Someone Will Vastly Overpay for Shane Victorino

Free agent outfielder Shane Victorino is coming off one of the worst seasons of his major league career and is on the wrong side of his prime years. He’s been aggressively seeking a three year contract this off-season, and reports say he’s likely to land one.

It’s almost easy to forget that Victorino played in LA last year. Judging from the .316 OBP he put up, the Dodgers may prefer it that way. Image: US Presswire

Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald says the Phillies have turned their attention away from Victorino, who is looking for $10 million per year, but Jon Heyman tweets that Victornio has plenty of suitors left in the mix.

Of course, Heyman says nothing of the money being offered and I’d have to assume (or at least hope) that none of these teams would go to $10 million per year for a 32-year-old coming off a .225/.321/.383 campaign. It should be noted that he is just one year removed from a .847 OPS season. Still, Victorino’s main attribute is his speed, not his power, and a three-year deal won’t end until he’s played his age-34 season. Any team giving him a deal of that length is gambling quite a bit that his 2012 was a fluke and not the beginning of a regression stage to Victorino’s career.

Victorino has drawn interest from as many as seven clubs this Winter and is being seriously pursued by Cleveland and Boston. Texas, Cincinnati, San Francisco, and Tampa Bay are among the other clubs said to have had some level of interest in obtaining the switch-hitter.