Whatever happened to Ray Durham?
As of this writing, Ray Durham is still a free agent. Yes, the same Ray Durham who posted an .812 OPS last season, including an outstanding .380 OBP, and played league-average defense at second base.
By OPS+, Durham’s offensive performance last season was better than that of the current second baseman of 22 of the 30 teams in the majors, and his .380 OBP would be better than all but 3 other major league second sackers.
Obviously, Durham was a casualty of the crazy economics of this past offseason, when his contract demands may have been a bit high for a 38-year old, but I can think of several teams just off the top of my head – the Giants, White Sox, Braves, and Mariners spring to mind – who could instantly upgrade their team by installing Durham at 2B instead of the guy they are currently playing.
Teams like that should definitely be giving Ray a call to see what kind of contract he might play for.
June 18th, 2009 at 3:44 am
The color scheme of the question marks suggests he can be bought on eBay. No reserve price!
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June 18th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
It’s too bad that there continue to be players like Durham who are forced into retirement via a failed free agency.
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June 18th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
In an odd way, the change in baseball payroll structure looks a great deal like the NHL under their current salary cap collective bargaining agreement:
Superstars get “theirs,” mid-level are still around, but young, cheap kids get pushed up too quickly to fill the slots older veterans used to fill.
Not the best for either sport or the development and clubhouse disciplining of future stars.
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June 18th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Let me add the Cubs to your list of teams that could use Mr. Durham. For some unknown reason Jim Hendry gave Aaron Miles $5.5 million for 2 years. Miles is awful and he should be released yesterday. The Cubs should pick up Durham who could start at 2nd until Aramis Ramirez comes back at which time he could platoon at 2nd with Fontenot.
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June 18th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
There’s some more guys we could add to this list. Where’s Jim Edmonds playing this year? What about Geoff Jenkins? I know he’s probably not starter-quality anymore, but Johnny Estrada has had some good years behind the plate. Odalis Perez could add depth to many rotations throughout the majors.
There’s a whole glut of guys still on the free agent market that could be making an impact on the ML level.
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June 19th, 2009 at 5:57 am
Kenny Lofton laughs at his plight.
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June 19th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
The Twins could use him. Nick Punto is covering second base for them due to the failure of players like Matt Tolbert and Alexi Casilla there. While Brendan Harris is doing an admirable job at short-stop for the time being, and thoroughly deserves his place in the line-up full time due to his batting skills, perhaps it wouldn’t be a bad idea for the Twins to look into acquiring Durham?
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