Ned Colletti is a GENIUS ! ! !

[haveacigar]

i don't know how you can call furcal a bad signing. the only problem with him is injuries, that lineup is so much better with him in it.

i didn't think Andruw Jones would do much either, but I defending the signing because I figured he wouldn't get any worse.....whoops.

[OldFatGuy]

Well, I realize Furcal has been a catalyst to their lineup, when he's been there. But, that has as much do do with it being a weak lineup as anything else (although this year he WAS special, until once again hurt).

However, coming into the signing, he was basically a .280ish hitter averaging 10 dingers and maybe 25 stolen bases, and also committing lots of errors. And for fans of OPS+, it was very much less than stellar (although how it compares to other SS I don't know because I really don't follow the OPS+ stat, I just saw his and noted it wasn't all that impressive at all).

I guess what I'm saying with Furcal is he was probably slightly above average offensively, with some real question marks defensively, and some character question marks as well as he was just about to or just finishing up a jail term. And when you add in this was THREE YEARS AGO (not today's dollars), that $13M per year does sound like a lot to me, yes. Sorry, maybe we're just gonna agree to disagree on that one.

But there have been others. I questioned the Andruw Jones deal AT THE START (though, again, I didn't even see THIS dropoff), but you saw a real, and long term (it was ALL season long last year, not just a couple of bad months), decline last year, and $18M is, well, I'd bet they could've gotten Torii Hunter for that or near that and coming off last year, and their ages, that it was a no brainer that Torii Hunter was the better option.

I dunno, it's been my opinion that he's too often tied too much money up in deals that were risky at best and dangerous at worst. Now, I realize (Ohms) that the market makes crazy things happen sometimes, but that's when the good GM's have to decide less is better than more in some cases and back off. I really believe they went too far with Furcal and Jones and Pierre. The fact that one of those three worked out (Furcal, and that even has the injury side effects), doesn't make it that much more impressive to me.

But, I did like his moves this year. I still think LaRoche is going to be a solid major league player, so it was a lot to give up for a couple of months, but I don't think it was too much given the state of the NL West and the quality of the Dodgers pitching. Because we all know with good or great pitching a team that just makes the playoffs can suddenly then pitch themselves to a title. I'm not saying that's gonna happen this year, but the possibiltiy of it made the Blake deal and the Manny deal good moves IMO.

To be honest, rather than Furcal and (I guess it'll be 15 or 18 per year this time), Cristian Guzman (a .300 this year and before in Minnesota) for half that would make more sense, and free up that money to help fill the 3B hole next year (DeWitt is not a slam dunk answer there IMO), and maybe an OFer. Yeah, I know they have like 8 of em, but if they have to rely on an outfield of Pierre-Kemp-Eithier next year they're not going anywhere. That's basically what they relied on this year and their offense was so pitiful even with the best ERA in the NL, they were under .500 before they got Manny and Blake.

EDIT: BTW, Jim Bowden must be a genius too. With all of his moves in the last few days of the trade deadline the Nats have now won THREE IN A ROW ! ! ! @#*#(*#^!_)!)!#&*(&# (Whew, that feels better. )

[HoustonGM]

However, coming into the signing, he was basically a .280ish hitter averaging 10 dingers and maybe 25 stolen bases, and also committing lots of errors. And for fans of OPS+, it was very much less than stellar (although how it compares to other SS I don't know because I really don't follow the OPS+ stat, I just saw his and noted it wasn't all that impressive at all).

Last year was his only poor season, using OPS+. Average is 100, and shortstops, as a whole, are below average hitters. I don't know exactly what the average OPS+ for a shortstop is, but it is less than 100. His 2006 was a very good season.

I guess what I'm saying with Furcal is he was probably slightly above average offensively, with some real question marks defensively,

I'd say that's fair.

and some character question marks as well as he was just about to or just finishing up a jail term.

Huh? That's the first I heard of this...

But there have been others. I questioned the Andruw Jones deal AT THE START (though, again, I didn't even see THIS dropoff), but you saw a real, and long term (it was ALL season long last year, not just a couple of bad months), decline last year, and $18M is, well, I'd bet they could've gotten Torii Hunter for that or near that and coming off last year, and their ages, that it was a no brainer that Torii Hunter was the better option.

They also would have had to gone long term with Torii Hunter, which would be a worse plan than going short term with Andruw Jones and banking on a bounceback. That's really why I didn't see a problem with the signing - it was only two years.

[OldFatGuy]

Huh? That's the first I heard of this...

It was a DUI, or I guess perhaps a repetitive DUI situation. He kept hoping that last year in Atlanta that the Braves would make it and keep going because as soon as their season was over he had to begin his jail term.

[ohms_law]

I dunno, it's been my opinion that he's too often tied too much money up in deals that were risky at best and dangerous at worst. Now, I realize (Ohms) that the market makes crazy things happen sometimes, but that's when the good GM's have to decide less is better than more in some cases and back off. I really believe they went too far with Furcal and Jones and Pierre. The fact that one of those three worked out (Furcal, and that even has the injury side effects), doesn't make it that much more impressive to me.

Fair enough...

[OldFatGuy]

Fair enough...

LOL, of course its also fair to point out that Ned Colletti is a real live MLB GM, and I'm just a real live blow hard. So that puts all of my comments in the proper perspective.

Buy, hey, my fingers got a good 10 minute workout on that post. Now, if only I could get up off my fat arse and get to working out the rest of me. Then maybe I could change my name to just OldGuy.

Or better yet, to OldHe'sFinallyGettinSomeSoHe'sTooBusyToPostGuy.

[filihok]

OHFGSSHTBTPG, man, you live in the DC Metro area, go walk around downtown. That should be motivation enough to get in shape. There are some quality women here. Do it! Then I can live vicariously through you

[gRYFYN1]

It was a DUI, or I guess perhaps a repetitive DUI situation. He kept hoping that last year in Atlanta that the Braves would make it and keep going because as soon as their season was over he had to begin his jail term.

Yeah he got 2 DUIs in under a year and served like 30 days in jail, but the jusge suspended his sentence 'till after the season.