The Diamondbacks have reporting agreed to a 2 year deal with Willie Bloomquist worth $3.8 million.
I was just going to FanShot this, but I just had to say a few things.
First of all, this is Willie Bloomquist:
Second of all, this is his line from last season:
Bloomquist is, if nothing else, remarkably consistent. His OPS by season since 2003: 638, 613, 622, 619, 650, 662, 663, 679, 657. The best OPS+ he's recorded in that time is 85.
Bloomquist is versatile defensively -- he can play pretty much every position -- but he's not good defensively: FanGraphs shows he's been below average each year for several years now.
And his agent just trashed the organization and one of Bloomquist's teammates after the Diamondbacks re-signed John McDonald:
"Is it our duty to be in touch with them every hour on the hour so we know nobody else signed?" Boras said. "When you want someone, you go get them. We're not the employer. They offer the contracts and pay the money. We don't.
"It sounds to me like what happened is, they got upset when Willie opted out. They got emotional and they went out and signed a guy who hit .169."
This contract is baffling. A guy whose only skills are that he can play multiple positions and steal a base is getting a two year guaranteed deal at only $2 million per season.
I do think it is revealing, though, that it is a National League team that is doing this. National League baseball, with the double-switches and pinch hitters, means you need more guys on the bench who can do lots of things, even if they do them poorly, rather than one or two things well.
Which pretty much makes Willie Bloomquist the posterchild for National League ball.
The other interesting thing about Bloomquist is that he was a third round pick of the Mariners in the 1999 draft, selected 10 slots ahead of Hank Blalock. Who would have though, back in 2004, that Bloomquist would outlast Blalock?