December 2, 2006
Rich Aurilia and the Giants
By
Amanda
Posted at 3:31 pm
Looks like the Giants have reached an agreement with Rich Aurilia pending a physical, which he should pass unless it was an injury that made him so good last year.
The deal is reportedly two years for $8 million dollars.
What a big loss for us! He was such a great player. They should have worked out a deal during the season with him like they did with Scott H and Juan C. He will be greatly missed. They love him in San Francisco too. Rich’s biggest Cincinnati fan will now become a Giants fan (unless they are playing us in the playoffs!).
Well, you win some and you lose some, I guess. Of the two guys the offered arbitration, I figured they’d re-sign Aurilia and lose Schoeneweis. So maybe now that RichA is taking his lovely wife Raquel and going home to the land of Rice-A-Roni, earthquakes, and steroids scandals, maybe Kriv-Dawg will run into Shoeneweis’s agent at the winter meetings this week, pull him into a quiet corner somewhere, and work out a deal so the Reds can keep the guy I thought was the best out of all the pitchers Wayne brought in last year.
And assuming Weathers passes his physical, he’s back for next year too.
Weathers, Stanton, Cormier, and maybe Shoeneweis? If our bullpen’s bad next year, it won’t be because of inexperience.
HMZ
I’ve always liked Aurilia, and actually I’m glad that he’s done so well for himself this year. Do you know that his wife actually took the time to send me a note, completely unprompted, and thank us “guys in Cinci” for our support?
Who ever heard of such a thoughtful millionaire?
Unfortunately Schoenweis is represented by Scott Boras, and historically the Reds don’t deal with him because he is all about the money and nothing else. He was also Felipe’s agent incidentally.
I’ve wondered if that wasn’t part of the reason why Lopez was traded. He was suspect defensively at a position that’s important defensively, and he was going to be eligible for arbitration, and you just know Boras would ignore his defensive shortcomings, point to his offensive accomplishments (which, admittedly, were considerable for an NL shortstop), and ask for the moon. If he won the arbitration case it might have thrown the team’s entire payroll situation into a tizzy.
But, now they’ve offered arbitration to Schoeneweis (another guy with a WS ring won with an AL team), meaning either (1) they’re sure he’s going to sign elsewhere and are hoping to scoop up an extra draft pick for losing him, or (2) they realize he’s the best of the bunch among the pitchers Krivsky picked up last year and are willing to take the risk that they might take a hit in arbitration in order to keep him.
It will be interesting to see how this one plays out, especially with Boras involved. His salary last year with Toronto was $2.75 million. So they could give him LaTroy Hawkins money and have a far better deal than what the Orioles got.
HMZ