Link to ESPN article $10 million a year seems a fair price. I was a bit surprised how few homers this guy hits though - only about 12 a year, hardly a massive upgrade on Adam. Seems like a lot of good teams are interested, hard to see him picking the Astros even if we were interested.
uhhhhhhhh..... HELL NO!!!! did you see him in the playoffs?? he was atlanta's version of adam everett. why go sign another adam everett for like 10x the price....doesn't make sense.
I agree his play doesn't warrant $50 mil given our budget, but Everett and Furcal are only comparable in the sense that both are shortstops that play above average defense. After that, there's no comparison. Furcal's a legitimate top-of-the-order threat for a great offense with an average OBP of .349 over the last three seasons. By comparison, Everett's OBP in that timespan barely averages over .305 and he was at .290 last season. That's awful. Adam is a .700 OPS player, at most (worse last year)... while Furcal averaged about a .775 OPS his last three seasons, significantly above average offensive numbers for a shortstop. Everett had a good season by his standards with 21 steals last year... Furcal more than doubled it with 46. And for those of you who like contact hitters (I know that's a lot of you from the days of Adam Dunn debates), Everett struck out 103 times in 549 at-bats... Furcal 78 in 616. I don't like Furcal for the price he's asking either, but let's not be silly. Comparing Everett to Furcal would be the equivalent of a Cards fan comparing Reggie Sanders to Lance Berkman.
okay so we add another willy taveras......what's the point???? for $50 mil. we could get something we actually need, like a bat with power and RBI potential, not another leadoff hitter, we essentially have 2 or 3 already, why 4?
Furcal steals more than Willy, has a higher OBP than Willy and hits more homers than Willy. He's a stud leadoff hitter, unlike Taveras, Everett or anyone else on our roster. With that said, I do agree with you... I'd rather spend $50 mil on a true power hitter such as Giles or Konerko. All I'm doing is clarifying that Furcal is in a totally different league than Everett or Taveras... I didn't mean to suggest that we should meet his asking price. You're right - there are better ways to use that money.
I would do it. I think that is a good deal for Furcal. He could play 2B and Burke and Biggio play OF. Furcal will give you .275 batting avg, 40 steals, 10 HR, 10 triples, 35 doubles etc. Him and Willy T would be scray at the top of the lineup. Both can get on base, both can steal. Hell yeah I would sign Furcal.
Furcal would be an upgrade offensively over Taveras and especially Everett, but he is not worth 10 mil a year. Let someone else overpay for him. Btw, you guys can't be serious when you say Everett is as good as Furcal can you? People seriously overrate Adam Everett here. He's basically a scrub with good range.
Beltran's agent was asking for $200MM before settling for $119MM from the Mets. What a steal (for Beltran). I like Furcal a lot. If another team is dumb enough to give him $10MM/year too bad. If his price turns out to be reasonable we MUST go after him. Offense at SS is the easiest way for us to improve our lineup. I will be very disappointed if Adam Everett starts next year.
You're not serious. Biggio, Taveras and Burke in the outfield? The idea this offseason is to get MORE pop in the outfield, not less. You want to add another light hitting player in addition to Everett & Taveras? We don't need Furcal. Spend the money elsewhere.
I say we go after Garciaparra if the price is right and he's willing settle for a 1 or 2 year deal. Even if he does get hurt, Everett is not a bad insurance policy.
I'm not saying at the same time. Biggio is 40 years old and him and Burke could split time in the OF. Anyway screw power hitter, speed kills.
