Is vernon wells the 8th best player in baseball?

[faceman802]

because if he accepts the blue jays offer, he'll be paid as it.

The Blue Jays apparently are serious about keeping budding superstar Vernon Wells in the fold.

Wells, who can become a free agent after next season, was offered a seven-year, $126 million extension by Toronto. No deal has been agreed to, however.

Wells, who will make $5.6 million next season, confirmed the offer in an interview with The Globe and Mail, but wouldn't confirm the amount

How much then are Andruw Jones and Torii Hunter, free agents after the 2007 year like wells, worth? 20? 22?

[Galt]

Torii Hunter? Are you high?

Jones and Wells are 3 or 4 years younger and much better offensively.

But you thought the FA spending this year was insane, wait until Andruw Jones, Vernon Wells, Carlos Zambrano, Adam Dunn, and Michael Young are FAs after next year; while Bonderman, Peavy, Carl Crawford, Vlad, Manny, K-Rod, and Ben Sheets hit in '08

[Keyser Soze]

this offseason has given us a japanese pitcher who has never thrown a pitch in the major leagues a $17 million a year contract if you factor in his posting fee, jason schmidt getting 16 million a year, and alfonso soriano getting 17 million a year.

is he worth 18 million? well considering he's not even in the top 20 in Win Shares (he's 29th) i'd have to say absolutely not. the blue jays lost two starters and would be much better off trading him for pitching. its a desperate move by a desperate team.

[Galt]

Anyone who doesn't think Vernon Wells (who just turned 28 and a phenomenal CF) is worth more than Alfonso Soriano (who is almost 31 and a shitty fielder) should stop watching sports.

edit: Wells is 28, not 26. My math sucks.

[HedCold]

andruw jones wasn't that good defensively last year as he's been in the past. as hes getting bigger his defense is getting worse

[Keyser Soze]

i think win shares are the best indicator of value in baseball, since they take all the contributions a player makes toward his team’s wins and distills them into a single number that represents the number of wins contributed to the team.

here are the top 15 players in baseball by win shares for 2006...

1. Pujols
2. Beltran
3. Cabrera
4. Berkman
5. Jeter
6. Wright
7. Mauer
8. Howard
9. Soriano
10. Ortiz
11. Ramirez
12. J.Reyes
13. Cameron
14. Utley
15. Bonds

[The Prodigal Son]

Vernon Wells is a damn fine ballplayer.

Is he a $18 million dollar ballplayer...not so much.

But in today's market, you have to pay.

[Galt]

win shares doesn't factor in position scarcity or age. 30 win shares at CF is better than 30 win shares at LF because the delta of a replacement player is much bigger.

Rest assured, if all players were immediately free agents, Reyes would probably get one of the biggest contracts. Wright would be up there too because he's so great defensively. And Wells would be the CF with the biggest contract. Probably Sizemore next. Andruw is getting fat and slow.

And one of the best deals in recent memory is the 7 year $100 million extention for Pujols. God, he'd be making Arod money if he was a FA right now.

But to answer the question, if all players were immediately free agents, Wells wouldn't be in the top 8. But as I listed some of the FAs coming out in the next two years, even if he signs this deal. he won't be in the top 8 for long.

[HedCold]

Wright would be up there too because he's so great defensively.

wha?

[Keyser Soze]

thats a good point, the fact he is a center fielder does enhance his value. im not quite sure how to quantify that, but if thats worth 18 mil a year, i can only imagine what a guy like ryan howard will get when he's due.

this just further proves how much of a genius omar minaya is for locking wright and reyes for a couple more years at a huge discount.

[HedCold]

my friends a the blue jays fan and i think they actually did that with wells. before he could go to aribtration him and someone else (who turned out to be a bust, i forget who) were signed to contracts to avoid arbitration where wells would have probably ended up getting more money. the two contracts probably ended up being a push

[Keyser Soze]

wright makes some spectacular plays but also often blows some pretty routine plays. he's still young and i think eventually he will be a very good defensive player but right now he's probably about average.

[HedCold]

he also cheats extremely far off the line and shallow because he doens't have the strongest arm, so gives up alot hits because of it

[The Jays]

and he's white!

[Galt]

I must be wrong. For some reason, I thought he was considered an amazing fielder, along the lines of Scott Rolen.

Nevermind.

[HedCold]

this signing is probably bad for the mets chances at zito, since now the rangers know they won't be spending a crapload of money on wells next year

[Galt]

They could still get Andruw Jones next year.

[diceisgod]

these are all very interesting worthless facts

[Galt]

The facts! They may be interesting, yes! But they are worth very little! NOT WORTHWHILE!

[diceisgod]

LESS