Stopgap Measure
Alex Gonzalez agreed to a one-year, $3M deal yesterday to play shortstop for the Red Sox in 2006. Gonzalez’s career 245/291/391 doesn’t set him apart from the other infielder named “Alex” the Red Sox already have; Cora’s career line of 244/310/349 is not spectacularly worse than the former Marlin’s.
Perhaps the differentiator is in the quixotic field of defensive metrics for which there is no widely accepted objective measure. Gonzalez does come out ahead in number of games played at short with 880 compared to Cora’s 373, so the former wouldn’t not need readapt in the infield. In those games played at the pivot, Gonzalez had a zone rating of .841 versus Cora’s .860. Also, I can’t tell which Alex Gonzalez is which at Baseball Musings. Let me know if you figure it out.
Comments
Only in months will anyone figure out if this Gonzales signing was too clone-like and entirely unnecessary. John Henry as plenty of bucks, so don't worry about his wallet. But you asked a great question, Joanna.
Peter*N ∙ 1 February 2006 ∙ 12:37 PM
And 3 days later, it still is not official. Have a nice weekend Joanna.
Peter*N ∙ 3 February 2006 ∙ 4:11 PM