Analysis: Skip Schumaker Signs Two-Year Deal With Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals reached an agreement with utility man Skip Schumaker on a two-year/$3 million deal according to Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The deal has yet to become official with the announcement coming in the next couple days. Schumaker, who will turn 32 in February, is a life-long Cardinal and general manager John Mozeliak was happy to get him back. Also, from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Mozeliak is quoted as saying, “He’s really one of the leaders in the clubhouse…one of the more respected players on the team.” Mozeliak figures that Schumaker will receive more time in the outfield but will occasionally play second base if necessary. Let’s breakdown what the deal means for the Cardinals.

Schumaker’s standard stats for the last four seasons are below.

Schumaker wields a pretty nice bat for a utility player and is more than an admirable fill-in when injuries arise. He has a career .290 BA with a .346 OBP. He has very little power, but can spray the ball into gaps for doubles. He has averaged just over 23 doubles per season since 2008 and in 2009 he belted 34 doubles. He is a heavy contact hitter (88.2% career contact rate) who doesn’t walk often. He has a career .322 BABIP which drives up his OBP. His batted balls drop, plain and simple.

He is expected to mostly play in the outfield where his career UZR/150 is -4.9. This is from a total of just under 1900 innings played in all three outfield positions combined. His work at second base is actually worse, posting a -12.1 UZR/150 over his career where he has played just over 2700 innings. So, he’s not necessarily out there for his glove work.

Since he is expected to spell players in the outfield and occasionally play some second base, there is no telling exactly how many plate appearances he is going to get next season if there are few injuries. Bill James’ projections posted on FanGraphs show him getting over 500 plate appearances. I don’t see that happening without a significant injury. I don’t think the Cardinals or Schumaker feel this is the case either since the they are paying him like a reserve. Chances are he gets more like 350-400 plate appearances in each of the next two seasons and this is plenty for him to be productive enough to warrant the contract.

For a $3 million deal over 2 years, Schumaker would need to generate a WAR of about 0.6 total assuming 1 WAR equals $5 million in 2012 with a 5% inflation increase for 2013. In 2011, Schumaker produced a 0.6 WAR in 400 plate appearances. It seems likely he will be able to match those numbers over a two year span. I think the Cardinals got a very good deal with Schumaker. He is obviously a valued member of the team and his production is most likely going to far outweigh the salary he will receive. He can fill-in sporadically and won’t hurt in a long term situation in various positions. Skip Schumaker epitomizes the term “super-utility” and he has signed for a super price.

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