2019-2020 Offseason Discussion

[Nick]

Villar is REALLY bad at 3B (historically). Rojas is not. I can see arguments the best production alignment is Villar at SS, Rojas 3B, and Anderson in RF.

Wondering if Villar sees some time in CF. He can probably cover a lot of territory, not sure about his arm but that might be OK.

Talk about a perfect longterm fit if he can play a solid CF and he maintains being this type of hitter for a few years. That solves a massive depth problem and Villar becomes "Marwin Gonzalez" real quick and gets 130+ starts everywhere.

The point is, if Villar ends up as our longterm 2B or SS, something has gone very wrong, but there is a scenario where nothing goes wrong and Villar continues his 2019 offensive production, where maybe he does stick as longterm 3B. Anderson stays in the OF, we deal some of our young OFers to fill other areas. I just don't believe a serviceable defensive SS can forget how to field at another IF position. I'd put good money on those defensive stats in 54 games from 4 years ago are a fluke.

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I agree on the CF idea, though, that would definitely be an interesting experiment.

[lou]

The point is, if Villar ends up as our longterm 2B or SS, something has gone very wrong, but there is a scenario where nothing goes wrong and Villar continues his 2019 offensive production, where maybe he does stick as longterm 3B. Anderson stays in the OF, we deal some of our young OFers to fill other areas. I just don't believe a serviceable defensive SS can forget how to field at another IF position. I'd put good money on those defensive stats in 54 games from 4 years ago are a fluke.

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I agree on the CF idea, though, that would definitely be an interesting experiment.

If he is going to be a 3-4 WAR player, he can play anywhere when it comes down to it. I have no problem signing him to an extension if we believe he is a 2+ WAR average player 2020-2023, and immediately trading Sanchez or Bleday for a true center fielder (or if Sanchez can play CF, do nothing and assume he and Monte can handle it... with maybe Villar himself).

[tjfla]

Villar is REALLY bad at 3B (historically). Rojas is not. I can see arguments the best production alignment is Villar at SS, Rojas 3B, and Anderson in RF.

Wondering if Villar sees some time in CF. He can probably cover a lot of territory, not sure about his arm but that might be OK.

Talk about a perfect longterm fit if he can play a solid CF and he maintains being this type of hitter for a few years. That solves a massive depth problem and Villar becomes "Marwin Gonzalez" real quick and gets 130+ starts everywhere.

The purpose of this "experiment" is too see if Villar can handle 3B. If he can than they "overpay" on an extension and 2021 u have

SS-Jazz
3B-Villar
RF-BA
UT-Rojas

If he can't handle 3B u play him at 2B,SS,3B,OF see if he hits 25 HR by All Star Game and trade him and pay his salary(if needed) for prospects. Then in 2021 u have

SS-Jazz
3B-BA
RF-Jesus/FA
UT-Rojas

2020 is gonna be just like last year in trying to find guys

IF the plan works out in 2021 u have

C-Alfaro
1B-Aguilar/Lewin
2B-Isan
SS-Jazz/Rojas(UT)
3B-Villar
LF-FA/Jesus
CF-Monte/Sierra or Brian Miller
RF-BA/Cooper

TONS of options probably need to get rid of Cooper and add a MIF.

1 thing to remember about 2020 is guys with options include

Brinson
Dean
Cooper
Harold
Berti

ALL pitchers except Urena,Conley,Brice,Jarlin

Think they might try Jesus Sanchez in CF next year in AAA

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There is a couple of nice pitchers out there too. I would like us to take a flyer on Jimmy Nelson from the Brewers. He was injured most of last yr. He was solid before that. Can work him through the pen or back of the rotation.

They have offers out to a few arms already. Pretty much waiting till the top arms go-1 yr offers and 1 yr + option offers at between 7.5-9 million a year. Looking at Roark,Teheran,Pineda,KBO guys

[lou]

The purpose of this "experiment" is too see if Villar can handle 3B. If he can than they "overpay" on an extension and 2021 u have

SS-Jazz
3B-Villar
RF-BA
UT-Rojas

If he can't handle 3B u play him at 2B,SS,3B,OF see if he hits 25 HR by All Star Game and trade him and pay his salary(if needed) for prospects. Then in 2021 u have

SS-Jazz
3B-BA
RF-Jesus/FA
UT-Rojas

2020 is gonna be just like last year in trying to find guys

Sure

But all I see from all of that above is - there is emerging positional redundancy so if guys fail, there is a backup plan. Except for CF as they have nothing but Monte (unless we think Sanchez can do it, or there is a miracle with Brinson, or Sierra/VVM become a top 3 defensive CF in baseball and slap over a .700 OPS with amazing base running, or Scott is a good contributor soon versus 3-4 years from now when he is older, or Berti or Miller somehow translates).

I guess that list is long, but that's a lot of maybes. If Villar becomes a 4 year starter for this team, or a Marwin rover and still gets 500+ PA for a few years, they need to figure out CF. That's all I'm saying.

Hopefully Monte is good enough, and Sierra a capable defensive backup, so this becomes less of an issue on paper by the summer.

[tjfla]

Sure

But all I see from all of that above is - there is emerging positional redundancy so if guys fail, there is a backup plan. Except for CF as they have nothing but Monte (unless we think Sanchez can do it, or there is a miracle with Brinson, or Sierra/VVM become a top 3 defensive CF in baseball and slap over a .700 OPS with amazing base running, or Scott is a good contributor soon versus 3-4 years from now when he is older, or Berti or Miller somehow translates).

I guess that list is long, but that's a lot of maybes. If Villar becomes a 4 year starter for this team, or a Marwin rover and still gets 500+ PA for a few years, they need to figure out CF. That's all I'm saying.

Hopefully Monte is good enough, and Sierra a capable defensive backup, so this becomes less of an issue on paper by the summer.

Agree totally with u. Think they let Monte get first crack at it and if not then Jesus by midseason

They have capable 4th OF types who all can play Gold Glove CF(Sierra/Brian Miller/VV)with solid baserunning issue is none of them can really hit especially with power

2020 is gonna be about finding guys and thats what expect them to do in CF-toss guys out there and see what they got

They can roll out a OF of

LF-Avisail/Ramirez
CF-Berti/Sierra
RF-BA/Cooper/Ramirez

to start the year and by midseason option any of Berti,Cooper,Ramirez and call up Monte/Jesus.

July have something like

LF-Avisail/Ramirez
CF-Monte/Sierra
RF-BA(if Villar still around)/Jesus/Cooper/Ramirez

Maybe they try to sign a few guys to Milb deals who can play CF?

[lou]

Agree totally with u. Think they let Monte get first crack at it and if not then Jesus by midseason

They have capable 4th OF types who all can play Gold Glove CF(Sierra/Brian Miller/VV)with solid baserunning issue is none of them can really hit especially with power

2020 is gonna be about finding guys and thats what expect them to do in CF-toss guys out there and see what they got

They can roll out a OF of

LF-Avisail/Ramirez
CF-Berti/Sierra
RF-BA/Cooper/Ramirez

to start the year and by midseason option any of Berti,Cooper,Ramirez and call up Monte/Jesus.

July have something like

LF-Avisail/Ramirez
CF-Monte/Sierra
RF-BA(if Villar still around)/Jesus/Cooper/Ramirez

Maybe they try to sign a few guys to Milb deals who can play CF?

They don't really need Avisail at this point.

Alfaro, Aguilar, Isan, Rojas, Villar, Cooper, and Anderson need to play near full time. Then, they do need to see if Berti is for real so he's presumably starting in CF, and they should be giving Sierra and Ramirez legitimate PA to see if they are good longterm backups. Add in a backup catcher, and that's 11 guys.

If I'm looking at that depth chart, I'm bringing in another guy (lefty) who can play CF, keeping Brinson and Dean in AAA as injury replacements for anyone, and the last hitter spot (13th) is a Rule V pick, which is a double down of backup catchers and grab Higgins from Chicago, or take Ruiz on San Diego and sit on him a full year for the hell of it.

Absent a Castellanos/Ozuna scenario where they are thinking for 3 years down the road, that's what I'm doing. A lefty CF and basically BPA Rule V Higgins/Ruiz/whoever.

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Also see if you can get Travis Shaw on a MiLB deal

[tjfla]

They don't really need Avisail at this point.

Alfaro, Aguilar, Isan, Rojas, Villar, Cooper, and Anderson need to play near full time. Then, they do need to see if Berti is for real so he's presumably starting in CF, and they should be giving Sierra and Ramirez legitimate PA to see if they are good longterm backups. Add in a backup catcher, and that's 11 guys.

If I'm looking at that depth chart, I'm bringing in another guy (lefty) who can play CF, keeping Brinson and Dean in AAA as injury replacements for anyone, and the last hitter spot (13th) is a Rule V pick, which is a double down of backup catchers and grab Higgins from Chicago, or take Ruiz on San Diego and sit on him a full year for the hell of it.

Absent a Castellanos/Ozuna scenario where they are thinking for 3 years down the road, that's what I'm doing. A lefty CF and basically BPA Rule V Higgins/Ruiz/whoever.

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Also see if you can get Travis Shaw on a MiLB deal

They don't I just put him in as the FA.Could be Dickerson,Calhoun,Japanese guy,Shaw,Souza Jr. ALOT of options right now

The backup C thing is pretty easy. IF u like Higgins or another Rule 5 C u DFA Wallach day or 2 before(send him to AAA with invite) and take Higgins or the C at Pick #3. U let Wallach(non roster),Milb FA and Rule 5 guy battle for 1 spot. If Higgins wins job then Wallach is in AAA but if he sucks u send him back and just add Wallach

I love your idea about 2nd Rule 5 Pick and I would jump all over 1 f the young kids in Rd 2. Ruiz,Javier,Newton,Sierra,others are NOT ready but are under 21 and tons of talent

Remember there is NO limit on how many guys u can take. Cost is 100K and long as u got spots. U can DFA Wallach and a RP 2 days before have 2 spots open

They can add 5 guys right now(Keller,Moran,Kinley,Wallach,trade Conley or DFA Dean). 1 bat,2 arms,1 Rule 5 C. Last guy could be anything

Could actually give Shaw a ML deal-don't forget they also are leaders for Greg Bird on a Milb deal

[fish16]

We are finally bringing the fences in slightly

[emkayseven]

But... we are also installing synthetic grass for some reason. So the positive of drawing hitters here because they will be able to put up normal statistics is going to be counteracted by the fact that our field will destroy their knees for life

[lou]

But... we are also installing synthetic grass for some reason. So the positive of drawing hitters here because they will be able to put up normal statistics is going to be counteracted by the fact that our field will destroy their knees for life

What the fuck are they doing?

[emkayseven]

Honestly wish I had an answer. It’s the same turf the Dbacks put in last year. Their park factor decreased a good deal but ours also increased a lot last year (would you believe we had the sixth highest Park factor last year?)

Not sure if there’s any real way to tell the impact that the synthetic grass has on offense, but the Rangers are also putting it in their new park next year, so it seems to be a fairly popular product right now. I’m just worried about injury issues.

[fauowls44]

Honestly wish I had an answer. It’s the same turf the Dbacks put in last year. Their park factor decreased a good deal but ours also increased a lot last year (would you believe we had the sixth highest Park factor last year?)

Not sure if there’s any real way to tell the impact that the synthetic grass has on offense, but the Rangers are also putting it in their new park next year, so it seems to be a fairly popular product right now. I’m just worried about injury issues.

I don’t believe the new synthetic turf products cause injuries like the old AstroTurf used to. This will look and feel like actual grass.

[fish16]

But... we are also installing synthetic grass for some reason. So the positive of drawing hitters here because they will be able to put up normal statistics is going to be counteracted by the fact that our field will destroy their knees for life

Synthetic grass is not Artificial turf. And they are doing it because the stadium design makes it hard to keep natural grass alive

[lou]

Honestly wish I had an answer. It’s the same turf the Dbacks put in last year. Their park factor decreased a good deal but ours also increased a lot last year (would you believe we had the sixth highest Park factor last year?)

Not sure if there’s any real way to tell the impact that the synthetic grass has on offense, but the Rangers are also putting it in their new park next year, so it seems to be a fairly popular product right now. I’m just worried about injury issues.

I found this which I assume you saw - https://beyondthebases.mlblogs.com/m...0-eff2e139af50

Maybe less of a deal than I originally thought, but we'll see what happens I guess

[rmc523]

From that article:

The Geofill® Performance Infill within the blades forms a firm surface similar to natural soil with lower energy rebound levels that closely mimic high-performance natural grass. Geofill is the leading natural “soil” infill in the industry — composed of 90% coconut and 10% naturally derived plant-based matter. The B1K surface also creates natural baseball bounce. The accompanying shock pad in the synthetic-grass system provides additional safety and performance benefits, including shock attenuation from contact with the surface.

They've also already started moving the walls:




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With the way the park is situated and the sun location to the south, much of the field is always in shade because the closed part of the park is on the south and west side, and I guess the grow lights can only help so much. I know I'd notice throughout the season large chunks of the outfield grass would be new/replaced mid-season.

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It sounds like the fences are only moving in in center and right center - probably to where the bullpen starts (they have never relocated any of the video boards in center or the bullpens in either wall moving.

I also didn't see anything mentioned about wall height, so I'd have to assume that's remaining the same?