Altuve had a pretty big slump earlier in the season, to the point where his OPS had fallen all the way to .712. It had be concerned that last season was just a gross outlier, and the "real" Altuve was a good but not great player. Well after a massive home stand he is now slashing .359/.416/.576 in the 23 games since his OPS bottomed out. He has also scored 22 runs in those 23 games. For the season he is now slashing .304/.350/.435. While not up to his numbers last season, that is a spectacular line for a 2B. His defensive metrics are great this year (not sure what to make of those just yet), so his player value is basically the same. His offensive numbers right now would make him a great not good player, and he is trending towards elite again. If he does get back to an elite level it borders on being unfair. Even if doesn't get back to elite, but maintains this level, that middle infield is gonna be pretty awesome for the next decade.
Wouldn't the abundant shifting likely account for better defensive numbers? That would be my guess. I'm with you; he's been terrific during this stretch - a tremendous boost with Springer down.
UZR, from my limited anecdotal evidence, can be affected negatively or positively by shifts....just has a ton more error than without shifts. For Altuve, I expect he is not getting a lot of negative credit for balls hit over his head as Springer was getting to a lot of balls that a second basemen usually makes that Altuve doesn't.
I can't imagine there are more than one or two balls hit over Altuve's head during the season that a 'normal' sized second baseman would make a play on.
Altuve is likely to have over 800 hits at the end of this season (age 25). That will put him on a Jeter like pace.
Talking about bloopers that second baseman needs to turn and run. Looking at fielding spray charts, the missed plays by Altuve area stops about 20 feet shorter in right this season than last. Appears that about 20 balls dropped in this area between Altuve and RF last year that not one appears to have dropped this year that is attributed to Altuve.
The overall batting numbers are "average" when compared to the league in general. But when compared to everyday 2B's, they are Elite. He is top 5 in pretty much every offensive category for 2B's. There is no other middle infield in baseball that I would even consider trading ours for
So Cleveland, wanting to get younger/cheaper, calls and offers Kipnis and his .400+ OB% straight up for Altuve and you say no? I might as well... but just curious.
I totally misread - my eyes/brain saw "middle infieldER" - yeah, totally agree on that: Altuve + Correa is developing nicely.
Oh i'm not sure about that one, for Kipnis i'd definitely have to consider it for sure...although he is 4 years older than Jose already What I was saying was "middle infield"...Jose and Carlos...no other middle infield could touch that
Yea Lindor and Kipnis is a nice middle infield.....Lindor by all accounts a great defender . . .but nowhere close to Jose and Carlos
Cleveland might have the second best middle infield moving forward, but it's not really all that close
Kipnis was not good last year. Who's to say this isn't his outlier season (as many posters here said last year was an outlier season for Jose). Kipnis is like the Spurs....every other season he has a good OPS. Next year he is due for a poor one.
Altuve's contract: 4 years $20.5M (with the last 2 years being team options at $6M & $6.5M) Kipnis' contract: $43.7 over next 4 years plus 5th year option at $16.5M or $2.5M buyout Altuve is also 3 years younger. I would say no to that deal.
