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Pass Me a Miller, Bud
2004-11-24 22:05
by Mike Carminati

The Brewers are set to sign Damian Miller to an exorbitant contract (3 years, $8.75 M) apparently so that they can have an on-field Miller ad, as if the stadium signs weren't enough:

"Miller playing at Miller Park was too tough to pass up," Miller's agent Bob Garber said.

On the surface it actually doesn't look like a bad deal. Miller was third in Win Shares among starting catchers last year (min. 81 games at catcher). That is, even though his OPS was 14th among the 25 catchers who qualified and slightly below average for the group. Even so, Miller's per-season salary will be less than average for the group:

NameTmOPS Salary AgeWin Shares
Jason KendallPIT.789 $8,571,429.00 3025
Ivan RodriguezDET.893 $7,000,000.00 3222
Paul Lo DucaLA-FLA.758 $4,066,667.00 3221
Damian MillerOAK.742 $3,000,000.00 3421
Jorge PosadaNYY.881 $9,000,000.00 3220
Victor MartinezCLE.851 $ 304,500.00 2520
Javy LopezBAL.872 $6,000,000.00 3319
Johnny EstradaATL.828 $ 312,500.00 2819
Jason VaritekBOS.872 $6,900,000.00 3217
Brian SchneiderMON.724 $ 350,000.00 2717
Michael BarrettCHN.826 $1,550,000.00 2715
Jason LaRueCIN.765 $2,600,000.00 3015
Ramon HernandezSD.818 $2,937,500.00 2814
A.J. PierzynskiSF.729 $3,500,000.00 2713
Ben MolinaANA.717 $2,025,000.00 2911
Mike MathenyStL.640 $4,000,000.00 3310
Mike LieberthalPHI.783 $7,500,000.00 329
Toby HallTB.666 $ 320,000.00 289
Rod BarajasTEX.728 $ 500,000.00 288
Charles JohnsonCOL.780 $9,000,000.00 327
Dan WilsonSEA.615 $3,500,000.00 357
Brad AusmusHOU.631 $1,000,000.00 356
Jason PhillipsNYM.624 $ 318,000.00 275
Henry BlancoMIN.628 $ 750,000.00 324
Chad MoellerMIL.568 $ 370,000.00 292
Avg.749 $3,415,023.84 30.313.4

Miller is, however, one of the older starting catchers in baseball. He'll be 37 when the contract expires. That's ancient for a catcher, and he doesn't hit enough to play first. And as a catcher ages, he can go from an average hitter to a poor one extremely quickly (witness Charles Johnson, Mike Lieberthal, and Dan Wilson above). I just think it's a poor gamble but those are the kind that the Brewers make.

As for the novelty of Miller playing at Miller Park, it's not the first time a player's last name has appeared in his home park's name (though some are cheating, e.g.,Jim Field?), and I don't mean Arthur 3Com, who never made it out of training camp with the Giants a few years back:

YrTmPlayerPark
1890Rochester BroncosJim FieldCulver Field I
1898Washington SenatorsJim FieldBoundary Field
1910Boston Red SoxBen HuntHuntington Avenue Grounds
1912Washington SenatorsClark GriffithGriffith Stadium I
1913Washington SenatorsClark GriffithGriffith Stadium I
1914Washington SenatorsClark GriffithGriffith Stadium I
1915St. Louis BrownsJim ParkSportsman's Park IV
1916St. Louis BrownsJim ParkSportsman's Park IV
1917St. Louis BrownsJim ParkSportsman's Park IV
1924Washington SenatorsBert GriffithGriffith Stadium I
1989San Diego PadresDan MurphyJack Murphy Stadium
1993Seattle MarinersKevin KingKingdome
1994Seattle MarinersKevin KingKingdome
1995Seattle MarinersKevin KingKingdome
2002San Francisco GiantsDavid BellPacBell Park
2002Texas RangersChan Ho ParkThe Ballpark at Arlington
2003Texas RangersChan Ho ParkThe Ballpark at Arlington
2004Texas RangersChan Ho ParkThe Ballpark at Arlington

Now, that is the height of triviality.

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