The way I see it, his slump is either mental or physical. If mental, he just needs to work through whatever is going on. If he were sent down to AAA to work through it and then brought back, that transition could bring the mental issues all over (I don't think this one is it). If physical and pitchers have adjusted how they are pitching him or have found a "hole" in his swing, then he needs to work through that at the majors. He's not going to see that level of pitching down in AAA, and he either adjusts to it at MLB level or he doesn't. But him being in AAA won't tell you anything about that moving forward. I like the idea of platooning him a bit more. Put him in more in situations where he is more likely to be successful, which should help a little with the mental aspect. The rest is just going to take time/development.
I understand your point. Cam is not playing at a level that helps the team right now. On my opinion, they had no choice but to keep starting him everyday when Pena was out and before reinforcements were brought in at the trade deadline. Now, this team has 9+ guys who are playing better vs RHP without him and more than that who are better than average vs LHP. IMO this team wins more games between now and September 1st without him. He's simply been that bad. We will just have to agree to disagree.
There is middle ground here. 1/3 of the games are against LHPs and Smith can start these. For the 2/3 of the games against RHPs, Sanchez can start in RF ... or ... Sanchez can split time in RF with Smith ... say 50//50. Smith then gets 2/3 of the RF starts, gets to work on his hitting against RHPs and is a late inning defensive replacement when Sanchez does start.
Actually, he needs to work on changing his swing to elevate the ball more. It's too late in the season for a major change, but 1 or 2 small adjustments and 3 weeks in AAA or West Palm to implement them would be reasonable. But he has played more baseball and at a higher level than ever before. He is probably physically tired even if his slump is due to something else. Platooning him more is fine, but if he is not playing everyday then getting an extra year of service time for him is an even better idea. If a team is going to give up a year of service time, then that year needs to be positive at least, and Cam has a 96 wRC+ and 1.0 fWAR for the season. He has been neutral at best.
If there was a good chance AAA would fix him, sure. But there's nothing to suggest that sending him to AAA is going to help him hit MLB pitching any better in 3 weeks moreso than keeping him up does the same. Sometimes players just need to work through things - and facing easier pitching might not be how you get better at facing the hard pitching that we already know he's capable of hitting.
As long as Jim "no long contracts" Crane is the owner I will always support service time manipulation.
Cam needs rest. I think he is mentally and physically exhausted which is reasonable since he's a rookie that never played a full season of minor league ball. He needs to lift the ball more but that should be done in the off season. No need to add something else to his plate now.
I tend to lean this way, it's not going to help him to see easier pitching in AAA. IMO he has hit a wall, and he needs to work through it albeit with a few minor changes to his swing, let the young man work through this, it sucks in the short term, but I think in the long run he will benefit from this
Look forward to trading for him again 3 years into an 8 year extension he signs with TBD. Crane clearly doesn't have a problem with having older players under contract as long as it isn't at an exorbitant salary. Short years, high AAV or longer term and lower AAV seem to be his preference. I think that's sound, but you won't be able to keep most of the super-duper stars with that model.
It's been a smart move so far other than Cole. Cole is the only one that was worth the contract he got but we did okay without him. That could change if he doesn't come back healthy. Springer will be in the black only if he repeats this season in 2026.
The question should be about pennants and not cash considerations... and so far, the current approach has exceeded any of my wildest dreams from 2015.
The extra year of control is a huge issue because it would be his age 28 season. However, it would not be manipulation, Cam is simply not performing which gives them a legitimate reason that nobody, including the MLBPA would be able to appeal. In addition, for the past 30 days, Cam Smith's wRC+ of 26 is 173rd out of 174 qualified hitters. It is absolutely reasonable that the team would be better without him right now. 13 Astros have been better during that time, including 10 who are on the current roster.
The Yankees were the only team willing to pay that much. It was a record contract at the time and crazy long for a pitcher.
Someone smarter than me can probably figure this out, but it seemed he started struggling more when he moved up in the lineup. I'm not a stat guru, but from watching games he had issues when he moved out of the bottom part of the lineup. He didn't seem as patient... maybe felt more pressure? Baseball wasn't my game, so moving around in the lineup is maybe not an issue. Just an observation.
