No, he has been one of the worst players in all of MLB in that time. A kid would imply he has the ability to be sent back down, which isn't going to happen here.
The Stros do not exactly have a cornucopia of RF options. I'm certainly not pining to see more of Cooper Hummel, et al, in the starting lineup.
Until we got Sanchez we had no viable options. He is drawing walks, running bases, and playing outstanding defense. It should be a staight platoon with Sanchez the rest of the regular season. MAstros is being emotional and overly negative.
He will never be the best player on this team. As long as Yordan is here. Yes that means him being healthy. Even as a DH. He is when healthy a top 5 bat in the entire MLB.
I would still value his elite bat over above average offense and elite defense. Nothing against the kid. I dont think he will be in MVP top 5 finishes. I would love to be wrong. The things I have seen Yordan do and the includes the post season. He would have to improve exponentially to be better. If im wrong. We both win. We would have 2 perennial MVP candidates on our team.
I'm not talking about selling out. Cam has the talent to recognize pitches he can drive to LF/L-CF But everything he hits is to RF. He can still hit to RF and R-CF without all but eliminating LF like he currently does. It's just a learning process but he must learn it or end up a middle of the league starter nobody remembers
The more I look at Cam the more encouraged I am. 2 things are clear to me He was tired the last 1/3 - 1/2 of the season. He needs to spend some time in AAA this season where working on getting the ball in the air without MLB pressure to win/produce will benefit him and the Astros. However: Even in July, August, and September when he was bad his BB rate continued to rise. He was better with runners on than bases empty. He was better with runners in scoring position than just a runner on first. Obviously, his defense plays everyday. If Jake gets traded, it will be good to have his legs and glove in RF so Cole/Melton/Matthews in CF can focus more on the left side gap. I think I would start Cam in AAA and give RF to some combination of Dezenzo/Cole/Melton, then if Cam is ready after 4-6 weeks bring him up and send the weakest of them back to AAA. Get a lefty power bat who can play LF or LF/2B alternating with Altuve and Yordan.
I would like to respectfully disagree with you on one thing. Well two things. 1. Dezenzo,Cole, and Melton are no better an option in RF over Cam. Dude has good glove potential and none of thise guys are going to do better than him at the plate. 2. I would not start him at AAA for 6 weeks. His first 6 weeks last year were probably the best of his year. And the time to get launch angle retooled and pitch recognition increased is in the off season and maybe spring training. The cake is baked by opening day. You don't do all of that PR last season and play him all year to send him down this year. It would crush him. Love and respect your knowledge and posts. I think on this we just see it differently On this one.
But stashing him in AAA gives us an extra year of team control. Pretty important if he is gonna be the player we think he is going to become.
I understand your thoughts. 1) I agree with you that Dezenxo, Cole, and/or Melton should not be better than Cam and likely won't be, but that is far from certain and we won't know if they are not given an opportunity. 2) You are right that the work and adjustments need to be done in the offseason. But muscle memory is developed in games. It's extremely difficult to simulate game action. Sending Cam down is a way to add a year of control by letting him gain the muscle memory he needs in PAs that don't count. It also has the additional benefit of giving those other 3 playing time to discover if they are really players. I'm not saying it will be 6 weeks. It may be 3, it may be 8. It all depends on results from both ends. But the goal is to have the best possible Cam Smith in the 2nd half, postseason, and for 5 more years - 2031. And FTR the first 6 weeks last year, Cam had a 659 OPS which was his low point of the entire season.
Yeah, last year might have been the year to do that instead of the locker room hoopla with his family. If there is someone better. By all means do it. But who are we putting out there. Those guys mentioned now have less experience than he does. Playing in the bigs for the first time is a heck of whirlwind. Maturity, stamina, finding the restaurant you love in Tampa Bay, The noise settles down in year two. I just do not see a better option at this point unless someone outside of the organization comes in. Just my thoughts, I could be wrong.
I wish Brown HAD done it last year. July: Cam 59 wRC+ and -0.2 fWAR Brown should have seen that and made the decision to send him down for the month of August: Cam 28 wRC+ and -0.4 fWAR. Split Cam's 75 PAs in August between Sanchez (97 wRC+ and 0.2 fWAR) and Chas (67 wRC+ and 0.0 fWAR) and Astros likely make the postseason. And maybe those players get more PAs to improve but even without improving they were head and shoulders better than Cam in August.
I agree with this, but I still think everybody on this MB is really underrating Dezenzo. I would trade Cam plus for Ragans though.
Not a fan of putting Cam in AAA. Last year was the time to do it. If he struggles in spring training it through April, you consider it, but otherwise he's your RF. And naturally we want him to be the answer there.
We just have to see how he reacts to that much more playing time in the majors. Some move forward and wind up ahead of the curve and others regress from being called up too early. It's a very individual thing beyond the normal ups and downs.
Cam should have spent a year in AAA. It was quite obvious he was exhausted by the end of the season, both physically and mentally. In AAA you can tinker with mechanics and try out new things because the games don’t really matter. That is something you cannot do at the ML level, as each win is millions of dollars worth. Cam’s confidence could have taken a hit, because he was struggling mightily and he looked lost for long stretches of times. He’s young and should have some mental fortitude as he’s gotten this far; and especially at such a young age. But baseball is a different animal, for it is one of those only sports that can break you mentally. Though it seems people aren’t as high on Cam with the way he finished the season. I still think he’s going to be an allstar, but there is also a possibility he fizzles out if he takes the negative to heart.
I just hopes he reacts well. We could use another shooting star like Yordan. But I'm glad we already have one.
