Saturday, November 6, 2010

Please Get Me Some of Whatever He's Smoking


We all knew it would happen eventually, but Scott Boras has finally gone off his rocker.  MLB.com's Todd Zoleski has all of the juicy details:
“We have, in my mind, probably the most coveted offensive player in the free-agent market,” Boras said. “Carl Crawford is a really great player, but the truth of the matter is, Werth scores as many runs, and his on-base percentage is the same. Werth is a guy that can play center field and has played center field recently.  He’s a Gold Glove-type outfielder. Crawford is, too. But the big difference is that Werth has 87 home runs over the last three years and Crawford has 42. Werth is really a middle-of-the-lineup guy. I think when he bats third, he’ll be a 110-to-120-runs-scored guy and a 100-RBI guy. And I think teams that are looking for a right-handed bat view Werth as a middle-of-the-lineup guy.”
If you're wondering if Scott Boras was high when he said this, you're not alone.  While he's right that Werth has hit for more power and driven in more runs than Crawford over the past two seasons, Crawford actually provided an additional 2.5 WAR in comparison to Werth.  While both players have skill sets that are likely to age well, Crawford is three years younger than Werth.  This makes Crawford a much better bet to play at a high level deeper into his contract. 

Additionally, Boras is apparently looking to get Matt Holliday money (7 years $120M) for Werth.  I don't have to tell you that it's an incredibly bad idea investing that kind of contract into a player that will be 39 when his contract is up.  If you don't believe me, ask the Yankees and Cubs how the Kevin Brown and Alfonso Soriano contracts have worked out.   If anything, I see him getting a contract a little bigger than the one the Red Sox signed to J.D. Drew (a great comp for Werth injuries aside).  My money is on a four or five year deal with an average annual salary of $15-16M.

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