Baseball Time in Arlington makes the case for not signing Marlon Byrd to a long term contract:
Of far more consequence than Sunday’s disaster is Washington’s apparent infatuation with Marlon Byrd, whom the third-year manager would like to see re-signed this coming winter and presumably anointed the starting center fielder for as long as he was contractually tied to Texas. The movement to lock Byrd up reached its zenith this past weekend, during which Byrd went 4-for-9 with three home runs and three walks, and claims from the club presidency suggesting that the Rangers could afford to make Byrd a competitive offer only throw more cannisters of gasoline on the speculative flames.
There are several problems with this “Sign Byrd or else!” mentality, foremost among those being that he doesn’t really fit the paradigm for a player whom you would be inclined to tender a multi-year contract towards: he’s not exceptionally productive, he doesn’t have much — if any — upside, he’s on the wrong side of 30 and he primarily plays a position which most seem to believe will be the domain of Julio Borbon in the not-so-distant future.
Borbon is 23, so the Rangers need to decide if he is going to have a future with the team or not. His .360 minor league OBP is good, but may indicate his .380 major league OBP may not be sustainable. Still, if he can keep that up for a season, he gives the Rangers an excellent leadoff man who they control at a reasonable price for six years.
Their best bet is to let Byrd go. Teams, for the most part, are smarter about free agents. If no one signs him, Texas can bring him back on a one-year deal.
Posted by David Pinto at 9:08 am | Players | Permalink | No Comments
Comments
Leave a Reply
