Loading ...From Hal McCoy:
He handicaps Owings as the favorite (2:1), Bailey (5:1) [though he does credit Bailey for the biggest turnaround (on and off the field) that he’s seen in 37 years, Masset (10:1), Ramirez (50:1), Thompson (100:1).
But his most interesting comments concern Johnny Cueto:
NOW, I HAVE a question for you? All we’ve heard is that the Reds are looking for only the No. 5 spot in the rotation. My question is: Why is Johnny Cueto a for-sure? Why should he be?
Yes, he has great stuff. But he was 9-14 in 31 starts for the Reds last year with a 4.81 ERA. Why should that guarantee him anything?
And now he is gone, off to pitch for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic. He pitched three innings for the DR in an exhibition game against Baltimore and was the loser, giving up three runs and five hits.
What if Owings and Bailey continue to pitch with aplomb this spring and Cueto doesn’t? What iff Cueto comes back and gets banged around?
Shouldn’t the team consider making Owings No. 4 and Bailey No. 5?
So, a kid is the Reds #4 starter for a complete season, at 22 years old. And he should possibly be replaced based on ST numbers? What do you think?
With all due respect, McCoy has been off his rocker for years. Cueto is and should be part of this rotation on opening day, barring injury.
His main focus is Cueto’s record on a bad team with little run support in his specific starts.
I think Cueto should be in the #4 spot, but at the same time I also don’t think he should be given a very long leash. If he is still struggling at the end of April, then maybe we need to think about sending him to AAA. Still, he absolutely has earned 5+ starts in April with what he did last year.
Agree completely, doug. Cueto had a decent rookie season and was inconsistant(expected though). He outperformed Homer when Homer was brought up for that short while. He outperformed Owings for what little Micah pitched before going on the DL. I don’t see why he would get picked on and called not as worthy of a rotation spot seeing as unlike Homer he could hang in the MLB the season and unlike Micah Owings he stayed healthy the whole time too. If Cueto starts off really badly then yes a move needs to be made but give him the chance.
I’ve been wondering this myself. We’re all taking for granted that Cueto is in the rotation, but as far as potential goes, Cueto, Homer, and Owings are all equal. For what he did last year, Cueto deserves a leg up, but if Bailey and Owings are better, well, I’ve always been a big fan of putting your best team on the field. As a Reds fan, that isn’t always the case and may be contrary to Reds management logic.
I wouldn’t say there’s much of a chance of Cueto not making the rotation out of Spring, but I do think something can happen in April if he isn’t one of the two best of the three.
McCoy is not wrong.
Hey, this is a beautiful “problem” to have.
Arroyo is the odd man out at some point this season. If Bailey and Owings are both performing, BA and his JTMs go packing somewhere.
I think I am finally happy having enough potential in a rotation that we are debating this topic. Not long ago a league average #4 would have been our opening day starter.
Perhaps keeping him on a steady pitch count by bringing in either Bailey/Owings early might not be a bad thing. Maybe it can keep him fresher longer and more focused. It’s been tried with success in other organizations in the past with their youngsters.
First, McCoy’s math skills stink. If you go by his odds, there’s a 17% chance that the Reds won’t have a 5th starter at all.
as far as potential goes, Cueto, Homer, and Owings are all equal.
I completely disagree, Daedalus. Micah Owings is 26 years old already, and has never (to my knowledge) been projected as a “high upside” guy. Both Bailey and Cueto have been projected as potential #1 starters.
To the main point: McCoy is off. If you have a highly-rated prospect, who establishes himself in the big leagues at age 22, you DO NOT put him back in AAA because he has a bad spring (Or because you’re somehow pissy that he’s pitching in the WBC, which is what it sounds like).
Cueto’s 4.81 works out to a 94 ERA+, which is pretty darn good for a rookie. And I know you can slice-and-dice this stuff all day long, but he had a 4.62 ERA until his final start of the season (2.2 IP, 5 ER). Bronson’s ERA was 4.77, and Harang’s 4.78. It’s not like Cueto was some weak link.
Leave him alone and let him pitch.
I don’t know if I stated this strongly enough: I think you’re almost always wrong if you make decisions based on spring training stats.
Unless a guy has made a significant change that’s apparent from non-statistical analysis (like Homer, from all we hear), you run into real trouble if you let impressive numbers really shade a decision. In addition to sample size problems, Grapefruit League stats have all sorts of problems with the level of competition, preparation, etc.
I think it’s just assumed that there is a 17% chance that the Reds bring back Josh Fogg to be the 5th starter.
Cueto I would say at this point has the most potential. And Homer after that. Then again, I’ve never been sold on Micah Owings and I don’t think he’s going to be anything but a league average pitcher who is a novelty because he can hit.
Cueto is in the rotation unless he just completely falls apart in April/May.
this is where baseball decisions might get close to rocket science
ask yourself a simple question. Predict the ERA of the potential Reds starters. Will Cueto be better than Harang AND Arroyo? Will Harang bounce back? Will Arroyo be any good at all? Does anyone believe Masset or Ramirez are the real-deal? This is not an easy decision AT ALL. Age, past success, and good predictors like SO/IP and SO/BB ratios aren’t enough. In one of the VERY, VERY, VERY few cases I think spring performance could/should be the deciding factor in who makes the rotation.
The good news is others have spent years figuring out projections
Zips ERA projections for potential Reds starters
3.97 Volquez
4.46 Harang
4.62 Arroyo
4.78 Cueto
I think it’s clear they should be locks
4.76 Masset (era low because he’s projected as a reliever)
5.12 Owings
5.36 Ramirez
5.83 Bailey
6.51 Thompson
To be honest with I don’t think it should even be a race for the #5 spot. Bailey, Thompson, and Ramirez could use more time at AAA to prove they are ready. I guess if you want to give Masset a shot you could but Owings has shown more in the majors and would just hand it to him.
What’s amazing is that the above is the 5-7 best rotation in the NL. Too bad we don’t have an offense
I don’t think there is a competition for the #5 spot. I think it’s Owings to lose.
now RF is a competition!
and CF SHOULD BE a competition
and the only player on the Reds who should start at SS in Phillips
Interesting discussion.
I think that Cueto deserves to be the #4 guy out of spring training no matter what his spring training numbers look like.
As for the #5, I don’t want to hand anything to Homer until he’s proven he’s ready for the “big time.” I think I’d make Owings my #5 and call Bailey up later in the year.
Most people seem to be projecting the Reds to finish well out of contention again, so it’s a decent bet the Reds will be sellers at the trade deadline. Perhaps a deal to ship off Arroyo, then call up Bailey for the second half.
Speaking of Homer, another nice outing today. Anyone know the pitch count?
I wouldn’t be against Owings starting out as #5 with Masset in the pen and Homer in AAA. I would like to see Homer dominate AAA before they bring him up or if Owings falls apart his first couple of starts then bring him up. The AAA rotation figures to be pretty tough this year.
I think what McCoy is saying is, “Why does Cueto get a free pass on a rotation slot?” It has nothing to do with potential, it has everything to do with results–even though we all realize the Reds are toeing a line between development and results with guys like Bruce, Bailey and Cueto.
A year ago, Cueto earned the right to that slot. Then, he proceeded to stink-stank-stunk in May, July and September, and stink-stank-stunk like dirty feet.
Here was his average line:
5.6 IP, 5.74 hits, 2.2 walks, 5.1 Kos, 8.4 baserunners, 25 plate appearances, 1.83 million pitches. He also got killed the third time around the order. He never pitched into the 8th, made it to the 7th only 10 times and failed to reach the 6th 11 times.
Here’s his opponents’ BA/OBP against Cueto as the game progressed:
1st–.268/.350
2nd–.231/302
3rd–.245/346
4th–.257/347
5th–.300/368
6th–.280/.337
7th–.303/343
Here was the guarantee: When Cueto pitched, it was going to be a taxing night on the bullpen.
Here’s what I suspect: The Reds aren’t happy Cueto went to the WBC when he obviously has things he needs to be working on in spring training. Cueto has not pitched well to this point in the spring, either. So you wonder if a threat of losing his spot in the rotation isn’t serving as a wakeup call, especially since there’s far more competition for that slot right now.
Cueto might have the best arsenal of any pitcher on staff but he’s far, far from a finished product. Thus, very few entitlements, especially at age 23.
Cueto is the #4 no doubt about it and Dusty Baker, in my opinion, has made that pretty clear. My personal opinion is Arroyo should be the #4 but I think that will happen in time.
Also if the DR doesn’t win today at 4:30 then Cueto, Volquez and Tavares are back in camp and this conversation becomes pointless.
Also Tavares impressed me yesterday in the DR game until he got thrown out at 3rd when the DR was down 1 with 1 out and Tejada up.
But regardless of him getting thrown out at 3rd I think he really impressed yesterday and showed that he is ready to play like the Tavares that we all hope shows up this year.
The 4 slot is likely Cueto’s to lose, but that’s possible. A collapse in the spring that continues into his first 2-3 starts would do it.
The team’s pitching is much improved, but only two starters have pitched long enough to offer any evidence of consistency. One of those starters is coming off a miserable year and the other is, umm, unpredictable.
Put me on board for dealing Arroyo and his contract to make room for Bailey. I got a feeling that Owings will surprise some people this season.
I don’t think we can even have the “move Arroyo and his money” discussion until July. I’m glad to see Homer pitching well, and hope Owings continues the same as well. Like was said earlier, it’s great we can even have this discussion of depth in our pitching staff. But, before we trade away a very, very, reliable 200 innings and an otherwise a known quantity, let Bailey actually start to deliver in the big leagues. If the Reds are still .500 or better in July, and if Bailey is throwing well, then maybe we can get a decent piece of a the puzzle for a team that needs Arroyo. But in my opinion, hoard the pitching.
I grew up in Dayton, so I have always had a soft spot for McCoy. I think you could read this as saying that it shouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility if it looks like the WBC has gotten him out of sync and he has a horrible spring.
Tha having been said, I agree with Chris and Doug that you shouldn’t ever put too much on the spring compared to a player’s track record and what your eyes are telling you. Unless he looks like he has something wrong with his delivery and has a horrible spring, he has earned April.
And I think if we looked at moving Arroyo now, we would really be selling low. Lets wait and see how well the younger pitching pans out, and IF we have enough of a surplus to make a move I think you will get more from a desperate contender in June or July than you would now.
I honestly see no downside in dealing Arroyo (for something good). I see no real downside in handing starting roles to Cueto AND Homer.
Reason? This team is going to stink, regardless. We might as well get the young guys their experience, and figure out if they’re for real.
I guess I don’t understand the impatience with Cueto. Yeah, he stunk about half the months last year. He was brilliant the other half. Isn’t that what ultra-talented young pitchers do?
I know we always go back to the same example, and it’s imperfect, but were the 1988 Cub writers talking about sending Maddux back down since he had an ERA above 5.60 after 1.5 seasons?
Unless it’s Dwight Gooden, this is what pitchers look like before they’re all-stars. (It’s also what they look like before they’re Jimmy Anderson, but you have to go through the rough times, either way).
I don’t get the interest in trading Arroyo. What’s the upside?
With a five-man rotation, why trade any starter unless you’ve got 5 others who are better.
We don’t know how any of the starters are going to perform this year. Stuff happens. Let’s wait for a couple of months into the season before we start fantasizing.
Dealing Arroyo saves 9.5 M this season and 11M next season on a pitcher in decline (ERA last 3 yrs, 3.29, 4.23, 4.77, WHIP last 3 yrs. 1.19, 1.40, 1.44) who can be be replaced in house now. A good deal would bring us a both a pitching prospect to add back to the #5 mix and a missing piece of the offense, maybe the SS/OF/C of the future. I don’t want to wait a few months for them to figure out that we don’t have enough offense so that we are out of the race and it’s too late.
With a five-man rotation, why trade any starter unless you’ve got 5 others who are better.
Huh?
As Tom notes, it lets them save quite a bit of money this year, escape what’s likely dead money next year, and add a hitter somewhere (LF, SS, 3b, C?)
I’d prefer to wait until Arroyo has, in fact, been replaced “in house.” We don’t know if Harang will come back. We don’t know if Arroyo will be better or worse than last year. We don’t know if Volquez will repeat. We don’t know if Cueto will become a winning pitcher. Bailey has made two decent spring appearances. Balance that against a demonstrated record of an inability to consistently perform in the majors.
What we have is hope and expectation.
Chris: I think a strong pitching staff is the key element in any team. I wouldn’t trade any starter unless he’d fallen out of the rotation and been replaced by someone better.
Gotcha. The first few times I read your comment, I thought you were saying “don’t trade a starter until you have 5 better guys IN RESERVE.” As in, “no trades until you have 10 good starters in your system.” My bad.
As for trading Arroyo: You’re always taking a risk when you trade anybody. But I’m fairly confident that (1) Arroyo is more likely to get worse than better; (2) he’s not going to be anywhere near worth his salary; (3) his value isn’t going to get higher; and (4) the other guys are better bets to be better. And as I said, (5) the team is going to stink anyway, so let’s cut salary and evaluate the young guys.
There are, as you note, questions about the other starters (including Harang, for that matter), but if those guys all stink, the Reds are out of luck anyway (even if Arroyo is here and pitching well).
Despite the math problem, Cueto is a mortal lock. He’s in. Owings probably beats out Bailey in the event of a tie, but it ain’t a tie. Bailey’s earning the job right now.
Well, all the chatter about trading Arroyo today, tomorrow or whenever has a slightly enormous hitch:
The economy.
There isn’t a team in baseball going to take Arroyo’s contract anytime soon because of the immense instability of the economy with things expected to get worse for MLB teams this summer. That’s why it’s so laughable when people say to dump Cordero’s contract.
Look around. No one is spending money and taking on contracts. Not even the Yankees and Red Sox, neither of which need Arroyo.
It’s not a tie. Bailey hasn’t earned anything yet. He pitched a shaky outing against a Blue Jays team with only three frontline starters in the lineup. Each of those frontliners got hits off Bailey.
The job has always been Owings’s to lose. He’s not even close to losing the competition at this point. He’s pitched better, he’s pitched against better lineups, he’s got more experience, he’s got a better selection of pitches and location, and he WAS the centerpiece in the Dunn trade.
Bailey’s gonna have to blow people out of the water to beat out Owings and that’s not the case thus far.
Owings isn’t exactly doing too shabby right now either. Although one thing to worry about is he’s coming off a shoulder injury and he’s only averaged 128 innings in two years at the ML level. Does that sort of stuff factor in or no?
no need to trade Arroyo yet. ERA is an easy way to look at how well a pitcher is doing but can also be misleading sometimes because there’s a lot of *luck* involved and so much depends on the defense.
Though I would agree that Arroyo is on the decline. His K/9 is decent (and actually on the rise) but his other stats don’t look so well
Still I think we should appreciate the luxury of having more than 5 capable starters. Someone will most likely get injured. Arroyo is a little over paid but I’m not sure what we can get back for him is going to be as good as he is, except for the cap space
I honestly see the Reds’ rotation as Volquez, Owings, Bailey, Cueto, Thompson by September 2010. If we are talking about Arroyo v. Harang it’d be great if Harang could bounce back but I have a greater concern regarding Harang than Arroyo with absolutely no stats to back it up.
1) Homer needs to spend the year in the bullpen and get spot starts
2) Cueto has potential…but his home run tendencies may not make him a good fit at the GAB…a bad April and he’s probably in Louisville…there’s also still some question about his size and being able to handle entire seasons
3) Arroyo needs to be kept for now….the issue here is does he have a first half like last year which lowers his value or will he pitch well and possibly rise in demand for a contender?
4) Thompson’s not going to make it….too much injury history and home run tendencies
1) Homer needs to spend the year in the bullpen and get spot starts
2) Cueto has potential…but his home run tendencies may not make him a good fit at the GAB…a bad April and he’s probably in Louisville…there’s also still some question about his size and being able to handle entire seasons
3) Arroyo needs to be kept for now….the issue here is does he have a first half like last year which lowers his value or will he pitch well and possibly rise in demand for a contender?
4) Thompson’s not going to make it….too much injury history and home run tendencies
BTW I love your blog!
Everyone seems to leave Mssset out of the equation. It isn’t just a Homer/Owings race. I do think its acceptible to put Cueto in the equation.
As far as Arroyo goes, 2 horrible starts added .5 to the season ERA and last season he had a career high in victories, and led the team in innings pitched. It might be a little early to start digging the grave. If he were traded it should be for equal or better value not just a salary dump.
Masset hasn’t been a regular starter since 2005 and that was in the minors. I’m not sure why he’s in consideration ahead of Thompson, Ramirez, and Maloney.
How nice it is too finally have such rotation depth. The starting 4 + 6 potential starters: Owings, Bailey, Masset, Thompson, Ramirez, and Maloney. What a nice problem to have.
That’s why I think people are discussing a trade of Arroyo. Not a salary dump. Not “digging the grave”. Not because he’s a bad player. Trading Arroyo for another valuable player who fills a greater need has to be on the table. The Reds aren’t going to get that by dealing a Ramirez or a Maloney.
Cueto is in the rotation opening day. I can’t disagree with any number of scenarios where things could change by the end of April, but I don’t see how they leapfrog Cueto on the depth chart based on a few spring appearances.
Deducting two horrible starts from each pitcher:
Overall
Arroyo – 4.77era, 1.44whip
Harang – 4.78era, 1.38whip
Cueto – 4.81era, 1.41whip
Less 2 worst starts each
Arroyo – 4.05era, 1.35whip
Harang – 4.17era, 1.33whip
Cueto – 4.35era, 1.34whip
Looks like, relative to each other, these guys performed about the same with and without each of their worst two starts.
Since we’re ignoring two worst starts, that’s a pretty good 22-yr old rookie line for Cueto. Why should he start the year in AAA?
The biggest thing that Masset has going for him is that he’s out of options.
Bill, that is why I think he lands in the pen, he has value there, and I don’t see them giving up on him completely.
I’m betting that the other NL teams are hopeing Bailey wins the spot.
Sorry to be off-topic, but is anyone worried about Cordero? I don’t put much stock in small-sample spring training stats generally… but he’s been beyond awful.
Cordero (spring) – 3 IP, 11 H, 8 ER, 3 HR
To go along with it, Gammons got in this shot in his latest post, in which he was praising the Boston pitching staff, and the reasonable amount of $$ for which they are signed:
“Boston’s bullpen of Jonathan Papelbon, Takashi Saito, Hideki Okajima, Justin Masterson, Javier Lopez and Ramon Ramirez will make approximately $11.7M in 2009. And that doesn’t include prospect Daniel Bard, who struck out the side Sunday against the AL champion Rays while throwing 100 mph. Meanwhile, Reds closer Francisco Cordero will make $12M in 2009.”
ugh…
As long as he is healthy, I am not the least worried about Coco.
Yes, Cueto deserves his rotation spot. But, if he were to falter big time (which I don’t see happening), there would be no shame in going back to Louisville to work things out.
Cordero…blurb today that he’s still experiencing “stiffness” in the ankle he had surgery on over the winter. They did an xray, which was negative, but yes, it makes me nervous.
The worst about Cordero is if he is hurt during the season and can’t pitch that means Redleg Nation favorite would probably become the new closer.
Not worried about Coco’s arm. Worried about his health. He’s been struggling with his breaking stuff, which is what is getting socked. I feel reasonably confident he can sort out of breaking stuff over the next three weeks.
Now, if he isn’t healthy, then I am worried about him…
re: Masset options – another thing to consider is the shape of the 40-man roster. Is it full or is there room to add any of the spring training invitees? According to “The Big Board” on this website, it is full at 40.
For example, if Gomes or Nix make the roster, someone would have to be removed from the 40-man (if it’s full) to make room for one of these players.
Good point Greg…Masset’s on the 40, so he’d come off if he was sent down, right? B/c he’d have to go through waivers?
I think there will be at least one, probably 2 guys off the 40 that make the team…I could see the Reds taking Castillo off the 40, and someone else out of guys like Janish, Richar, Hopper, Tatum?
Bill just to jump in here… You could also trade a guy on the 40 who doesn’t look like he’ll play for a PTBNL or move a couple guys on the 40 (Arroyo/Dickerson) for a LF.
Castillo’s not coming off the 40-man. The front office loves the guy and he’s probably going north with the team. Hopper has been, and probably will remain, the odd-man out.
Wilkin Castillo??? Really?
Because he switch-hits and plays lots of positions?
Does it matter that he stinks as a hitter?
This is the pseudo-3rd-catcher thing biting us in the butt again, isn’t it?
Everyone knows you need speed, three catchers, and versatility to play winning baseball. Castillo puts the “C” in HAVOC!!
Mark in CC is right to note that Arroyo led the team in innings pitched. That ought to be considered by those who see Dusty as someone who wears out kid pitchers.
I think Dusty surprised everyone by not riding the kid pitchers more last year, but that doesn’t have anything to do with Arroyo leading the team in IP.
Arroyo led the team in IP because all the other guys were hurt and Arroyo wasn’t.
Cueto was shut down and Volquez weakened at year’s end.
There’s enough evidence out there to show Dusty prefers veterans in all facets of the game. Last year it showed more in CF.
Arroyo leads the majors in innings pitched over the last three years, I believe.
Defending Dusty – My turn to sound like a broken record.
I was not surprised that Dusty didn’t ride the “kid pitchers” more. Handling pitchers and pitch counts seems to come from an organizational philosophy and the GM, not something that is left to the sole discretion of the manager. Baker’s pitch counts for his pitchers did not vary from the pitch counts Narron used.
If you look at Baker’s days with the Giants, he was very careful with the young pitchers when Bob Quinn was his GM and very much overused the pitchers when Sabaen took over.
I’d also argue that Dusty does not prefer veterans in all facets of the game. The obvious, recent example is playing Votto over Hatteberg last year. Votto’s spring numbers gave Baker the perfect excuse to go with the veteran, but Baker chose to look at the larger body of work with respect to starting Votto at 1st.
The veteran “knock” against Baker is largely fabricated by obnoxious Cubs fans who think that every player/prospect/suspect to come up through the Cubs organization is the heir apparent to take over their position. Fact is that if you look at the guys the Cubs have promoted up during Baker’s tenure (Patterson, Cedeno, Murton, etc) he played them all quite a bit.
Masset, Richar and Castillo are not going to be waived to take them off the 40 man simply because the were acquired for Griffey and Dunn. Can you imagine the PR nightmare that would create.
As Marty B always laments the roster decisons are not always made by taking the best players.
Masset is out of options, so if he doesn’t make the team, they have to run him through waivers, doesn’t that take him off the 40 man or are they two separate processes?
Richar will be the 2nd baseman at Louisville, he’ll stay on the 40.
I just don’t see where Castillo fits, he can’t hit and being versatile isn’t enough to win a ML spot, is it?
Janish, Tatum, Herrera maybe as candidates to come off?
Of course a deal or someone going on the 60 day is also possibility.
I hope they value (and keep) Herrera! I think he could be very very good! I don’t care if he’s tiny by MLB standards — his K rate, his GB/FB ratio, and his overall ERA and WHIP numbers are fantastic!
I’d MUCH rather have Herrera on the 40-man than someone who’s pretty much proven he can’t hit, like Castillo or Janish.
Masset, Richar and Castillo – are all 3 out of options? I’ve heard Masset is.
I don’t know if you’re addressing this to me, the only one I know of that is is Masset.
I was just throwing out some possible names that might come off the 40 man, IMO.
When confused about MLB transactions, I always go back to this Primer from Rob Neyer:
http://assets.espn.go.com/mlb/s/transanctionsprimer.html
As I understand it, if the Reds want to send Masset to AAA, they’d have to put him on waivers. If claimed, another team would have to add him to their 40-man roster and, since he is out of options, to their 25-man roster also. If no one claims him, then he comes off the 40-man roster and can be assigned to the Reds minors.
Thanks Bill.
My understanding is that if Castillo has options, and the Reds wanted to remove him from the 40-man roster, he’d have to clear waivers also. In contrast to Masset, the claiming team could claim Castillo and assign him to their AAA squad because he has options.
If no one claims him, then the Reds could keep him in their organization w/o taking a 40-man spot.
Is Hopper out of options? He could be another case like Masset, where they would only risk losing him if another team wanted him on their 25-man roster.
BA in their Prospects email today on Herrera (not saying I agree):
Blowing ‘em away with low 80s heat
I believe Hopper has options…
Hey, if Herrera can “blow ‘em away,” I don’t care how he does it!
Why are we saying Castillo has proven that he can’t hit? In his limited ML experience, he has hit well, at least for the Reds last year. I think he should start in Louisville, but I’d like to keep him on the 40 man and see what he can do. I think Tatum or Janish are the best choices to come off the 40 man to make room for Gomes.
Well, OK, at the MLB level, Wilkin Castillo hasn’t proven anything. That’s true – the sample is way too small. He’s had 32 AB’s and he batted .281/.303/.313, which is very bad (bad OBP, no power at all), but it’s too tiny a sample to mean anything.
In the minors, in 1809 AB’s, he’s batted .279/.321/.391. That’s plenty of AB’s to know what he’s about as a hitter, and it’s actually consistent w/ what he did in the majors – bad OBP, limited power.
Is he good enough in the field to make up for it? I’m not sure, but I seriously doubt he’s got the bat to be a decent major leaguer.
Also, he’s 24, so he’s young but not THAT young.
I’m just not seeing it with him. I think people are just enamored w/ the fact that he can play lots of positions, and to me that’s not nearly enough to earn a spot.
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