Austin Hays 2024

[Pickles]

53 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

I tend to agree that Hays should get the at bats over McKenna because he has better instincts and because Hays the track record of being a solid everyday player.

That being said, he has truly been a below replacement level player for half a season with no signs of improvement this year. (He did have a good 90 PA stretch in August/sept of last year though)

For me, Hays should get the at bats and McKenna should play a small role. I would send down HK because they are foolishly not playing him enough.

That said, if Hays continues to be a liability for another 100-200 at bats, a real discussion has to occur on what to do with him and if he is relegated to a 4th/5th OFer role, I do think there’s a conversation to be had about who is better suited for that role..McKenna or Hays.

But a lot of things need to happen before that discussion can really be had.

I personally believe Hays will be fine and with Cowser now established, Hays won’t be playing everyday, which he never should have been doing in the first place.  That may help him a lot.

I don't really disagree with any of this.

I am probably more confident than you are though that give Hays 100-200 at-bats and he's going to perform pretty close to how he has the last 3 years or so, which is far beyond anything McKenna could dream of.

But I don't have a problem with McKenna as a 5th outfielder, playing very sparingly, as I would like HK to get more consistent playing time in AAA.

[Just Regular]

When Hays returns, it will be interesting to see who Hyde puts in LF at OPACY when he and Cowser both play.

[Sports Guy]

1 hour ago, Pickles said:

I don't really disagree with any of this.

I am probably more confident than you are though that give Hays 100-200 at-bats and he's going to perform pretty close to how he has the last 3 years or so, which is far beyond anything McKenna could dream of.

But I don't have a problem with McKenna as a 5th outfielder, playing very sparingly, as I would like HK to get more consistent playing time in AAA.

I think Hays will be fine. I don’t think he’s just completely lost his game. 
 

But I also am not willing to dismiss the possibility that he has. He is a little older (not old, just older) and he has had a lot of injury issues.  That can catch up to you and some times, there is no warning sign of it happening.

[Sports Guy]

8 minutes ago, Just Regular said:

When Hays returns, it will be interesting to see who Hyde puts in LF at OPACY when he and Cowser both play.

I think there will be a platoon and I think Cowser may see some more CF time.

[Pickles]

26 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

I think Hays will be fine. I don’t think he’s just completely lost his game. 
 

But I also am not willing to dismiss the possibility that he has. He is a little older (not old, just older) and he has had a lot of injury issues.  That can catch up to you and some times, there is no warning sign of it happening.

Sure.  Anything's possible.

However, it's extremely unlikely that Hays has reverted from essentially an average regular to a 5th OF in his age 28 season.

And  discussing that possibility is a world away from the laughable claim that McKenna is better than Hays.

[Pickles]

27 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

I think there will be a platoon and I think Cowser may see some more CF time.

I think Hays will see more CF time than Cowser.

[Sports Guy]

1 minute ago, Pickles said:

I think Hays will see more CF time than Cowser.

I could see that. I personally think it’s rather obvious that Cowser is a superior defensive OFer compared to Hays but I also think it’s possible you consider LF harder in OPACY compared to CF, so they could view Cowser being the better fit there

[Sports Guy]

2 minutes ago, Pickles said:

Sure.  Anything's possible.

However, it's extremely unlikely that Hays has reverted from essentially an average regular to a 5th OF in his age 28 season.

And  discussing that possibility is a world away from the laughable claim that McKenna is better than Hays.

Well based off the last half season of baseball, lots of players are better than Hays. He has literally been a below replacement level player. 

[Pickles]

4 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

I could see that. I personally think it’s rather obvious that Cowser is a superior defensive OFer compared to Hays but I also think it’s possible you consider LF harder in OPACY compared to CF, so they could view Cowser being the better fit there

I'm not sold on that right now.

I think Cowser has superior traits- he's faster at least.

But Hays' arm is a real weapon, and while he has a strong arm, Cowser is not nearly as quick or accurate delivering the ball as Hays.

Same with range.  Yes, Cowser is faster but Hays takes more direct routes.

Cowser is certainly a lot better than he was last year, and if he continues to improve he should eventually surpass Hays, but I'm not sure he's there yet.

[Pickles]

13 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Well based off the last half season of baseball, lots of players are better than Hays. He has literally been a below replacement level player. 

You can cut up people's numbers to make them look better or worse than they actually are, but that's not really good analysis.

He basically had a horrific July last year. His Aug/Sept OPS was basically 775, which was actually higher than his OPS on the season.

Nobody can deny he had a terrible start to this season as well, but you're talking less than 50 ABs and the likelihood that he was probably playing hurt.

[Frobby]

46 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

I think Hays will be fine. I don’t think he’s just completely lost his game. 
 

But I also am not willing to dismiss the possibility that he has. He is a little older (not old, just older) and he has had a lot of injury issues.  That can catch up to you and some times, there is no warning sign of it happening.

He had some serious bouts of illness this spring, lost ten pounds as a result, etc.  So long as he’s now regained his strength, I think he’ll be fine.  Of course, he’s streaky even when healthy, so we’ll see what version we get when he returns.  

[Sports Guy]

2 minutes ago, Pickles said:

I'm not sold on that right now.

I think Cowser has superior traits- he's faster at least.

But Hays' arm is a real weapon, and while he has a strong arm, Cowser is not nearly as quick or accurate delivering the ball as Hays.

Same with range.  Yes, Cowser is faster but Hays takes more direct routes.

Cowser is certainly a lot better than he was last year, and if he continues to improve he should eventually surpass Hays, but I'm not sure he's there yet.

Hays also doesn’t get good jumps.  You overrate him and always have. He’s a good player.  A solid 450-550 at bat guy. Someone who doesn’t generally hurt you defensively but really, he has no biz being in GG discussions. 
 

I’m glad we have him but when we don’t, I doubt we will even notice he’s gone.

[Sports Guy]

1 minute ago, Pickles said:

You can cut up people's numbers to make them look better or worse than they actually are, but that's not really good analysis.

He basically had a horrific July last year. His Aug/Sept OPS was basically 775, which was actually higher than his OPS on the season.

Nobody can deny he had a terrible start to this season as well, but you're talking less than 50 ABs and the likelihood that he was probably playing hurt.

As I said, he has a really strong 90 PA stretch from mid August to mid Sept.  So, for about 1/3 of his last 320ish PA, he was excellent. For 2/3 of it, he was sub 600 OpS.

You can choose to do whatever you want with the numbers.  Those are just facts. He was great for the first 3 months last year and not good the second 3 months and has started this year poorly. 
 

[Sports Guy]

3 minutes ago, Frobby said:

He had some serious bouts of illness this spring, lost ten pounds as a result, etc.  So long as he’s now regained his strength, I think he’ll be fine.  Of course, he’s streaky even when healthy, so we’ll see what version we get when he returns.  

Hays did?  I don’t remember hearing that.  That certainly helps explain things.

[interloper]

Just now, Sports Guy said:

Hays did?  I don’t remember hearing that.  That certainly helps explain things.

Really? The broadcast only mentioned it like every single time he was at the plate lol.