Q. What's the exec sum?
A. Mark McLemore comp.
Coming off his career year. Would help you win a championship if purchased as a bargain, underrated player. Would be an albatross if valued and purchased as a star.
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Q. Is he Zduriencik's kind of player?
A. My understanding is that the Angels have to stay on Figgins' back to get him to play hard every day. Or at least we heard that it was that way, before his walk season.
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Q. Is he a star? A .400 OBP player?
A. It says here that Chone had his career year, at 31, and will be year-to-year even in terms of staying in a lineup regularly.
Figgins' lifetime OBP is .363, not .403, and his runs created per 27 outs were 4.4 runs, just this last year, 2008. His OBP is plus, but notice in 2008 that he had 1 (count it) homer and a grand total of 15 doubles and triples.
He has even a little bit of an off year? .... and all of a sudden, he's Bip Roberts. Or Endy Chavez plus walks, minus GG defense.
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Q. You mean he's lousy?
A. Of course not. He's averaged 104 runs per 162 games (though only 59 RBI). He's a good #2 hitter, or a decent leadoff hitter.
His career OPS+ is 98, and in this ginormous, stupendous, awesome career year he just had, it was 107.
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Q. Most-comparable player?
A. He's about the closest thing I've seen to Mark McLemore since Mac retired.
Short, strong, athletic man ... plays every position except SS and C ... hits switch with emphasis on LH ... marvelous on the bases ... scores 85-100 runs full time, does nothing else offensively.
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Q. Meaning his value is what?
A. If you're Pat Gillick and you sign Mark McLemore for peanuts to play #10 for you, you've just taken two giant steps towards a championship. But do you want to pay McLemore $8-10M per year, into his 30's, to start for you?
There's a saying in Rotoball. When a player is everybody's sleeper, he's not a sleeper any more. :- )
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Q. What's his dollar value?
A. Fangraphs has it at $10-20M a year, which we imagine they'll want to delete as soon as possible. LOL. Not the best P.R. for their valuation formulas.
Figgins's value is impressive because he is given credit for 9-13 runs saved defensively the last two years .... after, ahem, getting credit for 7-17 runs LOST! defensively in 2005-06. It's this kind of thing that has me giving him credit for neither one.
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Visually, I don't buy Figgins as an impact defensive player at 31 years of age. He is definitely a versatile one. He's a major league third baseman, obviously. So are Jose Lopez, Jack Hannahan, and a lot of guys.
So the $24M looks tremendous for this year, but he's a defensive tweak, and a subtle offensive regression, away from being mediocre to below-average.
It says here that after he signs his contract, at 32-33, he's going to drop that one notch -- on both sides of the ball -- and could even leave you with a Jack Wilson situation. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
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Q. His EYE went way up this year, though.
A. Yep. In his contract year. Way to bear down for the green.
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Q. What would YOU pay him?
A. Same as I would the 32-year-old Mark McLemore. In today's dollars, that would be $5M per season, two years. He does hit lefty, and he does play every position. The walks and speed translate to Safeco. He's an AL player. Nobody said Mark McLemore didn't deserve a locker.
Sure, I'd flip Jose Lopez for a terrific young ML-ready bat and sub in Figgins, because Chone's a better fit for the park, if I could keep Tui in the same lineup.
But that's not what's on Figgins' docket this winter. If I've got his attitude pegged right, he's going to feel like he deserves the winter-long recruiting party and the long green.
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Q. Any shtick on this one?
A. How about Lopez, Figgins AND Tui on the infield, and get serious about fixing the offense? Where else do you get a shortstop? Let's see Lopez play there the last few weeks.
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I'm actually confident that this winter's GM's will peg Figgins about like we do here, and Chone is going to have to settle for $18/2 or somesuch. We'll see.
Cheers,
Dr D
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