Does Yordan Álvarez become a full-time position player this year?

He’s not good enough to play any position. Right now he looks like a career DH.

 

Why does it matter?

 

Sorry, gonna need some quotes to support these hot takes.

Of course nobody *wants* to be a DH, that's nothing new. That's Alvarez's spot, he'll deal with it.

 

As the roster stands now...No

 

The question is whether he’ll improve enough to play in interleague games. I believe he will improve, but we’ll also likely use those days to give him a break.

I think the organization is more interested in making him a a capable fielder, if at all, in 2021 when Reddick, Springer, and Brantley are off the books.

It’s pretty telling in and of itself that we haven’t given him reps at 1B, so I don’t know how respectable of a fielder he can become. There’s also a financial benefit to keeping him as a DH, especially through his young, arbitration years.

 

He's our best player. Expecting an MVP season from him.

 

I’m expecting monster type stats. 45/120

 

Hard to say with new management on and off the field. But over the last few years this team has prioritized extreme flexibility, to the point that our primary 1Bs were primary SS and 3B prior to getting here -- and had the flexibility to handle that. I don't think Yordan fits the mold even if he improve a bit at 1B.

The more important question becomes, if Yordan is in the field, who's at DH? The only way you make this change if you have someone even less capable in the field that you want DHing. Who is that, what are they doing on the roster, and how much of a badass hitter must they be to boot a 5th OF or utility man off the team? Even if Yordan is better, he is pretty much guaranteed to be the least capable fielder on the team amongst the hitters.

 

I make no assumptions about his preferences or what makes him happy. I observe that he has no range, no speed, and no arm, and therefore I can reasonably extrapolate that he'd cost us runs in the field.

 

Yordan Alvarez should work on being a 1B, His Height can be more useful for infielders throwing the ball to him, he can stretch out his long arms for outs.

 

Tucker will be getting work at 1st Base. He is a better fielder than Alvarez.