A Marriage That Makes Sense

If he wants to say here, as he says through his agent in this times column, and he's willing to sign for less than his 3 year/39 million dollar deal then I'd have to say go for it. I don't know how much of a discount he's willing to take, but it would be silly to offer more than a three year deal to a guy hampered at least somewhat for two out of three seasons of his prime. In addition, backs are the kind of thing that tend to sap speed, power, and tend to reoccur. All are red flags to Furcal's future ability to perform at an elite level. Had he been healthy, this would have been an MVP'ish type of season. Furby was on a a tear like I hadn't seen since Adrian Beltre decided to impersonate Albert Pujols that one year. Power and speed are attributes hard to find together, in abundance, in a shortstop that isn't a liability at the position (yes I'm looking at you, Jeter).  Just ask the red sox who have go through shortstops like underwear. Somewhere of the neighborhood of 3/$30 with PA incentives to bring his salary up to $15 million if he ends up getting over 650 PA's a season. I would throw in up to two option years if length was an issue. By the time season 4 comes up I'd expect Furcal to have declined enough to buy him out when that time comes.

Even if his steals go down and the power goes down, he could still be a decent number two hitter given his ability to get on base. He may have to reinvent his game some due to the injuries. He may give up on some of his power stroke, which may cut his strikeout rate and boost his walks. He'd probably run less as well. I could live with all of those things as long as the defense and .obp was there. I doubt Furcal turns into a total pumpkin, but if he does the dodgers are at least prepared. Good shortstops are hard to find and Furcal is one when healthy...if he isn't, hopefully Chin Lung Hu and Ivan DeJesus Jr. are given fair opportunities to show what they can do on the big club.