Okay, so maybe I was overly optimistic on my ability to bang out another article on the Twins. One day, nearly two weeks who’s counting right? Well I guess that’s what happens when you go to law school, one day you’ve got nothing but time, the next there’s not enough because you’ve got papers to write and cases to read. I digress. As I was saying last time the Minnesota Twins have shown an exceptional ability to get the most value out of every salary dollar. While so many other mid-market teams seemed destined to have large portions of their salary in sunk cost of players underperforming (i.e. Jose Guillen of the Royals, Barry Zito of the Giants) the Twins manage seem to manage to know how to invest wisely where market inequalities exist. Such is the case for Orlando Hudson and his recent contract for one year $5million a few weeks ago. While many teams have tried to shy away from giving out free agent money to veterans like they used to, the Twins managed to take advantage of the undervalued Hudson and solidify their infield unlike any Twins team in years.
For those who don’t remember, Orlando was in a very similar situation last year as spring training approached. Coming off a big year with the Diamondbacks, Hudson was a free agent for the first time and was given the dreaded Elias A Free Agent Status. For those who don’t know, “A” Status is given to free agents deemed the best of the class, who in turn require that the signing team give the old team a first round draft pick, something that teams are reluctant to give up. Subsequently, despite an impressive season that produced a .305/.367/.450 batting line and a gold glove, Hudson was forced to take a last minute 2.5million dollar deal from Los Angeles. However, it didn’t take long for Hudson to show the other 29 clubs how sorry they should be for not signing him when he got off an impressive start for the first two months hitting .333/.405/490 with solid defense. Indeed, it was plain to see early on in his tenure for the Dodgers that Orlando was an all-around solid player, good for 3.2 wins above replacement the year before.
Yet as hot as Hudson began the season, an uncharacteristic cold streak made the beginning of the season seem to vanish from baseballs’ memory. Indeed, after tearing the cover off the ball in May, Hudson was a disaster in June hitting .222/.269/.343, and while he recovered his Manager Joe Torre seemed to lose confidence in the veteran second basemen. Although he continued to get at bats throughout the season, Hudson saw his plate appearances diminished in favor of Ronnie Belliard, a veteran who can be serviceable a times, but not nearly the player the O-Dog is. As a result, by playoff season Hudson was mostly a spectator as the Dodgers fell to the Cardinals, and in truth he didn’t really deserve it. A closer looker at the numbers, particularly his BABIP shows an extraordinarily unlucky season, hitting as low as .247 after hitting close to .310 for his career. As these numbers and several other findings show Hudson was a victim to bad luck and circumstance that won’t likely continue in 2010. An even more in depth look at Hudson’s season by Bill James shows a move out of Dodger Stadium will benefit Hudson greatly this year. In James’ 2010 Handbook shows that Dodger Stadium decreased both triples and doubles by more than ten percent, a drop that is even more impressive when you consider that his old Park, Chase Field increased triples by 73 percent. Although we can’t know for sure how Target field will play, it’s sure to be more of a hitters park than Dodger Stadium where he still managed to hit .283/.356/.417.
Additionally, Hudson provides a great deal of value with his glove, where he has made a name for himself as one of the games’ best. Already a four time gold glover, Orlando brings a great deal of athleticism to the position, as well as impressive range despite already being 32. Although Hudson’s UZR wasn’t all that impressive last year standing at -3.7, this is largely a product of his inconsistent playing time, and it still has not hurt his career line of 17.6. To be sure, second basemen with career UZR averages of 17.6 above average are far and few between in this league, especially those available for a scant 5million.
This impressive combination of offensive prowess and defensive acumen exhibited by Hudson makes the second basemen worth every penny the Twins paid and more for the season. Indeed, fangraphs.com valued the dollar amount of his performance last year $11.4million, and it’s hard to hard to argue with those numbers. Orlando appears poised to significantly improve a Twins team that won the AL Central last year, and in typical Twins fashion they got it for basically nothing. It’s moves like these that have made Minnesota one of the model franchises in baseball, who now with a new stadium should have even more resources should make things even more uncomfortable for an already nervous group of divisional foes.
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