The Nemesis
Semper Tyrannus
Move over, Danny Jackson.
(last thread went way suuuuuper long.)
(last thread went way suuuuuper long.)
@TheBeastCoast
Just following up on your quote of my post from last thread. Vladdy had poor swing decisions last year too and still performed to the level of his peripherals. He’s absolutely nowhere close to them this year which is abnormal for his career. This is why I’m saying he’s been unlucky. He still scorches the ball, and he doesn’t have a crazy low LA like much of his career. His away stats resemble closer to his peripherals but his home splits are still way down.
Could the centre field approach be affecting his numbers? Could the new dimensions be zapping his power? I know MS and myself are still circling that Pittsburgh series injury as the turning point of his season. Wrist issues are no joke but it never seems to be something brought up by media. Wouldn’t be the first time a player hides an injury.
The lineup looks so much deeper, especially at full strength, with another good RH bat like Schneider and Varsho/KK 9th.The guy had some kind of series to start what will hopefully be a MLB career not just a flash in the pan.
I like Varsho a lot, but I think his value at this time comes from being a CF. Even with the elite D in LF we just need more offensive production in LF consistently, so hopefully Merrifield and Schneider can keep up the production at 2B and LF.
The concern for me is that he now has more data-points of being a replaceable hitter than he does of being a "star". He has one elite season, and that came in 2021 when they played 38 games in Dunedin and then moved to Buffalo to play in a AAA park before moving back home for the tail end of the season, so it's hard to quantify just how much of that success was due to playing in minor league parks.
Simply performing to his peripherals isn't enough. He had a 132 wRC+ last season which is basically exactly where Brandon Belt is today as a 35 year old reclamation bat signed on a 1-year ~$9 mill deal. He is now a career 131 wRC+ hitter, but again, the 166 wRC+ season is still carrying that career total. He has declined significantly from there in each of the past two seasons.
~130 wRC+ hitting sounds impressive, but it's actually fairly replaceable when it comes with negative baserunning and defensive output. It's exactly why teams don't like strict 1B/DH types. So you're getting to the point wherein he's getting expensive for what he actually provides, and you're tasked with potentially committing $20+ mill to him long-term. The other worrying detail is that he isn't even a consistent hitter, as we see that he's prone to all sorts of lapses related to poor swing plane, swing selection, etc. that keep popping in and out.
He desperately needs to be sent to Driveline or some other data-driven thinktank to readjust his swing, but another detail that isn't brought up much is that I'm not even sure how coachable he is. He's from a "baseball family" and I believe his uncle is essentially his de-facto hitting coach. He clearly has all sorts of issues which prevent him from unlocking his true potential, but I get the impression that we're basically under the rule of his family in the Dominican.
Crazy Anderson got more games
Oops. I meant to do the tweet at the bottom. I think both should received the same suspension. Both were at equal fault.Ha, that guy suggesting Ramirez shouldn't have gotten anything is a wild take.
Anderson got clocked.Ramirez kind of started the entire altercation by getting upset at Anderson after the play ended but Anderson for sure started the fight. I can see Anderson getting more games being reasonable because starting the actual fight is worse and it doesn't really matter who got the better of the fight, they were both throwing, it wasn't just defensive posture from Ramirez. He was willing once challenged. 3 games does seem light for Ramirez though. Guys have gotten more in scrums without any punches. I could see 5 for Ramirez, and 8 for Anderson reasonable.
Crazy Anderson got more games
More like a crazy one. Just watched the video again and it looks like Ramirez is the one starting the argument honestly. Anderson might have escalated it but if Ramirez stfu after he's safe nothing happens imo.Ha, that guy suggesting Ramirez shouldn't have gotten anything is a wild take.
Wasn’t he highly rated in the Yanks system a few years ago?