PETCO Piazza

by Scott Christ on Jan 30, 2006 12:04 AM EST in News & Rumors

Mike Piazza thought he could be a good hitter for a few more years in a DH role. Instead, he's going to be catching for the San Diego Padres on a one-year, $2 million deal.

Now, Piazza is going to the Hall of Fame. He is the best-hitting catcher to ever play baseball. But in that park at 37 years old, I just cannot see him having a productive season. Or even if he wasn't catching. And Piazza seems to think he can only put the gear on 70-80 times this season, with Kevin Towers saying he could play 10-15 games at first and DH in their interleague road games.

Let's say Piazza catches 80, plays first for 15, and DHs nine times. That's 104 games. I want to project Piazza in San Diego myself just for kicks.

 AB   AVG   OBP   SLG      HR   RBI
385  .251  .320  .424   11    54

He's going to hit cleanup apparently. I don't think that will last. I just really do not see this turning out well for him at all.

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Well...

I'm not gonna disagree about this being a bad move for Piazza at this stage, but who else is gonna hit cleanup for them? Mike Cameron?

by punkrawka on Jan 30, 2006 1:42 PM EST reply actions

re:

I guess the question is, do you think Cameron or Klesko or possibly Khalil Greene (if he can rebound) or maybe even Adrian Gonzalez will be less productive than Piazza this year?

"My best game plan is to sit on the bench and call out specific instructions like 'C'mon Boog,' 'Get ahold of one, Frank,' or 'Let's go, Brooks.'" - Earl Weaver

by Scott Christ on Jan 30, 2006 2:03 PM EST up reply actions

re:

Not a terrible way of putting it, I suppose. But none of those guys is really a "cleanup" hitter either. I'm just saying that Piazza's not such a bad choice to bat #4 given their alternatives, even if he'd have no business doing so on most teams or in most parks.

by punkrawka on Jan 30, 2006 3:58 PM EST up reply actions

Value

An advantage of this to the Orioles is that it helps define Javy Lopez's value. He really doesn't have a claim to a 3 year 20 million dollar deal now.

by Mike Boehm on Jan 30, 2006 8:48 PM EST reply actions