PiAzza

Blez gives the pros and cons of Mike Piazza signing with the A’s to DH for $8.5 million. Personally I think Piazza’s value is wasted on a team that barely uses its backup catcher and will make him #3. Oakland probably would have been better off with Bonds, but I don’t know the whole story there. Still, there are only so many good hitters available and freeing Piazza from the daily grind of catching should keep him healthy. I agree that the A’s are rather short of offense after replacing Frank Thomas with Piazza, who whatever his other virtues is not Frank Thomas.

5 thoughts on “PiAzza”

  1. And Mike Piazza once again stops of at . . . an extreme pitchers park.
    Lifetime Home BA: .297
    Lifetime Road BA: .321.
    His lifetime home OPS is about 100 pts lower than the road. He’s still the best hitting catcher ever based only on the raw numbers, yet his ballparks have suppressed those numbers.
    If he’d played in Arlington, Wrigley & Fenway rather than Dodger Stadium, Shea & Petco, he could be a lifetime .335 hitter with ~500 homers. Coors Field? Who knows?
    I ain’t crying for him, just playing the geeky stats game.

  2. The FA market is insane this year. The Astros signed Carlos Lee for 100 mil for 5 years. 100 million smackers for playing baseball for 5 years. Think about that. And note too that the Astros signed Oswalt to a five year 75 million deal just a few short months ago – makes him look like a bargain.
    Over the last few years – and after Pay Rod – I thought the owners were starting to wise up about this. Obviously I was wrong…or perhaps the clubs are doing much better financially than I thought.
    Whatever. I just don’t see how small market teams can consistently compete in that environment,

  3. The reason everybody spends like Steinbrenner now is that they are all spending Steinbrenner’s money.

  4. The A’s want Piazza standing next to the plate, not squatting behind it, who cares if he is the number 3 catcher.
    Another smart, short term signing by Beane. Call him the Anti-Theo. When JD Drew’s latest ridiculous contract ends with him only playing a total of 400 games in 4 years, Beane will sign him to a one year deal worth $8 million and be the first team to get 150 games out of the prick.

  5. The question is: will Piazza be a significantly better hitter if he doesn’t have to catch every day (or, really, at all)? I would submit that it’s a decent possibility.

Comments are closed.