Archive for alex gonzalez

The baseball blogosphere received a late Christmas present this morning when the Detroit Tigers traded Steve Lombardozzi to Baltimore in return for veteran shortstop Alex Gonzalez. Yeah, that’s the same Alex Gonzalez who limped to a .194 wOBA with the Milwaukee Brewers before getting released mid-season with a -1.1 WAR. Amongst non-pitchers with at least 100 plate appearances, Gonzalez compiled the third-worst wOBA in Major League Baseball, ahead of only Casper Wells and Luis Cruz. Tremendous company.

Of course, the Tigers are attempting to replace the injured Jose Iglesias without signing Stephen Drew, which would cost the organization a draft pick, or trading for Nick Franklin, which would involve sacrificing prospects from an already-thin farm system. It appears the organization has opted to compile a handful of fringe internal candidates, hoping one or two sticks enough to bring competent production to the shortstop position.

For fantasy purposes, though, should owners even bother paying attention to this battle?

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With a full month of baseball in the books, you’d have to think that your league’s waiver wire has been picked clean.  However, between the recent rash of injuries and rookie call-ups, there are certainly a few names that have slipped through the cracks.  Here are two guys you might want to consider depending on the holes in your roster. Read the rest of this entry »

Alex Gonzalez will be manning shortstop in Toronto once again… only it will be a different Alex Gonzalez.

Alex S. Gonzalez was the Jays’ starting shortstop from 1994-2001, before rookie GM J.P. Ricciardi shed his salary in a trade dump with the Cubs. The younger Gonzalez, who was originally signed by Florida, will take over the position nine years after the original Gonzo left town.

Both players share some similar traits. Both shortstops were above-average defenders, but below average hitters (albeit with a little added pop). The elder Gonzalez finished his career in ’07 with a triple-slash line of .243/.302/.391, while the 32-year-old infielder has a career line of .247/.294/.395 in 1,229 big-league games.

Entering 2010, the junior Gonzalez will see everyday duty at shortstop with Toronto. The club also recently announced that it had resigned veteran backup John McDonald to a two-year, $3.0 million contract. He’ll likely spell Gonzalez at short once or twice a week, while also seeing time at second base and third base.

Defensively, which really doesn’t help fantasy owners, Gonzalez should pair with Aaron Hill to provide solid defense up the middle. Gonzalez had an UZR of 10.5 this past season. His range will help to make up for the poor play at the hot corner by Edwin ‘E5’ Encarnacion. Gonzalez’ defense pulled up his abysmal hitting to give him a 0.5 WAR rating, which means he was worth about $2.4 million in ’09. Terms of his 2010 contract have not been released.

Gonzalez split the ’09 season between Boston and Cincinnati and hit .238/.279/.355 in 391 at-bats. Bill James‘ projection for Gonzalez in 2010 is a line of .248/.305/.387. He hasn’t played more than 112 games in the past four seasons (having missed ’08 in its entirety), so McDonald should certainly get more playing time in 2010, after Marco Scutaro (possibly headed to Boston via free agency) started almost every game until he was hurt in September.

If Gonzalez sees some power return to his game in 2010 (His ISO was just .118 in ’09, compared to an average of .170 or so between 2003-07), he could see his value increase a little bit. Even so, he’s certainly not a Top 10 fantasy option at the position, and he may not be in the Top 20 either. Because of his defensive value, he’s far more valuable in real-life baseball than in fantasy ball.