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Press Box: Orioles New Right Fielder


weams

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19 minutes ago, Roy Firestone said:

I absolutely do not get the love for Angel Pagan. Especially at 35 years old and limited power.

I don't think it's love as much as picking over a mediocre lot of available corner outfielders. I may be wrong about this, but I don't think there's anyone who wouldn't rather have even a Curtis Granderson, all things being equal. But Pagan had the best production last year among available FA corner outfielders (at least according to Fangraphs) and while his defense isn't stellar, it's a pretty sizable upgrade from what we saw most of last year. He has decent on base abilities, walks quite a bit and doesn't strike out much. And he can still steal you some bases.

I personally don't view power as a big issue. Even without Trumbo, the Orioles still have plenty of power. Enough, I believe, to finish at or close to the top of the league in home runs. But they need to improve their on-base abilities, especially at the top of the lineup, and corner outfield defense. Pagan isn't a great choice, but if he can be had on a reasonable one-year deal he would be a better option than most.

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6 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Sounds a little bit like signing Will Clark when you had Cal Pickering coming off a near triple crown, 1.000 OPS, .434 OBP season at Bowie at the age of 21.  Mancini probably isn't the hitter Pickering was, but someone will eventually let him play because he doesn't weigh 300 lbs.

D#&$ Drungo,you forced my hand and I had to log in to rep you for mentioning the travesty that was the Calvin Pickering shunting.

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1 hour ago, Moondoggie said:

I personally don't view power as a big issue. Even without Trumbo, the Orioles still have plenty of power. Enough, I believe, to finish at or close to the top of the league in home runs. But they need to improve their on-base abilities, especially at the top of the lineup, and corner outfield defense. Pagan isn't a great choice, but if he can be had on a reasonable one-year deal he would be a better option than most.

Let's compare this to Stan the Fan's argument.  I would much rather have a year of Angel Pagan with CD at 1B, than a year of Mike Napoli with CD in RF.  Looking at last year:

Pagan - .277/.331/.418 (.750) in a decidedly pitcher's park (100 OPS+).  More defensive value, even capable of playing CF (his former position) in a pinch.  More athleticism.

Napoli - .239/.335/.465 (.800) in a hitter's park (104 OPS+).  Stuck at first base or DH.

Pagan is probably straight-up the better signing, for the same money.  So why move Davis to a worse position when you can sign the OF?

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11 hours ago, 25 Nuggets said:

For one season, Pagan would theoretically give the Orioles better defense, OBP, stolen base and baserunning production from corner OF -- exactly what they're looking for -- and he's a switch hitter.

Yes.  Pagan is a classic generalist -- doesn't do any one thing extremely well, but doesn't have any obvious weaknesses in his game, either.  Even his SLG last year wasn't half bad.  With most of the other FA outfielders, they may have excellent power but awful defense (Trumbo), or excellent speed but poor OBP (Rajai Davis), etc.  Pagan does a lot of different things competently, which is exactly what we could use in 2017.  And he's a switch hitter, albeit with uneven splits.  

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9 hours ago, 25 Nuggets said:

Let's compare this to Stan the Fan's argument.  I would much rather have a year of Angel Pagan with CD at 1B, than a year of Mike Napoli with CD in RF.  Looking at last year:

Pagan - .277/.331/.418 (.750) in a decidedly pitcher's park (100 OPS+).  More defensive value, even capable of playing CF (his former position) in a pinch.  More athleticism.

Napoli - .239/.335/.465 (.800) in a hitter's park (104 OPS+).  Stuck at first base or DH.

Pagan is probably straight-up the better signing, for the same money.  So why move Davis to a worse position when you can sign the OF?

Pagan will probably cost less money than Napoli -- I believe Stan's article speculated that it would take 2/25 to get Napoli.  Most I could see Pagan ever getting was something like 2/18.  

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12 hours ago, scOtt said:

Glad to be "stuck" with him! GG finalist who hit 38 HR in a bad, injured year.

Touche, I was probably harder on CD than I should have been there.  

The point is that for better or for worse, CD and CD only is locked in at first base for the foreseeable future.  Although the glut of cheap 1B/DH sluggers on the market is enticing to the OP, it doesn't make much sense to get redundant when we already have Mancini and Davis on the squad (and Walker in the minor for whatever that is worth).  Unless we want to sign someone to a dirt cheap one year deal or minor league deal for depth's sake.  

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I would prefer to have Alvarez back at DH and would be fine if they got Pagan or Rajai Davis on a 1-year deal. Although that means next year at this time we'll have no corner OF's and a CF heading into his final year.

 

If they do trade away Zach or Manny, I hope they get a few outfield prospects among the haul. They're going to need them very soon.

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13 hours ago, Moondoggie said:

I don't think it's love as much as picking over a mediocre lot of available corner outfielders. I may be wrong about this, but I don't think there's anyone who wouldn't rather have even a Curtis Granderson, all things being equal. But Pagan had the best production last year among available FA corner outfielders (at least according to Fangraphs) and while his defense isn't stellar, it's a pretty sizable upgrade from what we saw most of last year. He has decent on base abilities, walks quite a bit and doesn't strike out much. And he can still steal you some bases.

I personally don't view power as a big issue. Even without Trumbo, the Orioles still have plenty of power. Enough, I believe, to finish at or close to the top of the league in home runs. But they need to improve their on-base abilities, especially at the top of the lineup, and corner outfield defense. Pagan isn't a great choice, but if he can be had on a reasonable one-year deal he would be a better option than most.

I will cheer for him if the Orioles sign him. I don't want him. 

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1 hour ago, InsideCoroner said:

I would prefer to have Alvarez back at DH and would be fine if they got Pagan or Rajai Davis on a 1-year deal. Although that means next year at this time we'll have no corner OF's and a CF heading into his final year.

 

If they do trade away Zach or Manny, I hope they get a few outfield prospects among the haul. They're going to need them very soon.

I would much prefer Rajai to Angel. 

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1 hour ago, weams said:

I would much prefer Rajai to Angel. 

I'd take either one, but Pagan is probably going to give you an extra 30 points or so in OBP over Davis' Trumbo-like numbers. It just depends on whether you value the steals or the OBP. Too bad the O's can't sign both of them and combine them into one player.

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