I would think most teams wouldn't want anything to do with him now. instead they will see what he does in spring and what their current team can do without him. I wouldn't want to take a chance on him at this point. If you trade for him and he does the same as he did last year, your stuck with a player that can't hit anything and only plays one position on your 25.
What to do with Uggla now?
- Thread starter Lenny
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nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
If you are the Mariners, do you pay Mark Ellis $5M per year or Dan Uggla a similar amount. They might choose Uggla because they want more right handed power.
Other teams like the Marlins and Rockies might also prefer him to some of the alternatives discussed above.
His last 2 months were horrible.
Question is are you trading for the guy who might hit 15-20 bombs for you at 2nd base.
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
A similar question is whether he can go back to being the Dan Uggla of the first half of 2013. A lot of teams could use a player like that.
yeezus
It's OVER 5,000!
I would prefer any player who isn't awful in every aspect and runs in to homers sometimes. Dan Uggla is one of the worst players in baseball.
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
It might surprise you that some people in baseball see it differently. We'll find out.
Frankly I'm of the opinion that if we only save 3 million a year for someone to take Uggla we do it.
The possibility of having Fredi give him 30 second chances next year just because of his potential to get it right, is not worth the headache. Would rather have guys like La Stella, Infante go into the job fighting for it and not having to worry if they struggle for 2 days that Uggla might get a shot because he's on the payroll.
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
Don't we pay Fredi to manage this sort of thing?
Yep.
I give him credit for giving BJ and Uggla the most chances this year to try and get it right while not totally causing too much harm to our team. The problem is, Uggla isn't getting paid like Andrelton Simmons or Heyward, he's the highest paid player on the team so Wren would totally tell Fredi to keep seeing if it works out for Dan.
Kawakami was different, we actually have other options than Uggla.
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
Hmm. My impression is Fredi has a pretty free hand when it comes to decisions on playing time. Wren gets to choose the players, but Fredi decides which ones to play. I don't think Wren would pressure him to play Uggla.
I'm sure Wren doesn't outright tell Fredi to play this person, but I'm sure he makes suggestions too.
I mean showcasing a player for trade has been a long practiced routine. You KNOW that player is going to get PT to try and show off his value to the other teams. The fact that Uggla is our biggest investment (and by far Wren's biggest), you can rest be rest assured Wren will encourage Fredi to try and give Uggla enough chances.
ALso the fact that Fredi has personal loyalty to Uggla since Florida.
It's not what most fans want to hear, but the option, of giving the eyes longer to adjust and the hitting coaches a chance to really do their jobs, has to be considered. Fortunately, there are no apparent attitude issues and the contract is only for 2 more seasons. Phillips would be a potential clubhouse problem after the honeymoon ended and then the team would be hamstrung with his contract for 2 more years.
Plus, it's easy for people to post here, on MLB.com or AJC to just eat the contract. This is also a business. ST is still a ways a way, and there's the luxury of time to try and work through without having to resort to an act of desperation.
Well said.
I'm actually one of the select few who would have no problem seeing Uggla open the season at 2B. There are no real mouth-watering alternatives (inside or outside of the organization,) and the chance he will perform better is well in the Braves favor (because, after all, there's no way he could be worse - right?)
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
The other thing that gets overlooked by those in a hurry to get rid of Uggla is that he had an OPS of .738 in the first half of 2013. That's right the first half of 2013. Now an OPS of .738 is disappointing for a player making 13M/year. But if he were able to return to that level of production there is value there.
wheresmykayak
High School Draftee
If I were Wren, I'd try to sell Uggla as being an OBP machine. Because despite everything else that he sucked at last year, he was still pretty decent at drawing a walk. You never know, there might be a team out there craving someone who can do that....
50PoundHead
Hessmania Forever
Valid point. I think if Uggla were in the right situation (and there are probably some of those situations out there), he could be of value. The problem, as others have stated, is that he and BJ Upton are the top guys on the payroll and the expectations here are for more than a complementary player. My guess is he could help a few AL teams.
nsacpi, I don't follow the deep stats much, but I can't remember if it was at Fangraphs or somewhere else that detailed Uggla's horrifying contact rate and his swing/miss ratio at pitches in the strike zone. After reading that article, I thought the point that there was something really wrong with Uggla's eyesight (and I mean REALLY wrong) became more salient.
As for Fredi playing him until it became obvious he couldn't play, Uggla had earned that length of rope. Uggla's power was viewed as a necessary ingredient in the team's structure and he had been a team guy. I don't particularly like Uggla as a player, but you give your big dogs every opportunity to right themselves. Thus it has been and thus it shall ever be.
PS--Unless some team really bowls over the Braves with a big offer, I fully expect Uggla to be in spring training with the team. My guess is that there will be little, if any, interest in him until people see him face live pitching.
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
The teams that might take a flyer on Uggla imo are those that want some right-handed power or power of any sort, do not have a satisfactory second baseman, and for whatever reason have trouble landing free agents. I think Seattle and Colorado fit that profile. Maybe Toronto too, depending on how they view Izturis' chances of bouncing back.
AFter his contract expires, I could easily see Uggla taking a lowball offer in Oakland.
He's the typical past-prime veteran player they usually go for.
He's the typical past-prime veteran player they usually go for.
There are two tables for plate discipline at Fangraphs, and both say he is swinging and missing at pitches inside and outside the zone more than his career averages.
He also had an absurdly low BABIP last year of .225, basically the exact opposite of CJ's luck (aside: CJ will very likely suffer the largest drop in production next year on the roster). Uggla's LD% was down over 3%, and his IFF% was up by almost the exact amount meaning he had a lot of LDs turn into IFFs. Couple that with the fact that teams have probably started shifting on him due to his pull happy ways to take away a bunch of singles (his GB% was actually higher than career averages), and you have a recipe for a terrible BABIP. The same defensive shifting is probably the prime culprit for Mac's BA getting lower and lower over the past few years...it's just not smart to continue to hit grounders into the teeth of a shifted infield. Why these professional hitters continue to do so amazes me.
He seems to be losing his bat-to-ball skills, and that could have been vision related. Problem is, his vision was fixed and he was still awful.
He also had an absurdly low BABIP last year of .225, basically the exact opposite of CJ's luck (aside: CJ will very likely suffer the largest drop in production next year on the roster). Uggla's LD% was down over 3%, and his IFF% was up by almost the exact amount meaning he had a lot of LDs turn into IFFs. Couple that with the fact that teams have probably started shifting on him due to his pull happy ways to take away a bunch of singles (his GB% was actually higher than career averages), and you have a recipe for a terrible BABIP. The same defensive shifting is probably the prime culprit for Mac's BA getting lower and lower over the past few years...it's just not smart to continue to hit grounders into the teeth of a shifted infield. Why these professional hitters continue to do so amazes me.
He seems to be losing his bat-to-ball skills, and that could have been vision related. Problem is, his vision was fixed and he was still awful.
wheresmykayak
High School Draftee
I've always wondered exactly how much of a difference LASIK makes to a hitter. Some have argued that it's worse than PEDs, but Uggla is a pretty strong piece of evidence to the contrary, lol.
I wonder if a site like Fangraphs has ever done a study on the before and after of a player getting the surgery. Could be interesting...
I wonder if a site like Fangraphs has ever done a study on the before and after of a player getting the surgery. Could be interesting...