Author Topic: Willie Harris: Best Bargain of '08  (Read 3539 times)

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Offline houston-nat

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Willie Harris: Best Bargain of '08
« Topic Start: December 27, 2008, 11:47:30 AM »
Well, at least we won something. Willie was paid $800k but his Wins Above Replacement Player numbers tell us he should have been paid $15 million dollars!

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2008/12/2008-free-agent.html

The biggest bust was Andruw Jones, whose value as a player was negative a million bucks.

Offline PatsNats28

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Re: Willie Harris: Best Bargain of '08
« Reply #1: December 27, 2008, 11:54:13 AM »
Quote
The Nationals made a modest $1.2MM profit, because Jim Bowden's Harris signing was negated by Lo Duca, Rob Mackowiak, Johnny Estrada, and Aaron Boone.

Offline Obed_Marsh

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Re: Willie Harris: Best Bargain of '08
« Reply #2: December 27, 2008, 12:11:41 PM »
At least we got rid of these guys. Three in the top ten worst would have added insult to injury.

Quote
   1. Andruw Jones: -$15.7MM (worth -$1.6MM, paid $14.1MM)
   2. Jose Guillen: -$11.1MM
   3. Jorge Posada: -$9.7MM
   4. Mike Lamb: -$9.4MM
   5. Corey Patterson: -$8MM
   6. Aaron Rowand: -$7.2MM
   7. Brad Wilkerson: -$6.9MM
   8. Omar Vizquel: -$6.5MM
   9. Torii Hunter: -$5.7MM
  10. Paul Lo Duca: -$5.1MM

Offline xposbrad

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Re: Willie Harris: Best Bargain of '08
« Reply #3: December 27, 2008, 12:28:07 PM »
I looked over that, some of it is good and some of it makes no sense. I can't see how Willie Harris is worth 15m. The guy hit .251, average obp, below avg power. Obviously it's clear that system doesn't work that fangraphs uses.

Offline BerkeleyNat

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Re: Willie Harris: Best Bargain of '08
« Reply #4: December 27, 2008, 02:25:36 PM »
Well, at least we won something. Willie was paid $800k but his Wins Above Replacement Player numbers tell us he should have been paid $15 million dollars!

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2008/12/2008-free-agent.html

The biggest bust was Andruw Jones, whose value as a player was negative a million bucks.

Didn't we have some people on here pissed off because we didn't go after Jones last year?

MrMadison

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Re: Willie Harris: Best Bargain of '08
« Reply #5: December 27, 2008, 02:43:02 PM »
Didn't we have some people on here pissed off because we didn't go after Jones last year?

yeah. I wanted to get Jones, but I wasn't pissed when we didn't get him.  and I don't recall very many people here who were wholly opposed to getting him either.

in 20/20 hindsight, it's a good thing we didn't.

Offline spidernat

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Re: Willie Harris: Best Bargain of '08
« Reply #6: December 27, 2008, 03:03:23 PM »
Didn't we have some people on here pissed off because we didn't go after Jones last year?

AZ (not much of a shocker) was probably about the only one who was pissed off about not getting ones and his "sick cleats". Quotes from AZ about Jones.

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My boxers would be wet if we acquired AJ and traded for Dontrelle. If that happened, we would be instant contenders and playing for a pennant in September instead of spoiler.
 

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What are you  <pimp smiley> sports fan? A.J. is the farthest thing from overrated. He is going to be the hottest commodity this off-season and for good reason. He's got the best glove, and one of the best bats. He's going to come at a high price, but it's good to hear that he is fond of the Nationals. I would love to see A.J. and his Jordan Cleats  in the Navy, Red, and Gold! 


 
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<wide-eyed shock> Ya, whatever you say.  Roll Eyes Because Ray King is a gold glover right? He can make difficult diving catches look routine right? He can climb the center field wall like spider man to rob a homer right?

Anyways, I would love to see AJ in a Nat uniform, maybe he's getting tired of the Braves. He needs a change of pace. He's going through a rough yr, but i think he is still one of the best hitters/defensive players in baseball. He's a web gem regular, and he puts a scare into the opposition every time he steps up to bat. If we want to contend we NEED a sure fire All Star with plenty of pop in the lineup. Don't let one bad year fool you guys, he's still got it.

O ya, not to mention he's got the freshest cleats in the game:


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at least aj looks cool (and that's all that matters  Wink) while he's striking out!



his exclusive jordan cleats are  <pimp smiley> <pimp smiley> <pimp smiley> <pimp smiley>

However, it appears JMad is correct as this thread indicates.

http://www.wnff.net/index.php/topic,3188.0.html

Offline BerkeleyNat

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Re: Willie Harris: Best Bargain of '08
« Reply #7: December 27, 2008, 03:11:30 PM »
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My boxers would be wet if we acquired AJ and traded for Dontrelle. If that happened, we would be instant contenders and playing for a pennant in September instead of spoiler.

 :rofl: Can you imagine the mess we would be in now if we had signed those two? I absolutely was happy with not going after any of those guys during the last offseason. I never was a big fan of Jones.

Offline KnorrForYourMoney

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Re: Willie Harris: Best Bargain of '08
« Reply #8: December 27, 2008, 03:15:49 PM »
I actually kind of wanted Jones, but I was content after we acquired Milledge.

But really, who could have foreseen THAT kind of collapse from Jones?  What happened to him this year was an absolute worst-case scenario.

Offline spidernat

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Re: Willie Harris: Best Bargain of '08
« Reply #9: December 27, 2008, 03:24:33 PM »
Some people saw it coming and predicted it. I used to sit next to some people at RFK who were slobbering over the idea of getting Jones. I repeatedly told him it was a bad idea but the next time they brought it up they would drool over the prospects so I gave up talking to them about it and let them dream on. I'm sure they had a rude awakening.

Offline BerkeleyNat

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Re: Willie Harris: Best Bargain of '08
« Reply #10: December 27, 2008, 03:26:08 PM »
I actually kind of wanted Jones, but I was content after we acquired Milledge.

But really, who could have foreseen THAT kind of collapse from Jones?  What happened to him this year was an absolute worst-case scenario.

I never liked Jones and I always thought he was overrated, but I never thought that he would fall off as bad as he did last year. That was shocking. I just wonder if he can ever get back to what he was?

Offline spidernat

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Re: Willie Harris: Best Bargain of '08
« Reply #11: December 27, 2008, 03:26:52 PM »
I never liked Jones and I always thought he was overrated, but I never thought that he would fall off as bad as he did last year. That was shocking. I just wonder if he can ever get back to what he was?

Maybe he can return to form if they grant him special dispensation to juice up again.

Offline BerkeleyNat

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Re: Willie Harris: Best Bargain of '08
« Reply #12: December 27, 2008, 03:28:20 PM »
Maybe he can return to form if they grant him special dispensation to juice up again.

I didn't realize he was a juicer. That would certainly explain the fall off.

Offline tomterp

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Re: Willie Harris: Best Bargain of '08
« Reply #13: December 27, 2008, 07:09:02 PM »
Didn't we have some people on here pissed off because we didn't go after Jones last year?

You're not going to get any confessions, gonna have to search.

Offline hammondsnats

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Re: Willie Harris: Best Bargain of '08
« Reply #14: December 27, 2008, 07:15:41 PM »
Love Willie and glad we gave him a two-year deal.  You won't see anyone play harder than he does and he's a great prescence in the clubhouse.  He'll see his fair share of starts in the outfield and at second, but probably not as many as he received last year.

Offline spidernat

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Re: Willie Harris: Best Bargain of '08
« Reply #15: December 27, 2008, 07:20:52 PM »
You're not going to get any confessions, gonna have to search.

There was one link on this subject provided above. Here are some highlights.

That would go a long ways towards establishing excitement and credibility with the extended fan base.  But he'll be Soriano-like expensive, though I'd rather have Jones than Soriano.  Andruw is the best CF in baseball today, and he'll be so for the next 5 years most likely.


This would be a great signing.  I'd slightly prefer Carlos Zambrano's services for big money, but Andruw would give us a tremendous bat in the middle of our order and the stability at CF for which we've yearned since the Nats moved to DC.


You can always blame it on BP tomterp. They really dropped the ball and let you down on that one. Of course you can add AZ among a few others to that list.


Here's a classic from that thread.

LOL, okay, I'll take a lineup with 9 Ryan Church's, you take our existing lineup, guess who wins?






Offline tomterp

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Re: Willie Harris: Best Bargain of '08
« Reply #16: December 27, 2008, 07:26:12 PM »
Haha, nice dig.  Still, I observe that my comments preceded the 2007 season, well before he stunk it up.  Nobody could see Jones collapsing like that, and I'm no exception.

As for Church, no question that a lineup of Church's could have kicked our asses all year long, assuming they were healthy.     :?      :lol:

Offline spidernat

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Re: Willie Harris: Best Bargain of '08
« Reply #17: December 27, 2008, 07:28:23 PM »
I'd say he was close if not completely dismal in '07 as well (.724 OPS and struck out twice as many times as he walked).

Offline tomterp

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Re: Willie Harris: Best Bargain of '08
« Reply #18: December 27, 2008, 07:29:27 PM »
I'd say he was close if not completely dismal in '07 as well (.724 OPS and struck out twice as many times as he walked).

Agreed, again my observation was from April '07, before the season.

Offline spidernat

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Re: Willie Harris: Best Bargain of '08
« Reply #19: December 27, 2008, 07:32:00 PM »
Agreed, again my observation was from April '07, before the season.

For some reason I thought that thread was after the '07 season. My bad. Then again, it may also show that last year may not have been an anomaly and Jones' best days may really be far behind him.

I'm enjoying the fact that we're a few days from January and we're already talking baseball.  :thumbs:

Offline BerkeleyNat

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Re: Willie Harris: Best Bargain of '08
« Reply #20: December 27, 2008, 07:32:30 PM »
Andruw is the best CF in baseball today, and he'll be so for the next 5 years most likely.

You were off on that prediction Tom, but it was nothing like AZ's prediction that we would win the division with Andruw Jones and Dontrelle Willis. That was just plain sad.

Offline tomterp

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Re: Willie Harris: Best Bargain of '08
« Reply #21: December 27, 2008, 07:34:07 PM »
For some reason I thought that thread was after the '07 season. My bad. Then again, it may also show that last year may not have been an anomaly and Jones' best days may really be far behind him.

Oh, I'm 180 on Jones.  What a lazy-ass fat putz.  He squandered every gift he's been given.

Supposedly he's working out hard this offseason, but one look at him on opening day will tell that story.  I remain skeptical he'll ever come back.  What a loser.


Offline spidernat

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Re: Willie Harris: Best Bargain of '08
« Reply #22: December 27, 2008, 07:36:53 PM »
Oh, I'm 180 on Jones.  What a lazy-ass fat putz.  He squandered every gift he's been given.

Supposedly he's working out hard this offseason, but one look at him on opening day will tell that story.  I remain skeptical he'll ever come back.  What a ljooser.



I helped you out there tomterp.


Offline tomterp

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Re: Willie Harris: Best Bargain of '08
« Reply #23: December 27, 2008, 07:40:16 PM »

Offline Air Zimmerman

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Re: Willie Harris: Best Bargain of '08
« Reply #24: December 27, 2008, 07:55:23 PM »
Oh, I'm 180 on Jones.  What a lazy-ass fat putz.  He squandered every gift he's been given.

Supposedly he's working out hard this offseason, but one look at him on opening day will tell that story.  I remain skeptical he'll ever come back.  What a loser.

we'll be able to tell earlier than that, he intends to play for the Netherlands in the WBC. they are my dark horse--i wonder if Bernadina or Martis will participate.

and i still standy my statement that AJ has the coolest cleats in all of baseball:


 :pimp: :pimp: :pimp: :pimp:

i think AJ will rebound this yr.