2019-2020 Offseason Discussion

[fish16]

Caleb Smith much much better today than he has been

[fish16]

If isan continues to struggle and we continue to have a semi log jam of outfielders I wouldn’t mind giving isan a month in Wichita to get some confidence back and sliding villar in at 2b for a month or Rojas at 2b with villar at ss

[Nick]

Has there been any reports on how Villar has been defensively out in CF? I've been to two games this spring and watched a couple on tv, but he hasn't been out there in any of them I've seen.

[fish16]

Has there been any reports on how Villar has been defensively out in CF? I've been to two games this spring and watched a couple on tv, but he hasn't been out there in any of them I've seen.

I don’t get why were forcing him there with the amount of outfield options we have. Just have him play 3b, ss, and 2b depending on the day or just let isan get another month in aaa to start the year rather than forcing him into a position he isn’t used to that we already have options at. Or just make him the everyday ss and put Rojas in the super utility role that he is best suited for rather than playing him every day

[Nick]

I don’t get why were forcing him there with the amount of outfield options we have. Just have him play 3b, ss, and 2b depending on the day or just let isan get another month in aaa to start the year rather than forcing him into a position he isn’t used to that we already have options at. Or just make him the everyday ss and put Rojas in the super utility role that he is best suited for rather than playing him every day

I don't know what more Brinson has to do to show you that he's a terrible option. Sierra as well. Harrison should at least be down in AAA for service time purposes, but he has his own issues. The options we have at CF right now are highly volatile offensively. Villar is not highly volatile offensively, we pretty much know what we're getting with him. So if he is able to pull off the position defensively it seems like that would be a useful backup plan to these highly volatile pieces.

[fish16]

I don't know what more Brinson has to do to show you that he's a terrible option. Sierra as well. Harrison should at least be down in AAA for service time purposes, but he has his own issues. The options we have at CF right now are highly volatile offensively. Villar is not highly volatile offensively, we pretty much know what we're getting with him. So if he is able to pull off the position defensively it seems like that would be a useful backup plan to these highly volatile pieces.

Brinson has showed improvement and will get one more chance to start the year. His k rate has been much better than even previous springs where he has put up numbers and he has maintained his power potential while doing so. Take it for what it’s worth but even Mattingly has commented on how improved brinson is this spring, something he wasn’t doing even previous springs when his numbers were technically still good but even I was mentioning at the time the k’s wouldn’t be sustainable. He will get a chance to start the year in the outfield whether you like it or not.

I don’t think there is a chance monte starts the year with the big club. Sierra will be dfa. That still leaves potential outfield options in Ramirez, kemp, berti, Dickerson, Anderson, cooper, and Joyce on top of brinson. Most of them can’t play center but a few can and your middle infield is comparatively much weaker. I’d argue the improvement on rojas’ bat from him to villar is greater than villar on whichever center field option you’d like to choose, plus making Rojas the super utility guy vs just leaving brinson on the bench to play once a week is the much better option to evaluate a potential future piece in brinson for one last chance as a starter.

[Nick]

Brinson has showed improvement and will get one more chance to start the year. His k rate has been much better than even previous springs where he has put up numbers and he has maintained his power potential while doing so. Take it for what it’s worth but even Mattingly has commented on how improved brinson is this spring, something he wasn’t doing even previous springs when his numbers were technically still good but even I was mentioning at the time the k’s wouldn’t be sustainable. He will get a chance to start the year in the outfield whether you like it or not.

I don’t think there is a chance monte starts the year with the big club. Sierra will be dfa. That still leaves potential outfield options in Ramirez, kemp, berti, Dickerson, Anderson, cooper, and Joyce on top of brinson. Most of them can’t play center but a few can and your middle infield is comparatively much weaker. I’d argue the improvement on rojas’ bat from him to villar is greater than villar on whichever center field option you’d like to choose, plus making Rojas the super utility guy vs just leaving brinson on the bench to play once a week is the much better option to evaluate a potential future piece in brinson for one last chance as a starter.

You'd argue that Villar is a bigger offensive improvement over Rojas than he is over Brinson? Have you been around the last couple of years? And lets be clear this is Villar vs. Brinson, not Villar vs. any of those other names you mentioned. This Villar experiment has nothing to do with any of those guys, and everything to do with the fact that we've gotten pretty much negative production from the CF position over the last two years.

[fish16]

If you go

C- Alfaro
1b- cooper
2b- isan/Rojas
Ss-villar
3b- Anderson
Lf-Dickerson
Cf- brinson
Rf- any of the remaining outfield options

I’d like that as a current lineup as well as a lineup that best allows us to evaluate our young talent some more. We seem to be resigned to just giving Rojas an every day spot and I just don’t get it. He’s a great clubhouse guy and he’s a decent stop gap player but he’s not this type of impact player he’s made out to be and he sure as hell shouldn’t be guaranteed a Starting job everyday if moving villar to everyday ss and evaluating a potential young future starter is the other option

[Nick]

You wanna potentially take away Isan's playing time (or AAA), but play Brinson every day. I can't fathom that thinking.

[fish16]

You'd argue that Villar is a bigger offensive improvement over Rojas than he is over Brinson? Have you been around the last couple of years? And lets be clear this is Villar vs. Brinson, not Villar vs. any of those other names you mentioned. This Villar experiment has nothing to do with any of those guys, and everything to do with the fact that we've gotten pretty much negative production from the CF position over the last two years.

I’d argue that it’s absolutely still in the realm of possibility that brinson can become something and that I’d rather give that two final months of evaluating the potential that he can become a serviceable player rather than starting a low ceiling guy like Rojas every day on a team that realistically has no shot to make the playoffs anyways.

If you’re asking me whether I’d rather see brinson starting everyday for one last chance for two months to start the year over watching Rojas career 82 ops+ bat with no pop continue to give us mediocre production out of the 8th spot in the lineup on a losing team you’re damn right I’d rather give brinson one last chance to see if this k rate decrease is even remotely a sign of improvement. Priorities are player development and player evaluation this year, not watching 30 year old career below average hitters take up ab’s in the lineup

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You wanna potentially take away Isan's playing time (or AAA), but play Brinson every day. I can't fathom that thinking.

Isan to aaa would be a 2-3 week thing to start the year for me, not any significant time. Just a little grace period to start the year to get his timing and confidence back. Whether he is in the minors or majors he would be playing every day. The isan/Rojas on that projection wasn’t a platoon, it was a choice depending on whether we want to give isan a little more time in the minors

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Using Rojas as a super utility guy and late inning defensive replacement is optimally using his talent. He isn’t an everyday player. If you use his versatility and great glove at multiple positions and give him 1-2 starts a week at various positions while using him as a pinch hitter and defensive replacement late in other games, that is his optimal role

[Nick]

He's had 2 full years to cement himself in the majors. He's about to turn 26-years old. Nobody in this league gets that kind of opportunity after failing so miserably for so long.

[fish16]

He's had 2 full years to cement himself in the majors. He's about to turn 26-years old. Nobody in this league gets that kind of opportunity after failing so miserably for so long.

Except he will. You should probably accept that cause it’s whats about to happen. Whether it’s in centerfield or the other corner position opposite of Dickerson

[rmc523]

He's had 2 full years to cement himself in the majors. He's about to turn 26-years old. Nobody in this league gets that kind of opportunity after failing so miserably for so long.

Right or wrong, I think he's been/will be given a longer leash given the fact he was the main guy in return for Yelich, so they're going to try to get him right so they can say they got something out of the deal (I'm ignoring the other guys in the trade right now).

[Nick]

Except he will. You should probably accept that cause it’s whats about to happen. Whether it’s in centerfield or the other corner position opposite of Dickerson

I don't agree that it's a foregone conclusion. Brinson has options, I think he starts the year in AAA.

[fish16]

I don't agree that it's a foregone conclusion. Brinson has options, I think he starts the year in AAA.

We shall see, but unless they send isan down to start the year I think the final roster ends up being

C- Alfaro/ cervelli or wallach for Alfaro if he starts the year in the dl
1b- cooper/Aguilar
2b- isan
Ss- rojas
3b- Anderson
Lf-Dickerson
Cf-villar
Rf- brinson
Reserves- backup c, Joyce, Ramirez, Aguilar, with kemp or berti taking the last spot