1) If you are going to limit a comparison to “guys that are 38″ then I’ll guess I’ll do that. I’m only going to go back a couple years, because I simply don’t have time to do more.

Ken Griffey Jr, 38, 2008.

.703 OPS on May 30th
.821 OPS remainder of season

Jim Thome, 37, 2008

.735 OPS on May 25th
.920 OPS remainder of season

Frank Thomas, 39, 2007

.704 OPS on May 23rd
.911 OPS remainder of season

Obviously this means it about time for Raul to pick it up – but it certainly shows that many old players take a bit to get going. Raul has shown some signs of it (an .808 OPS in May) before struggling again in June.

2) Strange that you would use the “it’s unprecedented” argument when the very suggestion of this article is unprecedented itself.

You don’t run a business by throwing $15 million out the window, especially when there are precedents for…

- players of his age and injury history turning it on the 2nd half of seasons

and

- getting some return from a trade (unless Raul has said he will block any trade, I’m not sure why you would assume it)

If he still sucks in August/September, that’s another story, and perhaps you release him after the season like we did with Adam Eaton. But it’s simply too soon to make a decision like this. Like I said, there is a reason this has never happened with a position player before in the history of the game, unless you can find an example I haven’t been able to find.

This article = ratings.

Keep up the good work Corey.

1) I’ve already addressed the Ibanez/Ortiz comparison. It doesn’t work. They’re two completely different players, and the only common thread is that they both struggled at some point in the last year.

Ortiz is 34, Ibanez iz 38. In the last six years, Ibanez has had three hamstring injuries, a groin injury, and a back injury. All Ortiz has had was a wrist injury in 2008.

It’s an unfair comparison because literally, the only commonality between Ibanez and Ortiz is that at one time or another, both were publicly criticized for struggling.

Ortiz’ struggles lasted for several months one season and a month the next…Ibanez’ have lasted for over one calendar year (since last June), and the fact that he is four years older than Ortiz with a much more extensive injury history rids the comparison of any significance.

2) The Bradley-Silva deal was unprecedented in that it was a swap of Junk-for-Junk. So far, it has worked out for the Cubs. Nobody expected it to, but it did.

Very few trades like that have ever occurred and very few will ever occur again. It just so happened that there were two teams with high paid underperformers (one a cancer) that were able to relieve themselves of one by trading for the other.

And finally, Pete, Ibanez has a no-trade clause, making most of this moot.

A similar situation occurred last year in Boston.

David Ortiz, with 1 1/2 left on his 4 year, $52 million contract was sporting a .661 OPS on June 20th. The Red Sox expectations are to win the World Series and Ortiz was holding them back. Many people thought he was “done” for good. Some even thought they should release him and cut their losses because he was just dead weight.

For the rest of the season, Ortiz had a .895 OPS and was among the AL Leaders in HR (23) and RBI (71) for the remainder of the season.

This year, after again being questioned after a slow start, he’s got a .879 OPS with 12 HR and 34 RBI.

Who knows if Ibanez can have this sort of turnaround – but people shouldn’t act like they KNOW.

Yet, with TWO years left on his deal, the Cubs were able to trade him for Carlos Silva, who is 8-0 for them this year. Of course they didn’t expect Silva to be that good, but the point is – you don’t just release players with this type of contract for nothing. You trade him, you put him on the bench to try to get him going. But you don’t release him.

I can only think of one instance where a player making a significant amount of money was released with at least 1 1/2 years left on his deal (Russ Ortiz in 2006) and that player was sporting a historically bad 7.00 ERA. There is a reason for this. There is still a chance to get something back on this investment.

So I guess his performance tonight makes this post stupid huh? Nothing like a 1-game sample size to make a point.

Corey-

Do you have any examples of a MLB team releasing a player making Raul’s level of money with 1 1/2 years left on the deal?

http://www.phightinphils.com/2010/06/it-is-time-for-the-phillies-to-shake-things-up-release-greg-dobbs-today.html

One of the best lines ever written.

I can go back to Ike Davis as an example:
769 minor league plate appearances (1633 for Brown)
1 strikeout per 4.2 ABs (1 strikeout per 5.1 ABs for Brown)
42 AAA plate appearances (0 for Brown)

Brown has always been ranked as a better prospect than Davis.

Brown has more than twice the number of minor league plate appearances than Davis.

Brown has struck out at a lower rate than Davis in the minors.

Ike Davis is not being embarrassed at the major league level, as some are suggesting Brown will be. He’s not tearing up the league, but he’s adequately filled the black hole the Mets had at 1B. All Brown needs to do is fill the black hole the Phillies have in LF.