Out of Rightfield
by BobZupcic on Nov 8, 2011 4:15 PM EST
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PrintFor the past 5 seasons the Boston Red Sox have had the luxury of penciling in a name for their starting right-field job. While J.D. Drew didn't inspire the confidence that comes with a regulat 150+ game player, he did, at the very least, offer some stability as a defensive stalwart and solid bat. In 2012, things will be different and while RF is not the huge gaping hole that the back-end of the rotation is, it is still a critical part of the team and deserves discussion. In this article we will look at what we currently have, what's out there to be had and what the best options may or may not be for #9 position.
In-House Options: The cheapest and easiest option would be to hand the job over to either the 25 year old Josh Reddick or the 24 year old Ryan Kalish. These two guys have been climbing the system ladder near each other's heels for the past few years and it may be time to choose one and see what they can do with a full-season. The obvious choice here for a few reasons is Josh Reddick due to his experience with the parent club last year and his health. While many pundits believe he is the better all-around player, Kalish, coming off injury, will likely need some significant time in the minors to get his game going. In 2012 Reddick posted a 0.280/0.327/0.784 slash line in 278 PAs showing some line-drive power. Behind these numbers, however you will find a 42 PA barrage in May/June, a decent July and then a fall back to Earth in Aug/September. Can Reddick perform for a whole season? On large trouble-spot: his free-swinging ways led to 50 K's in those 278 PAs. Back in 1999 another young farm-hand was handed the RF job and while he never really learned to mash lefties, he turned in a pretty good career. The difference of course between Trot Nixon and Josh Reddick can be found in one stat - OBP (Nixon's career OBP in the minors/majors 0.366/0.364, Reddick's - 0.332/0.290).
Free Agents (Part 1): When scouring the available pool of free agents, it might be best to look at it in two ways. (1) I'm looking for a full-time starter and (2) I'm looking for a solid bat to platoon. Let's start with the first option. Below is a list of the outfield free-agents.
Ankiel, Beltran, Bradley, Burrell, Cameron, Crisp, Cuddyer, Cust, Damon, DeJesus, Drew, Fukodome, Gomes, Gross, Guerero, Hairston, Harris, Ibanez, C. Jackson, Jones, Kearns, Kubel, Ludwick, Matsui, McLouth, Michaels, Nix, Ordonez, Pierre, Ross, Sizemore, Stairs, Thames, Willingham
Out of this list you could argue are about 6 players that you could call "every-day" outfielders at this point in their career (and for some of these that might be a stretch): My list: Beltran, Crisp, Cuddyer, DeJesus, Sizemore and Willingham. Just about everyone else has some fatal flaw (can't hit righties, can't field, does not have knees, etc..)
Now that you've got that list whittled down to 6 - 2 of them do not really belong in the outfield due to porous defense (Willingham and Cuddyer) and one is probably best suited to being a 4th guy (DeJesus). This leaves us with Beltran, Sizemore and Crisp. Sizemore hits lefty and is an injury waiting to happen and while I like Crisp as a player, I think you're probably looking for a bit more in the power department (since we've got leadoff/speed covered).
As many have already posted - the best option here is Carlos Beltran, who at 34 still may have a few years in the legs, can still play solid defense, bats from the right and can poke a ball every now and again. A two-year contract here with some incentives might be a good play. This would relegate Reddick to 4th outfielder role or to the trade table for pitching.
Free Agents (Part 2): A third option would be to find a complimentary player to Reddick and platoon him. Here your would most likely want a guy who can still field decently, bats from the right and shows occasional power. On top of that you would be looking for a one-year deal to mitigate cost. Out of our above list the following names emerge:
Ross, Ludwick, Willingham, Ordonez, Jones
Willingham will most likely get a multi-year deal from somewhere but the others could probably be had for a one-year at a reasonable price. Looking at just OPS vs L over their career (Jones = 0.867, Ross 0.912, Ordonez = 0.936, Ludwick = 0.751). I'd rank them based upon potential cost, defense, age etc. - Ross, Ordonez, Jones, Ludwick
Discuss at will
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This is really unlikely and probably not a good use of 30 million but...
Yoenis Cespedes. Simply for the fact that his “showcase” video was hilarious.
I'm not sure it's really THAT unlikely
Seems like the Red Sox are scouting him heavily anyway. Probably would start in AAA, but if he hits well and shows some plate discipline (the bane of Cuban players) he could be up shortly after that, depending on what you did with RF anyway.
by South Coast Ghost on Nov 8, 2011 4:42 PM EST up reply actions
Cespedes is a beast,
and the bidding for him is gonna get serious. I can’t imagine he’d sign with a team that wanted to put him at AAA, even to start.
I dunno about that
even with all the hype, Chapman still started in AAA. It’s not just a baseball adjustment, but a big cultural adjustment as well, and I think the agents would understand that and try to convey it to the player.
Chapman was only 22 years old, I think
and didn’t even have particularly good numbers in Cuba. No way was he going straight to the majors. This guy is a much more polished player in his prime.
That said, I suppose I’m still probably wrong, because yeah, his agents will just urge him to sign wherever he can get the most money, regardless of where he’ll play.
I'm fine with letting Reddick start the year
and seeing what he can do. If he falters and Kalish is healthy we could just switch them.
I'm a 7 WAR player in bed.
DFA Rev Halofan, The New York Yankees, The Tampa Bay Blue Seats, Carl Crawford, John Lackey, Darnell McDonald, Dave Magadan, Tim Bogar, Buck Showalter, Dan Johnson, Hawk Harrelson, Jonah Keri, Murray Chass, Mark Sanchez, Micheal Vick, Jared Allen, Jerry Jones, Al Davis, Rex Ryan, Rob Ryan, Trent Dilfer, Heath Evans, Cris Carter, Vuvuzelas, The Chicken Dance, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Stephanie Meyer, and the entire fucking city of Philadelphia.
Sound like the Sox
are really interested Carlos Beltran. Which would be very interesting on many levels if the Sox signed him.
Sox are talking with Beltran's people - looks like a good fit.
Reddick would almost certainly be trade fodder as I can’t imagine him sitting on the bench and being an occasional fill-in guy at his still young stage especially given the above-average year he just had. I would imagine Reddick’s trade value is fairly decent right now as he oozes potential and young RF stability for a building club without giant resources.
Reddick as part of a trade package for Gio Gonzalez?
I'm a 7 WAR player in bed.
DFA Rev Halofan, The New York Yankees, The Tampa Bay Blue Seats, Carl Crawford, John Lackey, Darnell McDonald, Dave Magadan, Tim Bogar, Buck Showalter, Dan Johnson, Hawk Harrelson, Jonah Keri, Murray Chass, Mark Sanchez, Micheal Vick, Jared Allen, Jerry Jones, Al Davis, Rex Ryan, Rob Ryan, Trent Dilfer, Heath Evans, Cris Carter, Vuvuzelas, The Chicken Dance, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Stephanie Meyer, and the entire fucking city of Philadelphia.
The A's certainly seem like one of the teams that would make the most sense for Reddick
I’d have to imagine Gio would cost a TON more, but that seems like it might be a start
Let Bedard walk
Send Reddick, Lars, Wilson, Britton, Pimental to Oakland for Gio
Send Middlebrooks and Iglesias to SD for Headley
Send Youkilis to Milwaukee for Marcum.
Pray.
I'm a 7 WAR player in bed.
DFA Rev Halofan, The New York Yankees, The Tampa Bay Blue Seats, Carl Crawford, John Lackey, Darnell McDonald, Dave Magadan, Tim Bogar, Buck Showalter, Dan Johnson, Hawk Harrelson, Jonah Keri, Murray Chass, Mark Sanchez, Micheal Vick, Jared Allen, Jerry Jones, Al Davis, Rex Ryan, Rob Ryan, Trent Dilfer, Heath Evans, Cris Carter, Vuvuzelas, The Chicken Dance, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Stephanie Meyer, and the entire fucking city of Philadelphia.
Gotta trade Iglesias while he still has value.
I'm a 7 WAR player in bed.
DFA Rev Halofan, The New York Yankees, The Tampa Bay Blue Seats, Carl Crawford, John Lackey, Darnell McDonald, Dave Magadan, Tim Bogar, Buck Showalter, Dan Johnson, Hawk Harrelson, Jonah Keri, Murray Chass, Mark Sanchez, Micheal Vick, Jared Allen, Jerry Jones, Al Davis, Rex Ryan, Rob Ryan, Trent Dilfer, Heath Evans, Cris Carter, Vuvuzelas, The Chicken Dance, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Stephanie Meyer, and the entire fucking city of Philadelphia.
I think it's pretty common knowledge that Iglesias can't hit
I gotta go 'cause I'm probably definitely gonna nod out again.
by Drugs Delaney on Nov 8, 2011 10:37 PM EST up reply actions
yeah I don't really get the view that he has value
it’s not like his stats are a secret only we can see. The fact is that we signed him because we outbid what everyone else would pay for him at the time, and his value certainly hasn’t gone up since then.
Why trade Middlebrooks?
When he’s probably better than Headley will ever be?
Check out my blog at http://conor-soxrox.blogspot.com
Because he's not
Not yet anyway, and he’s not ready for the Majors. That’s a very extreme version of my offseason plan.
I'm a 7 WAR player in bed.
DFA Rev Halofan, The New York Yankees, The Tampa Bay Blue Seats, Carl Crawford, John Lackey, Darnell McDonald, Dave Magadan, Tim Bogar, Buck Showalter, Dan Johnson, Hawk Harrelson, Jonah Keri, Murray Chass, Mark Sanchez, Micheal Vick, Jared Allen, Jerry Jones, Al Davis, Rex Ryan, Rob Ryan, Trent Dilfer, Heath Evans, Cris Carter, Vuvuzelas, The Chicken Dance, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Stephanie Meyer, and the entire fucking city of Philadelphia.
by TheLoneDavid on Nov 9, 2011 11:17 AM EST up reply actions
"They" weren't necessarily wrong.
If you read my offseason plan you’ll see I’d like to hold onto Middlebrooks. I want Headley as the starter moving on from ‘12 because he’s younger and better defensively than Youkilis, so if Middlebrooks can’t repeat this year’s numbers we’re not stuck with either an aging crippled third baseman, or no third baseman at all.
I'm a 7 WAR player in bed.
DFA Rev Halofan, The New York Yankees, The Tampa Bay Blue Seats, Carl Crawford, John Lackey, Darnell McDonald, Dave Magadan, Tim Bogar, Buck Showalter, Dan Johnson, Hawk Harrelson, Jonah Keri, Murray Chass, Mark Sanchez, Micheal Vick, Jared Allen, Jerry Jones, Al Davis, Rex Ryan, Rob Ryan, Trent Dilfer, Heath Evans, Cris Carter, Vuvuzelas, The Chicken Dance, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Stephanie Meyer, and the entire fucking city of Philadelphia.
I'm not contradicting you.
However, why do you want Headley so much? He has had decent numbers over the past 4 years; no more, no less. His 162 game average is .269/.343/.392 with 11 home runs. He is in a pitcher’s park, so we’ll see the homers jump and the average a little bit but I’d say he’s a 15 home run player at best. I certainly wouldn’t mind having him on the team, but I am not quite sure of why you are so excited at the prospect of having him.
Check out my blog at http://conor-soxrox.blogspot.com
Settle down, Calculator Boys!
partially evaluate a player’s worth.
Galactus does as he pleases. Because Galactus is drunk.
@#$%ing Twit: @blogtard
OTM | Silver Seven
Hey Alexei Ramirez is probably a
“15 home run player at best” and I’d dance a jig in my underwear if he was our SS
Different positions
A 15 hr shortstop would be a lot more valuable than a 15 hr third baseman. Plus, yes, I do consider home runs valuable. Would you guys be saying Jacoby Ellsbury was so amazing if he had hit 8 this past year— I don’t think so.
Check out my blog at http://conor-soxrox.blogspot.com
if he put up a
.321/.376/.552 line with 8 homers, yes, I’d be saying he was amazing. That’d mean he had… what… something like 110 doubles.
I don't know
I actually thought Ellsbury was pretty darn good in 2008 when he hit 9, I mean heck the team hit 203 HR last year – good for 3rd place in the majors and look where it got them.
also Headley hit 11 in 2010
and put up a 4.9 WAR while Ramirez hit 15 last year and managed a 4.9 WAR
Not just that
if you lay Headley’s hit chart over Fenway’s dimensions, he becomes a doubles machine. I would guess in Fenway he puts up 4-5 WAR every year he’s here.
I'm a 7 WAR player in bed.
DFA Rev Halofan, The New York Yankees, The Tampa Bay Blue Seats, Carl Crawford, John Lackey, Darnell McDonald, Dave Magadan, Tim Bogar, Buck Showalter, Dan Johnson, Hawk Harrelson, Jonah Keri, Murray Chass, Mark Sanchez, Micheal Vick, Jared Allen, Jerry Jones, Al Davis, Rex Ryan, Rob Ryan, Trent Dilfer, Heath Evans, Cris Carter, Vuvuzelas, The Chicken Dance, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Stephanie Meyer, and the entire fucking city of Philadelphia.
by TheLoneDavid on Nov 10, 2011 8:51 PM EST up reply actions
Those things should be illegal.
Galactus does as he pleases. Because Galactus is drunk.
@#$%ing Twit: @blogtard
OTM | Silver Seven
Wow......
I like the speculative trades….cause we need pitching real,real bad!…..and Headley is vastly under-rated in my view….I’m all in…
WUNDERBAR!
I think I’m going to like you.
I'm a 7 WAR player in bed.
DFA Rev Halofan, The New York Yankees, The Tampa Bay Blue Seats, Carl Crawford, John Lackey, Darnell McDonald, Dave Magadan, Tim Bogar, Buck Showalter, Dan Johnson, Hawk Harrelson, Jonah Keri, Murray Chass, Mark Sanchez, Micheal Vick, Jared Allen, Jerry Jones, Al Davis, Rex Ryan, Rob Ryan, Trent Dilfer, Heath Evans, Cris Carter, Vuvuzelas, The Chicken Dance, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Stephanie Meyer, and the entire fucking city of Philadelphia.
Guys on SoSH are speculating that Beltran would be signed as a DH/ backup RF
The theory is that he could provide a similar level of offensive output as Ortiz, and could spell Reddick/Kalish in the outfield. This would also provide Lavarnway with ways into the lineup on days that he isn’t catching.
It’s all dependent on Beltran’s health, but minimizing his time in the outfield might help there as well. It’s a solid idea, since we’d effectively replace the “Ortiz + free agent RF” costs that many were anticipating with Beltran alone. If we can get him for a reasonable deal, I’m all for this.
(Another factor in Beltran’s favor is that he wouldn’t cost a draft pick to sign – his contract forbids the Giants from offering him arbitration.)
As much as I'd hate to lose Papi
from a flexibility and fiscal standpoint this makes some sense. You would have
Youk 3B/DH
Beltran RF/DH
Lavarnway C/DH
three right-handed bats you could roll into the DH slot and you could go right-handed heavy with all three in the lineup. While none of these guys wold necessarily replace Ortiz’s bat directly the drop-off would most likely not be huge.
Yes, that is my thought exactly too
"Man that ball got outta here in a hurry, you know anything that travels that far oughta have a damn stewardess on it, don't you think?" - Crash Davis
frankly,
Beltran probably costs less per year than Papi does for the Red Sox, BUT (and I realize this is not necessarily good baseball reasoning) it’s Papi. That would be most unfortunate.
Wouldn't there would be somewhat of a disparity in the DH slot against RHP's vs. Ortiz being there?
I know you have to give up something to get something and you do gain flexibility, but 70 percent of ABs come against RHPs after all. I guess Beltran would DH then and put one of the lefty hitters in RF.
And yeah, wolf, it’s Papi, after all. wow, that would be something.
Gotta keep Papi happy
we want him to come back in 5-10 years and be the hitting coach.
I'm a 7 WAR player in bed.
DFA Rev Halofan, The New York Yankees, The Tampa Bay Blue Seats, Carl Crawford, John Lackey, Darnell McDonald, Dave Magadan, Tim Bogar, Buck Showalter, Dan Johnson, Hawk Harrelson, Jonah Keri, Murray Chass, Mark Sanchez, Micheal Vick, Jared Allen, Jerry Jones, Al Davis, Rex Ryan, Rob Ryan, Trent Dilfer, Heath Evans, Cris Carter, Vuvuzelas, The Chicken Dance, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Stephanie Meyer, and the entire fucking city of Philadelphia.
What makes you think Ortiz (1) wants to be the hitting coach, and (2) would be a good hitting coach?
I gotta go 'cause I'm probably definitely gonna nod out again.
by Drugs Delaney on Nov 8, 2011 10:34 PM EST up reply actions
This was my thought as well
Great players don’t always make great coaches and vice versa. I wouldn’t put it past Papi to do it well, but I’m not really sold that he can just based on his personal hitting success.
by The Name is Dalton on Nov 9, 2011 8:42 AM EST up reply actions
(1) It can't hurt to offer him the job
(2) He’s a good, very smart hitter. I would start him in the minors and see how he does. If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out.
I'm a 7 WAR player in bed.
DFA Rev Halofan, The New York Yankees, The Tampa Bay Blue Seats, Carl Crawford, John Lackey, Darnell McDonald, Dave Magadan, Tim Bogar, Buck Showalter, Dan Johnson, Hawk Harrelson, Jonah Keri, Murray Chass, Mark Sanchez, Micheal Vick, Jared Allen, Jerry Jones, Al Davis, Rex Ryan, Rob Ryan, Trent Dilfer, Heath Evans, Cris Carter, Vuvuzelas, The Chicken Dance, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Stephanie Meyer, and the entire fucking city of Philadelphia.
by TheLoneDavid on Nov 9, 2011 11:19 AM EST up reply actions
I'm not sure Beltran would cost less than Ortiz
The market for good offensive OF is higher than the market for DHs. Also, Beltran didn’t want to go to the AL last year because he didn’t want to be a DH.
I gotta go 'cause I'm probably definitely gonna nod out again.
by Drugs Delaney on Nov 8, 2011 10:35 PM EST up reply actions
For the same $$
I would rather Papi + Reddick/Kalish + Ross or Willingham than Beltran and no Papi, no Reddick. Unless Lavarnway became DH for 100G and C for 60; and of those those 60G, 40 go to Youk and 20 to Gonzo with Youk playing 1b. That would replace Papi + Reddick/Kalish with Beltran + Lava + healthy Youk + Lowrie for 60+G at 3b +
rested Gonzo,‘which might produce even greater, more consistent offense and defense. Still, we can hope that both Papi and Beltran sign favorable deals … And where are the rumors about Sox pitching,’which is FAR more important
I know my name implies I care more about the opposite field...
But let me give my own two cents.
In right field, I will put Reddick and trade him once Kalish gets up to the majors. Sign a righty bat on the cheap and pursue pitching.
Right Field is FAR from our biggest concern right now. Defensively you already have Ells and Crawford (who will bounce back… he better).
The Red Sox suck, and I am the dirt that was sucked in, I am a dirty.
I'm narcissistic, nihilistic, and arrogant. That's me in a nutshell.
I think Reddick this year is in the same sort of situation that Salty was in last year
Basically, our offense is so good that we can deal with even a slightly below average bat over there. Reddick’s defense is pretty awesome (minus a bad couple weeks in September) so if he can come out with something like .265/.330/.430 I would accept that in the bottom part of the batting order.
I'm a 7 WAR player in bed.
DFA Rev Halofan, The New York Yankees, The Tampa Bay Blue Seats, Carl Crawford, John Lackey, Darnell McDonald, Dave Magadan, Tim Bogar, Buck Showalter, Dan Johnson, Hawk Harrelson, Jonah Keri, Murray Chass, Mark Sanchez, Micheal Vick, Jared Allen, Jerry Jones, Al Davis, Rex Ryan, Rob Ryan, Trent Dilfer, Heath Evans, Cris Carter, Vuvuzelas, The Chicken Dance, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Stephanie Meyer, and the entire fucking city of Philadelphia.
Trade for Hunter Pence
The 2011 Over the Monster Gedman League Fantasy Baseball Champion
I hate free agency
What incentive do the Phillies have to trade Pence?
I'm a 7 WAR player in bed.
DFA Rev Halofan, The New York Yankees, The Tampa Bay Blue Seats, Carl Crawford, John Lackey, Darnell McDonald, Dave Magadan, Tim Bogar, Buck Showalter, Dan Johnson, Hawk Harrelson, Jonah Keri, Murray Chass, Mark Sanchez, Micheal Vick, Jared Allen, Jerry Jones, Al Davis, Rex Ryan, Rob Ryan, Trent Dilfer, Heath Evans, Cris Carter, Vuvuzelas, The Chicken Dance, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Stephanie Meyer, and the entire fucking city of Philadelphia.
by TheLoneDavid on Nov 11, 2011 2:54 AM EST up reply actions
Why would they trade him?
Check out my blog at http://conor-soxrox.blogspot.com
I hope it is not Ludwick. He would be “low risk/no reward”. I would rather have Crisp, who could leadoff and steal some bases. Crisp and Scutaro would bat 1 and 2,in front of the big boys. He can also play a good CF. How is it, again, that he was let go? The first choice, considering how much money is coming off the books, would be Beltran. He would be a real difference maker. A switch hitter who hits for power and average, and is a fine baserunner. He may not steal alot,but he remains a threat, and rarely gets thrown out, and has won gold gloves. Considering that they paid Drew 14 mill, they shouldnt have a problem with paying Beltran10. But, they will dick around,doing “due dilligence” and " swapping text messages", and ultimately come up a few dollars short,if they even try to get him. That leaves Reddick, in need of a platoon partner. Reed Johnson could be a very cheap and productive pick,as could Andrue Jones. I’ve said it before. The need to good RH bats to platoon with Reddick and Crawford. Any two of Jones, Johnson,and Crisp would be my choices.
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