Matthews Signs Monster Deal With Angels

[MannyBeltre]

5 years, 50 MILLION for GARY MATTHEWS JR! That is ridiculous. I like Matthews, but there is no way he is a 10 million per year guy. I'm ok with it, because the Angels are just throwing millions away. Show what you can get for 1 good year.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2672448

[xian0422]

If you ask me this is the best deal the Angels have made in God knows how long. We need to keep in mind that everything about the MLB market is inflated--there is too much cash, too few players, and not enough teams to spread it out. Sure, Matthews is a one year player. But it was one hell of a year--.371 OBP and a .495 SLG--and 10 mil is a lot less than what Carlos Lee will be making.

[sg_allstater]

The thing is before this year he was around a 240 hitter. I think he was playing over his head, and they will end up kicking thereselves like the Phillies did with Abe Nunez last year. Also Lee is a proven player. and a way better hitter. He has done it for many years, and is still only 29. If I remember right Matthews is around 32. This is one of the deals that could turn you into a genius or a retard.

[xian0422]

Originally Posted by allstater

The thing is before this year he was around a 240 hitter. I think he was playing over his head, and they will end up kicking thereselves like the Phillies did with Abe Nunez last year. Also Lee is a proven player. and a way better hitter. He has done it for many years, and is still only 29. If I remember right Matthews is around 32. This is one of the deals that could turn you into a genius or a retard.

I understand what you're saying, but you can't compare Matthews to Lee. Lee just signed with Houston for 16-17 mil per year -- Matthews will be making 10. They're clearly in different market ranges.

I completely agree with the bold-faced part of your quote.

[MannyBeltre]

Originally Posted by xian0422

If you ask me this is the best deal the Angels have made in God knows how long. We need to keep in mind that everything about the MLB market is inflated--there is too much cash, too few players, and not enough teams to spread it out. Sure, Matthews is a one year player. But it was one hell of a year--.371 OBP and a .495 SLG--and 10 mil is a lot less than what Carlos Lee will be making.

Three things.

Matthews played in Arlignton

Matthews is a career .239 hitter in Anaheim

And yes, Matthews is 32, so he'll be paid 10 mill when he is 37.

[tdoggy]

Originally Posted by xian0422

I understand what you're saying, but you can't compare Matthews to Lee. Lee just signed with Houston for 16-17 mil per year -- Matthews will be making 10. They're clearly in different market ranges.

I completely agree with the bold-faced part of your quote.

How can you say you can't compare the two,but in your previous statement,you compared them?

[xian0422]

What I mean when I say you can't compare them is that they are in different levels of the market. Lee will be making 16-17 million per year, which is a lot more than Matthews 10. What I said in my first statement was that signing Matthews would be cheaper than signing Lee--which is true.

To answer Manny Beltre's "three things":

1) Arlington is a hitters park, but not by that much. Matthews was still an effective hitter on the road.

2) Who cares what he hit in Anaheim? How many games had he even played in Anaheim? There isn't enough of a sample size there to say that Matthews can't hit in Southern California.

3) Yup, it's a lot of money. But there is so much money in the market this year that that doesn't really matter. The way I look at it is the Angels have a great pitching staff and need some offense for next season--they can contend next season. If Matthews is one of the pieces you need to win, then why not go for him?

[MannyBeltre]

1) Arlington is a hitters park, but not by that much. Matthews was still an effective hitter on the road.



And Matthews plays in the AL West. Anaheim and Texas are in the same division if you didn't know that. That's 16 games a year, 8 in SO Cal.

[xian0422]

Originally Posted by MannyBeltre

1) Arlington is a hitters park, but not by that much. Matthews was still an effective hitter on the road.



And Matthews plays in the AL West. Anaheim and Texas are in the same division if you didn't know that. That's 16 games a year, 8 in SO Cal.

Yes, I know that. 8 games isn't enough to draw such a conclusion--if I have to, I could go dig up some research somewhere about how you need x amount of games or at-bats before a player's stats are significant.

What I'm saying is that Matthews' 800 something OPS in 2006 tells us a lot more about him as a player than whatever he did in his 8-20 games playing in Anaheim.

[sg_allstater]

I mean he has reached the peak of his career. Theres no way he will have a better year than last year. It's just tough, because he's 32, was maybe a 4th outfielder at best. Hell you could of signed pieree just as cheap. Pierre is atleast proven. He hit around 280 last year, and has some speed. Also he was younger. What did he get 5 years 44 million? Also now there will be alot more pressure on him, because Texas never won anything, and the Angels are a team who reloads and trys to win every year.