Brad Hawpe set to sign three year extension

by Rox Girl on Mar 3, 2008 5:25 PM MST in Rockpile

Both Denver papers are reporting that the Rockies have nearly locked Brad into an extension for close to $18 million guaranteed money that supercedes the deal he agreed to last month.

The deal includes an option year similar to Troy Tulowitzki's that becomes voidable if he's traded. Hawpe joins Aaron Cook, Tulo, and Manny Corpas as Rockies who have agreed long term with the club this offseason, and the club seems to be moving aggressively to be in a position of getting Matt Holliday and possibly Garrett Atkins to join them.

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Jason Bay as comparison point:

The length and size certainly seem to indicate that the Rockies and Hawpe with his agent were going for a similar deal to the one Bay signed with Pittsburgh a couple of years ago for four years and $18.25 million.

Bay's career started faster and seems to have ebbed quickly if last season's decline is to be believed, while Hawpe's started late (they're both the same age but Bay has the service time edge) but has been steadily improving up through last year. It will be interesting to watch how their careers unfold after this.

Hawpe's a tricky call for me, I don't know if his value at the plate can be sustainable for the duration of this contract, and I think the option is unlikely to be picked up, unlike with Tulo or even Corpas where it seems a lot more certain.

by Rox Girl on Mar 3, 2008 5:59 PM MST 0 recs

It does give you pause

when you consider Hawpe's decline in the field and old player skills, but at only three years, he should be an easy bet to sustain his offense through the life of the deal, and without a bonafide corner guy in the high/mid minors, this deal was a necessity.

The key for Hawpe and aging well in right field may be shoring up his throwing yet again. He was a dead eye gunner two years ago, but last year his release looked long and slow, and his accuracy wasn't near its past levels, and arm metrics will tell you the same thing. The range won't be improving at this point, but a return to accuracy and a quicker release will allow him to control the basepaths more than he can with his legs.

Lastly, this deal is once again team friendly. If Seth Smith explodes and Hawpe has a down year, this contract will not be a deterrent to trade.

However, at this point, I think its time to put the checkbook away and let 2008 play itself out. The Rockies are still on cloud nine after last season, but they also need to be careful not to let the warm feeling atmosphere get the best of them. It is still important to maintain roster flexibility with such a talented farm system in tow, and holding on to some of the expendable millions could come in handy if the team feels it needs a Ben Sheets type in a mid-season trade (Okay Sheets is a bad example, the Brewers will ride him to a central championship).

I think age diversity is important as well. Locking up too many 28-29 year olds now will make for a team collectively declining in two years. So with that, the Rockies should be content in knowing that Holliday is locked for two years, and if they want, they can keep Atkins for an additional three. I just think its important to keep competition open, and the budget flexible. The foundation has been built, now lets see how this group handles adversity and reacts to being the hunted before we let October of 2007 become something more than our favorite memory.

by David OhNo on Mar 3, 2008 10:31 PM MST up 0 recs

Happy to see

I was surprised when I saw the news here on Purple Row and read more about it in the Denver papers. I'm glad to see the Rockies lock up Brad Hawpe. He's been one of my favorite Rockies. He's got pure strength (similar to Holliday), posts a good average (almost to Atkins) and has a cannon for an arm (like Tulowitzki). He just needs to work on hitting lefties more consistantly (which he showed at the end of last season) and work on his fielding which got away from him a little bit last year. He's 28 so he's right in the prime of his career.

The Rockies have now locked up Jeff Francis, Aaron Cook, Troy Tulowitzki, Manny Corpas and Brad Hawpe through at least 2011 in the past 16 months. As much as I like Ian Stewart's potential, if they can sign Atkins to a long-term deal, then I think that paves the way for Holliday to sign a long-term deal too with the commitment the Rockies have shown.

Rocktober is the best month!

by rockin randy on Mar 3, 2008 6:31 PM MST 0 recs

2nd Comparison point:

Baseball Prospectus PECOTA lists Paul O'Neil as Brad's most comparable player, and after his 29 year old season, O'Neil had four more years of being worth seven wins (their WARP) or more over replacement. If Hawpe ages like O'Neil, I think we have nothing to worry about.

Hawpe's #2 most comparable player is supposedly Pete Ward, which I think must be a mistake, since the PECOTA card at the BP website gives a year of 1979 for the comp year and Ward was out of baseball in 1970. If it's not a mistake, it's just not an adequate comparison, as while he has some struggles, Hawpe's not nearly that bad against LHP's.

#3 is Dwight Evans, another player who remained useful well into his thirties for the Red Sox although #4 is a Red Sawk of more recent vintage that hasn't held onto his abilities so well, Trot Nixon.

Looking at this it looks like it might be more or less a coin toss if Hawpe maintains his value well over the duration of the extension. If he's O'Neil or Evans good, the Rockies will have no problem picking up the option, I'm sure, while if he's like Nixon, he'll still likely have enough value as a potent left handed bat in the later part of his contract to be a easily moved commodity.

by Rox Girl on Mar 3, 2008 6:44 PM MST 0 recs

If only Hawpe

had O'Neill's temper, he'd be one of my favorites. I always hoped for a O'Neill meltdown in the dugout when I watched a Yankees game.

"Don't give up the ship!" - Capt. James Lawrence

by Russ on Mar 3, 2008 6:51 PM MST up 0 recs

Other less notable signings:

According to Thomas Harding's notes today, the Rox agreed to renewals with all their remaining non-arbitration eligible players. That there was not contention is a good thing with reports of the animosity that Cecil Fielder, Cole Hamels and Jonathan Papelbon had with their clubs and you can probably throw in the brewing argument between Ryan Zimmerman and the Nationals as well. Of course, the two players we had that were closest to that stature were Corpas and Tulo, who the Rox gave long term security to.

by Rox Girl on Mar 3, 2008 7:08 PM MST 0 recs

I'm thinking that this is a good thing

I like Brad, and if he continues to improve against lefties AND his defense comes back around in '08, this should be a good deal for all concerned.

What I most like is the signal that ownership keeps flashing to the fans that they are backing up their promise to keep this core group of players together. And yes, that signal is flashing very brightly in Matt Holliday's window as well, I think. A very shrewd move by the Monforts, IMHO.

2007 National League Champions, baby!

by rockhead on Mar 3, 2008 7:31 PM MST 0 recs

Watching the 4/7/93 Game...

I had no idea how absolutely terrible Frank Bolick played that day. 3 errors (all he'd have that year playing 3B, actually) and numerous bad reads.

by oo_nrb on Mar 3, 2008 7:36 PM MST 0 recs

Prince not Cecil

I used to go to Tigers' games before Comerica and remember that Cecil could rake. I feel like he was the "Big Papi" before there was. By the way..anyone sick of the Yankees and Red Sox yet?

InToddwetrust

by InToddwetrust on Mar 3, 2008 7:54 PM MST 0 recs

oops, that was a slip.

Why can't all players name their kids like Tony Gwynn, Tim Raines and Eric Young did to help us bloggers out?

by Rox Girl on Mar 3, 2008 8:08 PM MST up 0 recs

Watching the old games

makes you realize how things were prior to the humidor. The game is a completely different affair now.

I had almost forgot the Darryl Bostons and Willie Blair's of the world.

by PinchHitLancePainter on Mar 3, 2008 9:07 PM MST 0 recs

Watching the old games

Makes me love Drew Goodman all the more. And I'm a big fan of his anyway. Just watched the '95 wild-card clincher. Was that Charlie Jones doing the play by play???? Don't remember, all these years and beers later. Whoever it was, I couldn't stand that voice then, and tonight it was like fingernails on the chalkboard.

The other thing I noticed was the difference in the crowd reaction at the end. Little did we know that it would be 12 loooooooooonnnnnnnnggggg years before we would experience that feeling again.

2007 National League Champions, baby!

by rockhead on Mar 3, 2008 9:26 PM MST up 0 recs

Old games

These are great memory testers -- seeing a guy with Pulliam on his back forces me to dig into the ol' gray matter, and pull up Harvey Pulliam.

Which reminds me -- here's a cool link:

All Time Rockies Roster

It's a great trip down memory lane, with loads of great names you haven't thought about in years. Enjoy another visit with the likes of Cliff Brumbaugh, Butch Huskey and Ty Van Burkleo. Grimace in pain at the until-now-repressed memory of Ron Gant and Mike Harkey's "performance" as Rockie players. Discover that there was a Rockies player with the first name of Mandy.

It's all there, people.

by BroJB on Mar 3, 2008 9:49 PM MST up 0 recs

Hawpe

I feel like no one pays attention to this as much as I do, but it seems like every time I see or read an interview with Hawpe, he's one of the most well-spoken and intelligent professional sports players I'm aware of. I know I'm not supposed to think about this with sports players, since they have so much else to worry about, but I can't help it. I like that Hawpe speaks very differently from the usual truncated platitudes that dominate big-league sports speech. I don't know anything about projections and all that, but Hawpe's obvious character leads me to believe that he's anything but projectable. We'll see, though, thankfully.

(And maybe I should say that our guys, as a team, seem well above average in the sports-speech department.)

by dogs on Mar 3, 2008 9:36 PM MST 0 recs