You should all know by now that first baseman Adam LaRoche has signed a one-year deal with Arizona in the $5 million range with some kind of option for 2011. This comes quickly after he reportedly rejected the Giants' two-year, $17.5 million offer, a number the Giants haven't refuted.
If LaRoche rejected the Giants' offer thinking he could do better or even similar elsewhere, he badly miscalculated. Or his agent did. But for an agent to misread the market that badly would be shocking. Anyone who reads MLB Trade Rumors -- which means practically everyone -- knew that LaRoche had very few suitors: Giants, Orioles, Mariners...and Seattle was off the list once it traded for Casey Kotchman.
So unless LaRoche has in his employ the thickest agent in all of Baseball Land, I suspect other reasons. To wit: LaRoche didn't want to play in San Francisco. It's already happened this winter. Peter Gammons reported before the new year that Jason Bay unequivocally wouldn't come to S.F. Perhaps LaRoche hates S.F. for its weather, its location, its culture, its ballpark, whatever, so much that he was willing to risk losing a big chunk of change.
His ultimate landing in Arizona at the low guaranteed price around $5 million also shows that Brian Sabean either misjudged the market or knew he had to overspend to get his man. I can imagine Sabean making his first offer somewhere around $12 to $14 million, which is what LaRoche could end up making in Arizona if his reported $7.5 million option kicks in. LaRoche said, ha, you have to pay me a lot more to get me to come to your left-handed power suck of a bayside fog machine. So Sabes went to his max, and when LaRoche said no again, the Giants leaked it to let everyone know what LaRoche could have made.
This is pure speculation on my part, but it makes more sense than a massive bungle by LaRoche's agent. Who gets the last laugh? He still has to play here nine times a year.
