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I know Jeffrey Winick is far too modest to self-evaluate his brilliant, bold moves to rebuild his team, at least on paper. But while he’s busy drafting his next article on this season’s dumpers, let’s take a reasonably close look at how Winick’s strategy paid off: Big Time.
Winick went into the draft planning to rebuild. He knew that Klein Nine and Red Hots, among others, had far more firepower on their reserve rosters than he and it made little sense to engage these squads this year. Accordingly, his plan was to (i) buy some high-priced studs to move in-season for keepers and (ii) acquire some bargains. As for the first part of the Plan, Winick spent $46 on A-Rod, $25 on Reggie Sanders (a buck less than Jim Thome, I might add) and $21 on Javier Vazquez. Winick burned up too much cash chasing two highly touted prospects (but more on those later) , but the first part of the plan resulted in some success. I leave it to Klein to berate Winick for the talent he dumped, but A-Rod along with Joe Blanton netted Winick Brandon Wood and Phillip Hughes. We all know Wood’s gonna be a stud hitter and he was among the top 3 prospects available via trade. The guy’s already belted 18 taters albeit with over one hundred Ks–magic bean or silver bullet, the guy’s a keep, as is Hughes (over 100 Ks already) if one cares for $5 rookie pitchers (see King Felix). The money W spent on Sanders was a waste of resources but W sure moved the woefully mediocre Vazquez at the right time, parting with him and Ibanez to acquire a $3 Rocco Baldelli. A major keeper.
The bargain-hunting part of Winick’s draft plan was partly successful, but face it: for the all the ridicule you naysayers heaped on W for spending $19 on Francisco Liriano, who wouldn’t want this guy now? An untouchable and among the best pitchers in baseball. W spent $14 on Andy Marte, who will play at some point this season and will need to do something significant to justify retention at that salary. But W also drafted Hayden Penn and Jon Lester for $1 each. Penn’s doing fine in the minors and will be a contributor next year if not this year. And did anyone see Lester pitch last night? Two solid solid keepers.
What about W’s other moves this season? He plucked Jason Kubel at a $5 salary from the Angries, who somehow thought Dan Miceli was worth it….check out this guy’s stats: Keeper! W ripped me off for SEA uber-prospect Adam Jones, and recently acquired a $7 Joe Crede from the Nukes for a damaged piece of Millwood and a mediocre Mike Cuddyer. Another great trade. It must smoke, mirrors and Billy Goat burgers, I don’t know…
And I don’t want to overlook other nice players W drafted or retained: Ty Wigginton was a pleasant surprise, Craig Monroe is OK (and W’s stuck with his contract in any event), John Lackey is awesome and he’s got more magic beans like Evan Longoria…
Jeffrey will need to draft saves and steals next year but the starting pitching is poised to dominate and he has some nice undervalue at CI and OF. To grade his effort at anything less than an A would diminish this man’s brilliance. Winick continues to shine as the League’s best architect in renovation efforts. This roster is a money team for next year.
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