Lugo vs Betancourt
The Mariners wanted to dump Yuniesky Betancourt and - voila! - the Royals obliged by taking his contract off their hands. The Royals gave up a couple of flotsam and jetsam prospects and will have to pay just $7 million of Betancourt's remaining contract ($2 mil in 2010, $3 million in 2011 and a $2 mil buyout in 2012). Joe Posnanski explains just how horrible Betancourt really is.
Reviewing the facts - I have to wonder where the Red Sox were on this deal? They are just as anxious to dump Julio Lugo and despite Lugo's current reputation - he's a much better player than Betancourt.
Fielding - Lugo has a -6.8 URZ this year and a -1.2 in 2008 but he's also been injured. What excuse does Betancourt have for his -8.3 2009 and -12.6 2008 numbers?
Base Running - Lugo is 15 for 19 in stolen base attempts the past two years. Betancourt is 7 for 12 in the same time period.
Hitting - Lugo may not be a great hitter but he's still better than Betancourt.
Sure Lugo is much older but honestly either player is just a rental for the Royals and the Red Sox could have made the finances work so that the Royals would be stuck for just $7 million overall for Lugo (same as Betancourt). Lugo's the better player for the Royals. I think this was a missed opportunity for the Red Sox to shed Lugo's contract.
Chris Lynch's slanted view on sports, politics and entertainment. Please send thoughts or comments to chris.lynch@gmail.com
Showing posts with label Yuniesky Betancourt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yuniesky Betancourt. Show all posts
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Commie Ball
An excellent article by Michael Lewis on baseball in Cuba. Per the successful Lewis formula for storytelling - Lewis tells the tale by focusing on two people. In Moneyball it was Bill Beane and Bill James. In this article - it is Gus Dominguez and Kit Krieger.
Gus Dominguez is the accidental agent who gets arrested for smuggling Cuban baseball players into the US. Kit Krieger is the retired Canadian teacher who has become obsessed with the past and present of Cuban baseball. The past and present of Cuban legendary player Victor Mesa helps to tie everything together.
I went into the story hating communism and Fidel Castro. The story changed none of that but it added Seattle shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt to the list of people I'll never cheer for (if Betancourt gets beaned the next five time he steps into the batters box - that would be just fine with me).
If Gus Dominguez loses his appeal - I hope President Bush pardons him before leaving office.
An excellent article by Michael Lewis on baseball in Cuba. Per the successful Lewis formula for storytelling - Lewis tells the tale by focusing on two people. In Moneyball it was Bill Beane and Bill James. In this article - it is Gus Dominguez and Kit Krieger.
Gus Dominguez is the accidental agent who gets arrested for smuggling Cuban baseball players into the US. Kit Krieger is the retired Canadian teacher who has become obsessed with the past and present of Cuban baseball. The past and present of Cuban legendary player Victor Mesa helps to tie everything together.
I went into the story hating communism and Fidel Castro. The story changed none of that but it added Seattle shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt to the list of people I'll never cheer for (if Betancourt gets beaned the next five time he steps into the batters box - that would be just fine with me).
If Gus Dominguez loses his appeal - I hope President Bush pardons him before leaving office.
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