Kenny Lofton's Magical Time Machine!

[TooLiveBrew]

Where you get paid way too much because you used to be really good!

 

 

"The Reds offered Lofton a minor-league contract, but he wanted a major-league deal. The Rays offered him a major-league deal for more than $1 million, but Lofton wanted a salary more in line with some of his peers. Maybe he should just sign somewhere and prove himself again, but in Lofton's view, he has been there, done that, too many times throughout his 17-year career.

'From what I've done in the past, it should warrant me getting a real offer, a real understanding about what I've done on the field,' Lofton, who turns 41 on May 31, said in a telephone interview. 'I feel like I went out last year and did what I was supposed to do to show people that even though I'm at a certain age, I can still get the job done. Do people respect what I do on the field? It seems like maybe not.'"

 

 

Umm, Kenny, you're 41, you can't hit LHP to save your life, your range is a shell of what it used to be, and your arm's a wet noodle. We need to get this guy a reality machine.

 

[pogokat]

i agree with him to a crtain extent...when your his age...you can't "prove yourself"...people take everything he does as a "last gasp" and assume he can't do it again...even if he had another good year like last year, people would assume he'd just collapse in 2009...

 

it's an odd situation...he's a good bet to be decent this year, but the risks associated with his age make teams want to pay him very little..

 

lofton is a middle aged rich guy who doesn't want to prove himself...my thoughts would be that he should retire, but i would definitely be frustrated if i was in his position as well...

 

what he really needs is to find someone to give him an incentive laden deal...like 1 up front, but make incentives reach 6-7 million based on ab's...

[Gopher74]

i agree with him to a crtain extent...when your his age...you can't "prove yourself"...people take everything he does as a "last gasp" and assume he can't do it again...even if he had another good year like last year, people would assume he'd just collapse in 2009...

 

what he really needs is to find someone to give him an incentive laden deal...like 1 up front, but make incentives reach 6-7 million based on ab's...

I can absolutely see where he is coming from.

 

Great, he's 41 years old, and he's not a great defensive OF'er any longer, but he still is coming off a season in which he hit .296 with a .367 OBP and 23 stolen bases. He could absolutely could be a very nice role player for a contender. He hit .313 last year with a .386 OBP vs Right Handers, so maybe he was poor vs left handers, but he's still very good vs 75 pct of the pitchers out there. Seems to me that he'd be a great guy to have coming off the bench, and it sounds like he'd be willing to sign for 2-3 million dollars to play on a contender.

 

He's not a complete player obviously, but if he were, he wouldn't be on the market still, but it's far from ridiculous for a guy who's just consistently been a very solid player, even into his 40's.

 

His three year splits; 05-07

.313 BA .371 OBP .783 OPS with 77 SB's and 13 CS's in that time to go with 232 R's scored in just 327 games started. That's not a bad job at all.

 

He really would fit into our roster perfectly at this point providing a very good starter for the first 25 games and then giving you both a great PH'ing/PR'ing option the rest of the way, and a good clubhouse guy.

[sheetswannabe]

I would LOVE Lofton for the 1st 25 games, and as a backup.. Sign him up!

[mothershipconnection]

I'm sure he'd never sign with us when others offer the same money and a starting shot, but if he fell to a little over a million, he'd be such a perfect fit it's insane. Having a guy with his skills on the bench after bridging the gap for the first 25 games would be a huge boost to this team, especially in the event of an injury to one of the regulars.

[TooLiveBrew]

Great, he's 41 years old, and he's not a great defensive OF'er any longer, but he still is coming off a season in which he hit .296 with a .367 OBP and 23 stolen bases.

 

Yes, but he can't play CF anymore, thus making his offensive contribution even less impactful. He's the RH 'no power' portion of a LF platoon. My guess as to why he's unsigned by any contending team is that there are plenty of guys that teams already have that can out-produce him. He's not worth much more than maybe $2+ mil., but I agree with pogo that an incentive-laden deal would probably work best for Kenny & any prospective employer.

[Gopher74]

Yes, but he can't play CF anymore, thus making his offensive contribution even less impactful. He's the RH 'no power' portion of a LF platoon. My guess as to why he's unsigned by any contending team is that there are plenty of guys that teams already have that can out-produce him.

Sure he can still play CF. He started the majority of the games he played last year in Center, and only moved to LF when he got to Cleveland and he was playing with Sizemore. He's played CF every year of his career, and while he doesn't have a strong arm anymore, he's just fine out there.

 

And no,he doesn't have great power, but that's alright when a guy gets on base, something he still does very well.

 

Of course there are flaws with his game, but the upside far outweighs the downside, and with the Brewers losing Cameron for 25 games, they're basically going with Gwynn, a guy they pray can be like Kenny Lofton. With all the money they've got locked up in players that are likely going to play a lesser role, you'd think they'd jump at the chance to grab him for 2 or so million. I'm guessing that a contender will grab him at some point in the season just as someone will do with Barry Bonds.

 

[splitterpfj]

I wonder if Detroit will pursue Lofton as a short-term answer while Granderson is out?

[endaround]

Lofton isn't better than Gross though at this point. So you're stuck with a $3 million player who shouldn't get to play after Cameron gets back.

[TooLiveBrew]

Sure he can still play CF.

You're probably right here - I think I overstated that. To rephrase, I think that Lofton's diminished range and lack of any arm strength (he did used to have a decent arm iirc) make him an average to below-average CF candidate. His OBP plays nicely as a part of a CF platoon, but I think many contending teams have a superior and/or cheaper option (such as Gross).

[Big Reed]

i like lofton as a fantasy player. i've never met the guy. he seem like a nice guy to have on a 25 man roster. I recall when we had that pinch hitter delux harris (?) on our team and we were giving him $2-4 million for just pinch hitting. I would think lofton would fit into that same type of role. i can't see where lofton is going to find a starting role anywhere. like Piazza, he probablt just didn't want to play in Spring training and will sign somewhere this week. I'd like the brewers t o sign him, but I won't be sad if he signs elsewhere.

 

what would make me mad though is if the brewers keep McClung over lofton.

[Gopher74]

i like lofton as a fantasy player. i've never met the guy. he seem like a nice guy to have on a 25 man roster. I recall when we had that pinch hitter delux harris (?) on our team and we were giving him $2-4 million for just pinch hitting.

He made 1.1 million dollars.

 

 

 

[Gopher74]

Sure he can still play CF.

You're probably right here - I think I overstated that. To rephrase, I think that Lofton's diminished range and lack of any arm strength (he did used to have a decent arm iirc) make him an average to below-average CF candidate. His OBP plays nicely as a part of a CF platoon, but I think many contending teams have a superior and/or cheaper option (such as Gross).

I can agree with that...his arm is bad. Not Pierre/Gonzo bad, but bad, and his range isn't what it used to be, but it's better than it used to be.

 

I do think though that he's a better option than Gross. I trust Lofton more in PH'ing situations, and despite the fact that Gross has at times carried a decent OBP, but he didn't last year, and he's not anywhere near as reliable as Gross.

 

Again, he's what we really, really hope that Gwynn can be the first 25 games as a starter, and what we hope he can be as a bench player.