My Campaign for J-Rod...

[Jocephus]

I've seen it mentioned here a couple of times that there's an argument for Wilson or Taguchi related to how much we're paying them. There's not. Those are sunk costs. You can't correct a mistake (paying a bad player too much money) by making another mistake (playing that player in front of a better and more productive player). You have to pay guranteed money no matter how much the guy plays, you might as well play the guy comisserate with his ability...and now based on how much you're paying him. D.GOOCH

Agree in principal, but sometimes in practice it does make a difference. Although none of those contracts should be enough to really stop them from dumping them if they aren't working out. Spivey was in at over $1M last year.

and now* spivey

The White Sox didn't take much of a look at Spivey after his awful season at Triple-A Memphis last year. He went 3-for-14 in five games. They might release him rather than send him to Charlotte to begin the season.

[Fat Strat]

You can't correct a mistake (paying a bad player too much money) by making another mistake (playing that player in front of a better and more productive player). You have to pay guranteed money no matter how much the guy plays, you might as well play the guy comisserate with his ability...and now based on how much you're paying him. D.GOOCH

I agree with the thoughts about sunk costs, and salary hasn't often been a reason why La Russa would stick with a veteran that's on the way out over a younger player that's showing some potential. Seemingly every year we dump a veteran rp or bench player with guaranteed money in favor of younger talent.

But, if JRod doesn't make the team it's because Tags and PW can play CF and spell our OF'ers with heavy platoon splits. JRod's OBP doesn't help much if he's stuck on the bench and Duncan and Edmonds are playing against lefties. The best solution is to carry 11 pitchers, and bring Tags, PW, and JRod along, and giving JRod some of Encarnacion's time against righties until JRod hits his way out of a job again.

Remember, JRod's stats are inflated with 3-4 months of insanely hot production, surrounded by 4-5 months of mediocre to sub-par production. Will the real JRod please stand up? With him having options, we have time to find out without cutting lose sunk costs.

[jim]

The best solution is to carry 11 pitchers, and bring Tags, PW, and JRod along, and giving JRod some of Encarnacion's time against righties until JRod hits his way out of a job again.

If Tony carried 11 pitchers he's run out in the 7th inning.

[clement]

I've seen it mentioned here a couple of times that there's an argument for Wilson or Taguchi related to how much we're paying them. There's not. Those are sunk costs. You can't correct a mistake (paying a bad player too much money) by making another mistake (playing that player in front of a better and more productive player). You have to pay guranteed money no matter how much the guy plays, you might as well play the guy comisserate with his ability...and now based on how much you're paying him. D.GOOCH

It's not so much a sunk costs question as it is an options question. Like I said earlier, if the difference between Rodriguez and Taguchi or Wilson is .300 to .125, then I'm sure Tony will (eventually) give up on Taguchi or Wilson and go with Rodriguez. But the likelihood that either Taguchi or Wilson will not get their averages up in the .250-.280 range is kinda low. And then the difference between them and Rodriguez becomes smaller (considering the defensive - for Taguchi -, and power - for Wilson - differentials).

Sending Rodriguez down does not lose him, it just postpones his contribution. He may not be able to do that with Taguchi, and most likely no chance to do that with Wilson. What if he were to decide to release Taguchi or Wilson, and then Rodriguez falls flat, or gets injured?

I sort of disagree with Fat_Strat, in that Tony hasn't often dumped players with guaranteed salaries in favor of younger ones under our control, unless (a) that salaried player clearly had little to no value (e.g., Cedeno, but only after sticking with him far too long), or (b) if the player didn't have the right clubhouse "attitude" that Tony seeks (which is obviously not the case for Taguchi, and probably not Wilson either).

Ironically a couple of years ago it was Taguchi who kept getting sent down to Louisville despite putting up better numbers than some of his counterparts on the big club (most notably Roger Cedeno), precisely because he was the guy who had options.