I'm just saying all you on the let Hanley walk train... are you ok with the then potential scenario of Rojas/Arruebarrena starting at SS? I'm not.
Hell to the no. Like seriously, fuck no. I could handle say Turner if he improves his D, but that's at best .200 hitting with zero power and run production. Basically losing 70 RBI's at bare minimum. Can't take that hit IMO. Unless they are going to save 40 runs a year, which they aren't, just absolutely not
so you're cool with our SS hitting .185-.200? you'll be one of the people bitching by the end of April about how we let Hanley leave. and Seager is another year away, so let's waste a year?
and if Arruba was hitting .185-.200, you'd just say " we're fine " yep. that works. and if they don't trust Arruba, they can give Jed Lowrie a 1 or 2 year deal and potentially get the same 280avg/13HRs that they got from Hanley from Lowrie + Lowrie was the 12th ranked SS defensively..Hanley was 21st (2nd to last). Lowrie can also better handle a switch to 3B..as can Arruba.
We have enough hitting at other positions, IMO. Having a great glove at SS would be ideal. Don't get me wrong though, I love Hanley offensively, and we will obviously be a bit worse hitting wise. But I think it's worth it to upgrade the defense greatly. If he takes the QO, I can live with him for one more year. If not, he won't be worth the huge contract.
even though he was still productive, all Hanley proved this year is that putting him in a 1 year/contract year situation would amount to watching him press, play selfishly and swing for the fences all year long. the dude even cut out all interviews at one point because he didn't wanna say anything to hurt the chances of his next contract. i bet they're secretly hoping that he declines the QO and finds another deal elsewhere. aside from that.. the movement from Kasten has been to not hamstring our future by chasing the present..to not hurt or sacrifice our farm. and they then backed it up by refusing to deal Seager, Urias and Pederson at the trade deadline to improve their chances on the season.. ..the point being: this idea that they're gonna go all crazy because " OMG what are we gonna do without Hanley for 1 year and until Seager comes up?!? " is sort of ridiculous. they're not gonna lose it or lose sight of the goal because of 1 year. like i said earlier..if they don't quite trust Arruba just yet, Jed Lowrie makes a lot of sense for next year. give the guy a 2yr deal and he can play SS or 3B..wherever they wanna put Seager in 2016, Lowrie could play the other position. Lowrie's better suited for 3B than Hanley is, he has 15HR potential ( Hanley gave us 13 last year), and he's a switch hitter that hits for average as a righty and has pop as a lefty. Hanley on a 1yr deal..plenty of potential for bust, but fine..still, certainly not " stuck with Hanley @ 3B when Seager comes up " though. no sir.
that's questionable at this point... he's going to be a well below average hitter, I'm not sure it will suffice even with his great defense.
says who? I talked to a scout who said he was better than he thought and saw a game where he drove four balls to the track in Rancho. his raw bat to ball ability is average to above it's really his approach that kills him.
well, from what i saw..Arruba's ABs started to look pretty good as the season went on. i know they changed his stance a bit and he came back with a more upright/" Hanley-esque " type of stance with his hands higher and it helped him out supposedly. the book is far from closed on Arruba. he's 24yrs old.
says just about everybody I respect? his swing is awful, so long and loopy, he had decent power with that huge swing, but making contact seems like it's going to be a huge issue. It's a certain work in process at best from what I can see.
General information here, ...over the last two seasons twenty-two qualifying offers were made to players. None were accepted. (Cuddyer could be the one to break the string, though.)
I suppose, I guess we won't know how he's really progressed since joining the organization until next spring, but at this point, I don't think he can be relied on the be a everybody player...yet. Nothing I've seen in the short sample size leads me to believe he's going to be an even league average hitter...yet.
what are you saying? when he 1st showed up they said Arruba's ABs were EMBARRASSING. even if he's not where we ultimately want him to be right now, he's still come a long way. now, let's see if he can sustain it and make a little more progress over the winter. that's the test. i imagine he's enjoyed looking better at the plate..nobody likes to look like a clown.
did he look better at the end of the season though? I still seen the same lame approach trying to hit bombs.
