Magglio Ordonez: Stop the Insanity!

Every once in a while, a story pops up that makes no sense at all and you wonder what the parties involved are thinking. 

It also happens with friends and family. You are told that something is happening and you just cannot wrap your mind around what is going on. 

It’s kind of like on The Office.  Michael Scott continues to do one ridiculous thing after another, and eventually, you just chalk it up to insanity and go along for the ride. 

That’s how I feel about this Magglio Ordonez situation.

Just to recap: Magglio has an option in his contract for 2010. It’s a club option.  However, the club loses all control over the option if Magglio gets 76 more plate appearances this season. 

He will be guaranteed $18 million to be a fourth outfielder. If he fails to reach that benchmark, the Tigers give him $3 million to walk away.

Now, just to be clear, the Tigers should do whatever is in their power to make sure Magglio doesn’t get those 76 plate appearances. Think about what the club could do with that money in a suffering economy.

The problem is, it’s possible that if Magglio fails to reach his PA benchmark, his agent, Scott Boras, will file a grievance against the Tigers. 

That could get messy and would likely tarnish Ordonez’s image in Detroit. 

Also, like it or not, the Tigers need to have Scott Boras on their good side. The guy is the agent for many of the top players in the game for a reason.

The Evidence

• Magglio is hitting only .277 this season, and his OBP is at its lowest point since 1998 (.341). These are okay numbers, but not what you would expect from a guy scheduled to make $18 million.

• He’s been on a mini-tear lately, which hurts the Tigers' chances at getting rid of him without any trouble from Boras. Since July 26, Magglio is hitting .364. However, in that same span, he has only two home runs in 70 plate appearances.

• The argument can be made that Magglio is nothing more than a platoon player. He’s hitting only .261 against RHP.  This is why he should only start against LHP. That would save the Tigers from giving him too many plate appearances, and would maximize on his current skill set.

• According to every defensive metric you want to look at, Ordonez is a below average fielder.

• He’s 35 years old and is having the worst season of his career. Things are not going to get better from here.

• In his three full seasons with Detroit, Ordonez has averaged 24 home runs per season. So far in 2009, he has gone deep only seven times.

Here’s some insight from a few bright minds:

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Keith Law (ESPN): “One option the Tigers should consider is to simply release Ordoñez. If Scott Boras decides to file a grievance against Detroit, you’d most likely end up in a situation where the two sides settle for a few million dollars, something both might consider a win-win.

"Ordoñez gets some compensation and is back on the market, and the Tigers have escaped an absurd financial obligation to a declining player.”

Baseball Digest: "While it may be easy to say the Tigers should not have included the performance-based options in the contract, they may not have signed Ordoñez without them.

"And even if they feel that releasing Ordoñez and reaching a possible settlement would be cheaper than paying him $30 million, it would likely be only a short term gain and would be detrimental to the team down the road.

"Who would want to sign with the Tigers if they don’t honor the spirit of free agent contracts?"

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This is Dave Dombrowski’s job: To do what is best for the team. What’s best for the Tigers is to make sure that Ordonez does not get his remaining 76 plate appearances (not including playoffs). 

Jim Leyland apparently will not do the Tigers' financial situation any favors. He continues to run Magglio out there, spitting in the face of common sense.

Dombrowski needs to take matters into his own hands and bite the bullet here. It’s time to stop this insanity.

Rob Neyer of ESPN makes the point better than I know how, so I’ll leave you with this:

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"What if you could make an adjustment, just one small adjustment, and save your company $15 million. Would you try really hard to make that adjustment? And what if you didn’t try, at all? Would you expect to keep your job?"

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