Jorge in Center

[jdwilde1]

6 minutes ago, Pickles said:

Cowser doesn't catch that ball.  Hays might.

That ball in the 9th was pretty routine.  Mateo just completely misplayed the ball.  I would expect Cowser, McKenna, Hays, Mullins, and Hicks to make that catch 99% of the time.  But Mateo is out if position, and it showed on that play.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

Would it really hurt team chemistry that much to DFA Mateo? There's really no room for him on the 26 man roster. The infield is more than covered with Ortiz and Holliday waiting in the wings.

And Mateo can't be trusted as a viable option in center field even with Mullins and Hicks out. At best Mateo is a pinch runner right now and taking up a valuable roster spot in a pennant race.

[eddie83]

3 minutes ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

Would it really hurt team chemistry that much to DFA Mateo? There's really no room for him on the 26 man roster. The infield is more than covered with Ortiz and Holliday waiting in the wings.

And Mateo can't be trusted as a viable option in center field even with Mullins and Hicks out. At best Mateo is a pinch runner right now and taking up a valuable roster spot in a pennant race.

They aren’t cutting him so Ortiz can face LHP occasionally for 21 days in August. 

[Aristotelian]

14 minutes ago, jdwilde1 said:

That ball in the 9th was pretty routine.  Mateo just completely misplayed the ball.  I would expect Cowser, McKenna, Hays, Mullins, and Hicks to make that catch 99% of the time.  But Mateo is out if position, and it showed on that play.

.780 xBA isn't routine.

[Alasdaire]

14 minutes ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

Would it really hurt team chemistry that much to DFA Mateo? There's really no room for him on the 26 man roster. The infield is more than covered with Ortiz and Holliday waiting in the wings.

And Mateo can't be trusted as a viable option in center field even with Mullins and Hicks out. At best Mateo is a pinch runner right now and taking up a valuable roster spot in a pennant race.

Assuming they're not calling up Ortiz this season, who is the backup shortstop if Mateo goes? DFAing Mateo means that you go into the playoffs with a rookie (Gunnar) starting at the most important position on the field and another rookie (Westburg) backing him up. I don't think that's a situation Hyde wants to be in.

[SilverRocket]

20 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

.780 xBA isn't routine.

xBA does not take direction into account and I really wish people would stop using it to talk about defensive plays.

[Aristotelian]

5 minutes ago, SilverRocket said:

xBA does not take direction into account and I really wish people would stop using it to talk about defensive plays.

I have had my disagreements with xBA but it is a data point.  I would agree it was a makeable play and Jorge should have had it but let's not pretend that was a routine play. Any time the centerfielder turns around on a dead sprint in the vicinity of the wall there is a risk of bad things happening. 

[forphase1]

1 hour ago, Pickles said:

Cowser doesn't catch that ball.  Hays might.

I bet Cowser does, if you are referring to the 9th inning one.  It was fairly routine, but Mateo messed up the route to the ball twice.  Now I agree that Cowser may not have made the nice catch earlier in the game, and even if he did he wouldn't have made it as easily as Mateo really showed his athleticism on it.  

[jdwilde1]

24 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

.780 xBA isn't routine.

Well, it can be depending on where its hit.  xBA does not take into account the direction of the ball on positioning of the fielders. Instead it uses launch angle and exit velocity, and sometimes sprint speed.  So, if all balls are hit 100 mph at a 30 degree launch angle result in hits 78/100 times, you’d have a .780 xBA.  But some of those balls will end up in the bleachers, while others will be hit to dead center with the CF making a routine catch on the warning track.

 

https://www.mlb.com/glossary/statcast/expected-batting-average

https://fantasy.fangraphs.com/introducing-the-newest-hitter-xbabip/#

[jdwilde1]

11 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

I have had my disagreements with xBA but it is a data point.  I would agree it was a makeable play and Jorge should have had it but let's not pretend that was a routine play. Any time the centerfielder turns around on a dead sprint in the vicinity of the wall there is a risk of bad things happening. 

No doubt about that, but Jorge didn’t need to turn on a dead sprint on that ball.  That’s exactly why he misplayed it.  He turned his back and sprinted directly backwards toward the wall, but the ball was not hit to where he ran.  Then, he had to bust a hard turn towards left field since his first steps were so poor, and he just couldn’t pull it in.  But I don’t blame this on Mateo, he’s out of position.  But a regular CF makes that play, and a good CF makes it look routine.

[Yossarian]

4 hours ago, jdwilde1 said:

That ball in the 9th was pretty routine.  Mateo just completely misplayed the ball.  I would expect Cowser, McKenna, Hays, Mullins, and Hicks to make that catch 99% of the time.  But Mateo is out if position, and it showed on that play.

Is Kyle Tucker out of position in right?

[PeteCanes]

34 minutes ago, Yossarian said:

Is Kyle Tucker out of position in right?

What? He just dropped that 

[sportsfan8703]

That was a tough play Mateo had to make, but I think most MLB CF make that catch. I think Mateo is a clubhouse and coaching staff favorite, but such a favorite that we now favor his CF defense over McKenna?  I guess so. I think McKenna makes that catch. 

[Sanity Check]

7 hours ago, Alasdaire said:

Assuming they're not calling up Ortiz this season, who is the backup shortstop if Mateo goes? DFAing Mateo means that you go into the playoffs with a rookie (Gunnar) starting at the most important position on the field and another rookie (Westburg) backing him up. I don't think that's a situation Hyde wants to be in.

Urias would be the backup in this scenario.  And, I could be wrong here, but in the event of injury, couldn't they then use Ortiz if 1) he is on the 40-man roster and 2) was a late September call up?

[sportsfan8703]

8 minutes ago, Sanity Check said:

Urias would be the backup in this scenario.  And, I could be wrong here, but in the event of injury, couldn't they then use Ortiz if 1) he is on the 40-man roster and 2) was a late September call up?

I don’t think they will consider DFA’ing Mateo until getting a long look at him in ST next year. I think they value his ability to play SS and CF, speed/base running, and the glimpse he showed in the early parts of this year. They get all offseason to try and unlock that hitter we saw early on.