The Dodgers now have a first (or third) baseman for the next couple of years. Nomar Garciaparra agreed to come back to L.A. for two more years. There have been no monetary details in the articles I’ve seen, but since Nomar made $8.5M with incentives last year, I have to imagine he’s making more than that in each year of this deal. Maybe $10-11M per year? Seems like his value should be in the Frank Thomas range; maybe a little higher since the risk of career-ending injury isn’t so high.
With Bill Mueller’s retirement, that would seem to open up third base for Wilson Betemit, unless Rafael Furcal or Jeff Kent gets hurt, in which case Betemit could slide over, opening up third for Nomar or Andy LaRoche. If Nomar is slotted in at first, that means (as speculated) that James Loney will start the year in the outfield.
UPDATE: The LA Times says it’s $18M total. Good deal for Ned Coletti.
By Jeff Sackmann
