Jason Beck spoke with Placido Polanco today and Polanco indicated pretty strongly that he would have accepted the Arbitration if Dave Dombrowski had offered.
This is interesting to hear. It confirms a very strong suspicion I had when the decision was being made.....the Tigers NEVER would have sniffed those compensatory draft picks if they'd made that offer to Polanco because he wasn't turning it down. He was going to take the sure thing.....the completely sensible move. He ended up with a better outcome of course by getting the 3-yr/$18M deal from Philly. This is a tremendous deal for him to wind down his career.
Dave Dombrowski made the right call....even though he indicated he might have made the offer if he could do it again.....he should trust his instincts, they led him down the right path.
Scott Sizemore was as ready as any prospect in the system and Polanco was coming off a second straight regressive season. It was time to plug in a younger player and he just happens to play the same position where the Tigers had an expiring contract. A fit. It saved the Tigers money as well which I'm sure they are also pleased about.
Its a safe bet for the Tigers...Sizemore just might outperform Polanco. If Sizemore's injury history continues or he doesn't play up to an acceptable level its fairly easy most seasons to round up a 2B on the fly for a competent GM. It will be a lot of fun to watch Sizemore progress this year. I also wish Polanco all the luck in the world....I just won't be among the legion of his fans that will miss him a whole bunch.
If the Tigers offered arbitration to Polanco, the Phillies then have to decide whether to go ahead with their offer. I think they make it anyway. Obviously, they wouldn't make an offer on a Type A free agent until they wait out the arby decision. But they immediately moved in and signed Polly once that was out of the way.
ReplyDeleteI still believe that, since they were willing to give $ 18 million for three years, plus an option on a fourth, a No. 27 pick would not have deterred them. I think they gave him too much, but obviously they really wanted him.
And Mr. Beck is all wet about DD estimating his arby value at $ 9 mil. That's absurd, and I'd bet the farm on that.