Episode 94 of breathing orange fire is up on Spotify and wherever you get your pods. listen, rate, share, subscribe. Spring training update. We keep it to an hour this time. Enjoy.
I didn’t say he was a poor defender. I said he’s was worse than Meyers, which he is. McCormick was one of the worst players in mlb last season because he posted a 577 ops (playing mostly corner OF), not because of his defense.
I'm hearing that Cam Smith is now living in the Brown household and Mrs. Brown now sleeps on the sofa while Cam sleeps in the master bedroom while Dana rubs his feet and calls him his aircraft carrier.
I'm not disagreeing with anything y'all said...especially with how he performed last year. I guess I see McCormick as having a higher ceiling, offensively, if last year was a fluke. His defense isn't so far behind Meyes that if he's hitting like 2023 McCormick, I find it hard not to play him over Jake (assuming someone has taken over right field). Yes, Jake is an outstanding defensive CF in terms of getting to the ball. But that noodle arm is a concern ESPECIALLY if he's playing next to Altuve. I know people say that the amount of runs given up due to having a weaker arm isn't much...but if you have 2 (or even 3 of them) out there...teams are going to be taking an extra base constantly...and that can be a killer. Either way, I just want one of them to step up this year.
Offense in a CF is way behind defense in priority. Especially if you have 6+ above average bats elsewhere. In CF, a very small reduction in fielding can be a very impactful thing, especially when covering for an inexperienced LF ( and RF if Dezenzo or Smith are playing) Meyers is exceptional in all aspects of catching the ball in the OF. His reaction time, burst, and routes are all exceptional and have been his entire career. He is simply gifted. Per baseball savant, Chas is very good at reaction and burst and adequate at routes. Meyers covered an average of 36.8 ft on fly balls and caught 95% of the chances, 4% above expected MLB average. Chas covered an average of 35.5 ft on fly balls and caught 90% of them, 3% above expected MLB average. Their arms are equally bad. Their hitting/baserunning profiles are about the same. Jake having a very slightly better reaction and burst, much better routes, and more range is really the difference. And in CF and with Altuve/ Yordan in LF that is even more important. That said, they both need to have better seasons to start significant games late in the year or even get on the team next year.
Today’s lineup might be the opening day lineup if Walker isn’t back in time. Maybe Meyers starts over Dubon.
There's literally zero people disagreeing with this, even if he's hitting like 21/22 Chas. If he hits an an above average level again he will play a lot and probably more than Meyers, if he hits at 23 level he will play every day. The issue is the completely unplayable 24 version is what we've most recently seen, hence the concern. His arm also isn't any better, that's not an advantage for Chas and is meaningless in the discussion between the 2.
TK is in mid season form: "Pena has been making contact with everything this spring." Strikes out swinging next pitch. "It's a misconception that Altuve has lost a step in speed." Next pitch grounds into DP, thrown out by 6 steps.
Chas can give Jake a run for the money in the noodle arm contest. They are both bad. If Chas had a howitzer for an arm, then this would likely not even be a discussion. Chas would be starting. Chas is also turning 30. Not like there is more potential in there that is untapped. His best years are behind him. Jake is 15 months younger. Same way you'd prefer to have a healthy Nomar Garciaparra over Adam Everett back in the day, but Everett was good enough to last ten years on his defense and spotty hitting. Meyers is a perfectly reasonable starting center fielder on a world series team with how he played last year. It becomes less reasonable due to having a void in right and perhaps second. Dodgers had Kike Hernandez and his .654 OPS in center in the world series last year and made quick work of the Yankees.
Agreed. defense wins games and championships, but you must also score runs. It's all about what the team can put around them. Look at the 2019 Astros being able to use Reddick's glove ( and 89 OPS+) in RF. The 2022 Astros were able to use Yuli's golden glove at 1b ( and his 85 OPS+) because they had 6 guys over 111 OPS+.* And a knockout pitching staff, including the bullpen.
Regarding Kike, while that is true, he seems to always hit in the playoffs. An .875 career OPS and an .808 last season.
Depends on Cam Smith and Brendan Rodgers, but yes he certainly does. Team will have at max 6 primary infielders, 4 are locked up with Walker/Dubon/Pena/Paredes. We may only carry 5 with a couple of IF/OF tweeners.
