| Payroll (mis)Management — Littlefield v. Bonifay |
by Wilbur Miller
WITH Dave Littlefield becoming almost universally vilified for his non-existent ability to evaluate talent, his claim to being a better (or less atrocious) General Manager than Cam Bonifay is entirely based on the notion that he hasn’t saddled the team with bad contracts. I don’t think this is a valid argument.
Bonifay was notorious for four contracts: Meares, Bell, Young and Kendall. But has Littlefield really done so much better?
To start with Meares — this was by far the stupidest of Bonifay’s contracts, based on the facts at the time of signing. (How can a veteran player be worth $1.5M on the open market one day, and then be worth $15M a month later?) But Meares cost the Bucs less than what Littlefield wasted on Casey/Randa/Burnitz, and the Bucs got a big chunk of Meares’ salary back through insurance. Big edge to Bonifay here.
Bell was a disaster, but he cost $9M. That’s roughly what Littlefield wasted on Armas, Simon II, Stynes, Santiago and Mondesi. Very small edge to Littlefield, just because Bell was Bell.
Young’s contract was bad, but was it much worse than Jack Wilson’s? Insofar as I recall, Young signed for $24M. But Jack’s two contracts running from 2005-09 total $29M for one of Major League Baseball’s weakest hitters. Arguably he’s a better player than Young was due to his glove, but it’s not a huge advantage. Good-field, no-hit shortstops aren’t hard to find. Small edge to Littlefield here.
Kendall’s contract was the biggest waste of money. That’s only because of the thumb injury, though. Pirate fans forget just what an elite player he was even after the ankle dislocation. He posted a 125 OPS+ the year after the ankle at a premium defensive position. That’s a huge thing. The contract probably would have been a burden the last couple years, but Kendall probably would have made below his market value during the first several years had it not been for the thumb. Meanwhile, Bay’s contract may end pretty badly. If a recent Baseball Prospectus article is correct in opining that Bay’s poor season is the result of lost bat speed, the Pirates may be paying $13.25M in 2008-09 for an average leftfielder. Big advantage for Littlefield here due to the way Kendall’s deal turned out, but maybe not as much as you’d think. That’s especially true if you take into account Giles’ contract. Giles signed a bad deal with the Indians that gave Bonifay the leverage to sign him to an extension at a below market salary. That in turn made it easier for Littlefield to trade him for Bay. So if you include Bonifay’s good payroll management with Giles, the edge isn’t so great here.
Littlefield’s edge decreases even further when you take Ramirez into account. Littlefield signed him to an extension that, while perfectly reasonable based on his talent, nevertheless required the Pirates to dump him. The bulk of the blame for that fiscal mismanagement has to go to McClatchy, but Dejan Kovacevic’s writing for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has made it clear that Littlefield does play a role in projecting future payroll needs. He has to share in the blame for the debacle at least a little.
Admittedly, when you take inflation into account Littlefield’s edge increases. Still, I don’t see where it’s all that great, certainly nowhere near enough to account for his terrible record in talent acquisition. Bonifay wasn’t so good in that area, but he was way, way better than Littlefield.
And even more importantly, what good has Littlefield’s supposedly superior payroll management done us, the fans? Exactly how many good players has the savings he’s generated allowed him to bring in? All we’ve gotten out of it is Casey, Randa, and Burnitz. It doesn’t make me the slightest bit happier to know that Littlefield has done a great job of lining the owners’ pockets. And it’s been made crystal clear that the payroll savings Littlefield achieves will never go toward the on-field product as long as the Nuttings own the team. So when it comes to Littlefield’s supposed skill at avoiding bad contracts, frankly my dears, I don’t give a damn.
WITH Dave Littlefield becoming almost universally vilified for his non-existent ability to evaluate talent, his claim to being a better (or less atrocious) General Manager than Cam Bonifay is entirely based on the notion that he hasn’t saddled the team with bad contracts. I don’t think this is a valid argument.
Bonifay was notorious for four contracts: Meares, Bell, Young and Kendall. But has Littlefield really done so much better?
To start with Meares — this was by far the stupidest of Bonifay’s contracts, based on the facts at the time of signing. (How can a veteran player be worth $1.5M on the open market one day, and then be worth $15M a month later?) But Meares cost the Bucs less than what Littlefield wasted on Casey/Randa/Burnitz, and the Bucs got a big chunk of Meares’ salary back through insurance. Big edge to Bonifay here.
Bell was a disaster, but he cost $9M. That’s roughly what Littlefield wasted on Armas, Simon II, Stynes, Santiago and Mondesi. Very small edge to Littlefield, just because Bell was Bell.
Young’s contract was bad, but was it much worse than Jack Wilson’s? Insofar as I recall, Young signed for $24M. But Jack’s two contracts running from 2005-09 total $29M for one of Major League Baseball’s weakest hitters. Arguably he’s a better player than Young was due to his glove, but it’s not a huge advantage. Good-field, no-hit shortstops aren’t hard to find. Small edge to Littlefield here.
Kendall’s contract was the biggest waste of money. That’s only because of the thumb injury, though. Pirate fans forget just what an elite player he was even after the ankle dislocation. He posted a 125 OPS+ the year after the ankle at a premium defensive position. That’s a huge thing. The contract probably would have been a burden the last couple years, but Kendall probably would have made below his market value during the first several years had it not been for the thumb. Meanwhile, Bay’s contract may end pretty badly. If a recent Baseball Prospectus article is correct in opining that Bay’s poor season is the result of lost bat speed, the Pirates may be paying $13.25M in 2008-09 for an average leftfielder. Big advantage for Littlefield here due to the way Kendall’s deal turned out, but maybe not as much as you’d think. That’s especially true if you take into account Giles’ contract. Giles signed a bad deal with the Indians that gave Bonifay the leverage to sign him to an extension at a below market salary. That in turn made it easier for Littlefield to trade him for Bay. So if you include Bonifay’s good payroll management with Giles, the edge isn’t so great here.
Littlefield’s edge decreases even further when you take Ramirez into account. Littlefield signed him to an extension that, while perfectly reasonable based on his talent, nevertheless required the Pirates to dump him. The bulk of the blame for that fiscal mismanagement has to go to McClatchy, but Dejan Kovacevic’s writing for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has made it clear that Littlefield does play a role in projecting future payroll needs. He has to share in the blame for the debacle at least a little.
Admittedly, when you take inflation into account Littlefield’s edge increases. Still, I don’t see where it’s all that great, certainly nowhere near enough to account for his terrible record in talent acquisition. Bonifay wasn’t so good in that area, but he was way, way better than Littlefield.
And even more importantly, what good has Littlefield’s supposedly superior payroll management done us, the fans? Exactly how many good players has the savings he’s generated allowed him to bring in? All we’ve gotten out of it is Casey, Randa, and Burnitz. It doesn’t make me the slightest bit happier to know that Littlefield has done a great job of lining the owners’ pockets. And it’s been made crystal clear that the payroll savings Littlefield achieves will never go toward the on-field product as long as the Nuttings own the team. So when it comes to Littlefield’s supposed skill at avoiding bad contracts, frankly my dears, I don’t give a damn.