Dwight Smith Jr worth a look?

[sportsfan8703]

At this point I don’t have more allegiance to Stewart just because we drafted him. I think Smith made more of his opportunities up here. He was crashing back to earth but at least he didn’t crash into earth. Like it or not, he was on his way to 20 homers. 

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

At this point I don’t have more allegiance to Stewart just because we drafted him. I think Smith made more of his opportunities up here. He was crashing back to earth but at least he didn’t crash into earth. Like it or not, he was on his way to 20 homers. 

That doesn't really count as an achievement in 2019.  Mike Yastrzemski hit 20 homeruns at age 28 after failing to do it during his six prior years in the minors.

[Enjoy Terror]

I mean, I like DSJ and hope he does well. I don’t think he’s a long term piece here.

I don’t think he’s a starter and he’s not good enough in the field to really be a backup. 

[MurphDogg]

1 hour ago, sportsfan8703 said:

At this point I don’t have more allegiance to Stewart just because we drafted him. I think Smith made more of his opportunities up here. He was crashing back to earth but at least he didn’t crash into earth. Like it or not, he was on his way to 20 homers. 

Stewart struggled in his first 10 games, but over his last 31 games, he batted .280/.370/.473. 

Smith's OPS was decent in mid-May, but it was driven by power that he had never shown at any level of professional baseball.

From May 15th onward, Smith hit .210/.272/.343 in 233 plate appearances (44 more plate appearances than Stewart has had in his career).

Smith had a stretch worse than Stewart's first 34 plate appearances of .121/.147/.121, it just didn't stand out as much because it was in the middle of the season instead of his first 10 games. From July 1 to July 20, Smith batted .031/.113/.063 over 35 plate appearances. That is crashing through the earth's core.

Their wOBA was identical (.299) Smith's wRC+ and OPS+ were both a single point better. Hardly fair to say Smith made more of his opportunities when he had nearly 3 times as many plate appearances and they batted basically the same. Stewart hasn't gotten the same opportunities that Smith got this year.

[DrungoHazewood]

13 hours ago, sportsfan8703 said:

At this point I don’t have more allegiance to Stewart just because we drafted him. I think Smith made more of his opportunities up here. He was crashing back to earth but at least he didn’t crash into earth. Like it or not, he was on his way to 20 homers. 

If he had gotten 600 PAs and continued to hit homers at the same rate he would have ended up with 20 homers.  In a year where an average MLB player hit 22 homers per 600 PAs.  Being slightly below average in HR rate is Smith's most positive attribute. Zack Greinke had a higher homer rate than Smith.  He hit homers less frequently than Keon Broxton, or Chance Sisco, or Austin Hayes, or Chris Davis, or Pedro Severino.  He was about on par with Stevie Wilkerson and Rio Ruiz.

 

 

[esmd]

14 hours ago, Enjoy Terror said:

I mean, I like DSJ and hope he does well. I don’t think he’s a long term piece here.

I don’t think he’s a starter and he’s not good enough in the field to really be a backup. 

This.

[DrungoHazewood]

15 hours ago, Enjoy Terror said:

I mean, I like DSJ and hope he does well. I don’t think he’s a long term piece here.

I don’t think he’s a starter and he’s not good enough in the field to really be a backup. 

I call this Earl's Rule For Constructing a Roster:  What do you do better than the others? If you can't answer that, if you can't define your role outside of "we needed a guy to sit on the bench" you shouldn't be here.  Benny Ayala could hit lefties.  Jim Dwyer could pinch hit and hit righties.  John Shelby had a plus glove and arm.  Todd Cruz was seen as a plus third baseman, even if he couldn't hit.  Kiko Garcia could play three positions reasonably well.

What does Dwight Smith Jr do?  He's below average in everything.  I don't see a way to leverage his abilities and get a plus.

[HowAboutThat]

On 9/30/2019 at 9:24 PM, OFFNY said:

o

 

(FINAL NUMBERS, 2019 SEASON)

 

13 lll HR

 

53 lll RBI

 

16 lll 2B

 

13 lll 3B

 

15 lll SB / 1 lCS l(83%)

 

.241 lll BA

 

.297 lll OBP 

 

.412 lll SLG

 

.708 lll OPS 

 

o

How about his defense? That’s important too, and his was lousy.

Having said that, it is an open question whether Smith or Stewart offers the better overall package, but neither of them offers watchable defense.

[HowAboutThat]

1 hour ago, DrungoHazewood said:

I call this Earl's Rule For Constructing a Roster:  What do you do better than the others? If you can't answer that, if you can't define your role outside of "we needed a guy to sit on the bench" you shouldn't be here.  Benny Ayala could hit lefties.  Jim Dwyer could pinch hit and hit righties.  John Shelby had a plus glove and arm.  Todd Cruz was seen as a plus third baseman, even if he couldn't hit.  Kiko Garcia could play three positions reasonably well.

What does Dwight Smith Jr do?  He's below average in everything.  I don't see a way to leverage his abilities and get a plus.

This is a very good comment, but omits the important question of whether we have anybody who is better. We certainly will eventually, but we don’t necessarily at this time.

[Moose Milligan]

10 minutes ago, Philip said:

This is a very good comment, but omits the important question of whether we have anybody who is better. We certainly will eventually, but we don’t necessarily at this time.

Ok.  Who isn't better than DSJR right now?

[HowAboutThat]

7 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Ok.  Who isn't better than DSJR right now?

No clue. Among potential left fielders, Who isn’t worse?

In another comment, Tony said( if I recall correctly)that Stewart and Smith were about the same, and because Stewart is the main contender for LF, seems that’s the best comparison.

Dentist just called so more anon.

[foxfield]

2 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

I call this Earl's Rule For Constructing a Roster:  What do you do better than the others? If you can't answer that, if you can't define your role outside of "we needed a guy to sit on the bench" you shouldn't be here.  Benny Ayala could hit lefties.  Jim Dwyer could pinch hit and hit righties.  John Shelby had a plus glove and arm.  Todd Cruz was seen as a plus third baseman, even if he couldn't hit.  Kiko Garcia could play three positions reasonably well.

What does Dwight Smith Jr do?  He's below average in everything.  I don't see a way to leverage his abilities and get a plus.

 

43 minutes ago, Philip said:

This is a very good comment, but omits the important question of whether we have anybody who is better. We certainly will eventually, but we don’t necessarily at this time.

THIS.

I still see an awful lot of these guys as filler while we go through a process of doing the above.  I don't think Dwight Smith Jr is an answer and I don't think say, Stewart is either.  But I think the process may dictate keeping one or even both until such time as there is a better answer.  I'm ok with having the patience of going through that, but I think we should expect to be able to see this through a different filter in another 12 months.  That's where I am.

[DrungoHazewood]

59 minutes ago, Philip said:

This is a very good comment, but omits the important question of whether we have anybody who is better. We certainly will eventually, but we don’t necessarily at this time.

They got him for free.  He was worth a win less than replacement.  If you have to go with someone of Smith's caliber and you find yourself without one you just look at the waiver wire a week before spring training is over.  This is like fretting over whether Aaron Brooks will pass through waivers.  If he doesn't just go find another guy with a 6.00 ERA.  Every org has 17 of them.

[HowAboutThat]

19 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

They got him for free.  He was worth a win less than replacement.  If you have to go with someone of Smith's caliber and you find yourself without one you just look at the waiver wire a week before spring training is over.  This is like fretting over whether Aaron Brooks will pass through waivers.  If he doesn't just go find another guy with a 6.00 ERA.  Every org has 17 of them.

That is exactly right, and I don’t disagree with any of it, and I won’t lose any sleep if they get rid of Smith, I’m just saying that we’ve got him, he’s in the system, and there’s no need to get rid of him unless we have somebody better. If Stewart is better, fine.

Stewart’s defense certainly doesn’t seem better than Smith’s at the moment, but we shall see.

[Frobby]

I think Smith and Stewart were pretty equivalent this year.    Smith had a .708 OPS to Stewart’s .698.   Smith was at -0.9 rWAR, Stewart -0.4 rWAR in about 35% of the playing time.   I think Stewart has more potential, but that may just be my bias towards the home grown guy.    In any event I think both will stay on the 40 man roster and compete for a job next spring.