Quick Thoughts on Luis Gonzalez

The good:
- can platoon him v. RHP, decent PH too
- hit 52 doubles last year
- only 1 yr deal for $7 million
- blocks kemp for another year, effectively keeping kemp in the organization for another year later in his career when he might be more in his prime as opposed to his current unfinished form

The bad:
- very limited defensively, hate to see when he and Pierre play together
- power is declining quickly (only 15HR last year in 153 games)
- big injury risk

Overall: not bad, not great. If he ends up like Mueller and goes down quickly, it seems that we have the youth to step in. I'm not sure what else you could have gotten for $7 million in this market, at least in terms of so-called OF power bats. David Dellucci wouldn't have been bad for the 3 yrs, 11.5 million the Phillies gave him.

If the rumors are true that Penny+Blue Chip Prospects = Vernon Wells, I'm not that happy about it. He's got good, not great, power and he rarely walks. I'd say let's see what we have in the youngsters before you gut the farm, Ned.

This entry was posted by VJ, on Friday, December 08, 2006. You can leave your response.