Ned brings in another proven veteran leader as they inked Orlando Hudson to a contract today. Ken Gurnick has the details. The base is cheap but the incentives could add up to $8 Million so we need to see how the incentives are structured.
Until last year Orlando Hudson was considered the premier defensive 2nd baseman in baseball. Last year, not so much. I'm going to miss seeing how DeWitt would have played out as a 2nd baseman and I'm going to miss the excitement on draft day as our number one pick (17th overall) now belongs to our chief rivals.
Trying to look on the bright side of losing the pick. we can be thankful that Logan White does not make the Diamondback picks. Also they are low on money so who knows if they can even afford to sign two number one picks.
Waiting for Ned and Joe to talk about how this will impact the team while D Lowe looks longingly back West after hearing that Hudson will be playing 2nd base. In 2007 I'd been giddy to know Hudson was going to be our 2nd baseman in 2009. Now I'm hopeful he can get back to his 2007 defensive level while maintaining his solid offensive performance for a 2nd baseman. I'll let Eric run the numbers when he gets a chance but the team does look better today then it did yesterday.
The future however looks worse as our farm system could really use that number one pick. This is a play for the current and it better pan out. Looking for more plus since Hudson was a Type A this year, he could easily be a type A next year and maybe we get a number one back.
Expect Abreu to be given away cheaply. That will be the real crime here if it happens.