Some of These Guys Slip Right Under the Radar

I was perusing mlbtraderumors.com today, and I noticed a piece about how the Orioles are reportedly interested in 35 year old back-up shortstop John McDonald.  As you might imagine, I follow MLB pretty closely, but I’m not sure that I had ever even heard of John McDonald.  However, the fact that he is playing in the majors at age 35 suggests he’s had a substantial major league career, so I looked him up.

McDonald is a glove-tree middle infielder who has played at least a little bit in each of the last eleven major league seasons.  His defense at SS and 2nd is really fantastic, but he just can’t hit, not even a little bit.  He has a career .593 OPS in just over 1,700 career at-bats.  He had a .655 OPS this year, which was his highest in any season in which he’s had more than 21 at-bats.  He’s played the last four-plus seasons for the Blue Jays.

Another thing I noticed that struck me about McDonald’s record is that, according to ESPN.com, the Jays have payed him $1.9 million each of the last two seasons.  While that does not sound like a lot of money, at least compared to what every-day players make, it is wildly excessive for this type of player.  The minor leagues are literally teaming with good-field,-no-hit middle infielders, who could give you more than a .593 OPS if they received 1,700 major league at-bats.

McDonald is the kind of player who is great to have around as a late-inning defensive replacement, but whom, as a team, you hope to play as little as possible, because he just kills you on offense.  Players of this type should not make more than $1 million per.  By way of comparison, the Twins’ Mike Redmond is basically the same kind of player (a little better with the bat, probably a little worse with the glove, plays a key defensive position, is a good guy to have around in the clubhouse).  The Twins have paid him $950,000 each of the last two years (again, according to ESPN.com), which is just about right for a veteran player of this type.

Now, throwing away $950,000 doesn’t sound like a lot when the average major league payroll is currently in excess of $80 million.  However, for a small-market team like the Blue Jays or the Twins, you just can’t afford to throw away a million dollars here and a million dollars there.  In fact, the Jays have gotten themselves in a tremendous pickle signing their best players to long-term, high-value contracts just as the players started the decline phases of their careers.

Thanks to the White Sox (Alex Rios) and the Reds (Scott Rolen), the Jays have been able to wriggle out from a few of these mistaken contracts, but they’re still got Vernon Wells’ contract to deal with, the worst of the bunch.  The Wells’ contract really didn’t seem like such a bad idea at the time (he was only 27 during his fine 2006 campaign), but his numbers on both offense and defense have sure dropped off since then.

The point, I guess, is that it’s a sensible thing for small-market teams to be tight with the dollars.  You better be damned sure before you give a star player coming off a career year a long-term contract, and you better hold out for a home-team discount or else the let the player seek greener pastures elsewhere.

The Yankees, Mets, Dodgers, Angels and Red Sox, and, perhaps the Cubs, Phillies and Braves, can afford to pay out long-term contracts to veterans with the understanding that the contract will be worth it if the player significantly helps them make the play-offs during the first three seasons.  Everyone else needs to think long and hard before they give out five-year or more deals to players past the age of 27.