This is One Awful Contract—Miguel Cabrera.

[Wishhiker]

Godlike if he wasnt playing out of position by that point. His OPS early in his career, sure, let him have RF. Later, no chance.

Those numbers in CF or SS or 2B would have been fantastic.

But, blocking a power position while getting paid among the elite did nothing to help us win, WAR-be-damned. Robbing Peter to pay Paul.

You're absolutely right, he doesnt belong in this discussion at all. He was just my least favorite extension because he was a light hitting player taking up a power position and the biggest chunk of the teams payroll while they sucked. Talk about opportunity cost, how many years did we go with one fewer power hitter in our lineup than other teams because Ichiro was in RF (and getting paid the 20% that would normally pay your cleanup hitter).

The light hitting take is way overstated. From 27 through 36 he had 1588 Games of .331/.376/.430 .806. That's not light hitting. Averaging 158.8 G, 27 dbl, 8 tpl, 10HR, 40 SB/9CS, 47BB/70K during that 10 year stretch. That consistency is unreal and he was always on the field. If that's not enough your standards are too high.

Not at $18 million bucks per year they're not.

he made $18 million 3 times, $17 twice, $12.5 million 3 times after just clearing $20 million total in his first 4 years in the states. Regardless of that....

Those numbers are putting him in the Hall. Not just barely, maybe, eventually. First-Ballot, Slam-Dunk. You don't think hall of famers should make the money they're earning?

[bpj]

Yeah, and you read where I said I hated his extension, not his first several seasons. Or did you just rush into a fight like seems to be your new norm here?

[Wishhiker]

Yeah, and you read where I said I hated his extension, not his first several seasons. Or did you just rush into a fight like seems to be your new norm here?

You didn't originally specify the extension or which years. I loked at all the years with the idea of his last 5 years from my understanding based on the way you worded it. I see what you're saying about the extension. At the same time Zduriencik didn't look for heavy hitting anywhere on the field and couldn't find any hitter anywhere better than Ichiro most years. Ichiro was not the problem to blame those years on.

[bpj]

Yeah, and you read where I said I hated his extension, not his first several seasons. Or did you just rush into a fight like seems to be your new norm here?

You didn't originally specify the extension or which years. I loked at all the years with the idea of his last 5 years from my understanding based on the way you worded it. I see what you're saying about the extension. At the same time Zduriencik didn't look for heavy hitting anywhere on the field and couldn't find any hitter anywhere better than Ichiro most years. Ichiro was not the problem to blame those years on.

Disagree.

[Bil522]

Cabrera has been hurt all year long with a chronic knee condition from having played 2400+ games. He also got paid a little over $1million total for his first 20WAR. Here us a pretty decent article about him

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/284 ... -trade-for

[Dr Naysay]

Baseball really needs to figure out a way of paying stellar players in their prime rather than over the hill players absurd sums. Jacob de Grom an elite pitcher for several seasons has earnt less in his career than Felix did this season and only starts earning the big bucks aged 32. Makes no sense!!!

[Wishhiker]

Yeah, and you read where I said I hated his extension, not his first several seasons. Or did you just rush into a fight like seems to be your new norm here?

You didn't originally specify the extension or which years. I looked at all the years with the idea of his last 5 years from my understanding based on the way you worded it. I see what you're saying about the extension. At the same time Zduriencik didn't look for heavy hitting anywhere on the field and couldn't find any hitter anywhere better than Ichiro most years. Ichiro was not the problem to blame those years on.

Disagree.

Well then...
2008 was a 101 loss team. Not 1 player away. Goodbye Bavasi. Only Ibanez had a higher SLG than Ichiro's .387 of all the players who set foot in the OF that year. Sexson and Vidro didn't either, power was absent across the roster. That's the theme here.

2009 85 wins? Ichiro had 2nd highest SLG% (.465 to Branyan's .520) and 3rd highest OPS (.851, Branyan .867, Carp .878) on the team of all 33 players with a PA. They still missed the Wild Card by 10 Games. And we missed Gutierrez forever after.

2010 101 losses, definitely not 1 player away. Ichi's not so great .754 OPS was 3rd highest of 30 players. Next best was Guillermo Quiroz at .714. 5th best Smoak at .694. It's starting to look like Zduriencik can not identify any bat.

2011 95 losses, Ichiro has his big down slide at the age of 37 with .645 OPS but the only OF to rate better are Milton Bradley (200 poor innings) at .669 and Casper Wells at .742. Bradley retired that year and Wells got 418 more PA the next 2 years before following suit. His .335 SLG%was higher than DH, 3b, CF and SS. The highest Slugging over 50 PA was Mike Carp at .466, then Casper Wells at .431 and 3rd on the team Dustin Ackley at .417 SLG%. With no minimum PA, the only other >.400 SLG were Fister at .500 and 44 PA Liddi at .525

2012 amid 87 losses they trade Ichiro freeing up time in RF mostly for the aforementioned Wells and Eric Thames. If you think there was offense then where a RF upgrade would have made any difference, you're mistaken. It's your turn to look, I'm done reviving memories of offensive futility. It was maybe better than 2011 but only barely.

In exactly 1 of those years were the Mariners even close to contention and Ichiro was a part of the reason. That year has been brought up as analogous to 2018 where the team played over their heads around Griffeys last hoorah. Not quite as much as 2007 but in the same low pythag grouping.

Disagreeing with facts is an interesting take.

[bpj]

Of course they weren't contending, they were paying their weak hitting RF $18 million bucks.

[DavidGee24]

Cabrera has been hurt all year long with a chronic knee condition from having played 2400+ games. He also got paid a little over $1million total for his first 20WAR. Here us a pretty decent article about him

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/284 ... -trade-for

That is the one argument you can make about overpaying a veteran, is that it's sort of a reward for what he did on his rookie contract. Of course, it still sucks and doesn't make the home fans feel any better.

[DanielVogelbach]

Owners understand the dynamics of signing an aging veteran. The free-agent market is entirely different than dealing with players under club control. On the longer deals for older players, the owners know they'll be "overpaying" versus the massive ROIs they get on the younger players. But, they sign the FAs anyway, because they're available and they will improve the team. The only thing that signing an FA prevents is the signing of a different FA. (assuming fixed payroll)

The Ms got $25 million coming off the books next year with Felix's contract expiring. That only helps them if they use it to sign another FA. It will not help them get more draft picks or sign young players. The only way to do that is to trade a player that's under contract.

So, yeah, some of the older players are "overpaid", and some of the younger players are "underpaid", and it's pretty much a consensus amongst sports analysts that the MLB players have the best collective bargaining agreement out of all the leagues. There is no salary cap, no max contracts, and so much guaranteed moolah. Just look at the FA pay as retroactive compensation for the accomplishments of prior seasons.