Loading ...I’m tired of writing about Willy Taveras. Really, I am.
The Reds have a lot of interesting players and storylines, and I’m going to focus more on those things in the days ahead. Besides, everyone who isn’t named Johnnie B. Baker Jr. knows that Taveras is rotten and has no business “hitting” leadoff in the Reds lineup. There isn’t even an argument anymore. Dusty is just being stubborn by sticking Taveras at the top of the order. He’s trying to prove that he’s smarter than everyone else.
And I do mean everyone. Is there anyone who thinks it’s a good idea to lead off with Wee Willy T? (And don’t forget that I tried my best to be open-minded about this acquisition.)
Anyway, sometimes these posts just write themselves, so I’m going to dip my toe into the shallow waters of this subject once more. First, I just saw this post over at Baseball Prospectus, headlined “When Cliches Go Bad”:
Small sample, but Willy Taveras has put up some unbelievable numbers over the past calendar month or so. In 97 plate appearances from May 15 to June 18, he’s hitting .085/.113/.096, with three walks and 20 strikeouts. Taveras also has been thrown out in two of five stolen base attempts during that span.
Here’s my question: If speed never slumps, then what is the word for this?
Heh.
Of more substance is this Sports Illustrated piece by Tim Marchman that was forwarded to us by Ian, a loyal citizen of Redleg Nation. The article tries to determine the biggest free agent bust of the year. I’m sure you can guess the identity of one of the two finalists:
In fairness to the executives who signed them, if every player mentioned here was clearly a potential catastrophe, each also came with some mitigating factor attached. The two players competing for the prized title of worst signing of the winter did not.
The first is shortstop Edgar Renteria. Thirty-three and a mediocre defender with an unreal amount of wear on his treads, he has had one year in the last six in which he was something more than a decent hitter, and is thus exactly the sort one doesn’t want to tie on to. So of course the San Francisco Giants, who have made a cult of this class of player, signed him for two years and $18.5 million, and have been rewarded by the sight of Renteria trying to keep his slugging average and OBP above .300.
The second is Reds center fielder Willy Taveras. We can grant that there must be something about him that doesn’t show up in the boxscore — he has, after all, played for two pennant winners — and still marvel at the idea of paying a man with a career slugging average of .337 $6.25 million for two years. Always inept at the plate, Taveras is hitting like a pitcher this year, with a remarkable .220/.269/.273 line, and may be the single biggest reason why the Reds aren’t quite in the race right now.
Whether one thinks Taveras or Renteria was the worst signing comes down to matters of principle and philosophy. Is it worse to pay an outrageously bad player a relatively small sum of money, or to pay a merely bad one three times as much? I would tend toward the former — Renteria, after all, is usually passable even at his worst, whereas Taveras strains mightily to be so at his best. Either way, the sight of Taveras weakly grounding out to first, or of Oliver Perez throwing a ball three feet wide of the plate, and the accompanying mental images of burning piles of greenbacks, are what should come to mind this winter once the elderly and injured hit the market. People do win the lotto, but tens of millions lose.
I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.
Go read the entire article. It’s worth your time. Then we can move on to weightier subjects, like Brandon Phillips’ insistence on eating pretzels in the field between pitches.
Willy can’t be called a bust on this site because nobody expected anything from him in the first place. Or is that more of a technicality?
But he’s even exceeded those expectations!
I don’t know whether to shake my head or scratch it over this one, but here’s the latest from Rob Butcher:
Today the Reds acquired from the White Sox minor league C Corky Miller in exchange for minor league OF Norris Hopper.
There’s the third catcher we have all been waiting on.
Acquired, mind you, for a much cheaper Willy Taveras with better defensive skills.
and admit it: It’s going to be fun just typing “Corky” again, isn’t it?
I hope we never have to type Corky again after today.
As for Taveras, it seems pretty clear that he’s hurt … or something. I concede he’s not a very good player, but he’s lost all semblance of professional baseball skills since he injured his hamstring a few weeks ago.
He actually looked pretty good for the first five or six weeks of this season, and since then, yuck. His true abilities probably lie somewhere in the middle of those two extremes.
The guy who should/could have been in Taveras spot (RH part of CF platoon) for Wilkin Castillo’s replacement.
Actually I think Dickerson/Hairston would’ve been a fine platoon for CF.
Miller’s been assigned to Louisville, to back up Tatum, I’m sure. This is a nothing deal.
Offensively, speed is of no value if you can’t hit. Defensively, speed is a tremendous asset. However, it does absolutely no good, if no real effort is applied. Hence, I see no reason why Taveras is starting over Dickerson.
Dickerson is a better hitter and a better defender, who puts forward a better effort. Yes Taveras is faster than Dickerson (not by much) but T uses most of his speed between the batter’s box and walking back to the dugout, where it really doesn’t matter how fast you are.
Is Miller going to report to Cincy or Louisville?
I’m so proud that we have MLB biggest bust of the year. The Reds should have a promotional giveaway to commemorate this.
Glenn, Louisville, to replace Wilkin Castillo and back up Tatum.
I tend to agree with Travis regarding Wee Willy. There is no way he is as bad as he’s been playing. I think there was more to that injury than meets the eye and now has completely lost confidence at the plate. Either way, he shouldn’t have been allowed to “hit” his way through it.
Damn, I hate to see Hooper get traded to the Sox because I was really hoping that they would take Taveras
They wanted a speed/lead-off guy and supposedly that is what Taveras is. (According to Dusty and Walt)
Seriously though, Hopper would have done as much as Taveras and he makes peanuts. There was no reason to run out and bid against yourself to sign Taveras when you already had Hopper (Plus Dickerson/Hairston). I think the Taveras signing trumps the Renteria signing because at least Renteria was productive at one point in his career.
I’m so proud that we have MLB biggest bust of the year. The Reds should have a promotional giveaway to commemorate this.
That’s what management could do with all those Bronson Arroyo CD’s and cases of JTM.
I kept hoping that Hopper would get another chance, maybe after Willie got a trip to the DL. Whether he is still hurt or not, Willie completely lost whatever swing he had after the injury and a rehab assignment would give him a chance to find it and build back some confidence. Not going to happen, but I could hope.
Looks like Dusty’s running the exact same lineup and batting order as last night. At least we won with it. http://redsintern.mlblogs.com/
Now if they would have traded Taveras for Miller they would have at least improved the club by subtraction. Stubbs and Heisey have made Hopper expendable and Corky is a gamer, he’s the HBP king.
This is a nothing deal.
Yes, but it also gives us a glimpse of Taveras true value. Hopper = Taveras except
(1) many here expect that Hopper would be at least his equal defensively
(2) be better with the bat offensively
(3) only costs a minor league contract; w/the MLB club would be earning the minimum.
Hopper is worth a AAA backup catcher.
What’s that make Taveras worth?
We’re back to the Bronson CD’s and JTM’s, aren’t we?
I actually have a Corky Miller Bobblehead from the Lookouts.
Anyone think trading for Corky is a precurser to moving Hernandez? Hopper is a passable major league player. It seems like a bit more than I would give up for someone who won’t see the majors.
(And yes, “Corky” is fun to type)
Come on guys see the positive. Taveras is 6/17 in his last four games with three runs scored and two stolen bases.
Did I polish the turd enough for everyone or is it still a turd?
I really think that minor, minor deals are nothing more than filling a spot or opening up a spot in the system. (Not in Cincinnati… just in the system somewhere.)
There’s no way that trading a 30-year-old career backup for a 33-year-old career backup is a “precursor” to anything big. It’s a nothing move to make the rosters in the minor league teams line up a little better.
Do you think we could move Hernandez with that salary?
Right now the value would be for a potential ROY. Not that I would want that in any way, shape, or form, but there it is. It would be bad for the Reds, but probably good for Hanigan as it might be the only way for him to get consistent playing time.
But I agree, Corky Miller will never see the Reds roster. After all, he’s no Paul Bako. And without a move it’s not like the Reds would ever be dumb enough to carry three catchers.
Another article on Fangraphs yesterday(actual article was about David Wright), showed that Taveras in his “good” 2007 season led MLB with a preposterous .417 GB-BA (ground ball batting average). Guess the Reds weren’t aware of that anomaly when they signed him to that 2 yr. deal believing he could revert to his 2007 BA & OBP. Classic example of the NEED to look into such statistics when evaluating whether a certain player can duplicate the “sucess” of a certain season.
I’ll take Taveras!…If we’re in a track meet.
You’re right…what team would be stupid enough to carry 3 catchers?
Let alone carry three catchers for multiple years.
Interesting point, preach. I hadn’t thought of the possibility of moving Hannigan… and now that I am thinking about it I want to stop thinking about it.
Ouch….
Moving Hopper makes room for Heisey or Todd F. to move up to AAA.
I like Hopper 10 times more than Taveras. To me the Taveras signing is 10 times worse than keeping Darnell McDonald out of spring training.
Taveras is in the lineup tonight leading off. Guess who’s batting ninth. No really, guess.
Oh yeah, who wants to guess which catcher is not playing tonight?
I like Hopper 10 times more than Taveras. To me the Taveras signing is 10 times worse than keeping Darnell McDonald out of spring training.
On that, we can agree 100%, Annapolis.
I’m really hoping that by trading Hopper they call up Heisey to AAA
Anyone care to crunch some numbers and find out what Taveras would have to hit the rest of the way to get to .275/.350/.400?
David, I’d be Ok if he just did that (.275/350/400) the next three months.
Let’s be realistic — Taveras doesn’t have the kind of power to ever slug .400 (unless he bats .340 or something like that).
I think .280/.350/.350 would be tremendous the rest of the way.
(If the guy would just take a freakin WALK every now and then he wouldn’t have to hit .280-.300 to have a useful OBP!!)
The bad thing about Taveras leading off is that if anything gets going lower down in the lineup, it’s guaranteed to fail because there two two pitchers spots – the actual pitcher, and Taveras, two guaranteed outs.
Does Dusty read the blogs? Why is it that he zeroes in on one player – the interchangeable Corey Taveras and Willy Patterson, and will not let go? Is he stubborn to the point of being stupid?