Choo and that albatross Rangers contract
I've done nothing but unsparingly rip Walt for months now, so I figured I owed him this thread after checking out how Shin Soo Choo is doing in Texas this season. He's put up a line of .096/.254/.173 for a .427 OPS. Granted, it's only been 63 PA, but he's coming off a .242/.340/.374 season in 2014 in the first year of a contract that pays him big money through 2020. In fact, Choo made 14 million dollars per season in the first two years of this contract, the remaining years will be in excess of $20 million annually.
Walt flipped an asset in Gregorious that we had no long range plans for (who isn't exactly lighting the world on fire in New York), and spun that into a career year out of Choo, and then let Choo walk before he crashed back down to earth with a vengeance. 2013 didn't work out, but that deal in particular was a home run in nearly every way by Mr. Jocketty. Man the Rangers are going to feel the sting of that Choo deal for a while. Thank the lord that was one of the few long term contracts we stayed well away from, despite some segments of the fan base clamoring for a deal to be made.
Re: Choo and that albatross Rangers contract
I wish Choo well and really liked him on our 2013 team.
Walt played that hand perfectly though.
Re: Choo and that albatross Rangers contract
Plus, we got Blandino as the compensatory pick for losing Choo. It couldn't have worked out much better.
Blandino might end up being better than Choo and Gregorius combined. (Not Choo in his prime, but overall.)
Re: Choo and that albatross Rangers contract
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Chuckie
Plus, we got Blandino as the compensatory pick for losing Choo. It couldn't have worked out much better.
Blandino might end up being better than Choo and Gregorius combined. (Not Choo in his prime, but overall.)
I was wondering if the Reds got a pick, and if so what they did with it. Thanks for the addition!
Re: Choo and that albatross Rangers contract
Not sure I'm going to give Walt too much credit for this one.
1. No way the Reds were going to out-bid the Rangers or Yankees for Choo. The Yankees actually offered $10 million more over the life of the contract than the Rangers, but no income tax in Texas more than made up for that. Point is: The Reds were not going to compete with the Rangers' offer, even if they wanted to re-sign Choo.
2. The plan even when the Reds traded for Choo was to have Billy Hamilton (who was coming off a year in which he set the all-time minor league record for steals with 155) be the leadoff hitter/centerfielder beginning in 2014. Re-signing Choo was never really on the table for the Reds.
If you want to give Walt credit for not screwing something up, go ahead. But the reality is the Reds were never going to re-sign Choo and they knew it. He was a one-year rental, period.
Re: Choo and that albatross Rangers contract
noooooo you've set the alarm for junkhead to post
Re: Choo and that albatross Rangers contract
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Chuckie
Not sure I'm going to give Walt too much credit for this one.
1. No way the Reds were going to out-bid the Rangers or Yankees for Choo. The Yankees actually offered $10 million more over the life of the contract than the Rangers, but no income tax in Texas more than made up for that. Point is: The Reds were not going to compete with the Rangers' offer, even if they wanted to re-sign Choo.
2. The plan even when the Reds traded for Choo was to have Billy Hamilton (who was coming off a year in which he set the all-time minor league record for steals with 155) be the leadoff hitter/centerfielder beginning in 2014. Re-signing Choo was never really on the table for the Reds.
If you want to give Walt credit for not screwing something up, go ahead. But the reality is the Reds were never going to re-sign Choo and they knew it. He was a one-year rental, period.
Reds got Choo for his career year where he put up an OBP of .423 for not very much and let him go when he immediately got expensive.
That's an awesome one year rental.
Re: Choo and that albatross Rangers contract
Quote:
Originally Posted by
villain612
Reds got Choo for his career year where he put up an OBP of .423 for not very much and let him go when he immediately got expensive.
That's an awesome one year rental.
Damn straight it is. I wasn't saying anything to the contrary. It worked out perfectly for the Reds. They got Choo (on the cheap mind you) who turned in a great year, then "flipped" him (basically) for Blandino ... who is likely the Reds' 2B of the future. The heir apparent to Dat Dude. It was perfect for the Reds.
But let's not pretend like the Reds made some wise choice in not re-signing Choo. They were never going to re-sign Choo. It was never on the table. And even if they wanted to, there is no way they would have been able to out-bid the Rangers for his services. And thank goodness for that. The last thing the Reds needed was another horrible LTC.
Re: Choo and that albatross Rangers contract
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Chuckie
Damn straight it is. I wasn't saying anything to the contrary. It worked out perfectly for the Reds. They got Choo (on the cheap mind you) who turned in a great year, then "flipped" him (basically) for Blandino ... who is likely the Reds' 2B of the future. The heir apparent to Dat Dude. It was perfect for the Reds.
But let's not pretend like the Reds made some wise choice in not re-signing Choo. They were never going to re-sign Choo. It was never on the table. And even if they wanted to, there is no way they would have been able to out-bid the Rangers for his services. And thank goodness for that. The last thing the Reds needed was another horrible LTC.
That's a fair point. Walt knew that New York or Texas or some other big market team would overpay for him.
He still handled the entirety of the deal perfectly though.
Re: Choo and that albatross Rangers contract
In order to consistently contend, you've got to pull off these non-deals as often if not more often than actual deals.
Re: Choo and that albatross Rangers contract
Quote:
Originally Posted by
villain612
I wish Choo well and really liked him on our 2013 team.
Walt played that hand perfectly though.
Yep. Personally, I would've liked it if he'd snagged Choo a few seasons earlier. He was a big target for me for years. Alas. :(
Re: Choo and that albatross Rangers contract
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Falls City Beer
In order to consistently contend, you've got to pull off these non-deals as often if not more often than actual deals.
Oldest GM motto: The best deals are the ones that are never made.
Re: Choo and that albatross Rangers contract
I would rather have seen them trade Didi directly to Arizona for Bauer
Re: Choo and that albatross Rangers contract
With Chuckie on this one. The smart move by Walt was getting to in the first place, as a one-year rental. If he offered Choo a reasonable contract after that year, you can't give him credit, just because someone was dumber and offered Choo.. more
Re: Choo and that albatross Rangers contract
Walt deserves a lot of credit for the trade that brought Choo. It was one of the few really good moves he has made in his 8 seasons at the helm.
I would not give him too much credit for not re-signing Choo however. It was my understanding that the Reds did aggressively try to re-sign Choo and made him some really big offers, they just got outbid by the Rangers and Yankees. Walt did not decide against re-signing Choo to a huge contract, Choo just decided to go somewhere else.