Would you sign the following guy to a five-year $61 million contract: A good 28-year-old center fielder with a .285/.335/.451 batting line that has declined each of the past two years?
That's essentially what Kenny Williams did when the White Sox took Alex Rios off the Blue Jays' hands through the waiver wire. Rios signed a lucrative deal two years ago on the assumption that he would continue to progress. Instead, he's lost track of the strike zone and misplaced his power stroke, and the Blue Jays find themselves perennially winning Miss Congeniality in the stacked AL East.
At first blush, I thought Canada owed Chicago a bouquet and thank you note for providing them some salary flexibility. But as long as the White Sox believe they're in the playoff mix, sprinkling in Rios has the salutary effect of transforming Scott Podsednik and his whiffle bat into a late-inning defensive stopper. That's got to sound good to the flyball-prone rotation of Buehrle, Danks and Floyd.
At $12 million/year for half-a-decade, Williams may have bought himself an expensive albatross, but he might also have locked in a good power-speed-defense guy who just needs a little instruction. Real center fielders -- not corner outfielders playing up the middle -- who can hit a little are a hard to come by, as the continued employment of Andruw Jones attests. It's a bold and very expensive gamble, but if you're a Southie, it's not your money, so you've got to be encouraged.
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