Poll: Koshansky

[Hank Scorpio]

Here's Deric McKamey's $.02 on Koshansky, FWIW...

Tall/muscular hitter has strong hands and natural strength, giving him above average power to all fields. Swing can get long and lacks contact ability, especially against breaking balls, so will not be able to sustain BA. Speed and defense are both well below average.

[Hank Scorpio]

Jtrea has been vastly overrating Koshansky for at least 2 years now.

At least he's consistently wrong.

[crawdad]

Here's Deric McKamey's $.02 on Koshansky, FWIW...

Yeah, we had him as the best power prospect, but not among the top 20 rockies prospects.

[DrungoHazewood]

Wow, I'm kind of glad I missed this JTrea train wreck. Joe Koshansky? Really? I can point you towards a community college with some "valuing baseball players 101" classes, if you'd like.

Not sure if this was already posted back three or four pages, if so, I apologize. But Koshansky's numbers are almost all air. Thin, Colorado Springs air. He had teammates like AAA veterans Jayson Nix and real prospect Ian Stewart hit as well as he did, at younger ages. His PECOTA comps read like a who's who of Ken Phelps All Stars - Jon Knott, Brian Daubach, Damon Minor, Ryan Shealy, Ryan Radmanovich, Larry Broadway, Pat Dodson, Scott McClain... that's an amazing list. All guys who could probably have held down a MLB platoon spot at a corner at one point or another. Valuable bats in 300 AB chunks on a team with more gloves than power. But none of them were any better than average players, at their peaks.

Koshansky would be an ok guy to take on if your only other option at first were, say, Javy Lopez that year they tried to switch his position when he was about 35. Or if your corner guys and DHs were all Luis Polonia or something.

But when 1B/DH is already occupied by Huff, Scott, and Wigginton you already have three guys who're about 10:1 shots at being better players over the next couple years. The 2009 Orioles really don't have a 25-man spot for the Luis Montanez of first basemen.

[BeerIsFood]

Koshansky got a 90 some post thread....really? No seriously...really? This guy was really worth that many posts...really? Let me fast forward this for you two years: Koshansky = AAAA. Done. We don't have much at the corners, but we don't need to add another AAAA guy, that's just running in place. This thread is completely and utterly ridiculous. Wow...

[SilentJames]

Wow, I'm kind of glad I missed this JTrea train wreck. Joe Koshansky? Really? I can point you towards a community college with some "valuing baseball players 101" classes, if you'd like.

Not sure if this was already posted back three or four pages, if so, I apologize. But Koshansky's numbers are almost all air. Thin, Colorado Springs air. He had teammates like AAA veterans Jayson Nix and real prospect Ian Stewart hit as well as he did, at younger ages. His PECOTA comps read like a who's who of Ken Phelps All Stars - Jon Knott, Brian Daubach, Damon Minor, Ryan Shealy, Ryan Radmanovich, Larry Broadway, Pat Dodson, Scott McClain... that's an amazing list. All guys who could probably have held down a MLB platoon spot at a corner at one point or another. Valuable bats in 300 AB chunks on a team with more gloves than power. But none of them were any better than average players, at their peaks.

Koshansky would be an ok guy to take on if your only other option at first were, say, Javy Lopez that year they tried to switch his position when he was about 35. Or if your corner guys and DHs were all Luis Polonia or something.

But when 1B/DH is already occupied by Huff, Scott, and Wigginton you already have three guys who're about 10:1 shots at being better players over the next couple years. The 2009 Orioles really don't have a 25-man spot for the Luis Montanez of first basemen.

But we NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED him.

[JTrea81]

But when 1B/DH is already occupied by Huff, Scott, and Wigginton you already have three guys who're about 10:1 shots at being better players over the next couple years. The 2009 Orioles really don't have a 25-man spot for the Luis Montanez of first basemen.

Your point would be valid if we had to carry Koshansky on the 25 man ML roster, but he had two options left and had to only be carried on the 40 man roster. Can you honestly say a Chris Waters or David Pauley would be more valuable to the Orioles than Koshansky over the next two seasons? At the very least he could have been minor league depth that could have been called up if needed. LH power is something that the Orioles need.

Salazar, Brazell, and Moore are minor league FAs after this season if they aren't put on the 40 man roster, and none of them have Koshansky's power. Costanzo is the only one that is close, but Koshansky has better plate discipline.

Pauley and Waters are dime a dozen arms that could be replaced by anybody we have in Norfolk. We don't have a bat in our system like Koshanksy's with his power, nor are bats like him that easy to come by for the price of a waiver claim.

[Fairfax Bird]

Your point would be valid if we had to carry Koshansky on the 25 man ML roster, but he had two options left and had to only be carried on the 40 man roster. Can you honestly say a Chris Waters or David Pauley would be more valuable to the Orioles than Koshansky over the next two seasons? At the very least he could have been minor league depth that could have been called up if needed. LH power is something that the Orioles need.

Salazar, Brazell, and Moore are minor league FAs after this season if they aren't put on the 40 man roster, and none of them have Koshansky's power. Costanzo is the only one that is close, but Koshansky has better plate discipline.

Pauley and Waters are dime a dozen arms that could be replaced by anybody we have in Norfolk. We don't have a bat in our system like Koshanksy's with his power, nor are bats like him that easy to come by for the price of a waiver claim.

Among the many inaccurate statements in this thread is that Koshansky has more power than Brazell. As a 27 year old in AA-AAA combined Brazell hit 39 home runs. Last year as a 26 year old in AAA-MLB Koshansky hit 34 home runs. Of course, Koshansky was aided by hitting in the thin air of Colorado. Give this up. Koshansky is what we call dime a dozen, just like Salazar, Brazell, Moore, Pauley and Waters.

[DrungoHazewood]

We don't have a bat in our system like Koshanksy's with his power, nor are bats like him that easy to come by for the price of a waiver claim.

PECOTA weighted mean forecast in a neutral MLB setting: .219/.294/.412. And remember, that's for his age 27 season, probably his peak. Bats like that at first base are a dime a dozen. At least by BP's system Scott Moore is a better hitter. He's basically the same hitter as Oscar Salazar.

This comparison is a test case on park effects. Colorado Springs inflates numbers by nearly as much as Norfolk deflates them. In all seriousness, a .950 OPS in Colorado Springs would probably be under .800 in Norfolk.

[JTrea81]

Jtrea has been vastly overrating Koshansky for at least 2 years now.

Casey Kotchman says hello...

[DrungoHazewood]

Among the many inaccurate statements in this thread is that Koshansky has more power than Brazell. As a 27 year old in AA-AAA combined Brazell hit 39 home runs. Last year as a 26 year old in AAA-MLB Koshansky hit 34 home runs. Of course, Koshansky was aided by hitting in the thin air of Colorado. Give this up. Koshansky is what we call dime a dozen, just like Salazar, Brazell, Moore, Pauley and Waters.

Let's not get too crazy here. Craig Brazell is all power, nothing else. He's a guy who, given 500 at bats in the majors, would probably hit .180/.230/.425. He's Rob Deer without the plate discipline.

[JTrea81]

PECOTA weighted mean forecast in a neutral MLB setting: .219/.294/.412. And remember, that's for his age 27 season, probably his peak. Bats like that at first base are a dime a dozen. At least by BP's system Scott Moore is a better hitter. He's basically the same hitter as Oscar Salazar.

This comparison is a test case on park effects. Colorado Springs inflates numbers by nearly as much as Norfolk deflates them. In all seriousness, a .950 OPS in Colorado Springs would probably be under .800 in Norfolk.

So do you think Brazell and Salazar will do better at 1B than Koshanksy? Brazell only flashed that type of power once in 2007 also in the PCL and has had worse plate discipline and Salazar is worse with the glove.

If Koshanksy is an upgrade over those two at 1B even in Norfolk, and all it would cost is a waiver claim and the jettisoning of Pauley or Waters off the roster, it would have been worth it IMO. Maybe just maybe he could turn into a useful MLer.

[DrungoHazewood]

Casey Kotchman says hello...

That's a pretty good comp. Koshansky is kind of a poor man's Kotchman. Decent glove, inadequate bat, loyal section of rooters who think all he needs is some luck or something and he'll turn into something special.

If you think a 1B coming off a 93 OPS+ is what Koshansky wants to be when he grows up, that kind of proves what everyone is saying.

[JTrea81]

That's a pretty good comp. Koshansky is kind of a poor man's Kotchman. Decent glove, inadequate bat, loyal section of rooters who think all he needs is some luck or something and he'll turn into something special.

If you think a 1B coming off a 93 OPS+ is what Koshansky wants to be when he grows up, that kind of proves what everyone is saying.

I'm not saying he's going to be the next Ryan Howard, but this how teams get guys like David Ortiz and Carlos Pena. They take a low risk move on a bat and see if it can turn into anything. The 2009 Orioles had nothing to lose by claiming him and everything to gain.

[DrungoHazewood]

So do you think Brazell and Salazar will do better at 1B than Koshanksy? Brazell only flashed that type of power once in 2007 also in the PCL and has had worse plate discipline and Salazar is worse with the glove.

If Koshanksy is an upgrade over those two at 1B even in Norfolk, and all it would cost is a waiver claim and the jettisoning of Pauley or Waters off the roster, it would have been worth it IMO. Maybe just maybe he could turn into a useful MLer.

No, but Moore probably will. Brazell is nothing, and Salazar is just an older version of Koshansky. But all Koshansky would be is mediocre depth in case Huff gets hurt. Maybe you could use him to cobble together some kind of platoon.

This is a truly minor loss, if you can call it that. Koshansky's offense in OPACY would be a direct replacement for the 2008 version of Kevin Millar.