If he hits, he plays; last time I checked the AL still uses the first baseman and the DH, left field too. Just like Alvarez, prospect ranking types can get pretty far up their own asses looking for reasons to not like a guy.
You are preaching to the choir. I’ll take the guy that can rake and find him a spot, over the guy that can field but doesn’t know the difference between a cutter and a slider, so he just swings through both.
Yeah, it’s not like all 5 tools are created equally. Hit tool- 40% Hit for power- 25% Run- 15% Field-15% Arm-5% (For anyone on the corners- imo) If you’ve got a top notch hit and hit for power tool I frankly don’t give a **** about anything else at 1b, LF and I only care a little at 3b and RF
Cards did seem to have a lot of success with non-1st-round and late blooming types while he was there; like Ludwick, Jay, Craig, Matt Carpenter, etc. Not stars, but very useful players for a few years on winning teams.
Mostly agreed. You're wrong about 3B wrt field and arm, and less so about RF. You can't have a slug out there, and can't have a popgun arm.
Christian Javier just finished up a solid debut for CC: 4.2 IP, 0H, 2BB, 6K, was a little wild but whatever Oh, and Tucker just hit another HR (16)
Javier gets a ton of swing and misses on his fastball for it rarely topping 94. He looked good today. And Beer just missed a HR off of a lefty who throws upper 90s as I was typing this.
If the Astros offense struggles without Springer, and Tucker continues what he’s doing, it’s going to be interesting seeing the FO justify keeping Tucker down until late July. A team can justify Super 2 for one year, but it won’t be appreciated by the player two years in a row if they deserve a call up when they’re needed. Then again, a potential $20M savings is a lot of money/tax room. Popcorn at hand.
I see him as a 1st baseman who may get some reps in the OF. He's played primarily 1B since coming up to Corpus. Also, Alvarez is more likely going to play LF in the bigs, Luhnow described him as eventually making a great "Minute Maid Park left fielder" in an interview, and while he has played some first in AAA, he hasn't played that much, especially recently. Also, them keeping AJ Reed as a regular 1B in AAA and not cutting him to give Alvarez more time there may also be telling.
Alvarez is a little raw in LF at times but he has some ability out there. He isn’t really slow, has a strong arm and is getting better at playing angles. Alvarez played a lot of first base in Cuba and I think because of his height and frame, scouts assumed he would be limited to first. Beer is slow. He looks like he should be an average runner but just isn’t. I wouldn’t be shocked if he ends up at 1st but he wasn’t a disaster in the outfield. Reminds me of Kyle Schwarber. If he worked at it, he would be “ok”. Beer supposedly is actually a good 1st baseman but I haven’t seen enough.
3b I’m thinking about a guy like JD Davis- who I’m not really impressed with speed and glove. But, if he hit like 30% better I’d be fine with him as a regular. Or, damn it I’m getting old and dumb- who was the slowest human being in the world we had over there during the rebuild? Matt Dominguez or something like that? He was a sloth, but his lack of bat is what made me glad we moved on from him, not his criminally slow foot speed.
Alvarez is a monster. He might be able to play a passable LF for a couple years but in his mid the late 20s I see DH/1B. I haven't seen Beer in person yet. They can maybe get away with some time in LF at Minute Maid. I hear everyone saying "if they can hit they can play". All I will say is our defense really helped beat the Yankees and Dodgers in 2017. Marwin, Bregman, Springer, Correa, and Reddick had some amazing plays. Our defense was a pretty big x factor. DH/1B would be fine by me for those guys.
Somehow the old adage of dh and first base being especially easy to find hitters due to less of a need for any other skills has not translated at all to the Astros. The first basemen and dh have been just about the worst hitters on the team the last few years. I guess that's good and bad. Beer and Alvarez have absolutely no one blocking them so they can slot into dh and first no problem.
I think Alvarez can likely play left field until he is 30 unless he balloons. He will likely see time at several spots. Concerning defense, the belief is Beer has the tools to be a plus defender at 1st and Alvarez is fine in LF... so we really aren’t gutting our defense.
Guy makes solid contact very often and decently elevates the ball. Not likely going to be a homer machine, but doubles are nice too.
Very valuable combo of speed, contact, and power. Only 11 Big leaguers with <20% k, >20 Sb, >10 HR, 2018: Merrifield Turner Ramirez Marte Betts Cain Inciarte Lindor Peraza Benintendi Segura
