The Pastime

The A’s have signed Ricky Ledee to a minor league contract, with an invite to Spring Training. They’re looking at him for the 5th outfielder spot, along with Ryan Goleski, Hiram Bocachica and Charles Thomas.

I’d have to believe that the spot is Goleski’s to lose, because as a Rule 5 draft pick, he has to remain on the 25-man roster to stay with the A’s. He may have been injured when he came over, but he’s going to be healthy by the time Spring Training starts, so he can’t spend the season on the DL rehabbing in the minors.

Ricky Ledee’s “best” season might have been in 2003 with the Phillies. He hit .247/.334/.475 with 13 home runs and a 34:59 BB:SO ratio. That’s not a particularly good season, though. Here’s his projection for 2007, as a 34 year old:

Not very good. The *2B and *HR numbers have been adjusted to 350 at bats, which is what I’d guess a 5th OF might get this year in Oakland.
Compare that to Goleski’s numbers:

Who would you rather have? Goleski offers more power, but he strikes out far too often and his OBP is well below average.

Both Ledee and Goleski have offensive drawbacks. The deciding factor, in my opinion, is that while Ledee is a declining 34 year old, Goleski is a 25 year old with no major league experience yet. Goleski has a PECOTA UPSIDE of 5.2, while Ledee’s UPSIDE is just 0.6.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 1st, 2007 at 4:08 pm and is filed under Oakland A's, Players, Minors, Stats, Projections. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.