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Jul 18, 2011 - J.J. Hardy was once a top prospect of the Milwaukee Brewers. A second-round pick in 2001, four years later he was Milwaukee's starting shortstop and by 2008, at age 25, he posted an .821 OPS and looked like he'd be a solid performer for years to come.
And then he started getting hurt. He hasn't played a full season since that fine 2008, and was acquired by the Baltimore Orioles before the 2011 season in a minor trade.
After playing six games this season, he got hurt again -- a strained oblique -- and missed a month. He's having a good offensive year, hitting .278/.335/.490 with 13 HR and 33 RBI in 65 games, and as a reward, the Orioles have signed him to a three-year contract extension worth a reported $22 million. Why are they doing this?
... the Orioles believe he can stay healthy enough to provide the perfect bridge to 19-year-old shortstop Manny Machado, the club’s top prospect who is playing at Class-A Frederick.
The Orioles are going nowhere this year. In fact, they are likely headed for their sixth straight 90+ loss season. They've wasted money (more than $15 million) this season on Derrek Lee and Vladimir Guerrero. Spending this kind of money on Hardy just seems kind of ... pointless. If Machado is that good, waiting for him could be "bridged" by any number of replacement-level players, since Baltimore isn't likely to be any good until he gets there.
It's just another in a long line of decisions that have made the Orioles baseball's afterthought.
4 comments
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Comments
Cost Effective, isn't it?
There’s a really good chance that Hardy will be worth $22 million over the next three seasons, at least if you buy into FanGraphs’ valuations of his last three seasons.
Do the Orioles have any business spending that kind of money? It depends on how good they’ll be over the three seasons and what kind of no-trade clause he’s got (if any).
Looks like a pretty good contract to me, though.
by Rob Neyer on Jul 18, 2011 11:47 AM EDT reply actions
The "depends on how good they'll be"
is the key, isn’t it?
They’re on their way to their sixth straight 90+ loss year. Will be very tough to improve significantly from that in the next three seasons, I’d think.
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by Al Yellon on Jul 18, 2011 11:51 AM EDT up reply actions
The Orioles are the Land of Bridge players
I’m a lifetime O’s fan and I’ve watched countless “bridge players” get signed over the years. It doesn’t work.
My only hope is that they don’t rush Machado like they have with EVERY decent to top prospect over multiple seasons.
The Orioles have money and plenty of it and I’ll agree that they spent foolishly over the years. Mike Gonzalez comes to mind more than the one year deals of Lee and Vlad though. But this one doesn’t look bad though. Hardy does have an injury history which does concern me but he’s a solid ballplayer and is on the right side of 30.
At least it shows the fan base that they want to win. A point that I’ve questioned over the years. They continue to lose games and finish in last year ater year yet they still turn a tidy profit. Hmmm.
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by Jergs on Jul 18, 2011 12:14 PM EDT reply actions
A good move
The O’s now have a steady shortstop who knows how to contribute offensively ever since the first Tejada it has a rotation misfits from all shades of the game none good. They soldify their defense up the middle (well if Roberts ever comes back, i’m betting no) If Hardy is a stud well they can always move him to 2b cause Roberts will not be resigned, and if fails he is still 100 times better then every creten we had before and just as costly as any replacement out there was going to be replace with.
by calbradygreg on Jul 20, 2011 9:36 PM EDT reply actions
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