I'm OK with doing nothing for the time being and keeping the powder dry. CF McCormick is adequate. Meyers still has potential to be above average. Leon has potential to be well above average AND versatile. C We still have Maldy and the pitcher's confidence if nothing else. Lee has potential to be adequate, Diaz has potential to be very good if he has an attitude adjustment. If not, he has some value as an adequate DH. DH First, Yordan will not be the primary DH. Diaz is a question mark. It's a landing spot for Hensley, Diaz, Meyers or McCormick or Brantley if he returns HEALTHY on a reasonable contract. We are good enough to use the season to see who responds, who doesn't and who gets the injury bug.
you are missing my point. Lee’s ceiling is not Realmuto or Contreras or Murphy. His ceiling is a replacement level catcher to a slightly above ave catcher. Pena’s ceiling was Correa.
Lee’s ceiling is higher than “slightly above average catcher”. He has plus power and plus defensive tools. His primary flaw is that he strikes out a lot. If he’s able to make moderate improvement there he could be a 3+ win player.
He was. Are you implying Lee didn't lose a year to Covid? Are you implying Pena would have skipped AAA if Correa wasn't in his way? Most elite prospect debut between 20-23... unless artificially held back like Springer...
He does have 55/55 raw power, but he also has a 30/35 hit metric and 30/45 game power. Fangraphs projects him at 85 wRC+ this season. Yes, it’s only his rookie season. Teams considered him a 3rd round pick in the draft. We went 1st. I don’t seem he as anything more than slightly above average at his peak.
Ok, now you've gone off the rails... Pena is a clear notch below Correa. You're letting a nice playoff run mess with your perception. Correa had an .857 OPS at 20 years old in the major leagues. Pena was in A ball at that age with a .649 OPS. The highest OPS Pena ever posted in a full season was .825. The only time Correa wasn't higher than that in the minors was a partial year at age 17. I understand the excitement around Pena but he doesn't have Correa's ceiling.
One of the things we don’t know is Maldonado’s availability going forward. He’s one tough dude, but his body is obviously breaking down. I don’t think they would have even been in on Contreras if they were confident in Lee getting his SO’s under control. I bet they bring in another veteran defensive catcher as insurance against a total health breakdown with Maldonado and Lee and Diaz spend at least another 1/2 year in the minors.
Lee’s ceiling doesn't have to be Contreras even though he's advanced faster in the minors. Lee for next to nothing gets you a 18 million player with him relative to Contreras. You're asking him to make up the difference between Contreras and someone like a Benintendi. BTW, go back and look at Murphy... he wasn't some offensive juggernaut. He was also a year older at the same levels as Lee. Bottom line is a slightly above average catcher making less than 5 million a year for 4 years is more valuable than Contreras on a 5 year deal. I don't know if Lee will be that, but that's why he has to earn it over Diaz. The fanboy stuff is a little over the top. You're criticizing me for wanting Lee to compete for a backup role and then claim Pena is right there with Correa on potential.
You're right, I'm sure Oakland would be more than happy to trade Murphy for a package centered around Chaz and Yainer Diaz.
If Pena hits no higher than a .270 / .330 as a shortstop with 20-25 hr pop then that's a slightly above average... Julio Lugo had a clearly better rookie season than Pena at the same age. Lugo was garbage in the field but let's not pretend Pena was awesome. He had a .289 ob% and struck out 24% of the time. Lee struck out 28% of the time in AAA and it's a problem.
Correa and Pena both had 60 grades for fielding. Correa 70 arm to pena 60 arm. Correa 50 run to pena 40 run. Correa 60 hit to pena 50 hit. Pena 60 speed to correa 50. The real area of deficiency is Pena 50 power to Correa 65 power. I will retract my Correa comparison, although I think it’s not far off. Peña is already tapping into extra power in his training and his swing techniques.
There were 9 MLB SS that hit 20 HR in 2022. The bottom 2 were Witt and T Turner. Now you are going off the rails.
