Rich Lederer thinks that the Padres are making a huge error letting Brian Giles get away:

I’ll take an All-Star and a replacement player over two middle-of-the-road types. In other words, I would have no problem paying a “difference maker” $10 million per season even if it limited me to giving another guy the minimum ($316,000 in 2005). I believe using one’s resources in this manner will generally beat the alternative of paying two average players $5 million each, especially when it involves free agents.

Let me be a bit more specific. I think the San Diego Padres are making a big mistake not signing free agent outfielder Brian Giles. The team had reportedly offered him a three-year deal worth $25.5 million earlier this month, then rejected a proposal from his agent for three years at an estimated $30 million.

…Aware that Giles’ power totals have receded the past few years, we also drilled down and noticed that his road stats ranked 7th in AVG (.333), 1st in OBP (.463), and 20th in SLG (.545), “while placing 6th in OPS behind only Derrek Lee, Jason Bay, Travis Hafner, Albert Pujols, and Miguel Cabrera. Put another way, Brian outproduced Carlos Delgado, David Ortiz, Alex Rodriguez, Vladimir Guerrero, Andruw Jones, and Manny Ramirez on the road.” I forgot to mention last time around that these six players are averaging about $15M per year and $12M even if you exclude A-Rod. This information seems appropro now.

Some think that Giles will eventually wind up in St. Louis. I still hope the Bombers nab him. I think he’d be a fine Yankee.