Aside from Castro none of the starters are good big leaguers. Altuve, Carter and Dominguez may end up being competent, but this offense just isn't any good. We may actually be worse than the marlins, this summer is gonna be a dogfight for that #1
The Marlins just got Stanton and Morrison back now. They might heat up a little bit here. I sure hope so anyway. Love to have the cash flexibility that comes from that top pick and plus Rodon might really emerge as stud material.
We are seeing exactly why Altuve was overrated coming into this season. Interestingly enough, we just traded for a AA 2B with a similar skill set. We also drafted Tony Kemp who could have a higher skill set.
I think it just depends on your expectations for him. According to mlb.com he is 8th among 2b's in average, 14th in OPS, 2nd in SB, 5th in hits . . .and i know we can all find stats to show he is good or he is bad, i get that....but he is 23 years old batting in a bad lineup, alot of the year he has been between batters who k like there is no tomorrow.... If anyone wants him to be Cano or Pedroia or Kipnis, then yea he is a disappointment . . . I think a guy his age in his situation, ranking top 10 in some of those regular offensive categories, is pretty good to have
Carters OPS has been slowly coming up, at this exact moment it's about .780 If he can finish with an OPS in the .830 range he can make a solid DH. He can't be in the field with any regularity, but he can be a productive hitter in the 6th or 7th spot in the order. Altuve is a bad fielder, his numbers defenisvely have been trending downward after being terrible last year. Offensively he is OK, but not good enough to tolerate his bad d. You can live with Altuve but we can certainly upgrade that position, he is not nearly as valuable as some perceive him.
Completely agree on Carter, he could be fine as DH in the 7th hole. You can have a guy on your team who strikes out a lot with a lot of power, just not a lineup full of them like we started the year. I also think in a better lineup he would benefit a lot On Altuve, again I know there are a ton of stats you can use....but his range factor among mlb 2b's is 5th (10th last year) and his fielding % is 13th (14th last year). Again, certainly not elite, but I can't see him being "bad" and certainly don't see it "trending downward" . . .I must say though, i'm simply using numbers because I have not been able to see many games this year at all, mostly just listen on radio unfortunately
There are a few different defensive metrics, individually they can often be unreliable and flawed. But when they all agree you can pretty much accept it, and every defensive metric has Altuve having very limited range. His defensive WAR was - 1.5 last year, he started well but has trending back to negative this year. His Zone runs last year was -11 last year and -5 this year. His defensive runs saved was -18 last year and - 3 this year. You can do worse than Altuve, but you can certainly do much better.
Well, I also think that in the time of Strasburg/Harper/Trout there tends to be a "you will be what you are right away" mentality. The guy is 23, most guys his age are still in the minors. I see no reason to think that a guy his age who is already, at the very least, holding his own in the majors, will not get better
Certainly possible, there is no immanent replacement so he'll get this year and the beginning of next year. I'm just not thrilled at his prospects unless he learns some plate discipline.
Yea, and that is the part that I completely miss out on not being able to watch much. Numbers tell one story, watching tells another. Plate discipline is definitely a poor quality in this team . . .seems to be an issue Luhnow is addressing if you look at the type of players he has drafted/acquired on the farm
My expectations weren't that high. To this point he isn't meeting them. I've never been high on him because he needs to be a .320 hitter to be above average with his other shortcomings. Career OPS in April: .872 Next best month is July: .700 Obviously in his 2nd full season, very limited samples sizes, but hopefully not a pattern.
Carter just needs to make more contact. Unfortunately I don't think he ever will. Even though his OPS has trended upward, his strikeout rate has stayed relatively level.
