Let's Find a RHH cOFer

E

Enscheff

Well-known member
One of the remaining holes on the Braves roster is another RHH cOFer to platoon with Markakis and/or Ender. While guys like Camargo, Culberson and Riley might fit the bill in a pinch, we should all be hoping the Braves can find better.

A guy like Avisail Garcia would be pretty nice. He is a FA projected to make something like 2/12, and owns a career .808 OPS vs LHP. He seems like a good candidate, but only if the Braves can afford a $6M bench player unlikely to get more than 200-300 PAs with the platoon advantage.

So let's look at the guys likely to be non-tendered that can possibly be acquired for next to nothing in terms of prospects, or signed after they are dumped by their current teams. We will reference this list to get started:

https://www.baseballtradevalues.com/non-tender-candidates-for-each-team/

The RHH (or Switch) OFers on that list along with their career wOBA vs LHP are :

Jake Marisnick .300
Robbie Grossman .339
Steven Souza .329
Kevin Pillar .323
Joey Rickard .328
Domingo Santana .352
Michael A. Taylor .308
Stevie Wilkerson .203
Ryan Cordell .248

Considering MLB average wOBA is roughly .320, anyone below that mark vs LHP can be eliminated. This leaves us with 5 potential RHH cOF targets that can likely be acquired cheaply:

Robbie Grossman - OK in cOF, passable vs RHP as well.
Steven Souza - OK in cOF before last year.
Kevin Pillar - excellent in cOF, decent in CF.
Joey Rickard - not very good defensively.
Domingo Santana - butcher defensively.

Pillar's ability to play CF may make him more expensive than Avisail, and the goal is to find a guy who is virtually free.

I think Grossman and Souza are the best options for a cheap 5th OFer.
 
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I bet you're gonna say 'I told you so' if the Braves pick up one of these guys a couple of months from now.
 
Enscheff said:
Yes. And then I’m going to write a long post asking no less than 14 rhetorical questions.
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Come to think of it, if half of the internet is right and we sign MadBum, he might have more value as a righty hitter than as a lefty pitcher.
 
i love the Pillar fit, but yeah he'll prob be more expensive.
i've been a fan of Souza for a while, and it may be silly but i think there's decent offensive upside if he's healthy (which he says he is).
 
We have to have somebody that can play for half season to maybe more bc Markakis won’t stay healthy all year and Ender can’t seem to stay healthy either. If either goes down early then everybody will be complaining that AA didn’t get a better COF in the offseason. Marte does make the most sense and let Neck be a bench bat bc that’s what he is at this point.
 
Are any of those guys better options than Riley? Not sure what his wOBA splits are (it was at .307 overall), but he hit .262/.338/.646 against lefties vs. .215/.260/.416 vs. righties. BTW, his steamer projects his wOBA to be .324 in 2020, FWIW.
 
JCarbo76 said:
Are any of those guys better options than Riley? Not sure what his wOBA splits are (it was at .307 overall), but he hit .262/.338/.646 against lefties vs. .215/.260/.416 vs. righties. BTW, his steamer projects his wOBA to be .324 in 2020, FWIW.
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i think the idea is you don't want to platoon Riley right now. you should be giving him more of an opportunity, and he should get every day ABs in the minors.
 
Super said:
i think the idea is you don't want to platoon Riley right now. you should be giving him more of an opportunity, and he should get every day ABs in the minors.
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Ideally he spends half the season in AAA and figures a few things out. He had a 20% K rate in AAA last year and a 36% K rate in the majors. That's a crazy divergence. I'm pretty sure the 20% K rate in AAA is a bit of a small sample mirage. But I'd like him to improve enough in the pitch recognition and strike zone knowledge departments so he can settle in the majors with a K rate below 30%.
 
Nothing in Riley’s contact numbers suggest he is ready for any role on a MLB contender. The eye test confirmed he was just as clueless up there as the numbers suggest.
 
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We still have Duvall right? While I'd definitely like to upgrade him, do we think they'd bring another OF just to platoon him with Neck? I guess it depends on if we keep Ender (my guess) or trade him. Also guessing they'd like to keep a spot for a potential Pache addition in the early summer
 
Agreed, I can't see selling low on Inciarte after last season. He looked good between injuries. I'm expecting them to keep him as an upside play with the idea that one of Riley/Duvall/Pache will likely be able to slot in if needed.
 
What if Ender (plus) could net you Marte? Wouldn't a Inciarte and Bryse Wilson for Marte make sense for both clubs? Is that too steep or not enough?!

Could go something like this (assuming/hoping we resign JD)

Acuna- RF
Marte- CF
Freeman- 1B
Donaldson-3B
Albies- 2B
Markakis/Duvall- LF
d'arnaud/Flowers- C
Swanson- SS

If we couldn't resign JD...

Acuna- RF
Albies- 2B
Freeman- 1B
Marte- CF
Moustakas- 3B
Markakis/Duvall- LF
d'Arnaud/Flowers- C
Swanson- SS


Just me spitballling
 
If the Pirates are going to rebuild they aren’t going to want Ender.

If the Braves do end up getting Marte they will likely have to unload Ender though.
 
Souza also non-tendered. If healthy he is a pretty good option for a cheap 5th OFer to add another RHH to the Acuna/Duvall package vs LHP.
 
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