Replacing Nick's OBP

[wildcard]

Dan Duquette said in his interview on High Heat that the O's were going to have to work on replacing Nick's OBP before the opener. So how does he do that? Here is an idea.

After Dan signs Rasmus he will have two corner outfielder, neither of which hits lefties well. An De Aza, who is projected as the leadoff hitter at the moment, has a 329 OBP over the last three years. No high enough for an everyday leadoff hitter. His splits are 335 vs righties and 309 vs lefties over the last three years. But Buck is not going to want to platoon both Rasmus and De Aza. Its not the optimal situation.

Here's the idea---- What if they sign Aoki and trade DeAza. Aoki hits lefties and righties well enough that he does not have to be platooned. Aoki's three year averages are 287/353/387/740. That is a higher OBP than De Aza and a 10 point higher OPS.

Aoki three year splits are 371 OBP vs lefties and 346 OBP vs righties. That is good enough to replace Nick as a leadoff hitter and is good enough not to be platooned.

I don't know who plays right and who plays left between Rasmus and Aoki. That is something to figure out in ST. But what the O's will have in Aoki/Jones and the sharing of one position with Rasmus/Pearce. Pearce/Young shares DH.

The other good thing about this configuration is that Lough fits as the other OF. Because there is not two platoons in the outfield. A second righty like Hassan is not needed. Hassan goes to AAA.

So that is the idea to improve the OBP. What do you think? Or do you have a better idea?

[jjnono]

Eddie Gaedel.

[Frobby]

Dan talks about OBP all of the time and continually gets players who don't have any.

Absolutely true. So long as the O's remain above average in runs scored, I'll live with it. But I'm not sure that'll happen this year.

[25 Nuggets]

:vader:

[25 Nuggets]

Seriously though I already did the work on why De Aza will be an average MLB lead off hitter in its own thread. I'm resigned to the team talks of OBP meaning that they want their existing players to improve in that department... and yes there is room for many of them to improve up-and-down the lineup. Especially Jonathan Schoop. We will not be a high OBP team any time in the near future.

[weams]

Seriously though I already did the work on why De Aza will be an average MLB lead off hitter in its own thread. I'm resigned to the team talks of OBP meaning that they want their existing players to improve in that department... and yes there is room for many of them to improve up-and-down the lineup. Especially Jonathan Schoop. We will not be a high OBP team any time in the near future.

Please post the link here so we don't go down that rabbit hole all over again. I appreciated the work.

[25 Nuggets]

Please post the link here so we don't go down that rabbit hole all over again. I appreciated the work.

http://forum.orioleshangout.com/forums/showthread.php/145623-Analyzing-the-leadoff-spot

There ya go.

[33rdst]

http://forum.orioleshangout.com/forums/showthread.php/145623-Analyzing-the-leadoff-spot

There ya go.

This is very good stuff. Thanks for doing the work. DeAza will be fine.

[ShaneDawg85]

Manny Machado. A career norm Chris Davis. It's not great, except time this literally is a starting point.

[Aristotelian]

Instead of signing Rasmus and trading De Aza to sign Aoki, a simpler solution would be to sign Aoki instead of Rasmus. If we were interested in Aoki, I have to think there would be no reason to sign Rasmus. I would rather have De Aza at 5m than Rasmus at 8m.

With De Aza as the primary leadoff hitter, I wouldn't mind seeing Pearce against LHP.

[wildcard]

Seriously though I already did the work on why De Aza will be an average MLB lead off hitter in its own thread. I'm resigned to the team talks of OBP meaning that they want their existing players to improve in that department... and yes there is room for many of them to improve up-and-down the lineup. Especially Jonathan Schoop. We will not be a high OBP team any time in the near future.

Your analysis does not speak to the fact that De Aza has a 311 career OBP vs lefties which does not suggest a leadoff role.

[Frobby]

Your analysis does not speak to the fact that De Aza has a 311 career OBP vs lefties which does not suggest a leadoff role.

Last year we faced a RH starter 121 times. If we have a .311 OBP out of the leadoff spot the other 41 games, I can live with it.

[25 Nuggets]

Last year we faced a RH starter 121 times. If we have a .311 OBP out of the leadoff spot the other 41 games, I can live with it.

I don't think De Aza's playing 162 games anyway.

[weams]

I don't think De Aza's playing 162 games anyway.

Jimmy Paredes or Delmon Young or Steve Pearce can lead off 40 times between them.

[wildcard]

Last year we faced a RH starter 121 times. If we have a .311 OBP out of the leadoff spot the other 41 games, I can live with it.

That is 25% of the season. The O's should try to do better that that.