I expect him to play more in LF than last year but still more DH than LF. Part of the issue is who the 9th position player is and if they feel it's better to have that guy in the field. If they decide Meyers is the 9th best position player Yordan should DH more, if it's Caratini then Yordan plays more LF. If it's Dubon then his glove needs to be in the game but Altuve can DH Another consideration is if he's in LF then they lose his bat if they want a defensive replacement late in games. He has only completed 67% of the games in his career he has started in LF. The other 33% they took him out of the game. I am expecting somewhere between the 40 last year and 56 he had in 22 but not more than that.
The path for Cabbage is he dramatically outplays Meyers in spring and thus opens the season as the everyday LF (with McCormick in CF). Alternatively, a serious injury to Abreu or one of the OF opens the door for him to play everyday. Leon and Loperfido face much longer odds, but again, either one having a massive breakout this spring (coupled with injury or underwhelming results from Meyers and Cabbage) could open the door for them; they both have the ceiling to be 20/20 CF.
Unless Singleton or Caratini somehow lay claim to an everyday role, Alvarez should be limited to 30-50 games in the field. He’s not a bad defender in LF, but ALL the other options for that 9th everyday role are better defenders than Alvarez.
I could see a path for Cabbage to make the team ahead of Singleton and even play more in LF than any other player this season. However if Meyers is on this team then he will start at least 30% of the games and Dubon will probably get 10% of starts in CF. McCormick takes most of those starts in LF. Let's say 35%. And Yordan starts at least 25% of games in LF. That leaves 40% of the starts in LF for Cabbage. Let's say he plays 20% of games at 1B and DH's 10% of the time while Yordan is in LF. Is 70% = 113 games enough to get Cabbage 3 WAR? Chas got 2.0 WAR in 119g in 2022 and is a better defender and had CF propping up his WAR.
I disagree that Meyers’ outcome is binary (either he’s the everyday CF or not on the roster); there’s plenty of room for him to have an underwhelming spring and be used as the 4th OF. It’s plausible that Cabbage could play well enough to win an everyday OF role outright.
I'm not a ballplayer so I don't know how in-season regimens work, but what is stopping a player from making dietary/exercise adjustments midseason? Like if you notice extra weight may be causing problems in your performance, do you have to wait until the offseason to start fixing it? Maybe just switch to chicken breasts and don't lift as heavy and see how it works out over the next few starts?
I also think that Meyers could be the 4th OF, or actually in AAA (I have said "if Meyers is on this team" many times in my posts) What I do not think is likely ( short of injury) is Cabbage playing everyday or even more than 70% of the time. He has been much better vs RHP than LHP at every stop and season of his career and the Astros have Meyers and Dubon who will take away starts and PAs vs LHP. In fact the Astros have a full roster that rakes vs LHP even without him. I don't see a scenario where he starts many games vs LHP if both Meyers and Dubon are healthy and available. Furthermore, I would expect the Astros to want Chas in LF and either Meyers or Dubon in CF fairly often when extreme FB starters like Verlander, Javier, and Urquidy are on the mound.
It would be even funnier if they did that to the LA Dodgers 2020 farse season. Or Cincinnatti claimed the 94 split season.
Why is it funny that you would want an asterisk next to the Houston Astros 2017 World Series Championship?
