Not a big fan of the move - but I get the sense of urgency. Clearly the M's are trying to make a push during the prime "Felix Window".
The reasons I am not a big fan of the move.....
1) Cruz is a horrible defender - thus relegating him to only DH. Provides zero positional flexibility, locking up a large chunk of payroll for only a bat.
2) Cruz has had a really hard time staying healthy over the years - certainly being only a DH could help, but there is a fairly high risk/gamble on the part of the M's. Not a bet I would personally want to make
3) This move would be much more acceptable if he was signed by the Red Sox, Yankees, or Dodgers - teams who seemingly have zero payroll restraints (or at least have a much larger budget than us). We have limited resources, so locking up Cruz for four years will likely have an "opportunity cost" in the future. If was the ONLY player we were able to get over the next 3-4 years, then I guess it makes sense, but if he costs us a better player....in other words - if we could just "buy" a few bats, we could absorb a mistake. Because we have limited resources, we have to weight the opportunity cost.
4) Nelson Cruz has a skill-set that typically does not age well. Power hitters who are often injured tend to decline rapidly after age 33/34. There is no guarantee that he will do as well as last season, nor is there any guarantee he will decline. Again, a fairly risky proposition. Each free agent this offseason had a fairly major risk factor, so if you wanted to sign a free agent, you also must accept the risk. This is just not a risk the M's can afford. I would have preferred that we throw our resources at Tomas, who is absolutely a risk - maybe even bigger. But he has a much greater upside, and would have team control for much longer period of time.
5) The issue with WAR for me is not this season.....1.5 WAR for a team as close as the M's are is acceptable, even at an inflated cost. I am ok with paying him 8 Million per win this season. Not going to be pretty when we are paying him $30 million for his last two years on the disabled list
6) Not a fan of losing the draft pick compensation required for the signing. But I always lean toward building a team internally, from the farm up.
7) The sentiment that "doing something is better than doing nothing" can be a dangerous way to build a team. Bavasi seemed to be really good at making a move to make a move. Not liking this move does not mean there has to a different / better move to replace it. "Who else would we sign?" is a different question. Is it logical to sign the wrong person simply because he is available? or because we can? Roster construction should be a huge consideration, and something I am not certain Z understands real well.
Tim Ruskell loved to overpay for past performance from free agents, during years that decline would inevitably set in. Schneider's success has been his ability to identify under valued talent, and refuse to overpay for past performance with players like Jared Allen, Julius Peppers, or Vincent Jackson, Love how the farm system is being developed - Lets just hope that Z is gambling correctly and Cruz has a few more good years left, and that he keeps hitting through his age 38 year. We can also hope that the M's are not done, and have payroll flexibility in future years that allow for a few mistakes
