The Minnesota Twins announced today that they have agreed to terms with second baseman Orlando Hudson on a one-year contract worth $5 million dollars for the 2010 season.
Hudson, 32, batted .283 (156-for-551) with 35 doubles, six triples, nine home runs and 62 RBIs in 149 games with the Los Angeles Dodgers last season. He was named to his second career All-Star team (2007) and also won his fourth career Rawlings Gold Glove Award (2005, 2006 and 2007). Following the 2009 season, Hudson was named the Best Defensive Second Baseman by Baseball America in its annual tools issue.
Since making his Major League debut in 2002, Hudson has a career batting-average of .282 (1035-for-3670) with 214 doubles, 50 triples, 77 home runs and 434 RBIs in 1014 games with Toronto, Arizona and Los Angeles (NL). He has recorded 120-or-more hits in each of the last seven seasons. (via MLB.com)
Obviously, this will put the O-Dog to the Mets rumors to rest for yet another season.
Interestingly enough though, is the fact that Hudson takes over at second base for the Twins, ultimately replacing Castillo who they traded to the Mets in 2007. Since then, the Mets have spent two off-seasons trying to rid themselves of Castillo with the hopes of replacing him with O-Dog. It looks like the Twins succeeded where the Mets could not.
It’s interesting how easy it is for teams to let Slow-Dog go, and how long it takes him to find a suitor.
And as Sherman reports, the Dodgers think he was overrated defensively and slow.
I wonder what Sherman thinks of Luis Castillo?
Good one!!!
It’s absolutly amazing how easily led by nymediahype some people are. I couldn’t understand gow all the metfans were ignoring how in the do or dies scenerio that is the playoffs, how Torre preferred journeyman, Ronnie Berlliard over Slo-Dog. I can’t immagine anyone preferring Belliard’s defensive lapses over anyone deemed, even, capable.
Hell, Belliard couldn’t keep his job on the Gnats! yet, the very same season he suplanted Hudson on a division winner. I’d say, in this case, Omar did well not listening to the mob.
Perhaps Torre’s aversion was rooted in O-Dog’s salary incentives and the owner’s marital split. $ are all important in BB, you only have to look at the Mets to realize that.
Possibly’ but perhaps Hudson’s new teammate designation as Slow-Dog had more to say about it. I don’t believe the McCorts trevails were a factor in the postseason, more offseason. Just think, in a “DO or DIE” postseason series the playing time was allocated to a 2B who couldn’t keep that job for the Gnats! LMAO!
Hey METS62FAN, Mets fans are led by media hype because they follow the lead of sites like Metsblog who swallow whole everything they say. He gives them credibility by reprinting their utterings and legitimizing everything they write. Even the most outlandish of claims will be sure to be re-published on Metsblog.
William, I stopped visiting there yrs ago! I prefer my own reseaecg sans non-traditional FANTASY DRIVEN ALPHASBET SOUP STATS! BASICLY, my own observatiuons relying upon mlb.com fot basics suvh as age, BA,OBP,etc. Did u realize that regarding AGE, in those areas that mean the most 2 me, ala ROTATION,STARTING POS PLAYERS,PRIMARY B/U,PEN,ENDGAMERS. We’re younger in most all categories than PHL & ATL.
for instance regarding all rotational cndidates:
i BELIEVE IN OUR COMPETITIVNESS NOT DUE TO HOW WE ANSWERED OUR NEEDS; BUT BECAUSE OF HOW OUR COMPETITORS ANSWERED THEIR’S:
OVERALL ROSTER AGE FAVORS NYM AS PLAYERS 35+ RELIED UPON REGULARLY IS:
NYM PHL ATL
CASTILLO(35) IBANEZ(38) JONES(38)
POLANCO(35)
BULLPEN AGES CERTAINLY AVG TO BENEFIT NY AS AVG. AGE OF BP IS:
30 FOR PHL, 29 FOR ATL & 26 FOR NYM
STARTING LINEUPS BY POSITION:
PHL ATL NYM
AVG AGE SP 32 31 28
C 31 26 29
1B 31 34 25
2B 28 27 35
3B 35 38 28
SS 32 28 27
LF 38 28 32
CF 30 29 33
RF 31 28 26
AVG AGE 32 30 29
END GAME DIFFERENTIALS: CLOSERS”
PHL: LIDGE – 34
ATL: WAGNER – 39/40
NYM: K-ROD – 28
PRIMARY BACKUP OPTIONS (BENCH AVG. AGES) PHL-32.3, ATL-30.0, NYM-31.0
SETUPS
PHL: BAEZ,33; ROMERO, 34; MADSEN, 30
ATL:SAITO,40; MOYLAN, 28; ACOSTA, 29
NYM: PARNELL, 26, ESCOBAR*,34, FELICIANO,34; IGARASHI,31
ALL IN ALL OF THESE 3 TEAMS, FOR ONE OF THE FIST TIMES EVER, THE AGE FACTOR FAVORS NY.
There goes the grittiest ballplayer that ever lived.
You must be VERY new to baseball I see. HAHAHHAHAHA FUNNY STUFF
Good Going Omar!! I hope you enjoy watching Castillo dropping pop-ups next season or becoming the ire of fans the whole season again!
Why must the Organization ALWAYS DRAG ITS FEET when it comes to getting players!?!? The Wilpons are owners that ONLY care about ticket sales!!
Castillo is the only player in the history of baseball and the Mets to ever drop a pop up…………….Did you ever hear of Alfonzo????
Wake up! owners, every one of them, control the GM on every single franchise! The GM serves at the Owner’s pleasure!
Leran this simple fact of life, Jazz, THE TAIL NEVER,EVER WAGS THE DOG!
Exactly, $ are first and winning is second. The direction comes from the owners to the GM to the Field Mgr. The financial bottom line comes first and trumps performance every day. It IS a business. The owners develop their financial dynasties to enhance the legacy of the grandkids.
Mask, Texas,Florida,Arizona are all franchises that overspent their means stretching for that brass ring! I personally think we’d all be apalled at the fragility of the Wuilpon financial reserves. I believe too much inbreeding between Strerling Enterprise Partnership & NYM Ownership is to blame. We all know that NY’s Commercial Real Estate market has been in the toilet for some time as has Tokyo’s. The destruction of Maidoff, certainly had more psychological efffect than monetary to the Wi;lpon abilities to sleep well at night. The following families are all reliant upon Sterling/Mets income:
Fred Wilpons
Jeff Wilpons + his older brother’s family
The Sol Katz’
The sudden realization that the EMERGENCY FUNDS BERNIE WAS HOLDING HAS EVAPORATED caused belt tightening throughout all of those households.
I fear it will get worse before it gets better & unfortunately I don’t see any assistance coming out of an ownership change since NYM struggles suits our competition well & they control who can assume ownership! BUD SELIG & THE OWNERSHIP COMMITTEE! The parody of parity is their #1 goal!
But the Mets pulled out of Madoff before the jig was up and made off with $58M to the good. They made off on Madoff. I think they fear having to pay the $58M back to make good to the truly damaged victims. The real estate businesses may not be able to free up that $58M to get off the hook. That’s how Ponzi was done in. As confidence in him waned, he coudn’t free up money fast enough to pay off the claims against him. Eventually the reaper came and the house of cards tumbled. There may be a Mets house of cards hanging in limbo waiting for the Feds to come looking for the restoration of the $58M. It was the press that brought down Ponzi. How will the Wilpon’s ultimately come to give up the Mets to capable ownership? It is a tale still being woven.
Mask, not to split hairs; but the trial transcripts indicate it was 48M not 58M & since there is no indication they were aware of any unscrupulousness prior to withdrwal, the penalty not likely to befall, per “60 Min” report on who the penalty may befall as in professional investors who should’ve or did know. I believe the true loss to Wilpons in Bernies scam was the loss of security, while they were most likely buoyed into believing the hundreds of millions allegedly held for them by Maidoff was a big enough buffer for downturns in Realty Mkt. That Security blanket has unraveled, the emergency funds totally evaporated. it was also revealed that while individual Wilpons had holdings separate from NYM with Maidoff, the Team used a Maidoff account as an investment/accrual account for deferred player contract payments, Glavine,Franco,Bonilla, Santana all had contracts that had/have deferred amounts typically these amounts are held by the club in an interest bearing accrual account with some of he interest paid to the player and some held onto by te club accoerding to contract stipulation. Those deferred payments will still be due & instead of coming out of the accrual account will hit NYM operation expenses amounts basicly paid twice, once into accruals + once to the player when due.
As far as clawbacks of ill-gotten gains go, motivations of the investors do not enter into the consideration, no matter what you may have heard or interpreted from 60 minutes. If someone holds gains from Madoff, those funds are due back to contribute to making good to those who were fleeced. Now if the Wipons had various accounts and they were negative on balance to all their accounts, then that is different. In that case, they should be able to work a deal to leave the gains in place to compensate their other losses. If they in fact lost the deferred payment savings, then the Mets are essentially cooked. That could account for the current stinginess. So there are a couple theories that originate with the Madoff tragedy, 1. they fear having to pay back the gains whether $58M or $48M, or 2. they lost on balance and are in a big hole to make good on deferred income to players. The best option would then be for the Wilpons to sell the team and let the new owners deal with the problem of deferred payments. The problem with that of course, is that the new owners will bargain for a reduction in price to cover the future stream of deferred payments that are not covered by escrow.
Mask, on what basis of factual relativity can/do you envision Bed Selig & ownership Committee allowing any ownership change that impedes the parity program they’re desperatly want acrodss the board? I’d prefer present inept ownership to the likes of Fl,Pitt,Cinc,KC,Atl ineptness with a feint toward competitivness is SUPERIOR to sole dedication to profitability with no consideration for competitiveness outside of the bottom line. BTW, that’s what Atlanta has had for years under Time-Warner & now Liberty Communications can’t u see it now… Mets/Knicks/Eangers sharing ownership? FAT CHANCE, I PREFER THE DEVIL/HELL I KNOW NOT ONE HANDPICKED OPTION CHOSEN BY MY COMPETITORS LOOKING TO ENSURE MY PERMANENT IRRELEVANCY! Mask, after years of rooting for this frasnchise & using all of my extensivly learned people skills, I’m telling u that it isn’t Overall Ownership; but the incompertance of one minority owner( Jeff Wilpon) with special familial ties to the Majority owner(Fred Wilpon) and the firetorm scandal the elder dismissing the younger would cause. That is why, I reuly believe our only hope for creating a competitivly managed & successfullty run franchise is for the Active Baseball activities(GM job) to be transferred from the pewrview of the COO(Jeff Wilpon) to that of Team President(Sol Katz)
From a fan’s perspective, the BEST thing to be said favoring Sol Katz, is that while holder of the Team President title since 2002, none of us could ever pick him out of a lineup as he’s smart enough to leave baseball activities to baseball men.
I get the distinct impression that there’s absolutly nothing Fred would prefer more than to just be a ‘FAN’ with special clout, meaning hiring competant people that take his overall operational skeleton and flesh out a competitive ballclub he can be proud of & his name is solely referred to as much if not less than Wellingtom Mara’s re. during operational discourse of that football franchise. Basicly Fred is the Abti-Boss concerning Press coverage!
62, If you want to change leadership from JW to SK, that’s fine. I don;t know enough about him (and probably no on else does either) to project the outcome. But right now, any change is fine. If you recommend that change, fine let’s go with it. If Katz will let BB people run day to day, then great. But then, what BB people do we actually have to do that?
good luck hudson.
I’m glad we didnt get this guy. He’s so overrated its not even funny.
He might be overrated, but which player is more overpaid, Castillo at $6.25M or Hudson at $5M?
I told yall the Mets have their token Black (American) for the year.
Good luck to O-Dogg
You are a racist.
And you’re a pig.
These are the rewards for having a GM who can only do one thing at a time. Omar: Can you count to 5 and pat the top of your head at the same time?
Hey, can we trade the Mets management for the Twins management. Apparently they are thinking possible World Series….
http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100204&content_id=8020848&vkey=news_min&fext=.jsp&c_id=min
Without causing a riot in here, I am a Phillies fan, but, I think this was a good pick-up for the Mets.
More importantly, I am glad after selling my Phillies blog, someone other than me has an interest in baseball [and is writing], while we in the NE have snow on the ground! thanks for the post
For crying out loud! A great pickup for the Twins on the O-Dog! Sorry for the double post!
Yep, no doubt about it: you’re a Phillies fan. Mets – Twins, NL – AL: you can’t tell one from the other. You’re Ralph Kramden and you’re lost without Alice to keep you straight.
well with him signing a one year deal I guess we get to look forward to the Mets trying to get him again next offseason
Mask, we can likely argue day & night re. Minaya’s abilities; but my point would be his moves/decisions prior to Jeff’s intrusions after ’07 season. While ’07 was not ultimately successful, I’d argue the pieces for success were provided and the issue was in the execution not those supplied to execute.
I truly & wholeheartedly believe this aberration of an offseason. one of inactivity after 5Y of hyperactivity by Omar is proof he’s not to blame or incharge as he had been! Is there any doubt that the GM that first pursued Pedro,Beltran & Delgado ten Santana, followed by K-Rod would not have pursued both Lackey & Bay? Isn’t this offseason eerily inactive like those between ’01-’04? What’s the constant? figure it out!
[...] like me and Orlando Hudson have something in common; we both will never play second base for the Mets. So after all the debate about second base for the Mets what’s done is done, Luis Castillo is the [...]