The Dodgers have agreed on a one year deal with Nomar Garciaparra...
Apparently $6 million guaranteed, with incentives that can push it to $8 million...
The dissolution of Nomar Garciaparra is really pretty fascinating. After the 2000 season, there were actually arguments about which of the great young A.L. shortstops -- the 24 year old Alex Rodriguez, the 26 year old Nomar Garciaparra, or the 26 year old Derek Jeter -- was the best shortstop in the majors. It was just assumed that all three would go into the HOF, re-defining what it means to be a Hall of Fame shortstop.
They had even been drafted in subsequent first rounds, with Derek Jeter going #6 overall to the Yankees in the 1992 draft (between Chad Mottola and Calvin Murray), ARod going #1 overall to the Mariners in the 1993 draft (despite some internal debate about picking Wichita State closer Darren Dreifort instead), and Nomar going #12 overall to the BoSox in the 1994 draft (behind, among others, future LSU QB Josh Booty and future Texas A&M QB Mark Farris).
Since 2000, though, the wheels have pretty much come off Nomar's career. While ARod has established himself as the best player in the American League, and Jeter has been canonized for Playing The Game The Right Way, Nomar's gone from sure-fire HOF'er to a guy who is trying to stay healthy enough to resurrect his career in Los Angeles. While he missed much of 2001, 2004 and 2005 due to injuries, he was still a very good player in both 2002 and 2003, leading some folks to hope that, if he can just stay healthy, he'll get it together again.
He'll get that chance with the Dodgers, where he's apparently going to make the move to first base. But as a first baseman, he's not going to hit enough to be more than a nice player, and that assume he can stay healthy.
It is really too bad...injuries have de-railed one could have been a real special career.