Does anyone have a better replacement for Hardy next year than Beckham?

[interloper]

Honest question, considering that some folks aren't thrilled with the acquisition of Tim Beckham. Are there better alternatives? Obviously, one solution is Machado, but I'm not sure who we have that is qualified for 3B in the system other than perhaps Mountcastle, who is probably not ready to step in full-time. 

So.. if no Beckham trade, and if we decline Hardy's option, who would be a better replacement? 

[interloper]

He's got a nice bat flip on home runs, sort of Korean-style. So there's that.

[Can_of_corn]

4 minutes ago, interloper said:

He's got a nice bat flip on home runs, sort of Korean-style. So there's that.

I'm sure Buck will like that.

[backwardsk]

Fahey, Bynum?

[interloper]

1 minute ago, Can_of_corn said:

I'm sure Buck will like that.

It's subtle. He's not standing there and watching it. 

[interloper]

Here are the free agent SS and 3B after the season:

 

Shortstops

Alexi Amarista (29) — $2.5MM club option with a $150K buyout
Erick Aybar (34)
Darwin Barney (32)
Asdrubal Cabrera (32) — $8.5MM club option with a $2MM buyout
Zack Cozart (32)
Stephen Drew (35)
Alcides Escobar (31)
Danny Espinosa (31)
J.J. Hardy (35) — $14MM club option with a $2MM buyout
Jed Lowrie (34) — $6MM club option with a $1MM buyout
Eduardo Nunez (31)
Cliff Pennington (34)
Jhonny Peralta (36)
Adam Rosales (35)
Eric Sogard (32)

Third Basemen

Andres Blanco (34)
Yunel Escobar (35)
Ryan Flaherty (31)
Todd Frazier (32)
Jed Lowrie (34) — $6MM club option with a $1MM buyout
Mike Moustakas (29)
Eduardo Nunez (31)
Jhonny Peralta (36)
Trevor Plouffe (32)
Jose Reyes (35)
Danny Valencia (33)

[webbrick2010]

19 minutes ago, interloper said:

Honest question, considering that some folks aren't thrilled with the acquisition of Tim Beckham. Are there better alternatives? Obviously, one solution is Machado, but I'm not sure who we have that is qualified for 3B in the system other than perhaps Mountcastle, who is probably not ready to step in full-time. 

So.. if no Beckham trade, and if we decline Hardy's option, who would be a better replacement? 

Does anyone have a better replacement?

The 29 other MLB teams will have better shortstops than Tim Beckham, but of course the 29 MLB teams had better SS's than JJ Hardy, so I guess we are maintaining our spot in the pecking order.

[interloper]

Just now, webbrick2010 said:

Does anyone have a better replacement?

The 29 other MLB teams will have better shortstops than Tim Beckham, but of course the 29 MLB teams had better SS's than JJ Hardy, so I guess we are maintaining our spot in the pecking order.

I see that you did not come to play fair, as usual.

[DirtyBird]

3 minutes ago, webbrick2010 said:

Does anyone have a better replacement?

The 29 other MLB teams will have better shortstops than Tim Beckham, but of course the 29 MLB teams had better SS's than JJ Hardy, so I guess we are maintaining our spot in the pecking order.

Based on what metric?

[interloper]

I think we can agree, just in terms of WAR, athleticism, power, Beckham is a better overall player than Hardy right now. I'm not saying he's got the awareness and defensive steadiness that Hardy has/had, but the fact is that Hardy's career is effectively over.

A replacement has to be made next year, and whether we were buying or selling is kind of irrelevant. We needed to find a way to pick up a young-ish shortstop before next year. We opted to do that via trade because there's no one in the farm who can step into playing SS at a MLB level. 

Other options include: 1) trading for a different player or 2) signing someone off the list I provided, which is relatively cringe-worthy. 

[Camden_yardbird]

4 minutes ago, webbrick2010 said:

Does anyone have a better replacement?

The 29 other MLB teams will have better shortstops than Tim Beckham, but of course the 29 MLB teams had better SS's than JJ Hardy, so I guess we are maintaining our spot in the pecking order.

You can debate this point but I think generally you are right.  The Orioles have a bottom 5 SS and will have a bottom 5 SS barring position changes for Machado or Schoop.  But they weren't changing that.

Beckham allows them to explore those position changes to a certain extent more than having nothing.  Plus, you could get 75 home runs out of Beckham in the next three years.  I don't know how many current shortstops you could say that about, maybe 5?

[99ct]

The real plot twist would be if Beckham somehow improves ???

[interloper]

Just now, 99ct said:

The real plot twist would be if Beckham somehow improves ???

And I think there's at least some reason to believe he will. He has this year for sure.

So far, I'm not seeing that anyone has a better idea of how to replace Hardy next year. 

[mdbdotcom]

I don't know why you think this question needs to be answered now. If we hadn't traded for Beckham, I'd be pretty confident in our ability to acquire enough infielders to field a team. I am skeptical of the idea that Beckham will even be on the team next year. 

[wildcard]

When Hardy is healthy I expect he will be the starting SS unless Beckham changes his ways quickly.

I can see Hardy coming back next year as a utility infielder and mentor to Beckham at a cheap contract if he wants that job.

Beckham is about to undergo a learning process.    Bobby Dickerson is about to show him how to be a better SS.  Manny, Jonathan and Hardy are all going to tell him to listen to Bobby.     Coolbaugh is going to show him how to shorten his swing and be more selective at the plate.    Jonathan has just taped an interview with Coolbaugh where he gives credit to Cooly for his progress with the bat.    I don't expect these changes will happen overnight but they may be effective with Beckham in the long term.