Winter Meetings

[spockmaster]

the winter meetings start today in Dallas, and this is typically DD's busiest time of the offseason. what would you like to see him get done (or not do?)


My list of goals would be:
- sign Kelly Johnson to play 2B
- trade for Maicer Izturis to play 3B (or Chase Headley, if we can pry him from SD)
- trade Delmon Young for some pitching or a bag of balls
- find a replacement for DY or a platoon partner for Raburn in the OF (I would be comfortable with him out there, but i dont like Dirks as a platoon partner)
- sign Mark Buehrle if possible


My list of things not to do would be:
- sign Aramis Ramirez, he would be a terrible fit for this team b/c of his defense and wrigley splits
- keep Delmon Young on the team
- trade for Martin Prado, his price tag is way too high for the performance he would give us
- go after CJ Wilson, he's far too expensive for what he would likely give us (a lot of his success has been due to the Rangers' awesome infield defense, something we lack)
- sign Dotel, he has horrible platoon splits and we already have some pitchers like that who are cheaper (hello, Ryan Perry and Rick Porcello)



What are everyone else's thoughts/predictions?

 

[bestisbest]

Why so against DY?

 

[spockmaster]

because he is likely the worst defensive outfielder in the game not named adam dunn and is one of the worst everyday players in baseball because of his defense, abysmal on-base skills, high rate of grouding into double plays, slow speed on the basepaths, and low power output for someone with this many other glaring flaws. as maligned as raburn is, he is a far better player than young and barring any other OF acquisitions this offseason should be the starter in LF over young.

 

[Mitchrapp]

You forgot a couple things on the don't do list; Don't let B. Inge hit the starting lineup ever, I'll take DY in left over Inge getting 500 PA. And release Raburn.

 

[spockmaster]

Mitch[/color]]You forgot a couple things on the don't do list; Don't let B. Inge hit the starting lineup ever, I'll take DY in left over Inge getting 500 PA. And release Raburn.

raburn is fine if he's not in the infield. though he makes some goofs in the outfield, he's at least adequate defensively out there and even though he only hits for half the year he's better offensively than young. its better to keep raburn and ditch young. i only hate raburn when leyland puts him in a position to fail (ie, playing him at 2nd or 3rd). if he could ever figure out how to hit before july, he'd be a good left fielder.


i also think inge gets cut if we get a new third baseman. at any rate he wouldnt hit 500PAs because he'll at least be platooning with kelly.

 

[Mitchrapp]

Mitch[/color]]You forgot a couple things on the don't do list; Don't let B. Inge hit the starting lineup ever, I'll take DY in left over Inge getting 500 PA. And release Raburn.

raburn is fine if he's not in the infield. though he makes some goofs in the outfield, he's at least adequate defensively out there and even though he only hits for half the year he's better offensively than young. its better to keep raburn and ditch young. i only hate raburn when leyland puts him in a position to fail (ie, playing him at 2nd or 3rd). if he could ever figure out how to hit before july, he'd be a good left fielder.


i also think inge gets cut if we get a new third baseman. at any rate he wouldnt hit 500PAs because he'll at least be platooning with kelly.

Who cares if he's an adequate left fielder. He doesn't hit for 3 months. I'll take a less hitter but more consistent than .205 for 3, .320 for 3.

 

[spockmaster]

obviously id prefer a new left fielder altogether as well, but if i have to choose between raburn and young ill take raburn every time despite his problems.

 

[Mitchrapp]

obviously id prefer a new left fielder altogether as well, but if i have to choose between raburn and young ill take raburn every time despite his problems.

I'll take Young. Even when he was getting outs last year he was creaming the ball. He doesn't take a pitch but that means less strikeouts

 

[spockmaster]

you do know that for his career, young only hits for about half the year too, right? he hits in june, july and sept but not in april, may or august. july is the only month of the year when he has an OPS over .800. raburn on the other hand has an OPS over .800 for august and september and his only OPS under .746 is in may (which is an abysmally low .465). DY has several months in the .600s.

really no matter way you look at it, raburn is a better player than young is and for less money.






really though, i feel like we're comparing dog crap to horse crap. either way we're stuck with crap, we just need to figure out which crap is less annoying.

 

[Mitchrapp]

I would like to think DY can get better because of his age. And IMO, if you're going to get stuck with crap I'll take the younger guy. He might get better, Raburn won't.

 

[Mitchrapp]

And I think a big problem was, just like aj - DY shouldn't have been hitting so high. Put him 7th.

 

[spockmaster]

unless he suddenly develops plate discipline, speed, and more power DY is what he is already.

 

[thehippo73]

As far as the infield, I think we will only get one of the two spots filled. I would take Prado over Johnson and Izturis. He batted .360 leading off the game last year. If we can start scoring in the first inning, it will give our pitching staff a ton of confidence.

I agree that I don't want DY anywhere near our outfield. Yoenis Cespedes should be the primary goal.

Buehrle would be ideal. But I could deal with Erik Bedard, Paul Maholm or Jeff Francis as a 5th starter.

 

[chrisinthed]

Epic Ryan Raburn fail here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmoXwKpRDRQ


Raburn is not an adequate LF, and he is not fine. He is the worst fielding player I've ever seen in the major leagues. He has had plenty of chances to prove otherwise, but has failed to improve his fielding. He does have a very nice throwing arm, but his glove sucks, and there is no disputing it. He drops routine fly balls, and if you watch the video above, you will remember just one of his many boneheaded plays. I would much rather take Delmon Young over Raburn in LF any day of the week.

 

[Mitchrapp]

We need a 2nd and 3rd base replacement. So any combo of Johnson, Izturis, Prada or a few others. OF would be nice but not as important as INF, IMO.

 

[kalinecountry]

Epic Ryan Raburn fail here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmoXwKpRDRQ


Raburn is not an adequate LF, and he is not fine. He is the worst fielding player I've ever seen in the major leagues. He has had plenty of chances to prove otherwise, but has failed to improve his fielding. He does have a very nice throwing arm, but his glove sucks, and there is no disputing it. He drops routine fly balls, and if you watch the video above, you will remember just one of his many boneheaded plays. I would much rather take Delmon Young over Raburn in LF any day of the week.

I shouldn't have watched that. I can feel my blood starting to boil thinking of another season with Raburn/Mudhen/Shinebox/ButcherOfComerica/Dr.Strangeglove.
Young is also a hack at the plate and as bad in the field, crap at 3B, and 2B except for Santiago who is always used a part timer.
Hate to say it but realistically looking for needs at 3 positions and a 6/7th inning reliever, and trying to get these player(s) that can fill in at the top 3 spots in the lineup, it sounds like alot to ask for in one offseason.

 

[spockmaster]

Epic Ryan Raburn fail here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmoXwKpRDRQ


Raburn is not an adequate LF, and he is not fine. He is the worst fielding player I've ever seen in the major leagues. He has had plenty of chances to prove otherwise, but has failed to improve his fielding. He does have a very nice throwing arm, but his glove sucks, and there is no disputing it. He drops routine fly balls, and if you watch the video above, you will remember just one of his many boneheaded plays. I would much rather take Delmon Young over Raburn in LF any day of the week.

Raburn, for his career, has a UZR and UZR/150 of 1.9 in the OF and that his best position by far is left field, where his numbers are 6.7/6.8. his total zone for the OF is 3, and 4 in LF.

Delmon Young, in comparison, has a -49.6 UZR and -11 UZR/150 in the OF, with left field being his worst position with -46.4/-14 and a TZ of -59/-43. The only stat Young Beats Raburn in is in useless fielding % (.977/.975 vs .967).



Sure Raburn will make the occasional boneheaded play, but to say that he is anything less than adequate or below average in the outfield while saying you would take Young over him is, frankly, insane. The numbers just dont back that up. Raburn should just never be allowed near the infield. Im not exactly a fan of Raburn, but some of the Raburn hate on here goes a little too far imo. He would be a servicable full-time LF and an excellent platoon partner given how he crushes left-handed pitching (career .847 OPS, .364 wOBA, and 123 RC+ vs lefties).




as for prado vs izturis, i think prado is just going to cost far too much and wouldnt be worth it even for the upgrade he would be. if we could get him without giving up turner or castellanos, id be thrilled, but i have a feeling atlanta would want either or both of them and im just not comfortable with that. looking at prado vs izturis' stats, prado is basically a younger izturis. is he worth our 2 top prospects?

 

[Mitchrapp]

Face it, DY, Shinebox and the Gimp (Inge) will get significant time next year with the Tigers. Our bench guys will be Dirks, Kelly, and Santiago. Same team intact basically. Outside fat ass Laird.

 

[jimrice]

Spockmaster fighting the good fight. Face it, people hate Raburn and always will.

 

[Mitchrapp]

You want to make Raburn a land hand platoon, super. But no thanks to 500 PA.