JASON MICHAELS

5/4/76; '98 4th (Philadelphia); Univ. of Miami (FL)
R/R; 6-0, 205

Level	BA	OBP	SA	AB	2B	3B	HR	BB	K	SB	CS
1998 A- (Phi)	.268	.381	.494	235	14	3	11	40	69	4	2
1999 A+ (Phi)	.306	.396	.494	451	31	6	14	68	103	10	7
2000 AA (Phi)	.295	.337	.451	437	30	4	10	28	87	10	4
2001 NL (Phi)	.167	.167	.167	6	0	0	0	0	2	0	0
2001 AAA (Phi)	.261	.332	.443	418	19	3	17	37	126	11	3
2002 NL (Phi)	.267	.347	.476	105	10	3	2	13	33	1	1
2002 AAA (Phi)	.281	.359	.344	32	2	0	0	5	5	1	3
2003 NL (Phi)	.330	.416	.569	109	11	0	5	15	22	0	0
2003 A+ (Phi)	.000	.125	.000	14	0	0	0	2	4	0	0
2004 NL (Phi)	.274	.364	.415	299	12	0	10	42	80	2	2
2005 NL (Phi)	.304	.399	.415	289	16	2	4	44	45	3	3
2006 AL (Cleve)	.267	.326	.391	494	32	1	9	43	101	9	5
2006 AAA (Cleve)	.429	.429	.857	7	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
2007 AL (Cleve)	.270	.324	.397	267	11	1	7	20	50	3	4
2008 AL (Cleve)	.207	.258	.276	58	4	0	0	4	13	1	1
2008 NL	.228	.300	.382	228	9	1	8	23	52	1	0

The Pirates acquired Michaels for a PTBNL after the Indians designated him for assignment. He replaced Nyjer Morgan on the roster and spent the season as the team's fourth outfielder. His acquisition was part of a trend, since Neal Huntington became GM, for the Pirates to acquire former AL Central, especially Cleveland, players.

Michaels was a good fourth outfielder for the Phillies for several years. Prior to that, he was a good but not outstanding prospect. His overall hitting has very closely mirrored his plate discipline throughout his career. He fell off in the upper minors when his plate discipline went from solid to poor. In the majors he's followed the same pattern. He also followed a standard pattern of having a breakout year, albeit in a small number of at-bats, in his age 27 season, followed by two solid season in which he did a very good job of getting on base. Michaels has decent speed and is solid defensively in the corners. The Indians acquired him for Arthur Rhodes, then signed him a year later for two years and $4.25M, with a club option for 2009 of $2.6M. He didn't do as well in more extensive playing time, although reaching 30 probably played at least as big a role. He does have a significant platoon split: from 2005-07, he posted an OPS of .817 against LHPs and .690 against RHPs. The Indians DFA'd Michaels out of a desperation to upgrade their offense, which was struggling early in the season. They agreed to pick up an undisclosed portion of his salary, a portion that Huntington has implied was significant.

Michaels got a lot of acclaim in Pittsburgh when he had a handful of key hits around the middle of the season, a period during which the Pirates were hitting very well and winning some games with big comebacks. Arguably the highlight of the team's season was a Michaels walkoff HR against St. Louis that capped off a comeback from a six-run deficit. The big hits obscured the fact that Michaels didn't hit well overall. He tends to chase both high fastballs and sliders away, leading to a fairly high K rate for a guy who's not a power hitter. He collapsed in September, posting an OPS of .536.

The Pirates will not exercise Michaels' option for 2009, but have stated they'd like to retain him, presumably at a lower price. This would be a very bad move. He'll turn 33 next May and his OPS+ the last four years has gone from 111 to 85 to 87 to 72. There's no rational reason to think he can hit productively in the majors any longer. A few big hits is not a reason to hang onto him. Even if you believe that clutch hitting is a skill that can carry over from year to year, Michaels had no pre-existing reputation as "Mr. Clutch," as the Pirates' announcers began calling him. The Pirates are likely to enter 2009 with question marks in the outfield corners, especially if Brandon Moss doesn't recover fully and quickly from knee surgery. The fourth outfielder could easily end up as a regular. They need somebody in that role who's younger and has a far higher ceiling than Michaels.

Return to Corner Outfielders