It looks like Barry Bonds becoming the co-hitting coach of the Marlins is a done deal. Good for the Marlins. David Schoenfield wonders if the Marlins are exploiting a market inefficiency in coaching:
Think about it: On the free-agent market, teams are paying $6 to $8 million for each Win Above Replacement. Outfielder Chris Young just signed a two-year deal with the Red Sox at $6.5 million per year. Over the past two seasons, Young has been worth 2.0 WAR. What if Bonds is worth even one extra win per season compared to a typical hitting coach? At a coaching salary well south of $1 million, that would be a bargain.
Similarly, the Marlins hired away pitching guru Jim Benedict from the Pirates in October, naming him the team’s vice president of pitching development. With the Pirates, Benedict worked closely with major league pitching coach Ray Searage, along with the minor league staff and pitchers.
“There’s no question he had a sizable impact on the Pirates during his time here,” Pirates general manager Neal Huntington said when Benedict left. “Our goal has been and remains to be to help each member of the Pirates organization to reach their personal and professional goals. Sometimes that means they’ll leave the organization to achieve those individual ambitions.”
It does appear that coaches capable of making that much of a difference are few and far between. In Bonds’s case, the Marlins may very well be buying a bargain.
from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/1QcBOok
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