 Transaction Analysis
Indians sign Ellis Burks for 3 years, $19.5 million
This is a curious move
the Indians made. The signing of the very
productive 36-year old outfielder isn’t that
curious, but the timing is. If he can put up the
same kind of production he has over the past two
seasons, he’s worth the $7 million per
season the Indians will pay him (although
I’m not sure about giving a 36-year old with
cranky knees a 3-year contract when he’s
missed at least 40 games in three of the past
four seasons). The curious timing is what's
bothersome. It appears that this could be the end
of Manny Ramirez hitting in the middle of the
Indians batting order. The Indians still had a
decent chance to sign him as no team has offered
more than the 7-year $119 million deal they did.
Now Burks saves them $10 million over Manny, but
Ramirez is only 28 years old and arguably the
best hitter in baseball. The only way this is a
good move is if the Indians still do sign Ramirez
or bring in a top pitcher (i.e. Mike Mussina) by
using the money they saved in this deal. I
don’t see either happening, so for now, and
this is no offense to the production of Ellis
Burks, this is a bad move because they made it
too soon.
Triple Steal Rating: Out
Indians Team Page
More Transactions
TripleSteal Rating
Scale:
Grand Slam - A can't miss move; automatically makes
the team considerably better.
Home Run - A great move;
will help the team now and down the road.
Triple - A good move; plugs
a temporary hole or will help in the future.
Double - An average move;
team will get what they paid for.
Single - A head-scratcher;
could help, but we definitely don't see how.
Out - A panic move; tells
fans "hey, we're trying..."
Double Play - A disaster;
will make fans angry just thinking about it.
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