LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Six-time All-Star Nomar Garciaparra and the Los Angeles Dodgers agreed Monday to an $18.5 million, two-year contract.
The 33-year-old Garciaparra, the NL comeback player of the year, will get a $2.5 million signing bonus, which is deferred until 2009 and 2010, and salaries of $7.5 million next season and $8.5 million in 2008. He would get an additional $250,000 each year for 500 plate appearances.
Say what you want about Nomar being constantly banged up, but there was no way the Dodgers would have seen October without him. Period.
"That's the thing: Maybe he'll be up and down this season, but when he's up, is there another center in the league quite like him? He protects the rim, passes out of double teams, has great hands around the basket, up-fakes on his jump-hooks, rebounds in traffic, even has a motor that keeps going and going (unlike a stiff like Eddy Curry). I'm not sure what's missing here. This is stunning. This is startling. There's almost no precedent for it. Just what the Lakers needed: More obscenely good luck. Meanwhile, I have to watch Al Jefferson whip jump-hooks off the front of the rim for the third straight season. I will now pour scalding hot water down my pants." -Bill Simmons on Andrew Bynum (11/08/06)
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