Tuesday, December 7, 2004

Adios, Sayonara, Dye-Dye

A's decline arbitration for Dye

The Oakland Athletics declined to offer arbitration to four free agents Tuesday, including power-hitting outfielder Jermaine Dye.

The A's also declined arbitration for second baseman Mark McLemore and relievers Jim Mecir and Chris Hammond. Oakland is now unable to negotiate with the four players before May 1, and won't receive compensation if they sign with other teams.


Can't say I'm terribly upset to see any of those guys go. Dye was great for us at times, mostly early in his Oakland tenure. But he was injured too often to make his $11M contract worthwhile.

And the article points out the key thinking on Dye. The risk that he would accept arbitration and command a significant salary from the A's outweighed the potential benefit of receiving compensation draft picks should he sign elsewhere. So, farewell.

Here's what we need to replace in terms of Win Shares:

Dye - 12 Win Shares (-3 Win Shares Above Average, given equal playing time)
McLemore - 6 WS (-2 WSAA)
Hammond - 6 WS (3 WSAA)
Mecir - 4 WS (1 WSAA)

That's a grand total of 28 Win Shares and (-1) Win Share Above Average. The A's should essentially be able to replace those four guys with average players capable of consuming innings and at bats.

I for one, as always, am looking forward to how Billy Beane will manage to do just that.

My (obvious) guess - an outfield of Kotsay, Byrnes, Swisher and Kielty. Marc Ellis at 2B again with Marco Scutaro backing him up. I guess the only question is: Who will pitch the roughly 100 innings that Hammond and Mecir contributed last year?

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