Wednesday, October 14, 2009

FanGraphs: Hold up on making LaHawk your closer

FanGraphs points out that LaHawk has lived off one-year contracts, except in instances in which he has parlayed one successful season into multi-year contracts, where he has been nothing short of terrible.

Hawkins has essentially lived off one-year deals since that Cubs contract – which he finished with the Orioles in 2006 — and his free agency is going to be fun to watch for one reason in particular: will any club give him a multiple-year contract? If one does, I would have to assume it’s going to because of his shiny ERA and closer potential. This seems like a very bad idea. Hawkins’ tRA has finished above 5 two of the last three years and his FIP will likely be near 4. That’s not to say Hawkins is unserviceable, just that he’s not as valuable as his ERA suggests.