Chone Figgins: Should He Stay or Should He Go?

and like you point out, we have Aybar to lead off.

“We ranked him All Time Angel #19 in our preseason Top 100 Angels poll and he might even be higher than that after his contributions to this season’s division title.”

You overrated him

We’d let anyone go at this point.

Wood plays third, Aybar leads off (or Izzy when he starts, which will still be a lot), and we spend money on other stuff.

I want to finally see if Wood lives up to the hype. And the draft pick would be nice too. Even if he’s a type B. Serious coin is going to be coming his way this winter and I don’t see Arte matching it.

But not the walks. Figgins had over 100 last year. It will take Aybar 3 years to get that many. Brandon Wood can replace Figgins at third but leadoff hitter is a tough question. Izzy might be the best option when he plays. Maybe Chris Pettit can take over left (with Rivera in right) and be a leadoff hitter.

1. The Angels are at the point where they need to find out if Brandon Wood can produce for an entire season or not. He has nothing more to prove in AAA.
2. Jeff Mathis produced more in one playoff series than Figgins has in his entire playoff career.
3. I would rather see the money spent on keeping John Lackey.

All it takes is two or three teams that really want him, and I think those teams are out there. To the Angels, he’s not worth what some other team is going to offer him.

This is probably the biggest question to attempt to determine going into this offseason. What I have to say will probably upset several here, but isn’t it time to blow it up and rebuild?

FA is not going to have a true impact franchise player on the market this year. The best pitcher is the Angels own Lackey and the best offensive player might be Matt Holiday.

Vlad is a shadow of the former masher feared by pitching staff’s all through the AL. Abreu as good as he has played is in the twilight of his career. Torii had the best offensive season of his career this year at age 34. Time catches up to all of us at some point. This offense is old. Thankfully at least Morales is a guy just entering his prime.

Is Holliday capable to of being the feared bat in the middle of a lineup? I am not so sure after his struggles in Oak against AL pitching. If not Holliday, who do you look for to be a constant offensive threat the next several years on this team besides Morales? The farm does not have a true superstar bat. Wood might or might not produce at 3B. The upper levels are thin in elite talent. Last years draft should solve some of that problem, but that will take several years for the talent to work their way up.

Would this team not be better served to let the FA go and play for the future? Unless there is a major talent infusion this aging roster will be hard pressed with the amount of youth being brought up by the rest of the AL West, longterm. Sometimes it is better to accept the fact that the window has closed on this team and play for the future.

Does a team with Lackey, Vlad and Figgins and an aging offense stand a chance next year in the AL West? Absolutely. The problem is the needed long term nature of those deal will continue to clutter the roster with aging players and make the eventual rebuilding process that much harder and longer. The window has closed, time to start looking towards the future instead of attempting to cling to the past.

I can’t take the same old disappearing act come October, year after year.

It makes no sense to keep them both. If Figgins goes, we get two draft choices that might help in 3 to 5 years. If we trade Wood, perhaps some dimwit GM will buy high on the hype that Wood will be a star.

Personally, they both can go. Let’s get the draft choices for Figgins and package Wood in a trade for someone like Soria of KC. There’s enough serviceable 3rd baseman out there to pick up cheaply.

time to move on.

Free Brandon Wood!

But he failed horribly this post-season, which didn’t earn him any admirers.

Not a top priority. But make the man an offer.

he is more than just a singles hitter who can steal bases and plays great defense. He is an inspiration to the rest of the team. The guy is a career 300 hitter. He should play either right or left field for the angels next year since one of those spots will likely be vacant. He is worth no more than 10 million a year. I mean if they pay a guy like GMJ 10 mill a year, they have got to keep our motor. I do think he should bat 9 spot. In the outfield I also like that strong arm he has developed which would be a huge asset. Pay him and make him our number 2 priority behind getting Lackey to stay. I’m not comfortable with weaver or kazmir being the ace.

For a leadoff hitter it is all about getting on base and chone was very good at that last year (.395). Derek Jeter was the only other leadoff hitter in the majors to get on base at a better rate and the Yankees would never dream of letting him walk, despite his defensive liabilities. According to Fangraphs Figgin’s worth came almost as much with his glove as it did from his bat.
In fact, if we could sign Figgy for Rev’s proposed 3 year/ $27 mil deal, it could be an absolute steal. According to fangraphs, Chone was worth 5.9 wins more than a replacement player. The average free agent makes about $4 million per win so he was worth around $24 million last year alone. If we can get a player worth $24 mil for $9 mil we should jump on it.
It’s like this was even a fluke year for figgy. His BB rate has been increasing every year since he has been in the majors and his BABIP was only slightly higher than his career average. Sure his steals will decline, but it’s not like the rest of our team are slouches on the base path.
I say resigning figgy should be our FIRST priority. Then we can either trade B-Wood or move chone to right field and let Vlad or Bobby walk (either of which will make me tear up). When it’s all said and done, Desmond DeChone Figgins could mean to the Angels what Jeter means to the Yankees

Sorry figgy :(

and this has nothing to do with Figgins’ postseason lack of play.

Wood needs a spot next year. We all know this. He’s just too good of a player to sit on the bench. He has to start at either 1B, SS or 3B. 1B and SS are covered by Morales and Aybar, so that leaves us with 3B, which, at this point, has an opening. So do we sign our 32 year-old speedster with subtly declining skills? Maybe. But not for 3 years.

Ideally, you’d probably want to sign Chone to play LF (ala Juan Pierre), but only for 1 or 2 years. I think teams like the White Sox and Cubs would be willing to overpay for his services. Let them.

As many have said, Erick Aybar is beginning to come into his own as a hitter. His OBP still isn’t what it needs to be to lead off, but what if the organization does the same thing with Aybar in 2010 that they did with Figgy in 2009? Re-sign Abreu, stick him next to Aybar and see what happens. Maybe some of that hitting-God wisdom will trickle into Erick’s ears (which are now conveniently uncovered).

I’d like to see them re-sign Lackey, re-sign Abreu, re-sign Oliver, and go from there. Everyone else can be replaced from within.

I much as I love Abreu and what he brought to this team I THINK FIGGY is the more important person to resign. Don’t get me wrong — I would love to keep both of them. If I had to choose I would resign Figgy. I think that he is that important. Try removing your spark plugs from your car’s engine and see how far you get.

As probably the biggest Desmond-lover on this site, of course I don’t want to see him go. Plus I don’t want to have to change my sig.

Love in grief ~ highland

It’s true, difficult decisons must be made by Soth and the boys at the top about who stays and who goes; however, one thing that should stay is this awesome website. This is my first time weighing in (better late than never…), but I have been reading and enjoying the fascinating collection of responses all year long—thank you all for making my time between grading student papers more enjoyable. You guys and gals get an A+.
Also, Rev, I wanted to commend you now that the season’s over for your outstanding piece on “What We Should Know About the Halos” sent out as a reply to the article about the Red Sox before that series began. It was intelligent, humorous, clever, masterful and ironic.: smart but fun. As a published author and professor I applaud your effort in that writing and in all of your work.
Look forward to sharing more time with the RevHalofan Experience next year.
Go Trojans and Lakers!

He has sucked every postseason except for one. The Angels should move on

…plain and simple.

I was at Opening Day in the LF Pavilion strategically seated for the flag raising for winning the West in 2008. Standing mere inches and feet away from the players while they were out there to hoist away. It was plainly obvious that Chone was a far more integral part of “who this team is/was” than I had ever been lead to believe. I always had mixed opinions/emotions on the guy. I know that if I were a GM I would weigh heavily on character of the players as well as the statistics etc…and Figgy is a “character guy.”

Do we have a position for Figgy? My head tells me that Wood MUST play somewhere next season and with the breakout season that Eybar had this year it is obvious that position is 3b, not LF folks. Wood is out of minor league options for next season and it is highly unlikely he is going to learn LF in the majors. Pitching is the #1 emphasis of this team so I believe that if Lackey is not deemed an injury risk by the front office they will make a good-faith offer (which of course will not be high enough…see KRod). Abreu and Vlad have both said they want to come back. (LINK to article on Vlad’s return)

One of the first things he did after signing a contract was to purchase the first house he saw in Anaheim. His mother, Altagracia, gradually adjusted to summers in Orange County, often cooking Dominican food for Angels and visiting players.
"I’m not thinking so much about the uncertainty. I’m thinking about my mom and how comfortable she feels in Anaheim," Guerrero said. "That’s always going to be one thing I’m going to think about regarding free agency."

I think we have all heard Abrew’s quotes over the past few weeks…and know and respect his desire to return to Anaheim.

I said it at the beginning of the season and I will say it again right now, “our OF is old and slow. Pop-ups become singles, singles become doubles, and doubles become triples.” Tough for our pitching to overcome on a routine basis. Torii makes incredible catches, positions himself well, gets a great jump on the ball, but is not the fastest guy as is needed to make up for the lack of speed at the corner OF positions. If Figgy comes back, it would have to be as a corner OF.

My version of “Reality” is that very few, if any, of these guys will return next season. Oliver is most likely to return if he does not retire. Escobar returns only if he truly desires to pay back some of the coin he “earned” the last couple seasons. Realistically, either Abrew or Vlad return as DH and the rest (including Figgins) will take the money and go elsewhere. My heart does not like me much right now…

I love Figgy, mostly, but not enough to carry an $24M/4-year deal.

Link to OC Register photo.

3 year $27M sounds fair.

Sign Orlando Hudson and all is the same. with Aybar at Leadoff and O-dog at 2 let bobby go and trade or sign a big time free agent. I say its a good deal