Coal Sox Kauf a Man

[Tyler]

by Steve Bender, American Baseball Perspective

December 11, 2008


Charleston, WV - No, I can't believe the editor approved the title, either.

After a bizarre and mysterious week of behavior by Coal Sox GM Tyler Babcock that left some wondering if the team's '08 choke had pushed him off the deep end, the normally level-headed GM proved he's still got it. The Coal Sox will be adding another superstar to the team for 2009.

If the name Ernest Kaufman sounds like the name of a good baseball player, but you can't really remember who he is, it's because he spent this year playing in Mexico and tearing apart the Alianza Béisbol Al Sur de la Frontera. Kaufman is a former member of the Unwanted, that infamous group of PEBA free agent that inexplicably went unsigned last season.

The terms of the first baseman's contract are intriguing - four years, $40 million. Babcock is gambling that Kaufman will be able to slide right back in to his PEBA form (64.3 VORP in 2007), but at age 27, Kaufman isn't so much a gamble as a sure thing.

The move leaves West Virginia with three players who can play two positions - Michizane Kouki, the previously signed Alberto Benitez, and Kaufman, for first base and DH. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that at least one of these guys won't be suiting up in Anthracite Gray next year. And because of that, the Kaufman deal is a great two-parter. After this splash of a signing, I can't wait to see where the ripples go.