If Markakis was a plus defender he would be valuable. But he's not we know that. He's a negative defender and as a RF a negative hitter. RF, LF and 1B are the most offensive first positions. If you aren't a plus bat you're typically a minus value there. And you can't argue that Marakis is a plus bat. He's a decent bat, an acceptable bat, but not plus. Markakis if he was playing Shortstop with this stat line or 2B or especially catcher would be hella awesome. But position scarcity exists for a reason. It's a lot easier to play the corner OF than pretty much any other position in baseball.
Stockholm, more densely populated than NYC - sturg
I think we should just focus on gettting the best possible value there regardless of how they hit. The Phillies won it all with Howard and Utley as their best players, yes they had right handed bats to counter them (Werth being the best) but they were the 3/4 hitters for Philly all through their peak. And Howard couldn't hit a lefty if he tried.
Stockholm, more densely populated than NYC - sturg
bump to discuss
"I am a victim, I will tell you. I am a victim."
"I am your retribution."
clvclv (09-22-2018)
I think the positions where we got positive surprises relative to my preseason expectation were left, right and third...Folty also improved a bit more than I expected...those were the major positive surprises...but we also got quite a few other small positive surprises...sum total is a team that outperforms by about 10 games
"I am a victim, I will tell you. I am a victim."
"I am your retribution."
jpx7 (09-22-2018)
Folty giving a lot of credit for his progression to his newborn child. This, like BiLe, is something we can't always quantify properly. Need Newk and Gohara to have kids too if we're gonna keep them.
Forever Fredi
pen was 1.0 WAR last year and 3.2 so far this year...a lot little things added up to the team making the jump forward
"I am a victim, I will tell you. I am a victim."
"I am your retribution."
jpx7 (09-22-2018)
Glad to be wrong. The young guys really stepped up in a big way and Markakis found the fountain of youth, at least for 2018.
The biggest surprises to me was the development of Folty and to a certain extent Newk (at least early), the near MVP level play by Acuna out of the gate, the power shown by Albies and most of all the play of Camargo.
Obviously, I didn't see the 2018 of Markakis or the catchers and even Teheran outplayed where I thought he would be.
Fantastic year, especially after much needed rebuilding down years....
from a longer term perspective I think one of the things we saw this year is how hard it is to project power in young hitters...none of Albies, Acuna or Camargo projected to hit for the kind of power they have shown this year
moral: in drafting and signing amateur talent give a lot more weight to the hit tool and defense than the power tool because the latter is very dicey to project
Last edited by nsacpi; 09-22-2018 at 08:54 PM.
"I am a victim, I will tell you. I am a victim."
"I am your retribution."
jpx7 (09-22-2018)