Athletics uncharacteristically about to commit big bucks to limited Billy Butler

Diposkan oleh silent aja 11:11 AM Post a Comment

The Athletics are uncharacteristically about sign Billy Butler to a three-year deal. (USATSI)

According to multiple reports, the Athletics are close to a three-year contract worth $30 million with free agent DH Billy Butler. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle notes the deal has not yet been confirmed but at this point it seems like only a matter of time before an official announcement is made.

Assuming the contract is as reported, Oakland will be making a very uncharacteristic move by spending big money on a limited player. Butler is a DH, plain and simple. He can fake first base during interleague games in NL parks but that's all. Running the bases? Not getting much value out of him there either.

Butler's only tangible on-field value comes from his bat. A bat that has been in decline the last few seasons. Butler hit a career-best .313/.373/.510 (138 OPS+) with 29 home runs in 2012. That slipped to .289/.374/.412 (116 OPS+) and 15 homers in 2013, then .271/.323/.379 (95 OPS+) and nine homers in 2014.

Here's a look at Butler's platoon splits during these last three years:

Butler is gradually becoming a platoon player and, as a right-handed hitter, he's on the short end of the stick and would get fewer plate appearances. The A's aren't giving him three years to be a platoon player, of course. He'll play everyday.

Furthermore, Butler is an extreme ground ball hitter. His 49.9 percent ground ball rate is the 30th highest among the 223 qualified hitters over the last three seasons. The Athletics, who have made a point of targeting fly ball hitters, have baseball's lowest ground ball rate in baseball since 2012 at 38.5 percent.

It's rare to see Oakland spent significant money -- the $10 million average annual value would make Butler their third highest paid player in 2015, behind Scott Kazmir and Coco Crisp -- on such a limited player. Whenever they've spent big on a position player, it's been for a Yoenis Cespedes talent or someone like Crisp, who impacts the game on both sides of the ball.

That said, Butler is only 28, so maybe the A's are confident he will bounce back to his 2012-13 levels of offense. Non-athletic DH types are usually the guys who peak early and age poorly though. Signing a player like Butler is not uncharacteristic of the Athletics in and of itself. It's the big money three-year deal that is the head-scratcher.