On this date in 2003, the Red Sox made one of the best free-agent signings of all time. The story of David Ortiz’s Red Sox career is well-known and often recounted, however. So let’s fast-forward to this date eight years ago when the Red Sox added another pretty good first baseman/designated hitter: Mike Napoli put pen to paper and officially signed a one-year deal worth $5MM guaranteed. The deal was notable because the two sides had previously agreed to a three-year, $39MM contract that fell apart because of concern over the health of Napoli’s hip.
After the failed physical, Napoli briefly flirted with a return to the Texas Rangers, with whom he’d spent the previous two seasons. Napoli had been a significant trade acquisition for the Rangers following the 2010 season, making his one and only All-Star team while helping Texas repeat as American League champions. Though Texas would fall for the second consecutive season in the World Series, Napoli played lights out, slashing .350/.464/.700 in 28 plate appearances with two home runs and 10 runs driven in.
Regardless, the Red Sox had more playing time to offer the former catcher, and he became Boston’s new first basemen with a deal guaranteeing $5MM while still providing a ceiling of $13MM based on incentives. The 31-year-old would take home the full boat, cashing in with 139 games played, 578 plate appearances, and 3.7 rWAR by way of a .259/.360/.482 batting line. He chipped in 23 home runs despite a 32.4 percent strikeout rate.
Napoli was absolutely a contributing factor in the Red Sox turning around a 93-loss team from the season prior, becoming a 97-win juggernaut that rolled past the Rays, Tigers, and Cardinals to win the World Series title. Though Napoli would play in the World Series three times, 2013 was the only time he’d walk away with a ring.
Ultimately, though the hip issue got Napoli’s Boston tenure off to an inauspicious start, the relationship was an unmitigated success, so much so that Napoli re-upped following that 2013 campaign for another two seasons at a $16MM AAV. Ultimately, Napoli earned $45MM over that three-year stretch, well more than the $39MM he would have earned under the original terms of his deal.
These days, Napoli is a Quality Assurance Coach on the staff of one of his former teammates from that 2013 team, David Ross.
Really hard up for something to write about during the work stoppage.
Hey, knuck2, I’ll tell you how it was growing up with Harmon Killebrew over in Payette County, Idaho, 1949-54.
No statistics, though. Don’t know if the Payette Valley Sentinel even reported stats. It was owned by another Killebrew, too, Harmon’s uncle.
Things were different then. We weren’t online. Weren’t even off-line.
People didn’t talk baseball much, so every idiot didn’t get to show off his smarts.
Can’t remember our batting averages. Harmon’s cousin Jack Mordhorst had the best BA in ’54.
I threw Jack a lot of BP to keep him sharp.
No big games to report.
Anyway it was all over by late May and the next time I saw Harmon we were bucking onions over near Nyssa.
Then I joined the Navy and Harmon got discovered and ended up in The Show.
End of story.
I wouldn’t say paying $13 million for a single year of an OPS below .850, 23 home runs and a 32.4% strikeout rate from a 1st baseman is “one of the best free-agent signings of all time.” It’s a pretty good signing… I guess. A lot of first baseman have an OPS above that, strike out a lot less and hit more than twice as many home runs. I’m not sure why TC Zencka would ever call this “one of the best free agent signings of all time.” Is it just me or is TC Zencka the only MLBTR writer who would ever say something like that about a one year deal for Mike Napoli?
…All time?
Please check your reading comprehension. He was referring to David Ortiz.
It’s pretty obviously referring to the David Ortiz signing on the same day, many years apart.
He never said which account.
Is it true they called him Killebrew because he could drink a beer faster than anyone on the planet?
That was lousy Fever.
LOL … tough crowd!
When I first started watching baseball, Mays and Aaron were the best but in addition to my idol Yaz, I always wanted to see Frank Howard, Dick Allen an Killebrew bat because when they connected, the ball was crushed.
Oh, and Jack reminded me that he played for the old Boise Pilots for a while. Honor where honor is due, I say.
He later went on to become an irrascible old curmudgeon and he is alive and well in Marsing, Idaho, even now.
Hey, Catch, is that better now?
Well @fred – I for one enjoyed it, thank you. “Irascible old curmudgeon” is one of many remaining aims….
LondonUK. Oh, my. That means we are known worldwide. Almost.
I pray for peace, even as I am typing this reply.
If you are US Military, I thank you for your service.
Even if not, I thank you. Your words have greatly brightened my day. And you caught my misspelling. Good catch.
May your aims be attained, every one.
Lolz
Like newscaster Paul Harvey used to say, “page 2. The rest of the story.”
Seeing this was sort of a Red Sox story is what caused me to tell about Harmon Killebrew.
You see, Harmon was scouted by the Red Sox and by the old Washington Senators.
Harmon would have signed with anybody I do believe. None of us liked working in the fields, and Harmon turned down a college baseball scholarship. I don’t blame him.
But the kicker was, the only one making Harmon a good offer was the Senators. Boston just pulled the wrong lever there, you might say. snicker snicker
So Harmon went to Washington, then Minnesota when the team changed names, and just hit a jillion homers and was a shoo-in for the HOF.
And not as a Red Sox.
ha ha ha ha. Any bad thing happening to Boston was a real thrill for me.
Loved him with the Tribe. Always a “Party at Napoli’s.”
There’s four things I’ll always think of Napoli for …
1) Hopping behind a bar to serve drinks
2) Starting the beard trend throughout the country
3) Walking down the streets of Boston shirtless with a cigarette dangling from his mouth
And #4?
No. 4 can be the home run Napoli hit off Verlander in game 3 of the 2013 ALCS to give the Red Sox a 1-0 win. Not many bigger hits than that in that postseason.
all in the suit – YESSSS!!! That’s exactly why I didn’t mention it, because I didn’t think I needed to.
I know it’s easy to forget context after almost 9 years, but Verlander was the best pitcher in baseball for the month leading up to that game. He had a 34-inning scoreless streak going into that 7th inning. He left the game after the 8th inning, giving up only 3 other hits and walking just one with 10 K’s.
While we will never know for certain, if not for Nap’s homerun the Sox probably lose that game … and that means a Game 7 with Verlander on regular rest.
Fever: Yes! Yes! and Yes!
My sentiments as well ,suit,.I think the temp.was in the low 40`s and that was an absolute bomb.Sox fans loved him because he was one of us,in the stores,on the streets,a real good man..
Well said Bergy.
bergy – If the Sox re-sign Schwarber, I think he’ll become the new Napoli. They have a LOT of similarities, shared qualities.
I don’t even remember it! They say short term memory is the first to go. Apparently not in my case…
Do you really see him re-signed? I envision a big bat righty like Castellanos or Bryant if they open the checkbook as I believe will happen.
The thing I’ll always remember about the “13 World Series was the eager, hungry, and super confidant body language of all the Sox hitters. Every dude on that team acted like he couldn’t wait to get the chance to be a hero. The Cards’ pitchers looked intimidated as hell. Even though Papi had the huge numbers, I’ve always credited Napoli with bringing that swagger to the team. He looked the same way in the “11 Series for the Rangers. I hated watching the Cards get embarrassed the way they did, but I came away with a lot of respect for the attitude of Napoli and the entire Sox lineup.
A club certainly can’t win without a “Quality Assurance Coach”. Viva la cronyism!
Was this written in 2011?
2013 red sox had the highest babip in a century
literally a lucky team that year
I don’t think luck got them through the postseason. They faced a lot of good pitchers – Price and Moore on the Rays; Verlander, Scherzer and Sanchez on the Tigers; Wainwright and Wacha on the Cardinals.
Papi magic or Papi juiced magic is why the team won and yes stole a championship like the 69 Mets and 03 Marlins. All different clubs but none were picked by many to even be close to making the playoffs.
I think a few other guys like Jon Lester, John Lackey, Koji Uehara, Mike Napoli, Dustin Pedroia, Stephen Drew, Xander Bogaerts, Jonny Gomes, Shane Victorino, Jacoby Ellsbury, Daniel Nava, Mike Carp, David Ross, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Clay Buchholz, Felix Dubront, Junichi Tazawa and Brandon Workman also had something to do with it.
I wonder how close Pedroia would’ve come to HOF numbers had he not been hurt so often. Maybe he still makes it IDK he had a decent run from 2007-2017.
Of course they did but the team was not expected to win and got carried by Papi’s amazing Playoffs (juiced or not).
He had. great career and was probably on target to make it through longevity had he not gotten injured. His total body of work however seems far short of Getting him into the HOF.
Did you use Mike Napoli’s contributions in your argument as to how more people are to thank than Mike Napoli? Lmao
dewey – Three guys basically carried the team in the postseason.
Ortiz – 1.206 OPS
Lester – 1.56 ERA
Koji – 0.66 ERA, 7 Hits, 0 Walks, 16 K’s in 13 2/3 IP
All three were other-worldly.
Wowwwww: I was replying to Dewey who was crediting only David Ortiz with the WS win (not Napoli). Read it again.
True but when I think of 13, I think of Papi’s HR against the Tigers. Without that miracle, there was no championship.
Alli in the suit, see my above comment. That one HR to me is the defining moment of 13. That said, baseball is a team sport so of course credit has to be spread around.
Dewey – add the 2021 Braves to your list as beating the Dodgers and Astros were not a given. They were not as unexpected as the teams you mentioned, but not many MLB fans would have picked them before the season started.
But the Braves at the start of the year we’re expected to win the East
But not the World Series.
….big difference
Greg Maddux and company in the Bobby Cox years won 13 division title, went to 5 World Series, and only won 1…….if memory service me correctly. I am not a Braves fan, but I would have loved to see them win a lot more instead especially against the Yankees.
dombrowski could never build the tigers a bullpen. it killed them that year
The team batting splits in the ’13 ALCS and WS were brutal. Sox hit .202 with a .609 OPS in the CS and still managed to get the W. Their WS team BA excluding Papi was .168
People still rely on the useless “BABIP”? OMG that’s too funny.
So a batter who hits the ball really hard almost every time is just “lucky”.
And a batter who, instead of being a dead pull hitter like some, has the ability to guide the ball where they ain’t is just “lucky”.
And a bloop single counts just as much as a line drive double to the gap.
It saddens me when stats are misused.
I’ve never seen someone use BABIP for an entire team. That seems like an exceedingly useless stat.
Also on this day 40 years ago the Angels would sign 36 year old Reggie Jackson to a three year contract. Reggie would tie Gorman Thomas for the MLB lead in HR’s that season
And on this day in 1998 Rickey Henderson would become the first player to have four seperate stints with same team as he signed a one year contract to return to Oakland after splitting the previous season with the Padres and Angels
Shout out to Napoli Vince 🙂
“So let’s fast-forward to this date eight years ago when the Red Sox added another pretty good first baseman/designated hitter: Mike Napoli”
I think it was 9, not 8.
Writers don’t get paid to do math.
One of the best free agent signings of all time?!? I’m a Sox fan and his signing isn’t even in our top 10.
Maybe they meant Big Papi signing on this day 10 years before?
Who would be your top 10?
Mine would be:
1) David Ortiz
2) Manny Ramirez
3) Johnny Damon
4) J.D. Drew
5) J.D. Martinez
6) David Price
7) Mike Timlin
8) Daisuke Matsuzaka
9) Kevin Millar
10) Tony Pena
??. JD Drew other than one playoff game was a bust and David Price? Their first ever free agent was pretty good until he got injured. Bill Campbell. I also wouldn’t include Dice K. Sadly, the top two you listed are suspected or confirmed cheaters. The list shows me the Sox haven’t done well in big signings. That said where’s Schilling? He’s number one on my list.
My top two are Schilling and JDM. After that, it’s a mixed bag. I won’t include Papi or Manny. My criteria can’t include those I believe cheated the game.
Ah yes, confirmed to be a cheater by a single anonymous source in a NYT article whose claims contradict federal documents and the logistics of the testing survey. You also conveniently ignore the fact that Ortiz failed zero tests once MLB implemented mandatory testing despite having more than a decade of success past this supposed positive test. Perhaps it’s true that Papi did PEDs, but with the evidence we currently have, we cannot definitively confirm that Ortiz cheated. However, I think we can safely say you are confirmed to have the black scourge of racism in your heart 🙂
Wasn’t Shilling acquired in a trade?
Most of the Red Sox best were acquired in trades. Pedro Martinez, Schilling, Josh Beckett, Jason Varitek, Mike Lowell, Derek Lowe, Chris Sale, Jason Bay, Rick Porcello, Jose Canseco. Free agency has been mostly a mixed bag of over the hill and underperforming from Jack Clark, Frank Viola, Jose Offerman, and Andre Dawson. To Edgar Renteria, Hanley Ramirez, Pablo Sandoval, and John Lackey. Its not a mostly pretty group.
And Drew and Matsuzaka were big parts of the ’07 championship
Fletcher, please stop with the racial ranting. it makes you look small true or not. I simply look through my eyes and use what brain I’m still blessed with. Anyone who knows my posts understands I believe the HOF is a shrine and have bellowed equally against Piazza and Bagwell (two others I strongly believe used).
Thank you for correcting me. My bad. I just remember the flight to the west coast to convince hime to “come home”.
Schilling was a trade. And if that’s the case why not include when they traded for the greatest SP of all time, Pedro!
@FletcherFan69 go away with the racism nonsense the guy is entitled to his opinion. Just because someone doesn’t agree with you doesn’t make them racist but you assuming for no reason that he is a racist makes you a moron:)
Thanks Mystery for having my back. I was trying to be civil in my post. just a disgrace to think a comment that simply reiterated my belief on Papi. I’ve said to my own sister. He should be enshrined I. the City of Boston for getting the City to rally together after the 13 bombing but since I think he and many others’ stats are fraudulent, I don’t want his bust next to Yaz, Williams and Rice just to mention three who played their full career in Boston. Rice was as feared in the 70s and 80s as Papi but I have no thoughts that he cheated. To my knowledge, his advantage was his strength and overall skillset.
dewey – Drew was an immensely talented hitter who simply refused to swing at anything out of the strike zone, no matter how hittable the pitch might be. That was his biggest downfall. He was paid to drive in runs, not walk all the time. You’re absolutely right, that one playoff game against Cleveland in 2007 when he hit the Grand Salami is the only memorable moment I can recall in a Red Sox uniform.
Oh but there was one other moment. Drew had a massive fear of walls, he would always give up early on fly balls that appeared headed for the seats. But the ONE TIME he actually made a nice catch near the wall in foul territory, he should have let it drop because the runner on third ended up scoring. Can’t make this stuff up if I tried. LOL
dewey – Even though you didn’t like my joke, I have your back too.
As far as I’m concerned, Double X is still the Red Sox single season homerun recordholder.
Because as I’ve mentioned before a few times, the one year that Papi had a massive power surge (2006) he was taken to the hospital twice late in that season suffering from heart palpitations. It was never explained, it was never talked about, it just was swept under the rug. He hit 54 homers despite missing 11 games that year, and he hit 47 the year before. No other year did he hit more than 41. And we all remember the many instances of rage, such as him going berzerk and smashing the phone in Baltimore with Pedey trying to dodge the shattered pieces.
I like Ortiz a lot, I think he’s a good guy who is an amazing player that accomplished a lot for my team. But I can see why there would be suspicions, and he certainly has plenty of company. Many players have stated that PED’s were rampant back then. Pedro told a story about how he saw players shooting up each other in the clubhouse during his early playing days. And we all know how easy it was to avoid positive test results.
Race has nothing to do with this conversation.
Dewey, please stop with the racial ranting. it makes you look small true or not. I simply look through my eyes and use what brain I’m still blessed with. Anyone who knows my posts understands I believe the HOF is a shrine and have bellowed equally against Piazza and Bagwell (two others I strongly believe used).
Fever: I googled and quickly found that Ortiz explained his trips to the hospital in 2006:
“It’s not my heart,” Ortiz said. “The doctors ran all sorts of tests on me and my heart was not the problem at all. It was the lower part of my right pectoral muscle that, for some reason, was shaking. It scared me because I had never felt anything like that in my chest. But after all the tests, they said my heart was fine.”
It doesn’t look like it was swept under the rug.
espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=2567347
suit – Yeah I know it’s subjective, but to me that was sweeping under the rug … no different than Chris Sale saying his 2018 hospital trip for stomach issues was related to a belly button ring. No different than Bill Belichick’s postgame press conferences. They know they gotta say something, so they say something without really saying anything.
Of course Ortiz will have to say something brief. Fact is, some steroids cause heart palpitations. Honestly I really don’t wish to discuss this further, it’s not an issue for me because like I said there are plenty of other players who also may have been using. I just pointed out facts surrounding 2006 and let others decide on their own if it was just a big coincidence.
If I had a vote, I’d vote him in the HOF. Same with Bonds and Clemens, they were HOF’ers before they allegedly started using.
Hell, we know that there are PED users in the Hall all ready. That doesn’t excuse it, but it was still part of the game. The Astros didn’t lose their WS title, guys took drugs to enhance their performance WAY before steroids. These are the same writers and owners who KNEW what was going on in the 90s and turned a blind eye to it, praising those guys, then vilified them when it was proven. Just look at Barry’s BRef page. (Intentionally walked with the bases loaded!!). You’ll be in awe for hours just looking at it. Before roids he was Willie Mays, and after he was a god. Make them wait if you must, add a disclaimer for the era that stats may be skewed, but they belong in.
Dewey – I find it so IRONIC that you conveniently look the other way on 90% of the baseball players using steroids but pick specific ones as cheaters THEN you praise Cora the biggest cheater of them all since his cheating changed the outcome of games and can be proven by the detailed sounds aligning with rallies that won games for Houston.
You also conveniently ignore all the proof about the juicing in the baseball beginning in 1994 and lasting through the JUICE ERA (aka the steroid era). You are ignoring the fact that home runs closely tie to the juice in the baseball but don’t tie to the use of steroids. You also conveniently ignore the fact that steroids were not against the rules of baseball until 2004 or against the law to use until 2004. Yes distribution of steroids was made illegal in 1991 but the consumption of them or possession of them became illegal 13 years later!!
If your stance is players cheated because they wanted to gain an unfair advantage then you’d have to throw out all members of the HOF and discredit every player who played the game. Getting an edge has always been part of baseball and the criteria for whether it was simply against the rules or severely impacted the outcome of games historically has been the foundation of penalties. Not true in Cora’s case. Not true in the case of steroid users.. Gambling like Rose did was against the rules. Steroids were not until 2004. Cheating to impact the outcome of games has been a lifetime ban like gambling until the current commissioner downgraded it to a 1 year suspension no matter how many games were impacted.
Focusing your hate on steroid users is completely misplaced yet very common thanks to Selig, MLB, sports writers and fans who refuse to look at the facts. It’s not a coincidence HRs started rapidly growing in the 20s, the 50s, the 90s and in 2015 and NOT ONE of them has anything to do with steroids, they all have to do with the make-up of the baseball!!
As an older Red Sox fan, you saw Yaz pre 1967 and in spring training of 1967. The two versions of Yaz looked like two different guys just like Bonds changed between 1993 (his third MVP season) to 2001 his 73 hr season. Why did they look so different? They hit the gym and lifted weights more than they ever did in the past. If Bonds put on more muscle mass than Yaz because he used a legal drug called steroids why should that count against him? Because a generation of Mays and Aaron fans went to congress to ban steroids to prevent modern day players from surpassing records created by their generation of players? What an incredibly PETTY behavior for the outspoken few worried about records. Now, add the fact that Bonds and Papi got the benefit of the most juiced baseballs in history up until that time which was the real reason for their surge and the irony keeps growing because Mays and Aaron during their playing days enjoyed an increase in juice double that of Bonds and Papi when you compare the juice in the 50s to Babe Ruth’s era.
Remember the death threats that Maris got for potentially beating Ruth? How is that any different than people calling for Bond’s head due to steroids? It’s poor sportsmanship taken to an excessive level and who have no idea that the whole time it was the baseball driving the difference in the stats.
If Maris had been seen with a protein drink in his locker his entire life might have been turned upside down like McGwire’s and he would have been discredited just like McGwire then Bonds by the angry high profile fans of baseball belonging to the previous generation of fans and all so their heroes can stay on top of the historical stats showing their generation had the greatest players!!.
The steroid inaccuracies that have been allowed to grow into hate by fans like you show how information can be spun 180 degrees by powerful people working with the media. I guess you believe Oswalt killed Kennedy too!! Wow.
As to your debate with Rsox about who is clean and who isn’t and the coincidence that race aligned with your beliefs. I give you the benefit of the doubt on that topic BUT I believe you have no more proof that JD didn’t take steroids than you do Papi did. That’s why without any conclusive details and all the facts pointing to the baseball not the steroids it’s crazy to rule out one player and not the other arbitrarily based on hearsay. All four belong on the list = Manny, Papi, JD and Schilling.
I don’t remember but both Drew’s got rings and were overpaid while on the Sox
I just look at 16. if he wasn’t juiced then, why aren’t we still talking about that year? It was arguably the best hitting season ever by a 40 year old
What are you ten years old Fletcher?
SFES, under current rules, those in stay in but to simply accept it and allow more in will only get more to cheat for one reason or another. Picture player X going for 500 homers or player Y trying for 3k hits at the end of their careers. If we just ignore PED use, they might risk things and use believing it’s better to get those numbers than letting their present careers speak for each.
dewey – Ted and Barry did have better seasons over 40, but I agree it almost seemed unreal Ortiz did it with the pain he was dealing with every day.
Again KD I couldn’t read it all. When though have I praised Cora? I’m on record for not wanting him back and calling ownership a fraud for doing it. We knew at the press conference when Bloom announced he was gone that he’d be back. Bloom did not then seem happy about being the initial point person on the decision
That said, we’re stuck with him so I’m not harping on something I can’t change.
Fever, I don’t count Bonds because most will agree he was then juicing. I checked Williams’s stats and he turned 40 in August of 58. Neither his 58 or 59 seasons were as good as Papi’s 16 year.
Dewey – If you’re saying Ortiz had the best over-40 season in terms of pure numbers, juiced or not, then don’t you have to include Bonds?
Hafta disagree on Ted, he put up a 1.096 OPS when the league average in 1960 was .716
Ortiz put up a 1.021 OPS when the league average in 2016 was .744
But I understand Ortiz played 38 more games and therefore had better cumulative stats including WAR, so your stance is fair.
Rsox – Noooooo …..you have to take into consideration how well they performed in relation to their contract.
Price? Not a chance. With the contract he got, he’s in “bust” territory.
Same with Dice-K.
Here’s my Top Eleven in no particular order:
Ortiz
Manny
Damon
Koji
JD Martinez
Bill Mueller
Wakefield
Beltre
Flash Gordon
Canseco
Burgmeier
Fever: Good call on Bill Mueller, one of my favorites.
Thanks, he definitely deserves to be included. He put up an OPS with the Red Sox that was 84 points higher than his career OPS and he played solid defense, all while getting paid just $2.25M per season (averaged).
The 3-homer game with two grand salamis in consecutive innings, one from each side of the plate, had never been done before.
And who can forget the walkoff homerun against Mariano in the Tek/ARod fight game. That was likely what ignited the team to their first title in 86 years..
FPG – Don’t like the logic! Iglesias needs to top the list based on your criterion. His short hot streak and small pay makes him best bang for the buck!!
Also, the ultimate measurement in baseball is rings. Ortiz, Manny, Damon JD and oh yeah Price have one.
KD – There has to be a minimum one year requirement! Otherwise there’s probably about 50 guys that overperformed for 64 or more PA’s as Iglesias did.
Do you remember Rudy Pemberton? Not a free agent signing, but his Red Sox career consisted of 115 PA’s in which he batted .346 with a .938 OPS.
Fever: You are right that a lot of important details about past seasons can fade from our memories as the years pass.
I can’t believe i forgot about Wake. I guess i was used to thinking of him as a Red Sock i forgot about his time in Pittsburgh. Koji was a big part of the ’13 team. Beltre was one year and left for his second life in Texas. Gordon was a decent swingman/closer, i guess another one i forgot about
Varitek and Lowe for Heathcliff Slocumb
How about the greatest NON Trade in Sox history? They had traded for A-Rod, sending Manny and Lester to Texas while Nomar and Scott Williamson would’ve went to the White Sox for Magglio Ordoñez and Brandon McCarthy… while the Yankees were negotiating to trade Alfonso Soriano and Nick Johnson for Curt Schilling… when the union nixed the A-Rod trade, well we all know what happened next…. Johnson went to the Expos with Randy Choate for Javy Vazquez… A-Rod to the Yanks for Soriano, and Schilling to the Sox for pennies on the dollar! Nomar was eventually traded at the deadline to the Cubs in a 4 team deal that netted Doug Mientkiewicz from the Twinkies and Orlando Cabrera from the Expos.
Imagine how much different the next 10 years would’ve been for baseball had it not gone that way!
sfes – I’d just like to add, the Red Sox drafted Jed Lowrie as compensation for them losing Cabrera to free agency.
They then traded Lowrie for Melancon.
They then traded Melancon along with 3 minor leaguers to the Pirates for Hanrahan and Holt.
If Hanrahan had stayed healthy, that would have been one heckuva eventual return for losing Cabrera!
@Fever – yeah not bad! One of my favs is David Wright for Mike Hampton, though I’m obviously biased
Siesta!!!
He was a great member of that 13 team.
Napoli is one of those players who was great by being on a pretty good team that protected and obscured the holes in his game and inflated his face value offensive numbers a bit. The fact that he faded into obscurity with decreasing salaries the rest of his career and the Red Sox only gave him two more years after that $5M base $13M total year says a lot. It was also the second best season of his career and I think it was his first year of free agency?
That $5M base salary was 100% a fair and accurate payment for his services and he only produced about $37.4M worth of play for $45M. Basically, the Red Sox’s original 3 years/$39M agreement with Napoli was perfect, but their concerns and reset to 1 year/$5M was also prescient and good economics as well.
Anyway, I think the Red Sox and Napoli got very very lucky with his 2013 production and that 2 year/$32M extension was more of an overpriced thank you than it was a well deserved extension.
He definitely had one of the more bizarre careers where he did just well enough to make some serious money but nobody ever signed him to an albatross deal and his peak salaries helped him get bounce back contracts with inflated values to them when comparable players would have maybe received a $2-4M guarantee or a minor league split contract with a $1.5M major league salary attached, etc.
I think he made about $15M more than he should have on the back of that 2013 season, but spread across 5 seasons that’s a small overpay for the MLB and a huge benefit personally to the player.
Definitely the kind of guy who probably shouldn’t have made more than $6M a season in Free Agency and averaged $10.1M over that period.
Good for Napoli.
Napoli was traded for Vernon Wells on Jan 21, 2011. That’s a much more interesting transaction.
Always hated him and that hideous grungy beard. All that pine tar on his helmet and everything. I get the red sox thing is being edgy or whatever but at some point you gotta dress like a professional. Boston has always had a number of slobs over the years tho.
Yappi – Do you think David Wells dressed like a professional for the Yankees?
How about Oscar Gamble’s hair?
Nick Swisher’s mohawk?