I will absolutely take Santander's production in RF right now

[TINSTAAPP]

28 minutes ago, ShoelesJoe said:

If Nunez offers almost zero value at DH then he’s offering even less as a poor fielding third baseman. At least Ruiz provides very good defense at third. How about DFAing Nunez and then put Hanser Alberto at DH? I know HA is mashing lefties at the plate, but in the field he’s a bull in a china shop. 

Considering the fact that Nunez put up a 1.2 rWAR in 60 games playing 3B last year while he has put up 0.4 rWAR in 75 games primarily at DH this year, I would say that he offers a good bit more value as a poor fielding 3B than as a DH.

[Aristotelian]

Agreed, he is establishing himself as a MLB player. Problem is, the only need he fills is one we already have. Similar skill set to Smith, DJ, and Mancini. You can only carry so many of these guys and playing one takes AB's from the other. I do like his defense, which you cannot say about any of our post-Markakis RF's. Finally a guy with an arm who can catch the ball, it's refreshing to see!

I wonder if he is the guy that could finally push Davis to be released.

[Frobby]

14 minutes ago, Aglets said:

Cedric Mullins has a .631 OPS in Norfolk right now btw...........sigh.

Mullins’ fall from grace this year has been a hugely negative development.  Last year he managed .875 OPS at Bowie, .771 at Norfolk, .671 in Baltimore.    It seemed pretty reasonable to think he’d be adequate this year.   Instead, we’ve been treated to .337(!) in Baltimore and .631 at Norfolk.    I have no idea what’s happened to the guy.  

[TINSTAAPP]

4 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Mullins’ fall from grace this year has been a hugely negative development.  Last year he managed .875 OPS at Bowie, .771 at Norfolk, .671 in Baltimore.    It seemed pretty reasonable to think he’d be adequate this year.   Instead, we’ve been treated to .337(!) in Baltimore and .631 at Norfolk.    I have no idea what’s happened to the guy.  

Mullins 49 games at Bowie was the only time he hit higher than .280 or put up an OPS above .800 at any minor league level. The guy was never that good of a hitter. 

[Il BuonO]

20 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

Agreed, he is establishing himself as a MLB player. Problem is, the only need he fills is one we already have. Similar skill set to Smith, DJ, and Mancini. You can only carry so many of these guys and playing one takes AB's from the other. I do like his defense, which you cannot say about any of our post-Markakis RF's. Finally a guy with an arm who can catch the ball, it's refreshing to see!

I wonder if he is the guy that could finally push Davis to be released.

Pretty hard to now find the people who were saying he was awful in the OF. 

[DrungoHazewood]

14 minutes ago, TINSTAAPP said:

Mullins 49 games at Bowie was the only time he hit higher than .280 or put up an OPS above .800 at any minor league level. The guy was never that good of a hitter. 

He had a .785 at Delmarva at the age of 21.  Jumped to AA where he was younger than an average AA player and had a .778.  Between AA and AAA (including Norfolk with the old minor league balls) at the age of 23 he had a combined .818.  With his first trial with the O's at 23 he had a .671.

You add all that up and reasonable expectations were he could play a good CF and OPS in the low .700s.  That's a decent player.

Then you consider that he has a massive platoon split because he apparently can't hit right-handed at all... then you get a guy who you could expect to clear an .800 OPS against righties, and play center.  That's a player you can really use.

Why that hasn't happened?  I don't know.

[Yardball85]

1 hour ago, interloper said:

I just felt like I needed to get this out there. Santander is doing pretty well! He's not lighting it up, but after guys like Gentry, Rickard, Trumbo, whoever else we've played in RF lately, I'm finding Santander to be a breath of fresh air.

As of last night's game (6/25), he's batting .275/.338/.420/.758 with 2 homers, 4 doubles, 6 walks to 12 Ks in 69 (nice) AB. He's also robbed two home runs and hasn't made a fool of himself out there. 

Guys - that's pretty serviceable! It's a small sample, but it's basically the kind of thing he was doing in AAA, so that's encouraging to see him continue that up here and even go a tick beyond. We'll see if it continues, but so far he's made me sort of forget about Stewart's injury for the time being. Couple that with Davis riding the bench, Mancini playing more 1B, and Smith coming back and it's resembling a ML outfield out there. 

I would describe Santander's play of late as "pleasantly average" and I will 100% take that in RF after having to experience the other options over the years. 

Great post, 100% agree. Santander is a breath of fresh air.  Cheap and controllable.   Let him play and see what we've got.

[MDtransplant757]

On 6/26/2019 at 9:52 AM, Frobby said:

Mullins’ fall from grace this year has been a hugely negative development.  Last year he managed .875 OPS at Bowie, .771 at Norfolk, .671 in Baltimore.    It seemed pretty reasonable to think he’d be adequate this year.   Instead, we’ve been treated to .337(!) in Baltimore and .631 at Norfolk.    I have no idea what’s happened to the guy.  

Watched him last night in Norfolk. Was trying to pull the ball to much and going for power moreso than he did when I first saw him last year. Also saw Mountcastle sneak a HR out in Harbor Park last night. Sweet swing with amazing follow through. Back on topic, love what Santander has been doing so far. Turns out keeping him was a good idea and he just needed some MiLB seasoning. Bet the Indians wish they had kept him. 

[HowAboutThat]

On 6/26/2019 at 8:42 AM, TINSTAAPP said:

Considering the fact that Nunez put up a 1.2 rWAR in 60 games playing 3B last year while he has put up 0.4 rWAR in 75 games primarily at DH this year, I would say that he offers a good bit more value as a poor fielding 3B than as a DH.

Wouldn’t that be because of he positional adjustment?

[HowAboutThat]

Meanwhile, I agree totally with the original post. No reason to anoint Stewart or Hays our future RF. If Santan-DARE is claiming the spot, let him. Maybe we can trade Smith when Hays or Stewart are ready for a permanent spot. If not, eh, leave well enough alone.

[AceKing]

Santander keeps having good at bats.  He seems to be hitting some good pitches very hard right now.

 

Me Likey.

[ReclaimTheCrown]

To the OP....how about center field? Lol, but in seriousness, to anyone who caught the game last night, how did he look out there? I imagine it was somewhat non-descript given the lack of chatter, but figured I’d ask for first impressions.

Can’t imagine Santander as a CF will actually be a thing, but interesting experiment...

[AceKing]

1 hour ago, ReclaimTheCrown said:

To the OP....how about center field? Lol, but in seriousness, to anyone who caught the game last night, how did he look out there? I imagine it was somewhat non-descript given the lack of chatter, but figured I’d ask for first impressions.

Can’t imagine Santander as a CF will actually be a thing, but interesting experiment...

I didn’t watch the game, but I asked my parents and they both enthusiastically said “good” at the same time, so I thought that was funny.

 

They both watch every game, beginning to end.

[Aristotelian]

1 hour ago, ReclaimTheCrown said:

To the OP....how about center field? Lol, but in seriousness, to anyone who caught the game last night, how did he look out there? I imagine it was somewhat non-descript given the lack of chatter, but figured I’d ask for first impressions.

Can’t imagine Santander as a CF will actually be a thing, but interesting experiment...

I watched a bit. Unfortunately they didn't hit any balls his way until he had been shifted over to LF.

[HowAboutThat]

How about now?

still take it?