I’m about ready to give up on DJ Stewart

[Chuck A]

I'm sorry but the memory of the ball bouncing off a sliding for the catch Stewart is stuck in my head as first impression of him.  Same as the memory of Jim Traber sliding headfirst into second but instead of sliding he bounced on his belly and stopped 6 feet short of the bag.  Some things just stick in my mind.

[Pickles]

40 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

It's hard to say, since they have the resources to watch that for three weeks, then go trade a bag of balls for an average outfielder with 5/105 left on his deal to fill the hole because the offering team just wants to be out from under the contract. Of course the team with $650M in average revenues and a $200M payroll has a long list of options the Orioles or the Pirates or the Marlins don't.

He is what he is: A very, very fringy MLer.

Those kind of guys are rarely on good teams.

And yet, there are usually bad/rebuilding/cheap teams where they can see some playing time.  Until they get too old to suggest that improvement is possible.

Stewart was in the right place and time to maximize his ML time.

[Pickles]

28 minutes ago, interloper said:

This made me chuckle. 

I guess I'm being harsh on the guy.  Let me state unequivocally: My great dream was to play ML baseball, and DJ did that, and achieved a hell of a lot more than I ever did.  Congrats to him.  He should be proud of himself.

That said, I'm middle-aged now but if you give me a couple weeks I could play a better outfield than him.

[Pickles]

14 minutes ago, Chuck A said:

I'm sorry but the memory of the ball bouncing off a sliding for the catch Stewart is stuck in my head as first impression of him.  Same as the memory of Jim Traber sliding headfirst into second but instead of sliding he bounced on his belly and stopped 6 feet short of the bag.  Some things just stick in my mind.

Can you  or someone jog my memory.  

Because the craziest/funniest thing about it was that was his ML debut, right?  And he had to leave early with a concussion.

He returned a couple days later, and in his first game back, he took another ball off the head, or face-planted into the wall.  I can't remember exactly- does anybody?- but I remember shaking my head in disbelief.

[DrungoHazewood]

26 minutes ago, Pickles said:

He is what he is: A very, very fringy MLer.

Those kind of guys are rarely on good teams.

I think you'd be hard pressed to find any MLB team that didn't give 50 or 100 PAs to several players who'd be comfortable OPSing .700 in AAA.

The 2001 Mariners won 116 games.  They gave Charles Gipson (.638 career OPS) 100 PAs.  They let Jose Paniagua give up 35 runs in 66 innings.   Their LFer was Al Martin, who had 7 WAR in 11 MLB seasons.

Luis Sojo had 153 PAs for the 114-win 1998 Yankees. OPS'd .515.  They also let Mike Buddie give up 29 runs in 41 innings.

Every team has fringy MLB players.

[Pickles]

Just now, DrungoHazewood said:

I think you'd be hard pressed to find any MLB team that didn't give 50 or 100 PAs to several players who'd be comfortable OPSing .700 in AAA.

The 2001 Mariners won 116 games.  They gave Charles Gipson (.638 career OPS) 100 PAs.  They let Jose Paniagua give up 35 runs in 66 innings.   Their LFer was Al Martin, who had 7 WAR in 11 MLB seasons.

Luis Sojo had 153 PAs for the 114-win 1998 Yankees. OPS'd .515.  They also let Mike Buddie give up 29 runs in 41 innings.

Every team has fringy MLB players.

Of course.  Don't forget: Stewart isn't just a bad hitter; he's deeply negative in the field and on the bases.  So you can find good teams with 550 OPS utility infielders.  Or .625 OPS backup catchers.

But those guys are still better than Stewart.

My point remains: In a healthier organization, Stewart doesn't see as much ML time as he has in this one.

[glenn__davis]

41 minutes ago, Pickles said:

Can you  or someone jog my memory.  

Because the craziest/funniest thing about it was that was his ML debut, right?  And he had to leave early with a concussion.

He returned a couple days later, and in his first game back, he took another ball off the head, or face-planted into the wall.  I can't remember exactly- does anybody?- but I remember shaking my head in disbelief.

No, wasn't anywhere near his MLB debut, which was nearly a full year earlier. 

[Pickles]

2 minutes ago, glenn__davis said:

No, wasn't anywhere near his MLB debut, which was nearly a full year earlier. 

Was that his first game up that year then?  Remember, the explanation that he wasn't used to playing in double-tiered stadiums?

[Mr. Chewbacca Jr.]

24 minutes ago, Pickles said:

Of course.  Don't forget: Stewart isn't just a bad hitter; he's deeply negative in the field and on the bases.  So you can find good teams with 550 OPS utility infielders.  Or .625 OPS backup catchers.

But those guys are still better than Stewart.

My point remains: In a healthier organization, Stewart doesn't see as much ML time as he has in this one.

He's been consistent enough in his poor play since 2018 that it's pretty clear what he is. He's only getting playtime because he's on a terrible team.

[glenn__davis]

31 minutes ago, Pickles said:

Was that his first game up that year then?  Remember, the explanation that he wasn't used to playing in double-tiered stadiums?

No - the infamous ball doink was 8/6, looks like he was called up on 5/28. 

HOWEVA, looking at his game logs, it looks like that may have been his 1st game back after getting hurt after his callup and then working his way back up.  So you were still a bit off the mark, but perhaps closer than it seemed at first

[Pickles]

24 minutes ago, glenn__davis said:

No - the infamous ball doink was 8/6, looks like he was called up on 5/28. 

HOWEVA, looking at his game logs, it looks like that may have been his 1st game back after getting hurt after his callup and then working his way back up.  So you were still a bit off the mark, but perhaps closer than it seemed at first

Memory is a faulty thing.  I remember watching that game live, specifically to get a look at Stewart, who I had defended a bit as he worked his way through the system.  I remember it being a "debut" for Stewart.  Looks like he had just returned from an extended absence, and it was his eighth appearance on the year.  As you pointed out he had been a September call-up the year before.

I think looking at the game logs has jogged my memory.  So he took the beaner, and was out for ten days, and returned Aug 16, which was in Boston.  Which jogs the memory.  I believe he almost killed himself chasing a foulball over near Pesky's pole his first game back.

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, Pickles said:

He is what he is: A very, very fringy MLer.

Those kind of guys are rarely on good teams.

And yet, there are usually bad/rebuilding/cheap teams where they can see some playing time.  Until they get too old to suggest that improvement is possible.

Stewart was in the right place and time to maximize his ML time.

He played OK in 2018 and 2020, enough to deserve further looks.   He’d been worth a total of 0.8 rWAR in 92 games prior to this year.    That’s not horrible.   But -0.6 rWAR in 75 games this year is pretty horrible.   

[Pickles]

1 minute ago, Frobby said:

He played OK in 2018 and 2020, enough to deserve further looks.   He’d been worth a total of 0.8 rWAR in 92 games prior to this year.    That’s not horrible.   But -0.6 rWAR in 75 games this year is pretty horrible.   

I definitely think he's deserved looks.  And again there are always teams in a rebuild situation who would give a guy like him some.  Rightfully so.

And I don't think he needs to be cut tomorrow or anything either.

But he's not a winning player.  And I feel pretty confident in that judgement, though I'm hardly infallible.

[Frobby]

7 minutes ago, Pickles said:

I definitely think he's deserved looks.  And again there are always teams in a rebuild situation who would give a guy like him some.  Rightfully so.

And I don't think he needs to be cut tomorrow or anything either.

But he's not a winning player.  And I feel pretty confident in that judgement, though I'm hardly infallible.

He’d have to hit much better to justify himself.   And I’m not saying that’s impossible, because he’s hit better at other times.   But I’m not at all confident he’ll do so.

[Pickles]

2 minutes ago, Frobby said:

He’d have to hit much better to justify himself.   And I’m not saying that’s impossible, because he’s hit better at other times.   But I’m not at all confident he’ll do so.

Somebody mentioned Jack Cust.  Like yeah, that could happen.  That's in the realm of possibility.  We cut Stewart, and he catches on somewhere and has 3-4 year run as a valuable DH.  I'm pretty sure that isn't happening, but it might.

The thing is, he may field like Cust but he doesn't hit like him.  Cust was just a better hitter.  Even in the minors, DJ only really ever hit enough to  make you think you could carry the rest of him in half a season at 25 in AAA and a season at 23 at AA.

This is what a rebuild is though.  We're learning things.  Some of it is good.  I'm really happy in what I've learned about Mullins this year for instance.

Some of it not so good.  And as the OP states, from what I've learned about Stewart, I'm pretty much done with him.