Huff Re-Signs

Jon Morosi of Fox Sports is reporting that the Giants have re-signed Aubrey Huff to a 2-year, $22M deal with an option for 2013.

Huff receives $10 million in each of the next two seasons under the deal, and the Giants have a $10 million club option for 2013 with a $2 million buyout.

With the new deal, Huff receives a healthy raise from the $3M he earned this past season. There’s no doubt that Huff had a tremendous first year in San Francisco. In fact, if you ranked all Giants’ first basemen since 1960, it was the 8th best season when measured by WAR (wins above replacement, BR.com method). Listed below is the Top 10 seasons by Giants’ 1B since 1960.

Rk           Player WAR/pos Year Age   G   BA  OBP  SLG   OPS
1        Will Clark     9.4 1989  25 159 .333 .407 .546  .953
2    Willie McCovey     8.9 1969  31 149 .320 .453 .656 1.108
3        Will Clark     7.1 1988  24 162 .282 .386 .508  .894
4    Willie McCovey     7.1 1968  30 148 .293 .378 .545  .923
5    Willie McCovey     6.4 1970  32 152 .289 .444 .612 1.056
6    Willie McCovey     6.2 1966  28 150 .295 .391 .586  .977
7    Orlando Cepeda     6.1 1961  23 152 .311 .362 .609  .970
8       Aubrey Huff     5.9 2010  33 157 .290 .385 .506  .891
9    Willie McCovey     5.7 1965  27 160 .276 .381 .539  .920
10   Orlando Cepeda     5.4 1963  25 156 .316 .366 .563  .929

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 11/23/2010.

Any time you make a list that’s dominated by Will Clark, Willie McCovey, and Orlando Cepeda — you’re doing something right. Of course, paying free agents for what they did in the past, and not what they are likely to do in the future is fools gamble. And it goes without saying that Huff has had a weird progression to his career at times.

Year   Age  Tm Lg  PA  WAR
2005    28 TBD AL 636 -1.0
2006    29 TBD AL 256  1.1
2006    29 HOU NL 261 -0.2
2007    30 BAL AL 603  0.5
2008    31 BAL AL 661  3.0
2009    32 BAL AL 480 -0.6
2009    32 DET AL 117 -0.8
2010    33 SFG NL 668  5.9

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/23/2010.

Over the past 6 years, he’s had: (1) MVP-type season in 2010, (1) All-Star caliber season in 2008, (2) below average seasons  in 2006 and 2007, and (2) sub-replacement level seasons in 2005 and 2009. That’s a lot of up-and-down for a single player. This past week we looked at some of the free agents by weighted WAR and for the past 3 years, Huff’s weighed WAR came out at 2.9 wins. The good news is that while Huff’s production has been sporadic at times, this deal, from my first reaction, seems like a fair pact for both sides. Huff gets a raise — Baggs is reporting that the Giants matched another team’s offer — for his excellent 2010 and for the Giants, the deal length isn’t too long (2 years with an option) and the price per year seems right, even if it’s a tad high. Huff’s deal shouldn’t affect Brandon Belt’s path to the majors, either. Belt or Huff seem capable of playing LF and if Belt forces the issues, the Giants can swap parts accordingly.

In short: The Giants fill 1 of their 3 positions of need today with a signing that’s reasonable in price and length. Huff was easily one of the more likable players on the team this past year and I’m happy to have him back. We shouldn’t expect him to post another 5+ win season, but if he can remain productive with the Giants, the team got a nice deal.

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On that note, I’ll be away for the next 4-5 days on Thanksgiving vacation. I hope everyone has a terrific, and safe, holiday.