Kendrys Morales will be the winter's biggest free-agent bust
I already slammed the Rockies' Ian Desmond signing because of their plan to play him at first base, and given that he's out until late April after undergoing wrist surgery following a hit-by-pitch, so there's no need for piling on. Instead, we look north of the border to the Blue Jays, who signed Morales to a three-year, $33 million deal in early November, which all but shut the door on bringing back Edwin Encarnacion. Not only was that a tactical error—Encarnacion signed an affordable three-year, $60 million deal with Cleveland two months later—but it's an obvious step down for the Jays. Morales did bop 30 home runs for the Royals last year, but his .263/.327/.468 batting line amounted to just a 108 OPS+; with 138 games as a DH and just 12 in the field, the total value of his contributions came to 0.9 WAR, Over the past three seasons, he's delivered a net of 2.3 WAR, which is to say that he's unlikely to live up to his salary in 2017 or beyond while occupying the spot where Jose Bautista (-18 DRS over the past three years) should be parked.
