Phillies have agreement with Báez?

Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com reports that the Phillies "have an agreement in place" with a reliever, noting that speculation points to erstwhile Oriole Danys Báez. The Phillies' focus has apparently been on Baez since Fernando Rodney's asking price (2 years, $11 million) proved to be too high.

If true, we'll have to wait to see what the dollar figures look like, but hopefully it's no more than what Darren Oliver agreed to with the Rangers (1 year, $3.5 million with a vesting option for a second year). Báez returned from 2008 elbow surgery last year to post a 4.02 ERA, 40 K, 22 BBs, and a 1.13 WHIP in 71 innings with the Orioles. The lack of strikeouts (5.0 K/9) is a bit concerning, but the control (2.8 BB/9) and heavy sinker (60.9% GB) comprise the positive side of the ledger.

Salisbury notes that the agreement is contingent on the player passing a physical, which probably won't take place until next month.

8 months ago PhillyFriar 21 comments 0 recs |

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

I should add: assuming the price is the same, I’d much rather have Báez than Mike MacDougal.

by PhillyFriar on Dec 23, 2009 4:43 PM EST reply actions

It’s a throw up between the two for me. Now to get Chan Ho and a cheap Condrey back.

by Ant on Dec 23, 2009 4:57 PM EST up reply actions

A throw up? This is a good way to describe a lot of minor deals.

by Wet Luzinski on Dec 23, 2009 6:31 PM EST up reply actions

[shrugs]

by taco pal on Dec 23, 2009 4:52 PM EST reply actions

Interestingly, Baez had some pretty good years in the past and used to strike more people out when he was younger. Maybe he had injuries along the way.

Two other tidbits: 1. His first major league manager was Charlie Manuel in 2001-02 with Cleveland. 2. He’s now the first Cuban-born Phillie since the immortal Eddie Oropesa.

by taco pal on Dec 23, 2009 5:07 PM EST reply actions

About 3-4 years ago, or I guess whenever he was last a FA, I wanted the Phils to sign Baez. If the money and the years make sense, this is a decent pickup, albeit (given injuries) certainly shrugworthy.

by Wet Luzinski on Dec 23, 2009 6:35 PM EST up reply actions

Báez has always intrigued me for some reason as well.

His sinker is a pretty good pitch, and it looks like he added a splitter to the arsenal this year, throwing it almost a quarter of the time. It’s actually hard to break down his PitchFX data, because the pitch ID algorithm honestly doesn’t know what to make of him. It says he threw 81.7% fastballs, but I’m wondering if that’s a result of him adding to, subtracting from, and cutting his fastball, which can make it appear to be a four seamer, two seamer, and splitter at different times.

Whatever the case, in 2009 he held left-handed hitters to a .248/.312/.395 line (far better than his career average), and right-handed hitters to a measly .196/.236/.268 line. And he barely threw his curve ball, which had been a good pitch for him previously — I wonder if he abandoned it to take stress off his elbow, and if so, whether that’s permanent, or if he abandoned it for other reasons.

Finally, a positive note to end on: as Báez was used in higher leverage situations (and, consequently, shorter outings) as the season wore on, he saw his velocity increase. Check the far right of the below graph…

by PhillyFriar on Dec 23, 2009 11:58 PM EST up reply actions

This isn’t the greatest news, but hey he’s not to bad and he’s a reliever. He could be just as good as what Chan Ho was last year. I would take Rodney any day but he is asking for a little to much. I also really hope Condrey comes back he’s improving each year and is just a solid relief pitcher that no one talks about. Philly 4 Life.

by Phanatic43 on Dec 23, 2009 6:19 PM EST reply actions

Whatever amount of money he’s being paid, I’m sure it would have been better spent paying a portion of Cliff Lee’s salary. The return on investment would undoubtedly be higher with Lee’s innings over Baez’s.

by David S. Cohen on Dec 23, 2009 9:30 PM EST reply actions

Still hurt over the Lee trade? So am I. I also agree, we would get more out of Lee than Baez.

Scar tissue is stronger than muscle tissue. Realize the strength, move on.

by JCB79 on Dec 23, 2009 9:52 PM EST up reply actions

I’m going to post this at some point, but yes, still hurt over the Lee trade, particularly given the way the Yankees just added more front-line pitching to their starting rotation yesterday. Adding Vazquez didn’t prompt them to trade Burnett, did it? Of course not. I completely understand the Yankees are in a different financial world than everyone else, but we’re talking about Cliff Lee for $9M, not Cliff Lee for $19M. That doesn’t take Yankees’ bank accounts to figure out.

by David S. Cohen on Dec 23, 2009 10:30 PM EST up reply actions

I brings up one of those thoughts “Are these people seriously getting paid to run a Baseball team”. Anybody with half a brain would see the value of keeping Lee over trading him away for some mid level prospects. It makes more sense to keep him, eat the loss in the minors for a season and then get our picks in the draft. Not to mention the rest he and Doc would provide to the pen. It just makes no sense at all.

Scar tissue is stronger than muscle tissue. Realize the strength, move on.

by JCB79 on Dec 24, 2009 7:12 AM EST up reply actions

For the rest of the winter, I’m going to try to evaluate the front office’s moves through a “Can they avoid the stupidest possible moves, i.e. signing Fernando Rodney for $11 million?” prism, as opposed to the “What’s the absolute best use of this money?” prism — because we know the answer to the second question, every time, would be to pay Lee the $9 million to stick around. Alas, that ship has sailed, and my concern now is whether that money will be spent in a shrugworthy manner, or in a head-scratchingly idiotic manner. It’s not a glamorous outlook, but I do think it’s practical.

by PhillyFriar on Dec 23, 2009 11:24 PM EST up reply actions

And this

The Braves signed Troy Glaus, things are getting interesting.

We don't play stats, we play baseball.

by W.P.M on Dec 23, 2009 10:44 PM EST reply actions

Yeah they are, this divisions going to be way better than last year. I think the mets, braves, and even the nats are going to put up a good fight against the phils. All in all i think the phillies will win the division over the mets by 4-5 games haha.

by Phanatic43 on Dec 24, 2009 9:32 PM EST up reply actions

dont know much about this guy is he good?

eff you we winning anyway
A.I. IS BACKKKKKKK

by eagleswin on Dec 24, 2009 11:11 AM EST reply actions

2010 NL East WAR

I have updated my 2010 NL East WAR Worksheet and the Phillies came out quite a bit ahead of the other teams in the NL. The Braves should be the main competition for the Phillies in the NL East next year and the Mets should be vastly improved given that they don’t have the catastrophic injuries that hit them last year. The Cardinals should run away with the Central division, especially if they sign Matt Holliday. In the West, it should be a dog fight between the Rockies and Dodgers, with the Giants and Diamondbacks hanging around.
vr, Xei

by Xeifrank on Dec 28, 2009 1:32 AM EST reply actions

cool

Thanks for that post man, although i am surprised how high the WAR is for the braves pitching staff without javier vazquez. I also thought the phillies would be a little higher than 17 for pitching, but that hitting is ridiculous.

by PhilsForever on Dec 28, 2009 4:35 PM EST up reply actions

Full season of

Tommy Hanson (185 IP) in the projections.
vr, Xei

by Xeifrank on Dec 29, 2009 12:53 AM EST up reply actions

Everyone see that Bruntlett signed a two year minor league deal with the Nationals over a month after he declined our minor league offer. It’s just so laughable.

by Ant on Dec 29, 2009 12:03 PM EST reply actions