Ryan McKenna as a 4th Outfielder

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

5 minutes ago, DirtyBird said:

No. I'm going on record that right now McKenna should be getting about 50% more plate appearances than he is currently getting.

 

[BRobinsonfan]

41 minutes ago, DirtyBird said:

Why? Because he contributes with his speed and defense. And you can't expect a guy to contribute at the plate when they rarely get reps.

Yes, I would definitely take some AB's from Santander and even Mancini to get McKenna more AB's and have our best defense on the field.

I hear you, but I'm not quite in the same place as you are.  Even with his speed and defense, I still think we're a better team with our starting outfield getting their regular ABs.  And since Mancini is mostly the DH I don't see why taking ABs from him makes use of McKenna's defense.  I'm glad to see McKenna with some modest production at the plate.  I think it gives Hyde a little more confidence in giving some days off and making defensive substitutions...but that's about it.

[DirtyBird]

4 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Yikes. Ok, that's an opinion I do not share, but who's PAs do you take away from?

I'd say there were at least a dozen available when Hays was playing with a banged up wrist. 

I then throw in another dozen each from one dimensional guys - Mancini and Santander.

OK - maybe 33% more AB's, not 50%

[forphase1]

4 minutes ago, DirtyBird said:

I'd say there were at least a dozen available when Hays was playing with a banged up wrist. 

I then throw in another dozen each from one dimensional guys - Mancini and Santander.

OK - maybe 33% more AB's, not 50%

MAYBE when Hayes was hurt he should have been playing a bit more.  But I'd MUCH rather have those 'one dimensional guys' in the lineup instead of McKenna.  Much better hitters, Santander is ok in the field, and Mancini is a DH/1st baseman, McKenna should be taking zero at bats from him.  

[DirtyBird]

1 minute ago, forphase1 said:

MAYBE when Hayes was hurt he should have been playing a bit more.  But I'd MUCH rather have those 'one dimensional guys' in the lineup instead of McKenna.  Much better hitters, Santander is ok in the field, and Mancini is a DH/1st baseman, McKenna should be taking zero at bats from him.  

.750 OPS for a 1B/DH isn't very good

[Tony-OH]

2 minutes ago, DirtyBird said:

I'd say there were at least a dozen available when Hays was playing with a banged up wrist. 

I then throw in another dozen each from one dimensional guys - Mancini and Santander.

OK - maybe 33% more AB's, not 50%

Well, I guess it depends on how much you value defense over offense. While McKenna is a good defender, statcast has him covering about 0.4 ft/sec better than the average outfielder which would put him tied for 40th in MLB if he qualified. That's good, but not really game changing great. 

Now, Santander, and more surprisingly Hays have been rated at -1.4 ft/sec over the average outfielder and both are among the worse in MLB among qualifiers. (This is one of the reasons I snicker every time Ben McDonald says we have the best outfield defense in baseball).

Hays of course makes up for defense with his offense, but you could make a case that Santander's defense in RF has fallen off that McKenna's defense could make up for his poor bat in the long run and actually be more valuable than Santander. 

In rWAR, Santander is at 0.9 and McKenna is a 0.8 in much less playing time so you actually have an argument that McKenna could be receiving more PAs at Santander's expense.

Thing is, right now, they are probably trying to move Santander so they would like for him to get hot and hopefully a team that is willing to live with his defense in RF or DH him will bite.

Saying that, if I'm giving Santander's PAs away, I'm giving them to Stowers.

 

[forphase1]

13 minutes ago, DirtyBird said:

.750 OPS for a 1B/DH isn't very good

No it isn't.  Yet you are recommending replacing that .750 OPS with a .660 OPS.  Not sure how that's an improvement.....

[DirtyBird]

1 minute ago, Tony-OH said:

Saying that, if I'm giving Santander's PAs away, I'm giving them to Stowers.

 

Stowers isn't on the team.

If Santander is moved and Stowers comes up, are you giving Stowers/McKenna AB's at the same 3.7/1 ratio as Santander/McKenna?

[forphase1]

3 minutes ago, DirtyBird said:

Stowers isn't on the team.

If Santander is moved and Stowers comes up, are you giving Stowers/McKenna AB's at the same 3.7/1 ratio as Santander/McKenna?

No.  I'd probably give an even higher percentage to Stowers, then adjust depending on how he is doing/performing/feeling.  Again, the right role for a 4th outfielder, to give someone who is struggling a night off, a rest, or to nurse a minor injury.  Unless Stowers needs one of those 3, then he should be starting.

[Tony-OH]

38 minutes ago, DirtyBird said:

Stowers isn't on the team.

If Santander is moved and Stowers comes up, are you giving Stowers/McKenna AB's at the same 3.7/1 ratio as Santander/McKenna?

No, I'd give more to Stowers. McKenna is  4th outfielder at best. Stowers has the potential to be an every day guy and he's a better defender than Santander. He gets most of the reps for me.

[Frobby]

2 hours ago, DirtyBird said:

Mancini's OPS over the last 28 days is .640 and that includes close to as many plate appearances as McKenna has all season.

So?   What point are you trying to make? Surely we are not judging whether Mancini is a better hitter than McKenna based on how he’s hit in the last 28 days.   

If you are saying McKenna might hit better if given more opportunities, I can’t disagree that it’s possible.   But his 36% K rate and obvious inability to handle top fastballs suggest to me it’s unlikely that his numbers would improve a ton.  
 

[DirtyBird]

McKenna haters lock the McKenna appreciation thread

[Jagwar]

5 minutes ago, DirtyBird said:

McKenna haters lock the McKenna appreciation thread

Dude... are you drunk tonight? Are you trying to get suspended from OH?

[glenn__davis]

Not sure I've seen an obsession of a poster with 1 player since cindyluvsbrady and Brian Roberts!

[yark14]

McKenna has been playing exceptionally well lately.  But as T-Swift said, "Haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate"