Not too surprising. Heard about this possibility a few weeks ago. The Rays were looking for a right handed power bat and Burrell was in their price range. I hope it's enough for them to keep contending with the Sox and Yanks.
I have no idea what the "market" is for a player like Pat Burrell, but good lordie, that is a ton of money for a middle of the road type professional athlete. Baseball reference has Danny Tartabull as a guy with most similar stats at similar ages, and that's a name I barely remember...
eh, he also has similarities (on that site) to Darryl Strawberry, Jack Clark, Jesse Barfield, and Tony Clark--all relatively reputable hitters. I don't put a ton of stock in that, regardless. Burrell has been very consistent over the last 4 years. You know exactly what you're gonna get out of him. .890 OPS, a good # of strikeouts, strong arm on the few occasions he hits the field in Tampa (and a solid backup corner OF if there's an injury), and good right-handed pull power. Tartabull was kinda up and down, I don't like the comparison--even stats-wise. It's not easy to find guys who put those #'s up year in and year out. Carlos Lee did it 4 of the last 5 years (throw out 2005). Of course, Lee also had a better 2008 than Burrell. Yeah, the contract seems about right to me..
i think it's important to note that while burrell strikes out a lot, he walks a lot too... i like this deal for tampa
I wasn't trying to say he is overpaid (in today's market)...just damn, that's a lot of money. baseball salaries are ridiculous.
The Market for similar players? Carlos Lee career: 290/344/505/848 Pat Burrell career: 257/367/485/852 Both are the same age and have comparable bats, gloves, baserunning, etc. Lee is signed to 6 years 100 million dollar contract and will make 37 million in the next two years. Burrell is signed to a 2 year 16 million dollar contract. It's a great deal for the Rays compared to what similar players are signed to.
That's why I pointed out that Lee had a better 2008 than Burrell.. don't want to believe it's THAT much better of a deal than what we got on our team.. dammit
A better year for the time he actually played. Not if you included to 1/3rd of a season he missed due to injury. Burrell has batted comparable if not better than Lee the last three years.
oh i know it.. he was the current player i brought up when JayZ was looking for a comparable.. how about we trade those 2 straight up? Whaddya say, gerryH?
I'm not a huge baseball fan or stat guy...I just remember all those years of Pat "the Bat" underperforming. Guess he's turned it around a bit. Though, looking at his stats compared to Carlos Lee's over the last few years, Carlos seems to definitely be better. Pat saves himself with the walks, which Carlos doesn't have, but he also doesn't strike out quite as much. anyways, all besides the point. really more a comment about baseball salaries overall. I guess the $22.5 million a year to Mark Teixeira makes Burrell look like a pretty good value, actually...
heard about this on the radio here....cincy radio sports talk guy said jocketty told em he signed for about half of what he thought he was gonna get in the market. (the reds were rumored to be looking to sign him as well)
