Please lock up Heyward - I am not kidding

[nsacpi]

We will soon see what guys like Headley cost on the open market. This will put an end to the fantasy that 20 mil can get us upgrades at second, third and center, while also providing for an adequate replacement in right.

 

[zitothebrave]

All I'm saying is they have been comparable players over the past 4 years, you could even argue Gordon has been better.

WAR past 4 season:

Gordon: 6.6, 5.6, 3.5, 6.6
Heyward: 2.0, 6.3, 3.4, 5.1

Gordon's WAR is inflated because of pathetic defense in LF. Gordon is a very good player, he's not on par with Jason, he was much older when he extended, pretty close to all his value is tied in defensively so when he loses a step basically immediately he loses a healthy chunk of his value.

 

[thewupk]

This idea that we can't replace Heywood with 20 million dollars a year + whatever players/prospects we get is ridiculous. He isn't Babe Ruth. Maybe we don't replace his a carbon copy of Heywood but we can improve other areas to make up for the difference. I would rather have average players at 2b/3b/cf/Rf than have Heyward and 3 black holes fill those spots.

Well average players are worth about 2 WAR. The cost per WAR on the open market is around 6 million. So to get average production out of those 4 spots on the open market would cost the team about 45 million give or take. That said you try to get cheap average production out of your farm so the cost is minimal. And I believe we have that at 2nd in La Stella. We just need to get some production out of 3rd and Center. Center I think is a lost cause because of BJ's contract. I don't really see any way out of that. 3rd can be fixed if we get someone to platoon with Johnson.

 

[nsacpi]

Gordon signed his contract after his age 27 season. In the three years before signing his contract he had totalled 6.6 WAR.

Heyward just finished his age 24 season. In the past three seasons he has produced 14.8 WAR. I think he will get paid significantly more than Gordon.