What is our best possible infield configuration as of today?

[Os4days]

Monty may never be a .300 hitter but for guys calling him to be benched or traded is ridiculous. He is our only true power hitter. He is 26, about to hit that magical 27 age, and giving up on him now or stunting his growth by reducing his at bats is simply not a smart thing. 
 

Look at Chris Davis. The Rangers gave up on him way too soon and traded him almost as a throw in for the Koji trade. There’s no assurance that any of the young guys will be able to hit no matter how promising (see Gunnar so far). We are winning and guys wanna pick at things. The shiny new toy isn’t always gonna be good. 

[Hank Scorpio]

5 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

If what I said was the starting IF, I still would find the at bats for him. As I have been saying, we don’t have any 155 game/600 at bats guys yet. Maybe they will develop into it but not yet.  
 

So, there are at bats to go around for sure.  Ultimately, I agree with you that we must find at bats for Urias.

Or a new home........ 

[sportsfan8703]

Vs RHP

1B - Santa

2B - Frazier

SS - Holliday

3B - Gunnar

[Pickles]

5 minutes ago, Os4days said:

Monty may never be a .300 hitter but for guys calling him to be benched or traded is ridiculous. He is our only true power hitter. He is 26, about to hit that magical 27 age, and giving up on him now or stunting his growth by reducing his at bats is simply not a smart thing. 
 

Look at Chris Davis. The Rangers gave up on him way too soon and traded him almost as a throw in for the Koji trade. There’s no assurance that any of the young guys will be able to hit no matter how promising (see Gunnar so far). We are winning and guys wanna pick at things. The shiny new toy isn’t always gonna be good. 

He's hitting 239 with an OBP% of 269.  That is unacceptable from a 1st basemen.

I have been one of the strongest defenders on this board of the young vets not being supplanted by prospects just for S and Gs.  But he should be losing ABs, primarily to Santander and Urias.  It also allows for Ortiz and Henderson to get some ABs.

[sportsfan8703]

3 minutes ago, Pickles said:

He's hitting 239 with an OBP% of 269.  That is unacceptable from a 1st basemen.

I have been one of the strongest defenders on this board of the young vets not being supplanted by prospects just for S and Gs.  But he should be losing ABs, primarily to Santander and Urias.  It also allows for Ortiz and Henderson to get some ABs.

Mountcastle is Trumbo. He’s just a lesser version because of the Wall. 
 

It’s hard to sit that type of power down. Maybe O’Hearn gets some starts when we’re at home. That’s a hard sell though. 

Edited May 25, 2023 by sportsfan8703

[TommyPickles]

22 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

I wonder if Urias should get regular at bats at first?  I think that’s something they need to look into. 

And btw, I am defining regular as 1-3 games a week. 

Hard to keep the guy with the second-best OBP on the team (.375) on the bench.

[Pickles]

1 minute ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Mountcastle is Trumbo. He’s just a lesser version because of the Wall. 

It's not the worst comp.  And Mountcastle will be in the bigs for a decade+.

But when he's going through one of his horrendous slumps he shouldn't be in the lineup every day.  Not now.  We simply have too many good options to watch him hit .200 for a month.

A lot of people will apply that to Mateo as well.  First, that's fair enough.  When he's hitting like this he should be losing ABs too.  But Mateo is always providing some value because of his speed and glove.  Mountcastle provides no secondary value.

[Sports Guy]

19 minutes ago, Os4days said:

Monty may never be a .300 hitter but for guys calling him to be benched or traded is ridiculous. He is our only true power hitter. He is 26, about to hit that magical 27 age, and giving up on him now or stunting his growth by reducing his at bats is simply not a smart thing. 
 

Look at Chris Davis. The Rangers gave up on him way too soon and traded him almost as a throw in for the Koji trade. There’s no assurance that any of the young guys will be able to hit no matter how promising (see Gunnar so far). We are winning and guys wanna pick at things. The shiny new toy isn’t always gonna be good. 

It’s not as much about calling for him to benched as much as taking at bats away from him because he has proven he isn’t an overly productive every single day player.

I think his offense is better than it has shown the last year+ but it may not be in our park anymore.

[Malike]

I'm not ready to platoon Gunnar. I think he's an everyday player. The kid is 21 years old and has all of 252ABs in his career.

[Aristotelian]

25 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

I wonder if Urias should get regular at bats at first?  I think that’s something they need to look into. 

And btw, I am defining regular as 1-3 games a week. 

I have proposed this and it was shot down due to Urias being "too short". I kind of like it. Would be trading power for OBP, but would there be a net upgrade? Might Urias have better scooping and double play skills? Would prefer a platoon if Urias were lefty. 

What about having Gunnar play some 1B this season? 

[Sports Guy]

15 minutes ago, Malike said:

I'm not ready to platoon Gunnar. I think he's an everyday player. The kid is 21 years old and has all of 252ABs in his career.

He shouldn’t be platooned but I don’t have an issue with sitting him vs some lefties. It’s been an issue for him in his pro career and until he improves on that, I don’t mind sitting him at times.  But it definitely shouldn’t be a strict platoon or anything close to it.

 

[Sports Guy]

4 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

I have proposed this and it was shot down due to Urias being "too short". I kind of like it. Would be trading power for OBP, but would there be a net upgrade? Might Urias have better scooping and double play skills? Would prefer a platoon if Urias were lefty. 

What about having Gunnar play some 1B this season? 

I think he is too short personally but that doesn’t mean it’s not one of our best options for now. Long term I wouldn’t want it but if he can make the plays over there and doesn’t get to the occasional higher throws, so be it.

He is too solid of an offensive player not to get in the lineup any way you can.

[Malike]

1 minute ago, Sports Guy said:

He shouldn’t be platooned but I don’t have an issue with sitting him vs some lefties. It’s been an issue for him in his pro career and until he improves on that, I don’t mind sitting him at times.  But it definitely shouldn’t be a strict platoon or anything close to it.

 

I don't disagree. I would sit him against guys like Fried, etc. He should be getting AB's against lesser LHP, imo, though.

[DEOriolesfan]

Call me crazy but I have not seen Santander play enough at 1B to bring him into this conversation. 

Defensively, Urias is too valuable to leave on the bench but will he hit well enough once he's back to warrant a starting job? 

Henderson has started to look better at the plate as of late. The strikeouts are my biggest concern with him. He has some Mark Reynolds in him at this stage in his career. 

Mateo is too valuable at SS to not be the everyday guy.

Vs. RHP

1B- Mountcastle/ O'Hearn 

2B-Frazier 

SS- Mateo

3B- Henderson 

 

Vs. LHP

1B- Mountcastle

2B- Frazier

SS- Mateo

3B Urias 

[Mr-splash]

3 hours ago, Pickles said:

It's not the worst comp.  And Mountcastle will be in the bigs for a decade+.

But when he's going through one of his horrendous slumps he shouldn't be in the lineup every day.  Not now.  We simply have too many good options to watch him hit .200 for a month.

A lot of people will apply that to Mateo as well.  First, that's fair enough.  When he's hitting like this he should be losing ABs too.  But Mateo is always providing some value because of his speed and glove.  Mountcastle provides no secondary value.

Mountcastle may have more value to this organization being traded than playing. The Infield is already a clusterbomb logjam as it is. And he's under team control for 2023, 2024 and 2025. You could definitely get some pitching via trade, especially if he is packaged with another player. All these infielders and only 4 positions. Somebody will eventually get traded. Only questions are who and when.