Yesterday afternoon I saw on twitter that the A’s signed Nick Punto to a one-year, $3 million contract which could become a two-year contract if he’s active on the roster. My initial reaction to the story was, “this is a horrible deal. I have no idea what they’re (A’s management) doing. They should be focusing on xyz … .” I’m glad I waited 24 hours before actually writing anything.

This is a solid signing. First of all, Punto is a plus defender who provided 1.5 dWAR (according to Baseball Reference) and will be the super utility player who plays all over the infield except for first base. Second, he’s a pretty good hitter against left handed pitching. The table below shows his stats for the past six seasons. That tells me he could be platooned with Eric Sogard or Alberto Callaspo at second base. Third, by all accounts he is really good teammate, which continues my theory the A’s are actively trying to create a lot of positive chemistry in the club house.

With the going rate of $5 million dollars per one WAR, the Punto signing could be a tremendous value since he had a WAR of 2.2 last year, 0.8 in 2012, 1.5 in 2011 and 1.7 in 2012 (according to Baseball Reference). Punto isn’t the type of player that will put the A’s over the top, but he will be one of those unsung heroes whose value will seldomly show up in the box score. Also, if for some reason the team tanks Punto will have value from other contending teams so the A’s could fetch a grade C prospect.