"not worthy of its own thread" offseason thread

[Popeye_Card]

Anyone else worried about the left side of the infield?

Dejong has never been considered a great SS in the minors. And with his K:BB ratio, we could see a significant drop off in production. Both on defense and offense.

Gyorko returning to norms? He may not drop much at 3B defense, but he is getting older and then you have to think about how his average will come down if his BABIP comes down to normal. As well as his OBP coming down to career norms of .305. I worry about those two the most. Definitely would like another starter-worthy arm too.

I'm pretty nervous about DeJong, and fairly nervous about Gyorko being inked into the daily lineup. That's why I'd still be interested in a Moustakas or Frazier signing if the years and cost are attractive.

SS is the team's biggest long-term quagmire to solve.

The bullpen makes me nervous too, but bullpens have a way of either working out or completely sucking no matter what the plan is going in. We have at least decent options to hedge ourselves a bit at 3B (and by extension 2B by making Gyorko a super-sub).

[cardsfantx]

Anyone else worried about the left side of the infield?

Dejong has never been considered a great SS in the minors. And with his K:BB ratio, we could see a significant drop off in production. Both on defense and offense.

Gyorko returning to norms? He may not drop much at 3B defense, but he is getting older and then you have to think about how his average will come down if his BABIP comes down to normal. As well as his OBP coming down to career norms of .305. I worry about those two the most. Definitely would like another starter-worthy arm too.

he never really played SS in the minors (he played 11 games at SS in 2016 and 112 at 3b; we just drafted him in 2015). This year (2017) was his first year as a SS, and the rating had him as above average at SS.

he hit 22 HR in his first full year in the minors last year (2016), and hit 38 this last year (2017) in MLB/minors.

If he plays average defense, keeps around the same k:bb ratio, and hits approx 25-30 HRs...that's a very valuable SS...one of the best in the game in fact.

the jerko's defense was 2nd in the entire NL to the fantastic arenado in COL...if he hits .240 with 20-25 HRs and plays excellent 3b defense (which is all possible; hell likely?)...he's ok

[Big Amoco Sign]

DeJong is basically Grichuk without competition at SS. 38 bombs means nothing when you're whatever at SS (a position that it helps to be higher than average at defensively to win games) and you're not walking much to counter high K rate. Grichuk was the prime example of that. DeJong bungles and bobbles and messed up more than a few double plays. I'm not completely sold. Fangraphs UZR/DEF ratings are way too small sample wise. Helps to go with the scouting reports which say he's better suited at 3B. Arm is decent but footwork just isn't there. He's not staying at SS long beyond 2018.

Todd Frazier would be a good get at 1y/9 million to back up/share with Gyorko.

Or even a cheap backup like Erick Aybar who can hit switch hit. I cringe thinking of Greg Garcia at SS as well. And I doubt this team would sign a Jose Reyes.

[Jocephus]

According to Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times, Yu Darvish "has made clear he would like to return to the Dodgers."
McCullough says "part of the delay in his free agency is related to waiting to see if the [Dodgers] can move some of the money" that might allow them to re-sign Darvish and still remain under the luxury tax threshold for 2018. That could be a tall task, but McCullough adds that "extraneous assets such as Yasmani Grandal, Logan Forsythe and Hyun-Jin Ryu" have all been shopped in recent weeks. Darvish is also known to be drawing free agent interest from the Twins, Cubs, Brewers, Yankees, and Rangers. The waiting game continues.
Source: Los Angeles Times
Jan 30 - 4:13 PM

[MinorLeagueGuy]

Another Star waiting to legitimately join a juggernaut, long-term. We must grow our own.

[Socnorb11]

Collusion by the players............

[InvincibleCakeEater]

DeJong is basically Grichuk without competition at SS. 38 bombs means nothing when you're whatever at SS (a position that it helps to be higher than average at defensively to win games) and you're not walking much to counter high K rate. Grichuk was the prime example of that. DeJong bungles and bobbles and messed up more than a few double plays. I'm not completely sold. Fangraphs UZR/DEF ratings are way too small sample wise. Helps to go with the scouting reports which say he's better suited at 3B. Arm is decent but footwork just isn't there. He's not staying at SS long beyond 2018.

Todd Frazier would be a good get at 1y/9 million to back up/share with Gyorko.

Or even a cheap backup like Erick Aybar who can hit switch hit. I cringe thinking of Greg Garcia at SS as well. And I doubt this team would sign a Jose Reyes.

lol

That's pretty rich.

I like how you advocate Frazier (aka 3b DeJong) though.

[Hoot45]

I think it's time to just make the move on Darvish. By the back half of the contract, the Cardinals will have tens of millions off the books and will have likely received three years of ace level performance.

I would like to see us add Darvish too. And I don't even think he will be amazing. But starting pitching is a bigger concern to me than 3B/SS or the TBD closer strategy. Due to a combination of player aging and walk years, this team is built to be competitive for two more years. Adding a top SP takes some pressure off the young pitchers and the bullpen. And it gives us more to work with in what I personally think are two important years.

[Fat Strat]

Anyone else worried about the left side of the infield?

Dejong has never been considered a great SS in the minors. And with his K:BB ratio, we could see a significant drop off in production. Both on defense and offense.

Gyorko returning to norms? He may not drop much at 3B defense, but he is getting older and then you have to think about how his average will come down if his BABIP comes down to normal. As well as his OBP coming down to career norms of .305. I worry about those two the most. Definitely would like another starter-worthy arm too.

Yes. Definitely.

[heyzeus]

DeJong graded acceptably above average at defense last season. The real concern is that 4.7% BB/28%K rate. There aren't many hitters that do well long term with ratios like that.