Chone Figgins: Bench Option?

mabrowndog

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Nick Cafardo
 
Turns out the Red Sox did watch Chone Figgins' workout in Tampa last week.
 
Rotoworld adds:
 
The 35-year-old free agent took infield, outfield and batting practice and then ran the 60-yard dash in front of nine interested teams in Tampa, Florida. Figgins should land a non-guaranteed minor league contract soon. He did not play MLB-affiliated ball in 2013.
 
He turns 36 on Wednesday.
 
After an impressive 3-year run from 2007-09 (.301/.386/.382/.768, 1.28 K/BB, 16.8 fWAR in 1752 PA) and an uninspiring 2010 debut in Seattle (.259/.340/.306/.646, 1.54 K/BB, 1.2 fWAR in 702 PA), Figgins completely fell apart in 2011-12 (.185/.249/.253/.502, 2.25 K/BB, -2.3 fWAR in 507 PA).
 
Played 3B and all 3 OF positions those two years. Last played 2B in 2010 (starting 161G). Last played SS in 2006 (2G, with 27G over his career), so his inability to fill in at short is obviously a major appeal limitation for this club. And if Xander & WMB are both on the roster, there's certainly no need for another 3B backup.
 
I do wonder if this is a "due diligence" hedge on Jonathan Herrera meeting any legal consequences from the alleged car wash assault. If so it makes little sense, as they'd still need to head north with another shortstop-capable reserve. That would render Figgins primarily an OF backup, which would mean dealing Carp or Nava if this is the Sox' line of thinking.
 
Stashing him in Pawtucket would be fine, but I doubt he'd sign any minor league deal without a 25-man stipulation and out-clause.
 
His contract with the Mariners (4/$36M, including swallowing all $8M for 2013) proved to be a total waste of a shitload of cash. But if he's actually regained any semblance of bat speed and plate judgment, his versatility, baserunning, defense, and ability to draw walks from both sides of the plate would be a nice tool set to have on the work bench.
 

E5 Yaz

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There's really no downside of signing him to a minor league deal. Either he has something left and can be a versatile bench player, or he's cut in ST.
 

vadertime

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Stashing him in Pawtucket would be fine, but I doubt he'd sign any minor league deal without a 25-man stipulation and out-clause.
 
 

 

I may be wrong, but I think one of the features of the new CBA was that ANY minor contract signed by someone with major league service time automatically has an out clause.
 
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With as many as nine teams at the workout, I agree with 'dog that it is doubtful to see him sign a K without either an out-clause or a ML guarantee or some sort.
 
 
At 36, I don't see any upside, I'd rather keep both Carp and Nava.
 
Here's an interesting 6 year old article on him that mentions him in the same set of breaths as Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and David Ortiz.
 
http://www.sportinglife360.com/index.php/is-baseballs-chone-figgins-of-the-los-angeles-angels-emerging-as-hitter-yes-59754/
 

mabrowndog

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vadertime said:
I may be wrong, but I think one of the features of the new CBA was that ANY minor contract signed by someone with major league service time automatically has an out clause.
 
Great point. However, in this case the CBA language doesn't cover spring training opt-outs:
 
Article XX(B) free agents signing minor league contracts who are not added to the Opening Day roster or unconditionally released 5 days prior to Opening Day shall receive an additional $100,000 retention bonus and the right to opt out on June 1.
 
 
What I'm talking about is the player becoming a free agent immediately at a certain deadline without having to wait until June 1. Of course, for some teams that $100k retention bonus could act as a de facto opt-out, with those clubs preferring to cut ties and save the cash.
 

foulkehampshire

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Remember when certain people here were advocating singing him over Adrian Beltre after the 2009 season? Thank God that didn't happen.
 
In hindsight the Sox should have extended Beltre, but who knew the guy was going to slash .312/.356/.542 over the next 3 seasons as opposed to .270/.325/.453 he'd averaged the prior 12 years. The guy is a freak. 
 

Rovin Romine

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foulkehampshire said:
Remember when certain people here were advocating singing him over Adrian Beltre after the 2009 season? Thank God that didn't happen.
 
In hindsight the Sox should have extended Beltre, but who knew the guy was going to slash .312/.356/.542 over the next 3 seasons as opposed to .270/.325/.453 he'd averaged the prior 12 years. The guy is a freak. 
 
I was in the sign Beltre over Gonzalez camp.  I remember someone floated the Chone idea, but it seemed like Jose Offerman redux to me. 
 

Savin Hillbilly

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foulkehampshire said:
In hindsight the Sox should have extended Beltre, but who knew the guy was going to slash .312/.356/.542 over the next 3 seasons as opposed to .270/.325/.453 he'd averaged the prior 12 years. The guy is a freak. 
 
That .270/.325/.453 was a bogus line for projection purposes, and plenty of us knew it at the time. His road numbers in Seattle were consistently good (even though Safeco isn't the only crappy hitter's park in that division). His career road OPS is .834; in the fall of 2009, when we signed him, it was .829. Yup, that's one hell of an unexpected mid-career offensive explosion.
 
That he has so far managed to avoid decline well into his 30s is a bit surprising, it's true. But that point aside, the hitter he was in Boston and has been in Texas is pretty much the hitter he always was. You just had to look a little below the surface to see it.
 

seantoo

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foulkehampshire said:
Remember when certain people here were advocating singing him over Adrian Beltre after the 2009 season? Thank God that didn't happen.
 
In hindsight the Sox should have extended Beltre, but who knew the guy was going to slash .312/.356/.542 over the next 3 seasons as opposed to .270/.325/.453 he'd averaged the prior 12 years. The guy is a freak. 
There were some of us out there, hell after Lowell had the degenerative (far to many people did not understand what that word meant/means) hip injury, I wanted the Sox to trade for Beltre, a year and a half before they signed him as a free agent. Seattle used to be a depth valley (the fences have been brought in recently) for right handed pull hitters, yadda yadda yadda. What would of the fall-out been had the Sox extended/resigned Beltre? Youks stays at first and perhaps we squeeze another year or two of good production out of him. Do we even trade for Gonzalez? If so is Youks then traded when he still has real value? 
Chone on the other hand, IIRC, had a career year at 31 YO?, was fairly obvious to many that he was a flash in the pan.
 

DanoooME

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seantoo said:
There were some of us out there, hell after Lowell had the degenerative (far to many people did not understand what that word meant/means) hip injury, I wanted the Sox to trade for Beltre, a year and a half before they signed him as a free agent. Seattle used to be a depth valley (the fences have been brought in recently) for right handed pull hitters, yadda yadda yadda. What would of the fall-out been had the Sox extended/resigned Beltre? Youks stays at first and perhaps we squeeze another year or two of good production out of him. Do we even trade for Gonzalez? If so is Youks then traded when he still has real value? 
Chone on the other hand, IIRC, had a career year at 31 YO?, was fairly obvious to many that he was a flash in the pan.
 
He had a better year in 2007 and another couple of decent years, so I wouldn't necessarily call him a flash in the pan.
 
While I agree with 'Dog that his skill set could be desirable for this team, there really isn't room on the roster and I'd tend to think he'd take a chance with a team that could fit him onto the 25-man roster.  He'd have to have a hell of a spring, plus some injuries to other guys, to make the team in Boston.
 

LeoCarrillo

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Belter re-signed changes all of recorded history. It's like Lee Harvey Oswald oversleeping. Youk at first. No Gonzo, likely no money for Crawford, no Punto deal, no 2011 collapse, no Tito firing, no V. Hell, maybe Theo is even still in town.
 

Rovin Romine

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LeoCarrillo said:
Belter re-signed changes all of recorded history. It's like Lee Harvey Oswald oversleeping. Youk at first. No Gonzo, likely no money for Crawford, no Punto deal, no 2011 collapse, no Tito firing, no V. Hell, maybe Theo is even still in town.
Plus Rizzo.  And maybe an extra year out of Youks minus the wear and tear of 3B.  
 
But Beltre would have severely injured at least one RS OF per year.   That has to be factored in too. 
 

Savin Hillbilly

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DanoooME said:
 
While I agree with 'Dog that his skill set could be desirable for this team, there really isn't room on the roster and I'd tend to think he'd take a chance with a team that could fit him onto the 25-man roster.  He'd have to have a hell of a spring, plus some injuries to other guys, to make the team in Boston.
 
He could actually be a decent fit as the utility guy in the event we re-sign Drew and trade WMB, because in that scenario our backup SS is our starting 3B, so all we need is a backup 3B/2B. But even that scenario hinges on the assumption that he has anything left in the tank, which seems unlikely.