Marlins Sign Placido Polanco

[Erick]

I absolutely understand some of the complaints about the front office, but I do feel like it goes overboard.

I mean, we're talking about ~3 million dollars to Placido Polanco (if, for some reason, anyone thinks it's overpayment, everyone gets overpaid in free agency...seriously, it's not an overpayment).

If there were better alternatives to the 3B solution, I would agree. There aren't better alternatives, though, so why not just accept the fact that we signed a one-year stopgap who might be valuable at the deadline? There's really nothing bad that can come from this signing and every team makes signings like this, even non-contending ones.


It seems like you're giving certain front offices like the A's the benefit of the doubt, but not ours because they're the worst or something, idk.
$36 mil is not $36 mil. It's not that simple in this case because the yearly amount is different.

Every team has a different budget every year that affects moves they can and cannot make. 4-year deals and 6-year deals shouldn't really be compared because the money is the same. That's just not the way it works. The two teams valued him differently, for whatever reason. It's not necessarily a case where the two teams offered the same amount of years and we were outbid by a couple of million dollars.

Back to Polanco's 2.75 million, I already asked this before, but...how would you have spent it differently, at this point?
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I mean, I agree with Ramp's basic point though. I'd have rather we got Danny Valencia or someone similar than a 37-year old.

And I still would rather we had just went with Kouzmanoff.

But those guys can't even hit minor league pitching.
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If we went into the season with any prospect that was not thought of as ready or close to ready everyone complaining about Pierre and Polanco would be complaining about rushing these players.

I feel like this is true, as well.

[Ramp]

I wouldn't have spent the $2.5mil.

Or I'd go sign a bunch of minor league deals out there... see if something sticks in spring training
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I'm giving the A's the benefit of the doubt because Billy Beane continuously is ahead of the curve when it comes to player personnel and everything else that being a GM entails. (He's very sexy, ask his new SS)
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Should we not talk about Polanco signing with the Marlins on a Marlins message board?

Should the thread have ended with "Polanco signs with the Marlins, but all teams make signings like this, lock the thread now"

[Erick]

If we go into Spring Training with the crappy competition we had going and Kouzmanoff wins/hits .190 with a sub-.300 .OBP and limited power, did we really make the better move because we played the guy who was six years younger?

Can't we just all agree that Polanco is more valuable than that/could fetch us a young player or two at the trade deadline who might have a future in our organization one day?

The competition thing is fine, but can you at least mention some names that you were interested in instead?

A competition consisting of players with no upside is an absolute waste of time.

[HUGG]

I mean, he could.

He also might just be washed up like he's looked for a while now and put up another .620 ops.

[fauowls44]

I mean, he could.

He also might just be washed up like he's looked for a while now and put up another .620 ops.

I guess what it all comes down to is this....I'm more williing to spend a month or two figuring out if Polanco has anything left while Cox gets another 150-200 at bats in AAA than seeing if Kouzmanoff/Valencia or anyone else like them suddenly become major league hitters just because they are younger.

[Ramp]

Polanco's numbers have gone down significantly over the last 5 seasons.

Again my problem is more how the Marlins got into this pathetic situation than the actual signing of Polanco.

[Erick]

Polanco's numbers have gone down significantly over the last 5 seasons.

Again my problem is more how the Marlins got into this pathetic situation than the actual signing of Polanco.

Did you have a problem with the Hanley/Dominguez trades last July? For what it's worth, I did have a problem with the lack of vision in the Dominguez trade but I was told I was making a big deal about nothing much like I'm saying now about Polanco.

At the end of the day, I don't see a point in dwelling in the past now. I, personally, didn't like the Dominguez deal, but it happened so you have to try to get better now.

It seems like we should be giving them the benefit of the doubt here because Polanco was not Plan A. They tried to trade for three of the best 3B prospects, but couldn't. Polanco signing was more of a "it's almost January and our starting 3B right now is Kevin fucking Kouzmanoff so we should probably do something."

[fauowls44]

Polanco's numbers have gone down significantly over the last 5 seasons.

I'm pretty sure they aren't expecting to get 2007 Polanco...anything resembling 2010-2011 Polanco would be great. If he's healthy, I don't think that is asking all that much.

[Erick]

I'm pretty sure they aren't expecting to get 2007 Polanco...anything resembling 2010-2011 Polanco would be great. If he's healthy, I don't think that is asking all that much.

Yeah, the 2011 guy would be just fine.

[Todd]

Technically every baseball player is overpaid. Along with every other pro athlete.

[Valid]

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I'm giving the A's the benefit of the doubt because Billy Beane continuously is ahead of the curve when it comes to player personnel and everything else that being a GM entails. (He's very sexy, ask his new SS)
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Billy Beane is so ahead of the curve that:

A) The Athletics only have seven more wins than the Marlins since 2008 (and before this year, the Marlins had 18 more wins than Oakland in that span).

B) The Athletics have only made the playoffs twice in the last eight years and got rocked by Detroit in both of those playoff appearances.

Look, I'm not saying our front office is as good or better than Oakland's, but can we stop acting like Billy Beane is some god?

[fauowls44]

Technically every baseball player is overpaid. Along with every other pro athlete.

How is that? If only a small percentage of people have the unique ability to do something and someone is willing to pay large sums of money for it, how is that being overpaid? I hate this arguement. Everyone is quick to point out that teachers are underpaid and athletes are overpaid...well lots of people can go to school and become a teacher. It's supply and demand.

[Bobbob1313]

Todd's just making a bullshit populist argument.

[Namaste]

People really hate this front office, huh?

Congratulations, Erick. You finally came to this conclusion.

Do you live in an effing hole in the middle of the Everglades with no contact with other humans?

And were you comparing the Marlins' modus operandi with other teams MO's? Only ONE team in MLB would blow it all up in the 2nd year of a new ballpark and not re-invest immediately.

HOW COULD ANYONE HATE THIS FRONT OFFICE????22??/2
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Technically every baseball player is overpaid. Along with every other pro athlete.

Needs to be in a different thread but this is a ridiculous statement.
They have short careers, are elite and deserve every penny.

[Jay]

I think the Polanco signing was necessary based on the infield depth in the organization. Paying him 3 million is not going to have any effect on other deals. I'm all for giving other players the majority of the starts at third but the organization needs to field a team. I just looked at the depth chart on the official site, it lists Solano and Hechavarria as each others back ups. Want to know the only other middle infielder listed on the roster? Coghlan. Just because we signed Polanco doesn't mean he is even going to start a game a third base. We needed depth and he fits.