for one year, but at 35 years old there is little to no upside. After 4-straight 20 homer seasons in San Francisco, Feliz managed to hit just 26 long balls the past two season despite playing in a great hitter's park in Philly. Moreover, the guy simply didn't post any extra base hits of any kind with SLG marks of .402 and .386 the past two years. That's truly pitiful. The good news is that he continued to shave his K-rate, it dropped to a career best 11.7 percent mark last season, but the lack of pop renders that situation almost irrelevant.

Will the power return? That's unlikely as both his fly ball and HR/F rates have dipped a bit of late leading to a career worst fly ball mark last season (under 35 percent) and HR/F rate (6.7 percent). Those measure don't figure to move substantially upward given his age, but even if they do, 20 homers would seem to be his limit. Feliz plays strong defense, but as an offensive weapon he only has value in NL-only leagues.


Ivan Rodriguez to Nationals
Two years and $6 million were lavished on Pudge to share the catching duties in the nation's capitol with Jesus Flores in a truly odd move. First off, I-Rod is 38 years old, and though he has remained pretty darn durable in his career, a two year deal for a guy that age seems like a stretch. Second, with guys like Jason Kendall and Miguel Olivo looking for teams, why did the Nats go in this direction (it's not official yet, but it also seems like Yorvit Torrealba will sign a 2-year deal for nearly the same amount of money as Pudge
)? Third, there have been early whispers that Pudge will not catch more than 80-100 games meaning his fantasy value is likely limited to NL-only leagues. And fourth, there is the declining skill set.

For the first time in his career, Rodriguez struck out more than once every five at-bats. He also failed to hit his already terrible career 0.35 mark in the BB/K category as he fell to 0.20 last season. As a result, his average dipped to .249, the worst mark of his storied career, and the first time he has been under .275 since 1993. He'll still pop an occasional long ball, but this bat needs 400 at-bats to maintain value, and he isn't likely to get it this season.


Bobby Crosby signs with Pirates
After some back and forth, it appears that Bobby Crosby will have a great chance to unseat Ronny Cedeno for the starting shortstop gig in Pittsburgh (Ronny hit a mere .208 with a .593 OPS last season in 341 at-bats with the Mariners and Pirates). Crosby, who signed a one-year, $1 million deal with $500,000 in incentives, enters 2010 as a qualifier at first base and third, though he will have to wait for his shortstop eligibility (he appeared in just six game there last year).

Crosby produced his best numbers on his way to capturing the AL ROY award in 2004. In fact, that season was the only time he has hit more than nine homers, he had 22, and his total of 64 RBI was also a career best (only one other time has been over 45). Long a troubled hitter in terms of batting average, Crosby owns a .238 career mark and hasn't hit above .237 since 2005. Honestly, there isn't anything to like here at all, so even those of you in NL-only leagues might want to slow-play it with this guy, that is unless you are really looking forward to another .235-9-40 season from your shortstop.

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