Closing Comments

The Twins did, indeed, pick up Michael Cuddyer’s $10.5 million 2010 option.  The Twins had to make a decision within five days of the end of the World Series, which explains the timing of the J. J. Hardy for Carlos Gomez trade.  One thing to say for the Twins, they always seem to have a clear idea what they’re doing.

Meanwhile, acquiring Carlos Gomez almost certainly means the Brewers will let Mike Cameron leave this off-season.  Cameron will be 37 in 2010, but he quietly had a pretty terrific 2009.  He doesn’t hit for average, and he strikes out a lot, but he does some things you have to love from a centerfielder.  He hits with power, he’ll take a walk, and he’s still a surprisingly good defensive centerfielder for a man his age.  I don’t entirely trust Fangraphs’ UZR ratings, for reasons I will someday discuss in a separate post, but they say Cameron was a better than average CF the last two seasons (UZR/150’s of 15.6 and 10.3).

[However, according to UZR/150, Cameron had a -10.4, way below average, in 2007.  Now, a player can have a bad year with the glove, just as he can with the bat.  However, I suspect that defense tends to be more consistent, because you don't have the pitcher/hitter adjustments that are constantly going on.  Also, UZR and UZR/150 seem to have these pretty dramatic swings fairly often.]  In 2009, Cameron made 2.9 plays in center per nine innings played, which is very good.

Cameron is very much a Darrell Evans-type player: low average, a lot of strikeouts, power, good walk totals, and good glove.  Evans had more power and drew more walks than Cameron, but Cameron plays a more important defensive position.  These guys have traditionally been under-valued by major league teams, although not nearly as much as they were in Darrell Evans’ day, now that everyone recognizes the importance of OPS as an accurate reflection of offensive ability or utility.

The upshot is that the Brewers will save some money playing Gomez in center in 2010, won’t lose anything on defense, but will sure take a hit to their lineup.

Meanwhile, everything is right in Japanese Baseball.  Aside from Hideki Matsui winning the World Series MVP, the Yomiuri Giants won the Japan Series, beating the Nippon Ham Fighters in six games.  This is the first Giants’ Japan Series title in seven years, and since something like 40% of all Japanese baseball fans root for Yomiuri, a lot of Japanese baseball fans are very happy right now.