Pena had the 7th most HR of any SS in MLB. 11th most runs. 13th most RBI. 18th most SB. 18th highest wRC+. 19th highest AVE. 13th highest WAR. Sllightly above average would entail finding the average values for a MLB SS. It would be better to say that Pena is in the upper half of all MLB SS.
Any word on how Brantley's shoulder is coming along? This was the 2nd surgery on that shoulder. Any word how much damage there was this time compared to the first surgery? Also, I believe you mentioned that the Astros have made an offer to Yuli. Is that correct? If so Any idea for how much and if Yuli is seriously considering it or us he waiting to see what other offers he may receive? Thanks Nook!
I mean- there are three different ways to say someone or something is average, that’s mean, median and mode. 1, 1, 3, 4, 11. You could say average is 4 (add it all up and that’s 20, divide by 5 and you get 4, for the mean). You could say average is 3. That would be the median- the number in the middle. An example of this is “the average American family makes 52k a year”. What they are saying there is that half the families make more than that and half make less. Or you could say the average is 1. That would be the mode or most common. Ex: the average house in that neighborhood has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. That’s used not the way the other two are used but to mean “most common. I think it’s fair to say that a guy who placed 7th, 9th, 18th, 14th 12th etc is slightly above average for 30 short stops in MLB. Essentially he’s saying the midpoint is SS #15 and his rankings would make him something like SS #11 thus “slightly above average”. There’s certainly no need to add all the stats into a blender and divide by 30 to figure out “average”.
And those numbers include a horrific slump as he hit the rookie wall and the league learned he couldn’t hit a low and outside slider. While his late season and playoff success MIGHT have been a sample size fluke, it did coincide with a fundamental change to his approach, which resulted in a change on his results to a specific pitch. Changes in performance that are directly linked to specific actions are far less likely to be a fluke … it is more likely that his late season performance is indicative of who he is right now, which is a far above average bat and a gold glove defender. (It is also extremely encouraging about his ability to learn and adapt, which will serve him well when he inevitably hits the next obstacle.)
Order tOPS+ (how well a batter bats at a spot relative to his average OPS with 100 set as average) Batting 1st 24 Batting 2nd 132 Batting 5th 42 Batting 6th 30 Batting 7th 107 Batting 8th 127 Batting 9th -3 He bats well in the 2nd, 7th, and 8th spots. Though, he was moved down in the order when he was batting poorly (i.e., having trouble with sliders). I suspect batting order has little to do with how well he bats...though it will affect runs, RBIs (things based on where he bats).
Pena hit significantly better by the playoffs, I would expect considerable improvement over last season. Probably not the 1.000 OPS he had in the postseason, but Pena being over .800 OPS is certainly possible
You seem to be placing his ceiling as his median outcome. This season Cal Raleigh hit 27 HR and struck out in 29% of his pa while being a good defender, posting 4.2 fwar (4th among all catchers in MLB). Look at his scout tool grades; very similar to Lee’s. That’s Lee’s ceiling.
To me slightly above average would be the 11th-15th best shortstop ranked by 30 teams. Seems about right based on what you're putting down...
14 million for Diaz...baseball contracts are just dumb this year...I mean I know they are dumb every year, but still...
The only catcher we need is Vazquez to come back. If we can't get him to sign with us figuring he'd be splitting with Maldy then what other catcher worth anything would? Vazquez starts 80 games behind the plate and another 20 or so at DH.
He's too terrible a hitter to ever DH on a team as good as the Astros. If he isn't SUPER cheap, they should pass on him and go with someone else to be the weak hitting backup catcher. Tucker Barnhart was mentioned as an option, he should be significantly cheaper and would accept a 2 year deal.
I could see a Zunino like career where his offense bounces around depending on how many HRs he runs into, but provides solid value with his glove. Even his 85 wRC+ steamer projection is a playable starter if he's a plus defender behind the dish. No idea if his defense is that good, though.
The DH spot is to please him with playing time and to spell out Alvarez throughout the season. Vazquez is a more than capable component as catcher and I agree if he's not in the running then any backup will have to do. Don't want to overpay in salary or prospects for a guy that is a filler anyhow.
*was He was terrible while here... and that's why he didn't get many DH spots even with Brantley out. There's no reason to spend any money to keep a 33 year old catcher who did nothing for us last season that would be looking for 4 years. That money is better spent on a better quality OF/DH than on a weak hitting backup catcher.
