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| Adam Eaton |
I don't think his track record in free agent signings is good, and a lot of that stems from the massive failures we've seen the Sox have over the past six or seven years shopping at the bottom of the market.
And by the bottom of the market, I mean guys who are signing one-year deals. The latest Sox signing, Adam Eaton, comes on a one-year deal and is being sold to fans as a right field solution for a "World Series or bust" season.
Color me skeptical. Kudos to Jim Margalus over at Sox Machine for putting together a list of previous Hahn one-year contracts. It's every bit as bad as you think it is. Let's take a look at some of these names, and the WAR of those players:
2014:
- Felipe Paulino, 0 WAR
- Scott Downs, -0.5 WAR
- Ronald Belisario, -1.5 WAR
2015:
- Geovany Soto, 1.0 WAR
- Emilio Bonifacio, -0.8 WAR
- Gordon Beckham, 0.7 WAR
2016:
- Dioner Navarro, -0.7 WAR
- Alex Avila, 0.3 WAR
- Austin Jackson, -0.1 WAR
- Jimmy Rollins, -0.1 WAR
- Mat Latos, 0.4 WAR
2017:
- Derek Holland, -1.6 WAR
2018:
- Miguel Gonzalez, -0.7 WAR
- Hector Santiago, 0.7 WAR
2019:
- Jon Jay, -0.8 WAR
- James McCann, 1.0 WAR
- Ervin Santana, -0.4 WAR
2020:
- Gio Gonzalez, -0.3 WAR
- Edwin Encarnacion, -0.5 WAR
- Steve Cishek, -0.2 WAR
As Margalus notes, that's a total of -4.1 WAR for players that the Sox invested a total of $78.25 million in. Take out the two successes -- McCann and to a lesser extent Soto -- and it's $74.25 million invested for a -6.1 WAR.
So, you can understand the skepticism whenever the Sox sign a one-year stopgap. I'm a fair man, so let me say this: There's a lot of below-average or bad players on this list who were brought on with low expectations. Some of these signings were made to fill gaps in rebuilding seasons.
You can make an argument -- and a good argument -- that a lot of these players were available on one-year deals for a reason.
That being said, I can retort by saying that Eaton is available on a one-year deal for a reason. He's 32 years old. He's often injured. He's been injured three of the past four seasons, in fact, and he's coming off a down year. His best years were from 2014 to 2016 with the Sox, and he hasn't been the same player since.
These kinds of "take a flyer" signings were fine during a tanking period, but this isn't rebuilding anymore. By the Sox's own words, this is time to win a championship.
So why is the front office still aiming low in free agency? Just asking.
C'mon, Hahn. C'mon, Jerry Reinsdorf. Step up, prove me wrong and sign a difference-making free agent. There are good fits out there.
Oh man!! Could not agree more, but thx for providing the actual numbers. Wow! I have NEVER been a Hahn fan OVERALL, although he does seem to have developed a couple of good players like Anderson & Roberts. He’s a friggin bean counter (which JR loves) & if he sanctioned this LaRussa trade, it makes him even worse....a drunk, over the hill bigot, who will surely b a nightmare.
ReplyDeleteThey spent some money to get Robert. Funny how that works. Pay for premium talent, get premium talent. Pay for scrap heap players, get scrap heap results.
ReplyDeleteAnderson was obviously a good first-round pick. Too bad several other Hahn first round picks have not lived up to potential (Rodon, Fulmer, Collins, Burdi, Burger). To be fair, injuries have derailed a few of these guys, but the bottom line is there have been far more misses than hits.
I do like Rick Hahn.It seems as though he has been forced to wrestle power and authority from KW for years and for whatever reason.Hahn's training is in business and law,similar to JR.
ReplyDeleteHopefully,both will see the need to surround themselves with the right people to judge baseball talent.The 2021 season will tell the tale.Maybe they sign another Cuban phenom soon.
It just seems to me that fans describe every move that they do not like as a "Kenny move," while assigning every move that works out OK to Hahn. I draw no distinction between the two, and make no mistake about it, the biggest problem in the organization is the meddling owner.
ReplyDeleteHahn's strength seems to be on the contract negotiation side -- he locks up talented young guys to team-friendly deals. But when it comes to evaluating veteran guys to supplement a young core, his record is abysmal. And his track record in the draft is also subpar. I wouldn't say abysmal, just subpar. There have been some successes.
The trades of Sale, Quintana and Eaton, can't complain, although in the case of Sale, I think any GM could have gotten great value for him at that time. It is a problem that most of the good young talent was acquired from other organizations, as opposed to being drafted and developed by the Sox.
As I understand the Sox organizational structure,Nick Hostetler is charged with evaluating MLB level talent.Unless there is some role confusion,and there may be,Rick Hahn relies on the judgment of NH and handles the business negotiation piece.As has been noted,JR and others most likely engage in meddling which has a negative effect in the process.
ReplyDeleteHostetler was promoted to special assistant to the GM in 2019. In his current position, he is, in fact, responsible for Major League scouting. Before that promotion, Hostetler was director of amateur scouting from 2015 to 2019.
ReplyDeleteI don't think there's much question the Sox have a muddled chain of command.
Crazy. This guy has built a fabulous system. It starts with the minor leagues. Some of those free agents weren't signed for the long term. They were signed to a team that was bot quite ready to compete. But here we are ready to contend. And many of those key pieces are signed to long term deals. We lost Dunning, but have plenty of arms in the system. Including Cease and Kopech.
ReplyDeleteFabulous system? Aside from Vaughn, who was a top-5 pick, name me the minor leaguers who anyone would want. They don't have the prospect capital to make trades.
ReplyDelete