Is there someone who traditionally begins the new season thread? I can't wait for the season to begin. 9 days till pitchers and catchers report!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Todd Frazier signed with the Mets for $17M/2yrs. That’s a steal. Coming off a 3 fWAR season and had 10 fWAR last 3 seasons combined. 102 HR last 3 seasons, good 3B defense. I know Houston didn’t have a need for him but for that price I’d have moved Gurriel or Bregman to LF and let him DH some. This is the first contract signed where a player is obviously not getting near what he should be worth.
Houston needs whatever position player they sign (if they sign one) to hit left-handed, signing Frazier who’s average at best with the glove and shifting a gold glove caliber 3B like Bregman or well above average defensive 1B’men like Yuli and Marwin is a terrible idea. It’s a great contract but he fits nowhere on the Astros. I’d imagine Astros are in the market to strike a bargain deal with Moustakas, Lucroy, Duda, CarGo as their top targets for DH, Gattis probably gets moved if they sign someone.
He did only hit .213 last year, and .225 in in 2016. His career OBP and OPS numbers are similar to Chris Carter.
I think all the teams saw what the Astros did (similar to the Cardinal's), you don't want massive contracts (long / $$$), have a mix of young and veteran players with a few free-agents and a total salary that your market can handle. At some point, probably in a few years we going to have to let some of the players go, just the fact of life now...
If Chris Carter could play a passable 3B, he’d be a borderline star player (which is what Frazier is). I’m shocked Frazier wasn’t able to get at least $40M/3yrs. He got less than half of that. The Mets got one of the best free agent bargains I’ve ever seen. I did read where Frazier really wanted to play in NY so it’s possible there were other higher offers and he took a discount to be where he wanted to play.
Their hitting has been about the same over their career, though I think Frazier is likely a little better going forward as playing time will keep up his skills better. 3B is a lot more valuable than 1B. Good defense is better than oh my eyes defense. Mediocre base running is better than bad base running.
I said out loud when he came to bat, I wanted JV not only to strike him out I wanted JV to make him look silly. By far my most satisfying individual moment in that series. Thanks for making my morning. I still can't believe the homerun he hit to right, that ball looked like it was going to be caught in shallow right when it came off the bat.
The one he hit that got stuck on the wall in LF was the same way. Neither of those balls seemed like trouble off the bat, but they carried a mile. Prime examples of the ball just jumping last season, and even more so in the postseason.
He has all the tools to be, and there's no reason to think a 23 year old former SS who's played a whole 2.25 seasons of professional games (185 minors, 172 majors, 18 postseason) at 3B won't get better with experience.
He hasn't been consistent in the regular season, but Bregman looked like he was putting his tools to use in the postseason. Is there a place where defensive metrics are published for the postseason as I expect those would tell a different tale than the regular season ones? I'm expecting a big uptick in Bregman's regular season defensive metrics this year despite the perception that defensive metrics under rate Houston 3B.
I mean, don't encourage us Tampa. We'll have your ace for B level prospects if you take your eyes off the ball. Not because we really need him this year..just because we can.
Could he improve, absolutely. Just was pointing out that in 2017 he was meh as a defender. For 2017: -2.2 UZR -4.6 UZR/150 -3 DRS He isn't bad, but he is clearly not elite.
Frazier has some risk. His power at ages 29-30 were the aberrations. Now at 32, I think it's more likely he repeats last year's power (or the stuff before age 29). Still good, but not great. If he keeps up the walk rate he put up last year, that's fine...but it was a massive deviation from every other season in his career--without a real dip in K rate. Put all those things together along with average defense, and I see him more like a 2 WAR player. At least that's how I'd value him in a contract negotiation. I don't see this is a massive steal.
