| Christopher Reina. 12th December, 2008 - 11:52 am
 Raul Ibanez has played almost his entire career in relative, unappreciated obscurity. He now gets a chance to join the World Series champion Phillies with a $30M contract over the next three years.
He came up with the Mariners in the late 90s as a fourth outfielder and then signed with the Royals for the 2001 season when Seattle then won 116 games.
Since that 2001 season when he became an everyday player, Ibanez is ranked 33rd in OPS+ among players with at least 4000 plate appearances with a mark of 118. He has been incredibly consistent over that timespan, with a low OPS of .791 and a high of .883. His just wrapped up his finest three-year stretch (.869 in 06, .831 in 07 and .837 in 08).
Historically, he has struggled against lefties (.733 OPS against) but actually was better against them in 08 (.866) than he was against righties (.824).
Ibanez has never played at Citizen's Bank Park, but he should thrive in its cozy confines. There were several contenders also pursuing Ibanez, such as the Mets, Cubs, Angels, and Braves, but Philadelphia genuinely seemed to be his top choice.
He has never been a stellar outfielder, but the market for corner outfielders defensively is incredibly weak between Adam Dunn, Manny Ramirez, and Pat Burrell. At least he isn't playing right field as he would have been asked to do for the Cubs, but he will unquestionably be a liability defensively.
Ibanez has been one of the best bargains in the game during his tenure in Seattle, topping out at $5.5M. In 2008, he was ranked 111th in season FIC and 'deserved' to make $8M, giving him a Reina Value of +45%. His $10M annual salary is a nice raise for Ibanez but is a figure that he can be expected to be deserving of, at least offensively, for Philadelphia.
But I think the Phillies might be a little too left-handed heavy with the loss of Pat Burrell and will need Jayson Werth and Pedro Feliz to produce as much as ever, but they still should have enough overall talent to still rank in the top three or four in OPS in the NL.
Most importantly, I believe the Phillies erred in being so eager to cut ties with Burrell. He is younger, better offensively, better defensively, right handed, and with the way the market looks for him, he won't cost a whole lot more. A three-year deal for a 36-year-old is typically worse than a five-year deal for a 32-year-old.
Burrell is a better on-base hitter and has a lot more pop and, though his time in Philadelphia was tempestuous, he was always great against the Mets and stayed relatively healthy.
Grade for Phillies: C-
Grade for Ibanez: A |
