Orlando Hudson signs with the Dodgers

[kramnoj]

Per : http://mlb.mlb.com/news/a...mp;fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

 

"Free agents are on sale, and the Dodgers picked one up on the cheap Friday when they agreed with second baseman Orlando Hudson on a one-year contract, baseball sources confirmed.

The deal is worth $3.4 million with another $4.6 million in possible incentives. "

 

This is surprising to me on a couple of levels. I'm surprised that the Dodgers signed him, I thought they would go with Blake DeWitt at 2B. I also wasn't sure how much money the Dodgers would be spending this year. I wonder if the Dodgers are starting to spend the money they had set aside for Manny.

 

I figured that Hudson would get more than one year. The climate obviously limited the spending of quite a few teams, and Hudson probably isn't perceived as enough of a star to get the big deal that he would have got in other years.

 

It's a low guarantee, but if he makes all the incentives he'll get $8M, so that's fair.

 

The other thing that is surprising to me is that the Dodgers are giving up the 17th pick in the draft for one year of a 31 year old 2B. If you are going to lose the pick, I would at least put on a team option for a 2nd year to get more utility out of that pick. Maybe Hudson wouldn't agree to a 2nd year in this economy and figures he has a shot at a multi-year deal next season.

[JoeHova]

Great move for LA if Hudson's defense is still as good as it was a couple years ago. I was kind of hoping that the Brewers would sign him or Ellis and move on from Weeks (in anticipation of moving JJ to 2nd when Alcides is ready), but the climate apparently wasn't right for that move or they wanted to give Weeks another chance.

[SeriesFinale]

I wonder if the Dodgers are starting to spend the money they had set aside for Manny.

Yeah, I can't help it, the first thing I thought of was: was this almost done as a way to call Manny's bluff?

 

I mean, I know it's ridiculous to reduce Orlando Hudson to a pawn like that, but the California media has got this story on my brain

[rm121978]

one of my favorite non-Brewer players. wouldn't mind seeing us go after him next year if the Weeks experiment is finally ended.

[TooLiveBrew]

I thought of how this pertains to Manny Ramirez as well, but I can't imagine a $4M-ish contract is going to stand in the way of any potential deal with Manny.

[logan82]

I am surprised a team would give up their first round pick for a one year deal.

[JohnBriggs12]

one of my favorite non-Brewer players. wouldn't mind seeing us go after him next year if the Weeks experiment is finally ended.

It's just me, but I would have moved Weeks to CF this year and signed Hudson to replace him for less than they are paying Cameron. Sure the OF defense would have suffered, but the IF defense would be much better and the offense much more balanced.

[Invader3K]

I have a hard time imagining that as much as Weeks seems to struggle at 2B, that he would do well in CF.

 

Nice move by the Dodgers. Just shows that there are still some bargains out there.

[kramnoj]

JB, your plan makes some sense in hindsight, but I don't see that as a practical move at the beginning of the offseason. Hudson was looking for a big deal, something like 5/$75M. There was no way he was going to sign for this little until ST started. That negotiation might have taken all offseason. Even if a deal like you talked about was made. I don't think it would be worth giving up a 1st round pick for an upgrade for a couple of years at 2B.

[logan82]

Orlando Hudson has been average or below the last 3 years on defense. He would probably be a small upgrade on defense. He was only a little better over the last 3 years on offense as well. Hudson would only be a small upgrade over Weeks at 2B and if you add giving up our 1st round pick and the big downgrade in CF, Weeks to CF and Husdon at 2B would have made our team much worse for very little savings in money and giving up a pick.