Dave Roberts was just released by the Giants today. So, basically, that's $18million dollars thrown on the ground because our GM has no clue what he is doing. Here's what I wrote about Roberts two years ago:
…. Don’t give $18 million to Dave Roberts, $12 million to Marvin Benard, $8 million to Shawon Dunston, $14 million to NEIFI-FUCKING-PEREZ!!!!! Don’t keep throwing money on the ground signing 40-year old washouts. The $14 million we’re giving to Molina could have paid for three or four first round picks. Did we need him? NO! Just like we didn’t need Matheny, like we didn’t need Double Play AJ.
Sabean gave Dave Roberts an $18 million dollar contract to be our leadoff hitter and center fielder for the next three years. A 36-year old baseball player, who had never in his life played a full season, a player who had never scored 100 runs in a season, (or 90 runs, for that matter), or had 100 walks, or hit .300, or won an award, of any kind, for any thing at all. A player whose performance was virtually assured of being as bad as it is now (.207/.287/.333); who could be replaced by almost any Triple AAA player, from any team. In fact, we did! Even our horrible minor leagu
e system had a player, Fred Lewis, who came in and immediately out-performed Roberts.
How could our GM not know that we had a player of equal value, who was 25-years old instead of 35, in our system? How could he throw $18 million dollars on the ground like that, instead of just letting the young guy take a shot? HOW CAN THAT BE? Because Sabean is asking the wrong questions. He is using the wrong value assesments to make his decisions, that’s how.
Since that post, we've gone out and signed more, old, on the downside of their career players to more over-priced, contracts, contracts that were albatrosses the minute the ink was dry. You wanna tell me Renteria's different? You better hope so, because even if it is only two years, it's still $18 million dollars. All of the players who could've really made a difference, that we've been told we can't afford, or that so many Giants fans have been convinced that we don't really want, have gone elsewhere because we waste money like it grows on trees.
Now we're left with Roberts –our new leadoff man– walking away with $18 million, after two years and 79 runs, something so completely predictable as to be obvious to any idiot with a computer, even a carpenter, like me.
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Hi Johnny, read a bunch of your blogs, very entertaining and outspoken and refreshingly honest. A pleasure to read. Paul
[...] [Federal Baseball] • Giants release Dave Roberts; fan moves closer to massive coronary. [OBM] • Not surprisingly, Ken Griffey accounts for two of the Mariners’ five biggest subplots of [...]
To be fair you might have to lay some of the blame for the acquisition of Dave Roberts on Bruce Bochy, whose wing he was most certainly under. After two uncharacteristically average years at San Diego Roberts returned to his sub-par norm with a vengeance. I, for one, am very pleased to see him gone. No, you could not get anything in trade for Roberts, not a bucket of balls or a fungo bat, even from the Red Sox who, apparently, love him for having stolen a base. He has been a one tool player since he joined San Francisco and when he hurt his knee he became a zero tool player. It is only because of Roberts’ spectacular sub-mediocrity that the acquisition of Aaron Rowand was even palatable. Hell, at the time I nearly wept with joy; Rowand would occasionally catch balls hit over his head (although he usually breaks in on those).
I believe Sabean was convinced to sign Roberts by Bruce Bochy and, perhaps, through the use of hypnotism. Roberts is a real nice guy, or so I hear, and I mean no disrespect, but I am glad he is gone.
“I clearly have no understanding of Brian Sabean.”
Clearly this is a sign of mental health. It reminds of the little vignette that my favorite player of all time, Jim Bouton, tells about his wife, Paula. She said of a very corrupt banker-adversary in a dispute in front of the Pittsfield Town Council: “He was a good looking man and had a wonderful speaking voice…but than he ruined it all by standing up and speaking.
Idiotic contract aside (is it so hard for GMs to look at career stats?), what I just don’t understand about this kind of stuff (see: Pierszynki) is, okay, nobody’s gonna eat Robert’s contract, but why on earth don’t the Giants trade him to somebody and at least get some 28 year old A leaguer who throws 95 mph with the minor problem that it’s over the backstop? Or a guy that can hit them 500 feet but bats .125?
Maybe I’m missing some catch, but it seems like getting anything or anybody whatsoever is better than just paying Roberts for nothing. A shot in the dark, sure, but better than zero.
I clearly have no understanding of Brian Sabean.
To quote Baggs at the Merc:
“GM Brian Sabean said he shopped Roberts all winter and ths spring, hoping to move at least some of his contract. But it became clear that wasn’t happening, and the team needed “to start zeroing in on guys like (Eugenio) Velez and (John) Bowker,” Sabean said.
“It just didn’t seem there was a light at the end of the tunnel,” Sabean said.”
Nobody was willing to give us anything for Roberts, prospect or contract-wise. Players like Roberts are easy to find for free – he pretty much defines replacement level. Teams knew they could either sign someone else for the minimum or wait until we release Roberts and pay him the minimum, why would they give up anything?
John – I disagree with you that we’re being told we can’t afford to sign better players. We ended up with Zito because neither Lee nor Soriano were interested in our offers. It just doesnt’ make sense to go after a guy like Tex right now because our team is being built to be a real contender 2-3 years or so down the road. We’d get the most value out of Tex in the first few years of the contract before our team is really ready to contend for a WS, and by the time we were, his production likely wouldn’t live up to his contract anymore. I think the Giants are being patient in going after a superstar, waiting for the right situation, and guys like Renteria are just stopgaps until we find the right guy at the right time. Zito and Rowand’s contracts don’t help, though…ugh.
Gosh, not even a bucket of balls?
I agree Bochy probably had some influence, but still, it seems so obvious – one has to remember that he was injured, but even if he wasn’t, he never was much more than replacement level. Certainly not $9 million more. Only good enough to be a starter on a, ahem, bad team….