Let's look at the numbers; you know, Chris Haft's job.Jacobs isn't a premier free agent like Matt Holliday or Jason Bay. He isn't even considered a second-tier free agent. But he did hit 51 home runs in the previous two seasons. Jacobs would have an AT&T Park concession-stand menu item named after him, kind of like the "Cha Cha Bowl" saluting Orlando Cepeda, if he homered at that pace for the Giants.
These are the same Giants who ranked last in the Major Leagues with 94 home runs in 2008 and next-to-last in the National League with 122 homers last season. Granted, power isn't the cure-all to the Giants' offensive woes. But you have to wonder whether Jacobs might be worth signing to a one-year contract for a low base salary and enough performance bonuses to reward him for a job well done.
The Giants, who continue to seek offensive help, have contacted Jacobs' agent, John Boggs. Their interest in Jacobs appears minimal, however. "They haven't given any indication that he's a player they've targeted," Boggs said Monday. "But he could be the answer to completing their lineup."
Maybe Jacobs, 29, can be this year's Russell Branyan, who amassed 31 homers for Seattle last year after averaging 12 in the previous six seasons.
It is true that the Giants ranked second-to-last in ISO last season, with a team mark of .132, but they also ranked dead last in both OBP, BB% and wOBA last season.
Whereas Russell Branyan hit for a .368 wOBA/.867 OPS with an 11.9% walk rate, .347 OBP and .269 ISO last season, Mike Jacobs posted a .305 wOBA/.698 OPS with a .297 OBP (8.6% walk rate) and .173 ISO. Branyan is a career .257 ISO hitter with an elite career walk rate of 12.2%. Jacobs, by contrast, has a career OBP of .313 (7.9% walk rate) and .222 ISO. Jacobs has a -9.0 career UZR/150 at 1B. Branyan has a career +1.6 UZR/150 rate at 1B.
Whereas Branyan's 31 bombs (in an injury shortened season) last year ranked top 15 in the AL and whereas Branyan's .269 ISO was top 5 in the league, Mike Jacobs' .297 OBP was the fifth worst of any AL player given 450+ PA's and his .173 ISO fell well below the MLB average for first basemen last season (.206).
So please, Mr. Haft, explain to me in what way one of the league's worst OBP guys with below average pop for a first basemen (and poor defense) can not only benefit the worst team in OBP and second worst team in ISO from 2009, but can also be this year's Russell Branyan. Show your work.
Oh, and for the record, Russell Branyan only averaged 12 home runs from 2003-2008 because he also averaged 175 PAs per season over that same time frame. If you extrapolate the 12 HR/175 PA sample size to just Branyan's 2009 PA amount, you get six seasons where Branyan, in theory, averaged 34.7 home runs. Mike Jacobs career high mark in HRs? 32 in 2008. That was the only time Jacobs ever hit more than 20.
I like his idea of giving jacobs a min contract with a bunch of incentives, like that is going to magically make him a good baseball player.
ReplyDeleteI want to sign corey patterson for 1yr/400K with a 100 billion dollar incentive if he lays off the high fastball. He'll still swing at it, and it will be a waste of 400K
Who will grace this year's MLB 2k10? Mike Jacobs, of course.
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