Franco can pick it

[Moose Milligan]

I know Franco isn't the best defender in the world, but he's shown some quickness around the bag and made some great plays.  He's not going to get to them all and he's not a GG caliber guy but I've been surprised with some of the smashes he's been able to come up with.  The stop tonight to start the double play off Stanton's rocket was nice.  IIRC, Palmer said it was 113 mph off the bat.  Last night he robbed Odor on a wicked one hopper.  Sunday against the Athletics he robbed Garcia on a sliding play towards the line.

While he's still made some errors, it hasn't all been bad.  He's made quite a few great plays at 3rd so far this season.  

[Frobby]

I’m old enough to have seen Brooks Robinson in his prime.   After his retirement, any time an Orioles 3B failed to make a tough but makeable play, those who’d seen him would either think or say out loud, “Brooks would’ve had it.”   I can’t tell you how often I said or thought that   

And now I’m doing it again, only it’s “Manny would’ve had it.”    Manny’s three years gone, but once you’ve seen a guy like that, you can never forget it.

I raise this only to say that I’m extremely spoiled and I consider the ability of a 3B to knock down a line smash one-hopper within a step or two to either side to be table stakes.   Yeah I’ve seen Franco make a few really good plays, but I’ve seen him miss some easy ones, and also some difficult but “Manny would have had it” plays.   His career stats say he’s below average, and that’s what my eyes tell me, despite a few nice plays.  

[wildcard]

How many Brooks and Mannys are there.  I think its an unfair comparison.   Franco is someone the O's pick up for a song.  A retread.   And he is surprisingly performing like an asset to the team.  Well above expectations.   He and Galvis are both assets to the team.........until they are traded or the O's find someone better.

[Frobby]

3 hours ago, wildcard said:

How many Brooks and Mannys are there.  I think its an unfair comparison.   Franco is someone the O's pick up for a song.  A retread.   And he is surprisingly performing like an asset to the team.  Well above expectations.   He and Galvis are both assets to the team.........until they are traded or the O's find someone better.

Overall I am not complaining about Franco.   He’s been a solid pickup so far, especially at the price we paid.    I’m just saying that, despite a few nice plays in the field, he’s been below average defensively overall and I expect him to continue to be that.   

[Moose Milligan]

32 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Overall I am not complaining about Franco.   He’s been a solid pickup so far, especially at the price we paid.    I’m just saying that, despite a few nice plays in the field, he’s been below average defensively overall and I expect him to continue to be that.   

He's not Mark Reynolds though.   I'll wait while you look up the fancy fielding stats.   

[Frobby]

21 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

He's not Mark Reynolds though.   I'll wait while you look up the fancy fielding stats.   

I don’t need to look that up.   He’s better than Reynolds, or Betemit, or Nunez and probably some others I could name if I thought about it.    We had a lot of 3B between Doug DeCinces (who was well above average defensively but had the misfortune of following Brooks) and Manny.   

[bobmc]

6 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I don’t need to look that up.   He’s better than Reynolds, or Betemit, or Nunez and probably some others I could name if I thought about it.    We had a lot of 3B between Doug DeCinces (who was well above average defensively but had the misfortune of following Brooks) and Manny.   

Was Cal any good at third - stats wise?  His back hurt and he was probably range-impaired but I always thought adequate.

[Redskins Rick]

9 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

I know Franco isn't the best defender in the world, but he's shown some quickness around the bag and made some great plays.  He's not going to get to them all and he's not a GG caliber guy but I've been surprised with some of the smashes he's been able to come up with.  The stop tonight to start the double play off Stanton's rocket was nice.  IIRC, Palmer said it was 113 mph off the bat.  Last night he robbed Odor on a wicked one hopper.  Sunday against the Athletics he robbed Garcia on a sliding play towards the line.

While he's still made some errors, it hasn't all been bad.  He's made quite a few great plays at 3rd so far this season.  

At least he has a glove on his hand, and not a brick.

[Redskins Rick]

23 minutes ago, bobmc said:

Was Cal any good at third - stats wise?  His back hurt and he was probably range-impaired but I always thought adequate.

Not according to his dWAR.

My memory, was, he was adequate, like you mentioned. He was never fast footed, or able to fly sideways like Manny or Brock. He still had a cannon for an arm and if he put his glove to it, it was a sure thing.

[Frobby]

20 minutes ago, bobmc said:

Was Cal any good at third - stats wise?  His back hurt and he was probably range-impaired but I always thought adequate.

Until you asked, I’d almost forgotten Cal’s years at 3B, even though he played 675 games there, which is probably well up the list of Orioles 3B.   The only advanced metric that goes back to Cal’s era is Rtot, which has him at +5, just a smidge better than average over that number of games.   Not bad for a guy 35-40 years old with a balky back.   

[Tony-OH]

3 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

He's not Mark Reynolds though.   I'll wait while you look up the fancy fielding stats.   

Well, let's look at those "fancy" stats.

OAA : -4
OAA towards 3B: -3
OAA to 1B: -1
Back: 0
Success rate: 68%
Estimated success rate: 73%
Success rate added: 68%
Runs Prevented: -0.1
dWAR: -0.1
Rtot/yr: -16
UZR/150: -5.8

His OAA and Runs prevented are tied for worse in MLB with Justin Turner and Cavan Biggio.  His -5 success added is tied for 3rd worse in MLB.

While Franco does make some nice plays here and there, and he certainly has a nice arm, he's been a well below average defender so far overall across all three metrics of Statcast/baseball reference/Fangraphs.

 

 

[Moose Milligan]

I feel like laying down the old Rick Pitino "Larry Bird is not walking through that door," quote directed at @Frobby, but updated for the current day Orioles.

*ahem*

Brooks Robinson is not walking through that door.  Manny Machado is not walking through that door.

[bobmc]

21 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Until you asked, I’d almost forgotten Cal’s years at 3B, even though he played 675 games there, which is probably well up the list of Orioles 3B.   The only advanced metric that goes back to Cal’s era is Rtot, which has him at +5, just a smidge better than average over that number of games.   Not bad for a guy 35-40 years old with a balky back.   

"He could pick it" (better than Ryan Minor) 

[bobmc]

2 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I feel like laying down the old Rick Pitino "Larry Bird is not walking through that door," quote directed at @Frobby, but updated for the current day Orioles.

*ahem*

Brooks Rob ....inson is not walking through that door.  Manny Machado is not walking through that door.

Unfortunately Toby Welk is. 

[jabba72]

6 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I feel like laying down the old Rick Pitino "Larry Bird is not walking through that door," quote directed at @Frobby, but updated for the current day Orioles.

*ahem*

Brooks Robinson is not walking through that door.  Manny Machado is not walking through that door.

Gunnar Henderson will be walking through that door in a year or two.