New York Nine

Ridiculous picture I know, but man did the Rays get a deal signing Pat the Bat at two years/8mil per. For years Phillies fans have moaned and groaned that this guy was too hot and cold in his hitting and in turn undervalued his true offensive value. In a way I can sympathize, with all the strikeouts and the low batting average, not to mention his atrocious fielding I can imagine it's hard to watch him day to day. But that does not mean at he is not a productive player by any means, let's look at the stats:

Year	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	SB%	BB	K	BA	OBP	SLG					GDP	OPS
2004	PHI	NL	127	534	448	66	115	17	0	24	84	2	0	100.0%	78	130	.257	.365	.455					10	.821
2005	PHI	NL	154	669	562	78	158	27	1	32	117	0	0	N/A	99	160	.281	.389	.504					12	.892
2006	PHI	NL	144	567	462	80	119	24	1	29	95	0	0	N/A	98	131	.258	.388	.502					11	.890
2007	PHI	NL	155	598	472	77	121	26	0	30	97	0	0	N/A	114	120	.256	.400	.502					10	.902
2008	PHI	NL	157	645	536	74	134	33	3	33	86	0	0	N/A	102	136	.250	.367	.507					10	.875

The guy just knows how to hit, and walk and do other things I'm sure, but all of this for 8 million is a steal. Granted, he's moving away from one of the best hitters parks in the league which should reduce his power a bit, he still carries tremendous value. He walks a ton, a skill which he has improved upon in the last few years, he hits home runs at a healthy clip giving him an OPS near .900 year in and year out. In addition he doesn't hit into a lot of double plays, averaging a little over 10 a season! It seems clear that the rays have used the bad economy to their advantage getting all this value for relatively little dough. Consider these numbers compared to jose guillen who pretty undeservedly got 3 years/36million last year

Year	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	SB%	BB	K	BA	OBP	SLG						OPS
2004	LAA	AL	148	621	565	88	166	28	3	27	104	5	4	55.6%	37	92	.294	.352	.497						.849
2005	WAS	NL	148	611	551	81	156	32	2	24	76	1	1	50.0%	31	102	.283	.338	.479						.817
2006	WAS	NL	69	268	241	28	52	15	1	9	40	1	0	100.0%	15	48	.216	.276	.398						.674
2007	SEA	AL	153	659	593	84	172	28	2	23	99	5	1	83.3%	41	118	.290	.353	.460						.813
2008	KC	AL	153	633	598	66	158	42	1	20	97	2	1	66.7%	23	106	.264	.300	.438						.738

Now you can accuse me of cherry picking one of the worst contracts out there for a guy who just plain didn't deserve it, both guys were considered mid-level quality free agent sluggers upon hitting the market. look at the comparative numbers, the guy SLGs a good 60 points lower and evidently hasn't seen many pitches he doesn't like with that god-awful OBP of .300 last year. As a yankee fan this move scares me a bit because especially with Pat the Bat DH'ing most of the time so you don't have to worry about his mis-adventures in left field you have a potent right handed hitter who crushes left handers (I'm looking at you CC) who can take you out of the park at any at-bat and produces runs year in and year out.


On a side note, I'm going to enjoy seeing more of this guy around if only for the stories and the legend around Pat Burrell. One not so G-rated story in particular, as told to me by a co-worker who's a huge Phillies fan, is hilarious. According to him a female friend of his was down in Clearwater for spring training to watch the Phillies and was fortunate enough to enjoy the company of Pat in the back of his car. As the story goes the whole time he would yell at her, "you're fucking Pat Burrell, you're fucking Pat Burrell!" I have no way to confirm this story, but you have to appreciate the sheer fact that this story is fairly believable speaks volumes to the fine character of one Pat the Bat.