T
ThomasTomasz
Guest
What with the terribly conspicuous signings of Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson this offseason, it's easy to forget one important thing about the Los Angeles Angels (of Anaheim): they're saddled with what may be the most burdensome contract in all of baseball. That contract belongs to, of course, Vernon Wells.
To grimly remind Angels fans, Wells was acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays in January 2011 in exchange for Mike Napoli and Juan Rivera. Oh, and the Angels received a mere $5 million to defray the cost of Wells' contract. And speaking of cost, the Halos will pay Wells $63 million over the next three years.
Last season, Wells authored the worst numbers of his career, which raises the possibility that his contract will worsen from "thoroughly ill-advised" to "boondoggle of unimaginable dimensions." To be sure, Wells is an intelligent, self-aware, funny, and occasionally excellent ballplayer, but he's not worth what he's being paid. That's not his fault, but it's reality. To put a finer point on it, Wells, according to wins above replacement, provided $1.4 million in on-field value in 2011 while being paid more than $26 million. Suffice it to say, that's not a sound investment.
So the question for the Angels, who have legitimate designs on a championship this season, is not whether Wells will somehow be worth the money -- he won't be. Rather, the question is whether he can help them toward their greater goals. The answer is yes.
First, the depths that Wells reached last season must be acknowledged: there's simply no glossing over a batting line of .218/.248/.412. In large part, the problem was that Wells' line-drive rate cratered to a career-worst 12.3 percent, which was also the lowest figure of any qualifying hitter last season. While there's usually some year-to-year fluctuation with line-drive rate, this level of decline is troubling. But check out the splits in the table to the right.
Wells' overall numbers hide the fact that he was utterly feckless against same-side pitching but highly effective against lefties. For his entire career, Wells has been substantially better in platoon-advantaged situations, and while everything else at the plate seemed to fall apart last season, his ability to hit for power against left-handers remained intact. And therein lies his value going forward. But he has to be deployed in just such a conservative manner.
Far too often, organizations are reluctant to treat bad contracts as "sunk costs." That is, a player with a large and expensive pact, even if demonstrably ineffective, continues to play regularly because … well, because of the imagined mandates of that large and expensive pact. That makes no sense, obviously. Players should play because they help the team win, not because they've been promised a sheikh's ransom.
Taking the wise tack with a bad contract normally means releasing the player, but with Wells it's obvious he can still help a team, provided his role is carefully limited. In his current straits, that means never giving him a high-leverage plate appearance against a right-handed pitcher. Wells, as mentioned, can hit lefties, so he'd make for a useful platoon partner with DH Bobby Abreu, who, tidily enough, is about as bad against lefties as Wells is against righties. Wells can also man center in an emergency and perhaps be a defensive asset at the corners when needed.
Let us also not forget that Wells has had a habit of alternating good seasons and bad ones. Check out his year-by-year OPS going back to 2006:
2006: .899
2007: .706
2008: .840
2009: .711
2010: .847
2011: .660
This isn't to say that Wells is about to recapture his 2006 form, but it's worth noting that he shouldn't be written off based on one bad season.
The Angels will be a better team if top prospect Mike Trout is an everyday outfielder alongside Torii Hunter and Peter Bourjos, but Wells, even with three other righty-hitting outfielders on the roster, still has a place on this team. Pair him with Abreu (at least until Kendrys Morales proves to be healthy and effective) and let him play the corners on occasion when a lefty's on the bump for opposition. Realize, though, that Wells is no longer a major league regular. He'll never again provide value on the dollar, but he can help.
:jonesy:
