Gutierrez three-year deal :$12M

[Alex]

By the way, you can clock any athlete by simply counting the video frames for them to get from one base to another.

There are 30 video frames per second. You get a VCR with jog shuttle function, and you count!

I clocked Darren Erstad at 3.7 to first base by counting frames. (it might have been 3.68, but why split hairs)

Erstad is as fast as Ichiro is to first base.
The Scouts have no excuse. If you're going to sign a guy to a 12 million dollar contract, I think you're entitled to time him around the bases.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ June 02, 2002 11:39 PM: Message edited by: Alex ]</font>

[The Genius]

"Eventually none of this (Anderson, Wohlers, & Gitierrez) will land on him."

We've already heard that Anderson was Murray's pick, and some scout we hired from NY was high on Wohlers. But Ricky is inexusable. Anybody could have watched about half his games last year on WGN. I saw a few, and he didn't impress me.

[Alex]

TR, there were many telltale warning signs about Ricky that were ignored. (My ranting for one.)

He had his best year last year, and the numbers still screamed mediocre...career high BA .290...

Career high 35 sac hits...

Perhap career high for OBP in the 360's...

Heck, he even had his career best in fielding....

Yet NONE of these numbers scream sign me now for three years. There was no more upside to him, last year was the best he was gonna be.

If his stats from last year had been his career averages....I STILL WOULDN'T HAVE SIGNED HIM...but at least you could understand Shapiro's temptation.

Tony Gwynn is who you have to compare Ricky too.

They both have average speed, little power, and are OK fielders. Tony Gwynn survived by hitting .330 or higher practically every year.

But here is the obvious reality overlooked by Shapiro...if Tony Gwynn had ever put up numbers similar to Ricky G for more than two seasons, he would have been released, Tony Gwynn's career would have been over.

The only saving grace for having a mediocre statistics like Ricky G are you either hit 30 homers or you steal 30-35 bases, otherwise you are a utility player.

How Shapiro could not understand this is beyond me.

[Alex]

TR, there were many telltale warning signs about Ricky that were ignored. (My ranting for one.)

He had his best year last year, and the numbers still screamed mediocre...career high BA .290...

Career high 35 sac hits...

Perhap career high for OBP in the 360's...

Heck, he even had his career best in fielding....

Yet NONE of these numbers scream sign me now for three years. There was no more upside to him, last year was the best he was gonna be.

If his stats from last year had been his career averages....I STILL WOULDN'T HAVE SIGNED HIM...but at least you could understand Shapiro's temptation.

Tony Gwynn is who you have to compare Ricky too.

They both have average speed, little power, and are OK fielders. Tony Gwynn survived by hitting .330 or higher practically every year.

But here is the obvious reality overlooked by Shapiro...if Tony Gwynn had ever put up numbers similar to Ricky G for more than two seasons, he would have been released, Tony Gwynn's career would have been over.

The only saving grace for having a mediocre statistics like Ricky G are you either hit 30 homers or you steal 30-35 bases, otherwise you are a utility player.

How Shapiro could not understand this is beyond me.