Just For A Point Of Reference

[nsacpi]

Maybin was once a good defender. His defensive numbers have been trending down, with the usual choppiness in the annual numbers because of sample size issues. The question is whether he can rebound to be an average defender next year. I think he can. But I think the days of his being an above average defender in center are behind him.

 

[yeezus]

Maybin was once a good defender. His defensive numbers have been trending down, with the usual choppiness in the annual numbers because of sample size issues. The question is whether he can rebound to be an average defender next year. I think he can. But I think the days of his being an above average defender in center are behind him.

what gives me hope is he still has his speed, so it's not like he forgot how to read a baseball. hopefully he can rebound.

 

[nsacpi]

His range numbers have been trending down.

 

[gilesfan]

Maybin was once a good defender. His defensive numbers have been trending down, with the usual choppiness in the annual numbers because of sample size issues. The question is whether he can rebound to be an average defender next year. I think he can. But I think the days of his being an above average defender in center are behind him.

Really one year as a "good" defender. Mostly pretty much average trending downward.

 

[thewupk]

Using this as the next point of reference...

Player A (29 years old):

Prior To 2015 - .279/.326/.392/.718

2015 - .311/.364/.499/.863

Improvement - .032/.038/.107/.145

Player B (28 years old):

Prior To 2015 - .246/.309/.365/.674

2015 - .280/.341/.404/.745

Improvement - .034/.032/.039/.071

So Cain's "turning into a star", but Maybin might not even possibly be "turning the corner"???

Cain's improvement from his age 28 season to age 29 season...

.010/.025/.087/.082

The same level of projected improvement makes Maybin a .290/.366/.491/.827 player in 2016, right?

Sure. If every player improvd the same. The thing with Cameron is that he's hit this way before in a given season. Could it be for real this time? Sure anything is possible. But his defense is in decline and not likely to get much better.

 

[clvclv]

Maybin was once a good defender. His defensive numbers have been trending down, with the usual choppiness in the annual numbers because of sample size issues. The question is whether he can rebound to be an average defender next year. I think he can. But I think the days of his being an above average defender in center are behind him.

I'm not sure I ever thought Cam was quite as "bad" as the numbers point to (of course, I'm far from the only person on the planet who questions exactly how much weight can be put into them just yet anyway), but I'm not sure a move to RF wouldn't be beneficial for the team overall once there's a better option in CF than Bourn. It would get Markakis over to LF where his arm wouldn't be so exposed.

As you mentioned earlier, there are some similarities in the improvements of Maybin and Cain this season. I agree that the power will likely never be the "same", but if Cam actually has turned the corner and makes the same incremental improvement Cain did between 28 and 29, a .800+ OPS OF with his speed is a really nice piece given his salary.

Say the organization decides to give Mallex a legitimate shot to win the job in camp next year and is willing to "throw him into the fire" and let him learn on the job like it has Peterson - and Bethancourt's bat is close to what it's been since he was sent down. If he (Smith) adjusts to this level even close to as quickly as he has each time he's been challenged before, a lineup of Smith/Maybin/Freeman/Olivera/Markakis/Bethancourt/Peterson/Simmons would stand a pretty good chance of being much better by next midseason than what we've had in 2015, no?

 

[thewupk]

What is KC's WAR?

I'm guessing it will correlate nicely. And I'm guessing they WAR will be driven by defense.

Also. If dWAR is so overstated then I don't see how the Royals have the best record in the league since they are only 9th in runs scored and 8th in FIP in the AL.

Granted they are 2nd in the AL in ERA and have the biggest positive gap between ERA and FIP at 0.40 but I don't think any of that has to do with their league leading defensive WAR. Can't be.