Throw The Marlon Back
Just when Jim Bowden was starting to develop some good will with a string of pretty good moves, he squanders a good chunk of it. With a tight budget and infielders (Jackson, Castro, Carroll, Spivey, Harris, etc) coming out the wazzoo, he signs Marlon Anderson to a TWO YEAR DEAL. Supposedly it's for $1.85 million, but I haven't seen the details yet, but that seems plausibly high. (And unconcsiously high for this team considering our needs!)
Marlon's not a horrible player. But he's not much of a defender. He's nominally a second baseman, but he's seen more time at first, left, and right over the last few years. He's not a shortstop. And he's never played third. (I would imagine that he just doesn't have the arm for it -- he's a left-handed batter, but a right-handed thrower)
Marlon had a decent, but below average, season for a second baseman last year, hitting .264/ .316/ .391 for an OPS+ of 86. His career OPS+ is 81, so that's about as good as he gets. He doesn't walk much. He doesn't strike out much. He doesn't hit for much power -- it appears that he had more leg doubles when he was younger.
But he's ours.
If the move was made in isolation, I could live with it (but grumble a little). But when you have a bunch of alternatives floating around the system, it doesn't make sense. What can Anderson do that Damian Jackson can't?
It does mean that Junior Spivey, Carlos Baerga and Jamey Carroll won't return next season. (probably on Carroll). Brendan Harris, who's been hitting the snot out of the ball now has even less of a chance of surviving to next year as well.
I just don't understand what his plan is? That's Bowden's problem. It's fine if he's hoarding non-roster invitees. But when he's doling out guaranteed contracts to players, I just have to scratch my head.
Well, welcome Marlon. Just try not to take toooo much playing time away from Nick Johnson, ok?
Marlon's not a horrible player. But he's not much of a defender. He's nominally a second baseman, but he's seen more time at first, left, and right over the last few years. He's not a shortstop. And he's never played third. (I would imagine that he just doesn't have the arm for it -- he's a left-handed batter, but a right-handed thrower)
Marlon had a decent, but below average, season for a second baseman last year, hitting .264/ .316/ .391 for an OPS+ of 86. His career OPS+ is 81, so that's about as good as he gets. He doesn't walk much. He doesn't strike out much. He doesn't hit for much power -- it appears that he had more leg doubles when he was younger.
But he's ours.
If the move was made in isolation, I could live with it (but grumble a little). But when you have a bunch of alternatives floating around the system, it doesn't make sense. What can Anderson do that Damian Jackson can't?
It does mean that Junior Spivey, Carlos Baerga and Jamey Carroll won't return next season. (probably on Carroll). Brendan Harris, who's been hitting the snot out of the ball now has even less of a chance of surviving to next year as well.
I just don't understand what his plan is? That's Bowden's problem. It's fine if he's hoarding non-roster invitees. But when he's doling out guaranteed contracts to players, I just have to scratch my head.
Well, welcome Marlon. Just try not to take toooo much playing time away from Nick Johnson, ok?
posted by Chris Needham at
3:37 PM
1 Comments:
Marlon is a good pick up. He plays both in and outfield and opens us up to trade bench players Junior Spivey, Jamey Caroll, and Marlon Byrd.
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Anonymous, at 11/21/2005 6:44 PM
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