Around the Majors: Red Sox help the Yankees

[baseball-encyclopedia]

1) The Red Sox signed free agent SS Alex Gonzalez to a 1 year, $3 million contract, pending him passing a physical.

YEAR  AGE RCAA   OBA  SLG   OPS   OWP    RC/G  AVG   HR  RBI   SB   G   TEAM
2003   26   -4  .313  .443  .756  .477   4.58  .256  18   77    0  150  Marlins      
2004   27  -26  .270  .419  .689  .335   3.43  .232  23   79    3  159  Marlins      
2005   28  -11  .319  .368  .686  .405   3.88  .264   5   45    5  130  Marlins      
CAR       -128  .291  .391  .682  .358   3.68  .245  81  375   23  896 
LG AVG       0  .343  .437  .780  .500   5.30  .270 111  450   60 
POS AVG   -101  .321  .383  .703  .396   4.24  .263  58  337   74

Gonzalez is closing in on 3500 career PA (he has 3488). When he reaches that figure, he'll rank 5th in the past half century for worst OBA vs. the league average among players with that many PA.

OBA                             DIFF   PLAYER   LEAGUE    RCAA  
1    Hal Lanier                -.069     .255     .324     -257 
2    Doug Flynn                -.065     .266     .331     -228 
3    Johnnie LeMaster          -.054     .277     .330     -170 
4    John Bateman              -.053     .271     .324     -146 
5    Alex Gonzalez             -.052     .291     .343     -128 
6    John Flaherty             -.051     .290     .341     -168 
7    Aurelio Rodriguez         -.051     .275     .326     -255 
8    Mike Matheny              -.049     .293     .343     -222 
9    Gary DiSarcina            -.049     .292     .341     -223 
10   Deivi Cruz                -.048     .293     .341     -185

2) The Cubs re-signed 2B-OF Jerry Hairston Jr. to a 1 year, $2.3 million contract, to avoid salary arbitration.

YEAR  AGE RCAA   OBA  SLG   OPS   OWP    RC/G  AVG   HR  RBI   SB   G   TEAM
2003   27   -2  .353  .372  .725  .465   4.40  .271   2   21   14   58  Orioles      
2004   28    2  .378  .397  .775  .521   5.62  .303   2   24   13   86  Orioles      
2005   29  -10  .336  .368  .704  .412   4.20  .261   4   30    8  114  Cubs         
CAR        -45  .334  .371  .705  .429   4.27  .261  30  190  102  644 
LG AVG       0  .337  .431  .768  .500   5.10  .269  74  311   40 
POS AVG    -24  .334  .406  .740  .463   4.77  .269  54  260   62

3) The Devil Rays re-signed P Travis Harper to a 1 year, $850,000 contract, to avoid salary arbitration.

4) Today's birthdays--

HANK AGUIRRE, 1931-94
YEAR AGE RSAA  ERA     G  GS   IP    SO   SO/9 BR/9   W   L   SV  NW  NL  TEAM
1960 29   11   2.84   37   6   95     80  7.58 10.23   5   3  10   5   3  Tigers       
1962 31   54   2.21   42  22  216    156  6.50  9.67  16   8   3  19   5  Tigers       
CAREER    87   3.24  447 149 1376    856  5.60 11.39  75  72  33  87  60 
LG AVG     0   3.69          1376    853  5.58 12.00  77  77 

ERNIE BANKS, AGE: 75
YEAR  AGE RCAA   OBA  SLG   OPS   OWP    RC/G  AVG   HR  RBI   SB   G   TEAM
1957   26   44  .360  .579  .939  .691   7.35  .285  43  102    8  156  Cubs         
1958   27   49  .366  .614  .980  .696   7.96  .313  47  129    4  154  Cubs         
1959   28   46  .374  .596  .970  .692   7.62  .304  45  143    2  155  Cubs         
CAR        207  .330  .500  .830  .563   5.56  .274 512 1636   50 2528 
LG AVG       0  .330  .402  .732  .500   4.59  .264 246 1110  114 
POS AVG    -16  .329  .404  .733  .489   4.55  .263 257 1148   83 

YUNIESKY BETANCOURT, AGE: 24
YEAR  AGE RCAA   OBA  SLG   OPS   OWP    RC/G  AVG   HR  RBI   SB   G   TEAM
2005   23   -7  .296  .370  .666  .386   3.74  .256   1   15    1   60  Mariners     
CAR         -7  .296  .370  .666  .386   3.74  .256   1   15    1   60 
LG AVG       0  .331  .425  .756  .500   4.89  .268   7   28    3 
POS AVG      0  .335  .413  .747  .501   4.88  .277   5   24    4 

GEORGE BURNS, 1893-1978
YEAR  AGE RCAA   OBA  SLG   OPS   OWP    RC/G  AVG   HR  RBI   SB   G   TEAM
1918   25   38  .390  .467  .857  .720   7.37  .352   6   70    8  130  A's          
1923   30   21  .386  .470  .856  .604   6.82  .328   7   82    9  146  Red Sox      
1926   33   37  .394  .494  .889  .668   7.45  .358   4  114   13  151  Indians      
CAR        121  .354  .429  .783  .557   5.58  .307  72  948  153 1866 
LG AVG       0  .350  .381  .731  .500   4.82  .280  53  745  159 
POS AVG     97  .359  .411  .770  .546   5.36  .293  71  876  156 

JOSH JOHNSON, AGE: 22
YEAR AGE RSAA  ERA     G  GS   IP    SO   SO/9 BR/9   W   L   SV  NW  NL  TEAM
2005 21    0   3.65    4   1   12.1   10  7.30 16.05   0   0   0   0   0  Marlins      
CAREER     0   3.65    4   1   12.1   10  7.30 16.05   0   0   0   0   0 
LG AVG     0   4.23            12.1    9  6.57 12.76   1   1 

FRED KENDALL, AGE: 57
YEAR  AGE RCAA   OBA  SLG   OPS   OWP    RC/G  AVG   HR  RBI   SB   G   TEAM
1975   26  -24  .265  .248  .513  .166   1.90  .199   0   24    0  103  Padres       
1976   27  -14  .302  .296  .598  .352   2.74  .246   2   39    1  146  Padres       
1977   28  -15  .283  .325  .608  .307   2.92  .249   3   39    0  103  Indians      
CAR       -106  .285  .312  .598  .325   2.85  .234  31  244    5  877 
LG AVG       0  .331  .385  .716  .500   4.43  .263  59  312   51 
POS AVG    -47  .318  .361  .679  .428   3.84  .249  55  312   11 

TED POWER, AGE: 51
YEAR AGE RSAA  ERA     G  GS   IP    SO   SO/9 BR/9   W   L   SV  NW  NL  TEAM
1982 27  -12   6.68   12   4   33.2   15  4.01 16.31   1   1   0   0   2  Dodgers      
1988 33  -21   5.91   26  14   99     57  5.18 14.73   6   7   0   5   8  Royals/Tigers
CAREER    -8   4.00  564  85 1160    701  5.44 12.63  68  69  70  70  67 
LG AVG     0   3.80          1160    738  5.73 12.20  65  65 

JACKIE ROBINSON, 1919-72
YEAR  AGE RCAA   OBA  SLG   OPS   OWP    RC/G  AVG   HR  RBI   SB   G   TEAM
1949   30   54  .432  .528  .960  .713   8.41  .342  16  124   37  156  Dodgers      
1951   32   65  .429  .527  .957  .771   9.35  .338  19   88   25  153  Dodgers      
1952   33   49  .440  .465  .904  .732   8.20  .308  19   75   24  149  Dodgers      
CAR        308  .409  .474  .883  .660   7.49  .311 137  734  197 1382 
LG AVG       0  .342  .410  .752  .500   5.07  .269 122  603   46 
POS AVG    -13  .343  .399  .742  .490   4.99  .266 112  572   58 

NOLAN RYAN, AGE: 59
YEAR AGE RSAA  ERA     G  GS   IP    SO   SO/9 BR/9   W   L   SV  NW  NL  TEAM
1973 26   28   2.87   41  39  326    383 10.57 11.24  21  16   1  22  15  Angels       
1977 30   35   2.77   37  37  299    341 10.26 12.37  19  16   0  23  12  Angels       
1987 40   23   2.76   34  34  211.2  270 11.48 10.42   8  16   0  15   9  Astros       
CAREER   205   3.19  807 773 5386   5714  9.55 11.49 324 292   3 336 280 
LG AVG     0   3.72          5386   3178  5.31 12.19 300 300 

BRAD THOMPSON, AGE: 24
YEAR AGE RSAA  ERA     G  GS   IP    SO   SO/9 BR/9   W   L   SV  NW  NL  TEAM
2005 23    8   2.95   40   0   55     29  4.75 10.64   4   0   1   3   1  Cardinals    
CAREER     8   2.95   40   0   55     29  4.75 10.64   4   0   1   3   1 
LG AVG     0   4.23            55     40  6.57 12.76   3   3

[KHenry14]

Oh, two of the top three worst OBP were Giants SS. Ouch!

KH14

[SoxSon]

Clearly, the Sox are not signing Gonzalez for his offense. No numbers needed to prove this point.

[Evangelion]

How exactly are the Red Sox helping the Yankees? SoxSon pointed out we're not signging him for his offense. Shesh, he's a number 9 hitter. Number 9 hitter are not suppose to be that great with the bat. He's being brought him for his good glove, not his offense.