A lot has happened today on the free agency front in both the NBA and MLB. Here are some thoughts, first with MLB.
Albert Pujols signs for the Angels-
10 years, $254 million for a 31 year old first baseman. That's a lot of money. Assuming 5% inflation and a marginal win being valued at $5 million, my crude estimates say that Albert needs to produce about 41 WAR for it to realize full value. Albert is awesome though, so it is possible that he could produce this much, with his best chance probably being to have some really good years at the front end. In the end though, to give anyone ten years is a huge risk, so the Angels are banking on some good health as Albert gets older. But in the short term though, he obviously makes them a lot better.
CJ Wilson also signs for the Angels-
This one was needed by the Angels more than Albert, frankly, as their rotation depth was terrible outside the top three. Haren and Weaver are excellent, Santana is very good, but after that? Yikes. They already traded Tyler Chatwood, who sucks anyway, and other options include both Jerome Williams and Horacio Ramirez. Yes, that Horacio Ramirez. Joel Piniero is also a free agent, coming off a very mediocre campaign. Wilson is without a doubt a huge upgrade over those guys, despite the fact that he has command issues and has had elbow problems in the past. If he has another year like last year in him, however, this contract will have a hard time being a complete bust. The Angels got better today without a doubt.
Now the NBA, which is the good stuff
Caron Butler signs with the Clippers-
The Clippers had so much working for them. Blake Griffin and Eric Gordon. Decent cap room currently, with some intriguing young players like DeAndre Jordan, Eric Bledsoe, and Al-Farouq Aminu. And then this happened, reminding us that we can count on the Clippers as much as we can count on death and taxes. 3 years, 24 million for a small forward who doesn't fit what they need. Did I mention he's played in 103 games the last 3 seasons? Or that he doesn't pass, with an assist rate worse than Corey Maggette last year, who hasn't made an unselfish play since in, well, a while. Just what Griffin and Gordon want is a ball stopping wing who clogs the cap and can't stay on the floor. He's also not a great shooter/floor spacer. Well done Clippers, Blake's best friend still remains unsigned. Will your penny pinching owner go over the cap to resign Jordan, and make Blake happy? Donald Sterling.
Tayshaun Prince resigns for 4 years with the Pistons-
Tayshaun isn't a bad player, but at 31 years old, he probably isn't going to be a major factor on the Pistons next good team. So, the logical thing is to resign him for 4 years at almost 7 million a season and take away playing time from Austin Daye and Jonas Jerbeko. Perfect. The Pistons aren't going anywhere, so why resign him? I just don't get this.
Rumored Chris Paul traded to LAL(based on Adrian Wojnarowski's report)-
This is so annoying, that the Lakers can trade for a guy this good, and still keep Andrew Bynum so they can trade for Dwight Howard. This is actually going to happen now, despite the fact that Bynum will never ever be healthy in his entire career. I don't know what New Orleans has really accomplished with this, as they are picking up (rumored) 3 very good players who are all close to or on the wrong side of 30 in Kevin Martin, Luis Scola, and Lamar Odom. In addition, we aren't hearing any rumors that Okafor and Ariza are going anywhere, who are their two bad contracts. Okafor's still a pretty good player, and he fits with the potential new guys, so it makes sense to keep him, but New Orleans has to make the Lakers take Trevor Ariza in a deal. Why wouldn't they? Do they really want to keep a guy who shot less than 40% WHILE PLAYING WITH CHRIS FREAKING PAUL? He's also owed over 20 million dollars over the next 3 years. New Orleans could actually be pretty good this year, but they aren't championship worthy. And there is no chance of them getting better after 2012 if this deal goes down. I just think they could have done better (i.e. younger) while also getting a draft pick in next year's loaded draft, but who knows.
And Memo to Otis Smith. You do not want Andrew Bynum. Make sure this doesn't happen. The lockout was all about competitive balance, and two of the 10 best players in the NBA are going to go to one of the NBAs best teams as soon as it ends. It is all in your hands now, Otis. Unfortunately, I don't trust you.
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