Baseball Musings: Dyed Sox

December 09, 2004

Dyed Sox

The White Sox have inked Jermaine Dye to a two year contract. The good news is that he's not costing a lot, $10 million over the two years. The bad news is that he's not going to fill Magglio Ordonez's shoes.

Ordonez and Dye have exactly the same birthday, 1/28/1974. And apart from playing the outfield, that's about all they have in common.

Career	Dye	Ordonez
Seasons	9	8
150 Game Seasons	3	5
OBA	.343	.364
Seasons	.463	.525

Ordonez just has a better overall game than Dye, and he's been more durable to boot. The White Sox just purchased a cheap veteran to replace him. It's not a move to improve the team, it's a move to save money.

How that money will now be spent is the question. As I often wonder in these situations, why don't the White Sox have a 22 year old in the minors who can step in and hit as well as Dye? That would give Ken Williams another $10 million to put to good use. It seems better long term planning would have the Sox in that position.

Posted by David Pinto at 01:57 PM | Free Agents | TrackBack (0)

Comments

"why don't the White Sox have a 22 year old in the minors who can step in and hit as well as Dye?"

tough when you're getting fleeced by Billy Bavasi...

Posted by: Sully at December 9, 2004 03:19 PM

Ordonez is definitely on the market. Yay!

Jermaine Dye's not coming to the Mets. Double Yay!

Posted by: Crank at December 9, 2004 03:52 PM

Well, Joe Borchard was penciled in as being ready for the outfield by now, but he's no good, so he's out. Jeremy Reed might have worked, but he was traded away in the Freddy Garcia trade, which really wasn't a bad move in my mind (if Thomas AND Ordonez hadn't been hurt last year, the White Sox would have made a run). Brian Anderson is on the way up, but won't be ready for a few more years. So this is the best available option.

The other thing is, the White Sox attempted to resign Ordonez (at a very fair rate, 5/70, IIRC) early last season, and he rejected it. Not too much later, he got injured. Since Boras wouldn't let the White Sox examine him, there was no way they could offer arbitration, so they really had no choice.

Posted by: Adam at December 9, 2004 04:02 PM

I think it's a good deal but now the White Sox have Everett, Thomas & Konerko and room for only one to start. I wonder if this means that Chicago will likely trade Konerko for a big name pitcher.

Posted by: Rob at December 9, 2004 04:19 PM

for my above comment:
I meant room for only two to start (not one).

Posted by: Rob at December 9, 2004 04:19 PM

Since when is $5 mil per "not a lot"? Considering he compares pretty closely to...Brady Clark in '04, and hasn't really had a "good" year in several campaigns, and has been oft-injured.

This may well be the worst signing yet, and that's saying something, with 3 pitchers getting $7 mil per whose arms are held together with a rubber band and spit.

Posted by: Al at December 9, 2004 07:50 PM

I thought this was a very good signing considering the market.

Remember, Dye was in a pitcher's park in Oakland, and he'll be moving to a bandbox in Chicago. Dye will probably hit .270 with 30-35 homers in Chicago, while playing Gold Glove defense. He isn't as good as Magglio was before Magglio's injury, but considering there is rumored to be serious damage to Magglio's knee, I don't know how effective he'll be.

Besides, Dye had two tough luck injuries, the foul ball off his kneecap in the 2002 playoffs, and the separated shoulder in 2003. Other than that, he's played 140-150 games every season

Besides, the White Sox do have a couple of OF in Brian Anderson and Ryan Sweeney in the minors who should be ready by the time Dye's contract ends, and the Sox can just buy Dye out for the 1.15 mil, or if he's doing good, they have a 6 mil 3rd year as a team option

Posted by: Mak at December 10, 2004 12:07 AM