Also, 2B is supposedly a higher difficulty position vs. 3B. I don’t have any concerns about Polanco’s range or agility at the hot corner, although we are trading off some arm strength.

On a separate note, I wonder how much of a push we could’ve made for Chone Figgins who surprsingly seems to be about to sign a 4/$36 deal with Seattle, which is pretty darn reasonable.

FWIW, Dave Cameron posted a good piece on Fan Graphs today in which he explained their $ values and in the comments section Tom Tango posted a link to another piece that helped explain the concept.

As to Figgins, I would have liked him a lot more if he hadn’t been offered arbitration.

Since he was offered arbitration, signing Polanco has a silver lining: the Phillies will not lose their 1st round pick in next year’s draft.

The Phillies have contact guys that are suited for the #1, 2, or 7 spots in the lineup. What they needed was a right-handed third baseman with power potential and a decent glove. Adrian Beltre and Joe Crede are examples of such players (I’m not advocating that the Phillies should have been looking at Crede).

Chone Figgins doesn’t fit that role but if he takes the role Jimmy Rollins had (lead-off hitter with speed), that allows Rollins to move to the #7 spot and swing from the fences from both sides of the plate, something he does already (mistakenly, as a lead-off guy).

The Polanco signing isn’t a horrible move, I just think it’s ill-advised given that A) they jumped quickly; B) did not get the best guy out there; C) Polanco hadn’t regularly played third base since 2005; and D) could have gotten much more for slightly more money.

For instance, Figgins would have cost $8-12 million annually for four years (probably), and he’s younger and more versatile. Last month, I had Figgins at 7 WAR. Even if we regress him significantly, he’s still 5-6 WAR, or about twice as much as Polanco.

Beltre has a slightly higher ceiling, has more power, has been undervalued because he’s been hitting in a pitcher’s park, is younger, and has actually been playing at third base his entire career. He probably will be signed for ~$8-10 million annually for two or three years (similar to Polanco’s contract, there may be an option for a fourth year).

I was getting at another point, however. What I was trying to say is that the Phils may end up getting rather better than $6MM’s worth of production in 2010 from Polanco, which should compensate for lesser production in 2011 and 2012.

I mentioned this because you referred to FanGraphs and how they scored Polanco’s value in 2008 and 2009 – if you are going to use one line of reasoning (i.e., that Polanco was worth $14MM for each of 2008 and 2009 as per FanGraphs), you should use the same reasoning for Polanco’s upcoming stint with the Phillies.

Using that rationale, I don’t this is that bad a deal.

Friar, none of us can really say he’ll be good or bad, since he hasn’t played third base in a long time. While he’s been good at second base, that doesn’t transfer over to third base — it’s a whole ‘nother ball game, as they say.

Rich, I agree: I prefer Feliz on a one-year deal over Polanco on a three-year deal, but there’s also the benefit of not having to worry about third base every season. There is something to be said about that, I guess.

Matt, I’m still flabbergasted that he was a Type A free agent. The Tigers didn’t offer him arbitration, though, so the Phillies wouldn’t have lost their first round and a supplementary pick anyway.

This was as it seems now a bad deal. It was rushed and now we have Placido and his $18 million contract for 3 years.

I would have wanted to stay with Feliz at one more year at $5 million for this and see what would have developed. Why commit to Polanco, he just hasn’t been that good.

This could be the first of many blunders that Amaro makes, the Mets sign Coste, we could have had him back but they bring in Brian Schneider and pay him 2.75 million for 2 years? Why? He was abysmal last year.