The San Francisco Giants have signed outfielder Aaron Rowand, previously with the Phillies, to a 5-year, $60 million deal. He’ll take over in center field for Dave Roberts, whom the Giants inked to a long-term contract last winter to play the position despite the fact that he wasn’t really a center fielder.
Rowand isn’t a bad ballplayer, but it seems to me that San Francisco is buying high. Rowand hit .309/.374/.515 in ‘07 while playing half his games in a bandbox. (His line was a brilliant .319/.380/.557 at home, and a merely respectable .299/.368/.475 on the road.)
The main problem I have …read more

The 2008 CHONE projections for hitters are available. Here are a few key free agents lines:

Barry Bonds: .272/.446/.558
Alex Rodriguez: .303/.420/.588
Kosuke Fukudome: .283/.373/.465
Torii Hunter: .282/.345/.491
Andruw Jones: .246/.339/.472
Mike Lowell: .283/.346/.455
Aaron Rowand: .277/.343/.443
Mike Cameron: .246/.331/.435
Mike Piazza: .260/.321/.430
Sammy Sosa: .234/.303/.418
Julio Franco: .231/.307/.324

I hope Franco keeps playing till he’s 50. Anyway, download the whole dealio and entertain yourself for hours…
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