Wish We'd Signed Aurilia Instead of Speez

Hungary Jack · Post by **Hungary Jack** » April 20 07, 9:25 am

I was surprised when Rich Aurilia signed with the Giants for 2/$8M. I thought he'd get a bigger deal. At that price, I would have taken him over Speez for 2/$4.5.

Aurilia is a better 3B, can play the MI in a pinch, and mashes lefties. I highly doubt Speez will repeat last year's .862 OPS.

Popeye_Card · Post by **Popeye_Card** » April 20 07, 9:34 am

Yeah, but Aurillia only hits like .200/.250/.300 against the rest of the NL outside of the Cardinals.

--P--

dangerous · Post by **dangerous** » April 20 07, 10:12 am

Speez hit a triple vs Milw and also over Shawn Green's head.

Post by **Bo Hart** » April 20 07, 10:39 am

Hungary Jack wrote:I highly doubt Speez will repeat last year's .862 OPS.

Then again, what leads you to believe that Aurilia will repeat his 2006 (you didn't say this but it sounded kind of insinuated to me)?

2002: .718 OPS
2003: .735 OPS
2004: .667 OPS
2005: .782 OPS (At Great American: .941 OPS; on the road: .621 OPS)

So I would chalk up 2006 to being somewhat of an aberration.

Other things to consider:

a) Could Aurilia have played outfield? He never has before (but then again, Spiezio only played it sparingly before coming here.)

b) Would Aurilia have signed for that price here, or did he give a bit of a discount to head back to San Francisco?

This is kind of an intriguing point you bring up. Aurilia has started 78 games at second base in his career; maybe he could have replaced Miles on the roster, and if he were able to play outfield, give Duncan some time off out there when a tough lefty was on the mound?

Even with all of the positives: do you really want to pay $4 million+ a year for a 35-year-old middle infielder with the four year span he had starting in 2002? But then again, you could make the same case against Spiezio.. which is exactly what this topic is about.

CarpMan · Post by **CarpMan** » April 20 07, 12:42 pm

Nope. Wish we had signed Aurillia instead of Wilson.

(moe than an hour later) okay, he hits a homer accasionally.

stlmark · Post by **stlmark** » April 20 07, 2:25 pm

I was hoping that Walt could have gotten Aurilia. He's a versatile player.

Leeyat · Post by **Leeyat** » April 20 07, 7:07 pm

CarpMan wrote:Nope. Wish we had signed Aurillia instead of Wilson.

(moe than an hour later) okay, he hits a homer accasionally.

I guess you will change your mind if you watched tonight's game! --- Thanks Uncle Walt, we signed Wilson!

Wilosn!

BW23 · Post by **BW23** » April 20 07, 7:41 pm

How about Aurilia instead of Miles?

stlmark · Post by **stlmark** » April 20 07, 7:45 pm

BW23 wrote:How about Aurilia instead of Miles?

Oh hell yea!

Capt_Morgan · Post by **Capt_Morgan** » April 20 07, 7:45 pm

BW23 wrote:How about Aurilia instead of Miles?

that's a better option

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Wish We'd Signed Aurilia Instead of Speez

Wish We'd Signed Aurilia Instead of Speez

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