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Wednesday, December 22, 2004

BUT DID PAUL DePODESTA SUDDENLY GET STUPID?

Aside from making a whole slew of new friends on the east coast (although amazing as it may sound, DePodesta's job as Dodgers GM is not to make the Yankees happy), did DePodesta overreact to losing Adrian Beltre?

Unlike, say, Richie Sexson (or Mike Matheny), there's no question that J.D. Drew is a top talent. His .403 MLVr was 7th in baseball last year, nearly double Carlos Beltran's offensive production. And unlike Adrian Beltre, there's little uncertainty whether his 2004 performance was a blip. In 2001, Drew had a .437 MLVr.

I think Drew is easily worth $11M/yr. But a 5 year deal seems awfully long for a player who's only managed more than 500 plate appearances once in his 7 year career, especially when you can't shuffle him over to DH when (not if) his knees start acting up on him again.

Even more than Pedro to the Mets, this might be the greatest risk/upside deal so far this offseason.

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