JOSH REDDICK V. OAKLAND ATHLETICS SIDE REPRESENTED: JOSH REDDICK TEAM 4

Transcription

1 JOSH REDDICK V. OAKLAND ATHLETICS SIDE REPRESENTED: JOSH REDDICK TEAM 4

2 Table of Contents I. Introduction II. Josh Reddick... 1 A. Performance and Consistency... 1 B. Mental and Physical Health... 2 C. Past Compensation... 3 D. Team Performance... 4 III. Player Comparisons... 4 A. Colby Rasmus... 4 B. Seth Smith... 7 C. Gerardo Parra... 9 IV. Conclusion... 10

3 I. Introduction This brief demonstrates the significant production that Josh Reddick has contributed to the Oakland Athletics success over the past two seasons in support of his request of a $2.55M salary for the 2014 season. In accordance with Article VI(E)(10)(a) of the recent Major League Baseball Collective Bargaining Agreement, there are five permissible criteria used in evaluating Reddick s value 1 : (1) his performance and consistency, (2) his mental and physical health, (3) his past compensation, (4) his team performances, and (5) player comparisons in this case Colby Rasmus, Seth Smith, and Gerardo Parra. II. Josh Reddick A. Performance and Consistency Josh Reddick made his debut for the Boston Red Sox on July 31, 2009, and saw limited action as the Red Sox s front office executed transactions around the July 31 Trade Deadline. 2 In his limited role, he played in only 27 major league games in 2009 and 29 games in Reddick was deservingly promoted from Triple-A Pawtucket to a full-time role in Boston on May 26, 2011, and made an instant impact for the Red Sox. In 87 games in 2011, Reddick finished with a.280/.327/.457 triple-slash line (AVG/OBP/SLG), hitting 7 home runs and recording 28 RBIs on his way to being named the Red Sox Rookie of the Year in a season when Boston won 90 games. 3 On December 28, 2011, the Oakland Athletics jumped at the opportunity to trade for Reddick and immediately named him their starting right fielder for the 2012 season. Reddick rewarded the A s confidence in him by having a breakout year in 2012, leading the A s on both offense and defense. He led the team with 32 home runs, 85 RBIs, 29 doubles,

4 55 walks, 148 hits, and 283 total bases. 4 Reddick also provided value on the basepaths as he stole 11 bases at an excellent 92% success rate. Perhaps Reddick s most underrated contribution to the 2012 A s came on defense, as he was named the team s Defensive Player of the Year 5 and was the only Athletic to win a Gold Glove Award. 6 In a season where the A s barely edged out the Texas Rangers by one game for the AL West title, Reddick s all-around performance was a clear difference maker for the team. As discussed in the following section, Reddick suffered a sprained right wrist at the beginning of the 2013 season that impacted his offensive numbers for his platform season, but will have no impact going forward. Table 1 Josh Reddick s Career Statistics 7 YEAR G 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB SB% AB H AVG OBP SLG % % % % ALL % B. Mental and Physical Health Prior to the 2013 season, Josh Reddick had never been placed on the 15-Day Disabled List. 8 In fact, Reddick led the 2012 A s with 156 games played and 611 at-bats. 9 Unfortunately, on April 7, 2013, Reddick sprained his right wrist after colliding with a wall as he giving his usual full effort to make a play on a fly ball. 10 Instead of being placed on the 15-Day Disabled List, Reddick took a team-first approach and returned to action five days

5 later. 11 Reddick played through the soreness in his wrist (to the determent of his offensive numbers) for most of April before the A s finally placed him on the 15-Day Disabled List on May After being activated on May 31, Reddick played injury-free until re-aggravating his right wrist on a yet another full-effort defensive play in August. 13 The A s placed Reddick on the 15-Day Disabled List on August 26 and activated him on September Reddick rebounded with his best month of the season in September, hitting.304 with two home runs and an.846 OPS through the remainder of the season. 15 Reddick underwent successful surgery on his wrist on October 30, and will be fully recovered before Spring Training begins. 16 Furthermore, Reddick s mental health has never been questioned. C. Past Compensation Since making his debut on July 31, 2009, Reddick has received an annual salary each year at or near the major league minimum. 17 From 2009 through 2011, Reddick collected a prorated portion of the $400,000 league minimum during his time with the Boston Red Sox. After trading for him in December 2011, Oakland paid Reddick a salary of $485,000 in 2012, $5,000 more than the league minimum of $480,000 a major bargain considering his offensive and defensive output for the season. For the 2013 season, Oakland unilaterally renewed Reddick s contract for $510,000 $20,000 more than the league minimum. Because this salary arbitration hearing represents Reddick s first bite of the apple, Reddick is due for a substantial raise

6 D. Team Performance The arrival of Josh Reddick in Oakland signaled a new era for the A s organization. In his first two seasons with Oakland, Reddick led the A s to back-to-back postseason appearances and consecutive AL West Championships. Prior to Reddick s arrival in Oakland, the A s had suffered a five-year playoff drought, having not made the playoffs since The 2012 A s finished with a record good enough for the second best overall record in the American League. As mentioned, Reddick was a major contributor to the A s in 2012, both offensively and defensively. Reddick s excellent all-around performance was critical to the team s success as the A s won the AL West over the Texas Rangers by a slim margin of one game. Reddick was credited for his clutch performance down the stretch by being named the American League Player of the Week on September 4, 2012, after batting.387 with three home runs and a OPS, along with his excellent defensive performance, in a week where the A s won seven straight games. 18 The 2013 A s topped their 2012 performance with an impressive record. Notably, Reddick s performance from , and consequently the A s success in winning consecutive AL West titles, resulted in a jump for Oakland s home attendance. The A s saw a 13% increase in attendance from 2011 to and an 8% increase in attendance from 2012 to III. Player Comparisons A. Colby Rasmus Colby Rasmus was a starting outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals from 2009 through the middle of the 2011 season. The Cardinals traded Rasmus to the Toronto Blue Jays on July 27,

7 2011, where he spent the rest of the season as the Blue Jay s starting center fielder. During his platform season in 2011, Rasmus finished with 14 home runs, a.225 batting average, a.298 onbase percentage, and a.391 slugging percentage (all career-lows). In his first offseason of arbitration eligibility, Rasmus agreed to a $2.7M contract with Toronto for the 2012 season, which is well above the $2.325M midpoint in this case. Rasmus is a remarkably similar player to Reddick for several reasons. As left-handed hitting outfielders, Rasmus and Reddick posted nearly identical statistics in both their platform seasons and in their overall career numbers before reaching first-time arbitration eligibility. Moreover, each player dealt with a sprained right wrist injury in his platform season. Table 2 Colby Rasmus s Career Statistics 21 YEAR G 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB SB% AB H AVG OBP SLG % % % ALL % In their platform seasons, Reddick and Rasmus posted similar batting averages (.001 higher for Reddick,.226 to.225), on-base percentages (.012 higher for Reddick,.307 to.298), and slugging percentages (.012 higher for Rasmus,.391 to.379). Rasmus hit 14 home runs and recorded 53 RBIs, while Reddick hit 12 home runs and recorded 56 RBIs. Both players hit a similar number of doubles (19 for Reddick and 24 for Rasmus) and drew a similar number of walks (46 for Reddick and 50 for Rasmus). Nevertheless, Reddick (9 stolen bases with a 82% stolen-base percentage) was a more efficient and productive baserunner than Rasmus (5 stolen bases with only a 71% success rate). As previously mentioned, the two players each spent time on the 15-Day Disabled List in their platform seasons with a sprained right wrist. The injury

8 caused Reddick to miss 37 games, whereas the sprained right wrist caused Rasmus to miss 21 22, 23 games. In comparing their career statistics prior to first-time arbitration eligibility, even more similarities arise between Rasmus and Reddick. Reddick and Rasmus played in a similar number of games (420 for Rasmus; 413 for Reddick), hit nearly the same amount of home runs (Reddick s 54 tops Rasmus s 53), and drove in nearly the same amount of runs (178 RBIs for Reddick; 171 for Rasmus). Both players hit 11 triples. Rasmus hit 74 doubles, whereas Reddick notched 73 doubles. Despite their similar offensive numbers, Rasmus did not have a comparable defensive career before reaching first-time arbitration eligibility. At no point in his career did Rasmus ever win a defensive award. Likewise, Rasmus did not make it onto any defensive statistical leaderboards for his play in center field. 24 On the other hand, Reddick won a Gold Glove Award in 2012 for his outstanding outfield defense and was subsequently named a Gold Glove Award Finalist in 2013, an award he arguably would have won again if not for the time he had spent on the Disabled List. 25 In both 2012 and 2013, Reddick was among American League leaders as a right fielder in the following categories: most assists as a right fielder, double plays turned as a right fielder, and putouts as a right fielder. 26 Notably, Rasmus only made one playoff appearance (in 2009 as a rookie) before reaching first-time arbitration eligibility. Conversely, Reddick has two playoff appearances under his belt (2012 and 2013) ak

9 Overall, because of the remarkably similar career and platform numbers for Reddick and Rasmus, Reddick s better defensive play, and more extensive playoff career, Reddick deserves a 2014 salary that is above the $2.325M midpoint. The $2.55M salary that Reddick requests, while still below Rasmus s $2.7M salary in 2012, recognizes the slightly fewer days that Rasmus spent on the Disabled List for the same wrist injury and the slight degree of difference between playing center field and right field, a difference that is minimized when considering Reddick s league-leading play in right field. B. Seth Smith Seth Smith was a corner outfielder for the Colorado Rockies from 2007 through Upon reaching his first offseason of arbitration eligibility, Smith settled with the Rockies on a $2.415M salary for the 2012 season, which is above the midpoint of $2.325M in the present case. Table 3 Seth Smith s Career Statistics 27 YEAR G 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB SB% AB H AVG OBP SLG % % % % ALL % Smith compares to Reddick as a left-handed hitting corner outfielder with power-hitting ability. However, there are three critical differences for why Reddick deserves a higher salary than Smith s 2012 salary in this salary arbitration hearing: (1) Smith s limited role as a part-time starter, (2) the hitter-friendly environment of Coors Field, and (3) Smith s inferior defense. Prior to reaching first-time arbitration eligibility, Smith never started more than 119 games in a season. He recorded 79 starts in 2009, 82 starts in 2010, and 119 starts in When Smith entered his first offseason of arbitration eligibility, he had only started 61.4% of the

10 games in which he had played. On the other hand, Reddick has been a full-time starter from Day One in Oakland starting 152 games in Including his time in Boston, Reddick has started a much higher percentage (87.8%) of the games in which he has played. A significant advantage that Smith held over Reddick was the benefit of playing his home games at Coors Field, a ballpark widely recognized as the best hitter s park in baseball. 28 On the other hand, Reddick played his Oakland home games in a pitcher s park. 29 The large disparity in Smith s offensive production at Coors Field versus his production at other ballparks on the road speaks to the immense effect that Coors Field had in inflating Smith s numbers. In each of his full seasons with the Rockies, Smith hit more home runs and drove in more runs at Coors Field than on the road, and always posted a much higher slugging percentage at Coors Field (seen below in Table 4). Simply put, Smith was a different player on the road. Table 4 Seth Smith s Home/Away Splits 30 SLG Year! Home! Away! HR Year! Home! Away! RBI Year! Home! Away Platform Platform 9 6 Platform Career Career Career Despite Smith s Coors Field advantage, Reddick entered his first offseason of arbitration eligibility with more career home runs (54 to 51). More importantly, Reddick had a higher slugging percentage in road games with the A s than Smith s slugging percentage in road games with the Rockies (a more appropriate comparison given the neutral nature of playing road games at a wide variety of ballparks) Id

11 Another difference between Reddick and Smith is the fact that Reddick has been a much better defensive player than Smith throughout each player s career. Unlike Reddick, Smith did not receive any accolades for his play on defense. In the context of comparable career and platform offensive statistics, due to Smith s limited role as a part-time starter, the defensive disparity between Smith and Reddick, and the advantages Smith gained by playing at Coors Field, Josh Reddick deserves a 2014 salary above Seth Smith s 2012 salary of $2.415M. C. Gerardo Parra As a starting outfielder for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Gerardo Parra entered his first offseason of arbitration eligibility after the 2012 season. Parra ultimately agreed to a $2.35M contract for the 2013 season, which is above the $2.325M midpoint in the present case. Like Parra, Reddick is a left-handed hitting outfielder who has displayed excellent defense. Both Reddick and Parra were recognized for their outstanding play in the field with a Gold Glove Award. Unlike Parra, however, Reddick was also named a Gold Glove Finalist in the following season. Parra was also never named his team s Defensive Player of the Year, an accolade that Reddick received twice with Oakland. Despite their similarities on defense, Reddick added more offensive value to his team. Reddick hit more home runs over his career (54 to 23) and in his platform season (12 to 7), and recorded more RBIs in both frames (56 RBIs to 36 in platform seasons; 178 RBIs to 172 in career numbers). Reddick also added more value on the basepaths, as his 81% success rate with stolen bases was significantly higher than Parra s 68% success rate. 9

12 Table 5 Gerardo Parra s Career Statistics 31 YEAR G 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB SB% AB H AVG OBP SLG % % % % ALL % One similarity between Parra and Reddick is the fact that both players had their best season in the year prior to their platform season. In Parra s 2011 season, he hit.292 with 8 home runs while recording 46 RBIs. In Reddick s pre-platform season, he added substantially more offensive production to his team by hitting 32 home runs with 85 RBIs. Parra is an important player comparison for Reddick because his $2.35M salary in 2013 demonstrates that the market for first-time arbitration-eligible outfielders rewards defensive excellence. Because Reddick earned more defensive accolades than Parra and added more offensive production to his team, Reddick deserves a salary above Parra s $2.35M salary. IV. Conclusion Reddick has earned a $2.55M salary for the 2014 season because of his contributions over the past two seasons to the Oakland A s franchise. As the Athletics best position player in 2012, Reddick was a difference maker in Oakland s narrow AL West Championship. Reddick s numbers in 2013 do not speak to a decline in Reddick s abilities, but rather to time spent recovering from his sprained wrist. His strong September rebound, along with the successful offseason surgery on his wrist, are indicative of Reddick s return to full health. Because of the aforementioned similarities with Colby Rasmus ($2.7M), Seth Smith ($2.415M), and Gerardo Parra ($2.35M), Reddick deserves a salary above the $2.325M midpoint