Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Red Sox Pursuing Mike Napoli... But Should They Be?

Both the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees seem to be interested in the services of Mike Napoli. I'm not entirely sold on Napoli. It all depends on the price.

At his best, he's an excellent player. He's capable of an OBP above .400 and SLG above .600 and surpassing 30 homeruns. However, he's only been at his best for selected parts of his career.

He's only managed to play 120+ games once in his career. He's only hit above .300 once, only reached a .400 OBP once, only reached .500 SLG twice. His career numbers good but not great.

He was paid $9.4 million last year after arbitration. Napoli filed for $11.5 million in that process. Considering he's only had one 140 game season, and one All-Star caliber season, I don't think he's worth much more than that. And certainly not worth a long-term deal at significant money.

The Red Sox do have money to spend, but that's not sufficient reason to spend it. Think about it. If you find a $20 bill on the street do you instantly spend it, just because you have it?

If they can get Napoli at a decent price, then he'd improve the team. The price and length of the deal is everything. I don't want to see this team repeat its mistakes by committing money to unpredictable players just because it can.

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