I'm Ready for Mountcastle and Diaz: Mountcastle Up, Diaz Still Waiting

[DrungoHazewood]

15 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

Yea, that's not me.

I'd just look at what he did in the surrounding years and figure it would be more of the same.

From 1909-1914 Baker had a 153 OPS+, and led the league in homers from '11-14 (with totals ranging from nine to 12).  Got MVP votes in the primordial awards of the era for four straight years.  Possibly the best five-year run of any pre-WWII third baseman.

He took off 1915, possibly related to Connie Mack's firesale with the A's.

From '16-19 he had a 118 OPS+.  No black ink besides leading in games played in '19.

Took off '20 for some kind of personal situation.

From '21-22 he had a 98 OPS+.

Was that just age, or would his decline been more graceful without the break?  I want to know!

[MurphDogg]

Slightly more heralded prospect than Mountcastle (takes more walks). Phils have recognized that Rhys Hoskins is not the answer.

Will O's do the same and cut Davis and Smith's playing time?

[interloper]

Just now, MurphDogg said:

Slightly more heralded prospect than Mountcastle (takes more walks). Phil's have recognized that Rhys Hoskins is not the answer.

Will O's do the same and cut Davis and Smith's playing time?

I've been more hopeful for a Davis resurgence (of any degree at all) than others, but the guy looks fully done. It reminds of the year we cut Jay Gibbons. Like Gibbons at the end, he's bringing nothing to the table: he can't hit or run, and his fielding is now below average. At some point he will run into a home run, but he's not barrelling anything. 

It will be interesting to see what they do because in a short year with expanded rosters, it's pretty easy to carry him. I suspect that they will through this season. I wonder if Davis will blame the short season and interrupted ST and want another go at it next year. If so, it's time for Mike to cut him. If not, hopefully he retires. 

[Can_of_corn]

What I don't understand is why Hyde runs him out there in the starting lineup.  Is he under orders to do so?  Does he think it gives the team the best chance to win?  What's his thought process?

 

BTW, 40 AB and he's at -.7rWAR.

[wildcard]

4 minutes ago, interloper said:

I've been more hopeful for a Davis resurgence (of any degree at all) than others, but the guy looks fully done. It reminds of the year we cut Jay Gibbons. Like Gibbons at the end, he's bringing nothing to the table: he can't hit or run, and his fielding is now below average. At some point he will run into a home run, but he's not barrelling anything. 

It will be interesting to see what they do because in a short year with expanded rosters, it's pretty easy to carry him. I suspect that they will through this season. I wonder if Davis will blame the short season and interrupted ST and want another go at it next year. If so, it's time for Mike to cut him. If not, hopefully he retires. 

Smith has a 900 OPS right now.  Though his defense is poor, his bat is loud.   As long as he hits  I think he plays.

[DrungoHazewood]

7 minutes ago, interloper said:

I've been more hopeful for a Davis resurgence (of any degree at all) than others, but the guy looks fully done. It reminds of the year we cut Jay Gibbons. Like Gibbons at the end, he's bringing nothing to the table: he can't hit or run, and his fielding is now below average. At some point he will run into a home run, but he's not barrelling anything. 

It will be interesting to see what they do because in a short year with expanded rosters, it's pretty easy to carry him. I suspect that they will through this season. I wonder if Davis will blame the short season and interrupted ST and want another go at it next year. If so, it's time for Mike to cut him. If not, hopefully he retires. 

In 2007 Jay Gibbons had a .621 OPS over 290 PAs. 

In his last 917 PAs Davis has a .558.

I guess rope used to be priced at $17k a plate appearance, now it's more than $75k.

[Aristotelian]

4 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

What I don't understand is why Hyde runs him out there in the starting lineup.  Is he under orders to do so?  Does he think it gives the team the best chance to win?  What's his thought process?

 

BTW, 40 AB and he's at -.7rWAR.

Must be a "can't make an omelette without breaking eggs" thing. Let ownership see how bad Davis is until there can be no plausible argument for keeping him. If Hyde can force Elias/ownership to release him, that may be better than keeping a disgruntled Davis around in a part time capacity. 

[DrungoHazewood]

22 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Smith has a 900 OPS right now.  Though his defense is poor, his bat is loud.   As long as he hits  I think he plays.

No, he has a .747 OPS and -19 defense. 

I have absolute faith and trust that Elias is able to appropriately weight Smith's 10-for-36 start as a part of his 500+ PA MLB career and 3154 PA pro career.  His 2020 performance is 1% of our body of knowledge about Smith.

[Can_of_corn]

5 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

Must be a "can't make an omelette without breaking eggs" thing. Let ownership see how bad Davis is until there can be no plausible argument for keeping him. If Hyde can force Elias/ownership to release him, that may be better than keeping a disgruntled Davis around in a part time capacity. 

How could anyone capable of rational thought need more evidence?

The only reason to keep him on the roster is because we have an active pandemic going on and the season (or next) could be canceled at any time.

[MurphDogg]

24 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Smith has a 900 OPS right now.  Though his defense is poor, his bat is loud.   As long as he hits  I think he plays.

His OPS was .726 3 days ago. And his career minor league OPS is .750. I don't think he has any value with his terrible defense.

[interloper]

23 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

In 2007 Jay Gibbons had a .621 OPS over 290 PAs. 

In his last 917 PAs Davis has a .558.

I guess rope used to be priced at $17k a plate appearance, now it's more than $75k.

Yeah fair haha. I just meant the lack of any baseball skills is what reminded me of Gibbons, but even that doesn't really compare. 

[Aristotelian]

11 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

How could anyone capable of rational thought need more evidence?

The only reason to keep him on the roster is because we have an active pandemic going on and the season (or next) could be canceled at any time.

Lol, I am not defending it, but we know ownership can be very stubborn and I could see them keeping Davis around hoping for a rebound until the end of his contract. Playing him may be the only way to force their hand. 

[interloper]

40 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

What I don't understand is why Hyde runs him out there in the starting lineup.  Is he under orders to do so?  Does he think it gives the team the best chance to win?  What's his thought process?

 

BTW, 40 AB and he's at -.7rWAR.

I think it's a few things, none of which will be great arguments for putting him in the lineup, but mostly I just think it's early and Hyde wants to give Davis his run after the work he put in and the strong spring training. I fully expect his AB to dwindle the longer we go and the closer we get to perhaps having a run at the postseason. 

I think it would be unwise of Hyde to simply have him ride the bench from the jump without at least seeing if any of his work paid off. That would look bad to the players. But like I said, I think we'll see him quickly ride the pine here pretty soon. 

[SteveA]

4 minutes ago, interloper said:

I think it's a few things, none of which will be great arguments for putting him in the lineup, but mostly I just think it's early and Hyde wants to give Davis his run after the work he put in and the strong spring training. I fully expect his AB to dwindle the longer we go and the closer we get to perhaps having a run at the postseason. 

I think it would be unwise of Hyde to simply have him ride the bench from the jump without at least seeing if any of his work paid off. That would look bad to the players. But like I said, I think we'll see him quickly ride the pine here pretty soon. 

He's not in the lineup today.   Iggy at DH, Nunez at 1B.  And it's vs a RHP (Arrieta).

[Can_of_corn]

7 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

Lol, I am not defending it, but we know ownership can be very stubborn and I could see them keeping Davis around hoping for a rebound until the end of his contract. Playing him may be the only way to force their hand. 

As I stated earlier we effectively have new ownership.