Marte or Valbuena?

[Chuck]

So far Marte had looked good this spring and we know he can play 1B, 3B, and LF. 

Thoughts?

[Second Base]

29 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

So far Marte had looked good this spring and we know he can play 1B, 3B, and LF. 

Thoughts?

 Valbuena hasn't looked bad at the plate at all either. As much as we all want a sexier option, I think if Luis stays healthy, he'll open some eyes this year.

Marte can drive the ball, he really can. But I think in his case, and in Carlos Perez's, they're playing for the Angels right now, but they're really showcasing for other teams too. Chances are they're both dealt this Spring.

[ettin]

He is exactly what he is: a lefty-mashing corner infielder that plays reasonable defense and can play LF too. Not sure if he makes the team simply due to playing time but I think he is useful still.

Valbuena is just Marte who can mash righties and plays the same type of defense.

Pick your poison (probably the guy that is getting paid $8M this season).

[Billy_Ball]

Valbuena

[Chris]

Valbuena.  Nice to have a 3rd lefty after Calhoun and Ohtani.

[DMVol]

They aren't eating the 8 million owed to Valbuena this year...

[eaterfan]

I wouldn't ever look at how a guy is performing in Spring Training, let alone the first week. We have no idea what anyone is working on.

Both guys have about equal ceilings, Valbuena has a much higher floor. He's also a lefty bat and costs $8 million. I don't think it's a real choice at all.

People freak out about Valbuena posting a 95 OPS+ last season coming off an pretty tough injury. Marte put up a 57 OPS +. You think that 2016 was a better representation? Look at Valbuena's 2016 then too. How about 2015? 

[Stradling]

Valbuena and it isn’t really close.  

[JustATroutFan]

I'll take Valbuena over Marte but that's not saying much. Valbuena overachieved in 2016, with the help of that bandbox in Houston, though. Marte did show a good bat for the team in 2016, so who knows, maybe he'll be like the 2016 version and not last year's version this year, if he gets the right amount of playing time.

[VariousCrap]

1 hour ago, SuperTroopers said:

Valbuena and it isn’t really close.  

 

Agreed.  I'm not thrilled with Valbuena, but he is better than Marte.

[Dick Enberg]

Valbuena was lucky to get that 2 year 16 mil deal he signed last year. Fast forward to this year and he would be getting a minor league deal with a 1.5 mil deal if he made the ML Roster. How things have changed for corner infielders, unless a star

Need the lefty bat, so Valbuena is more suitable for our roster

 

 

[Homebrewer]

[stormngt]

So many here have questioned who plays 1b against a lefty when Pujols DHs.   Marte solves this problem.  

We should go with a 6 man rotation with a different starter playing role of reliever one each game.  This allows us to have an extra bench guy.

[Hubs]

1 hour ago, stormngt said:

So many here have questioned who plays 1b against a lefty when Pujols DHs.   Marte solves this problem.  

We should go with a 6 man rotation with a different starter playing role of reliever one each game.  This allows us to have an extra bench guy.

Around 30% of the starters in MLB are lefties. Last year the Angels faced 48 lefties and 114 righties. The previous years it was 43 lefties, 47 lefties, 48 lefties, and 44 lefties.

If Pujols is the DH for around 40% of the games (60 starts at DH) then the possibility that one of those games is against a lefty starter makes this an issue in roughly 12% of the season, or 19 starts.

If Pujols is the DH for around 50% of the games it increases to 14% of starts or 23 starts.

If Pujols is the DH for 60% of the games, (90 starts at DH), then this increases to 17%, or 27 starts.

 

Valbuena can start against lefties for a few of those, Kinsler, or Fernandez, or Cowart or Calhoun can play 2nd for the others. It's not a huge issue. Nor should they carry Marte when he can't play 2nd.
 

I actually think Marte is fourth on the Depth chart for utility infielder, behind Cowart, Walsh (who can play SS), and Fernandez.

 

Marte is slightly better than Efren Navarro or Ji-Man Choi. That's all he is. Not even as good as Robb Quinlan. Don't know why he is so loved except he hit a few HR when he first debuted for us and apparently chicks and Angelswin.com posters dig the long ball.

 

[Angel Oracle]

15 hours ago, ettin said:

He is exactly what he is: a lefty-mashing corner infielder that plays reasonable defense and can play LF too. Not sure if he makes the team simply due to playing time but I think he is useful still.

Valbuena is just Marte who can mash righties and plays the same type of defense.

Pick your poison (probably the guy that is getting paid $8M this season).

The Halos will face more RHP than LHP, and only would have two LHH's (Calhoun fulltime and Ohtani part-time) if Valbuena is dealt.   

Storm does have a point though that Marte is the only RHH currently who can play 1B. 

[stormngt]

45 minutes ago, Hubs said:

Around 30% of the starters in MLB are lefties. Last year the Angels faced 48 lefties and 114 righties. The previous years it was 43 lefties, 47 lefties, 48 lefties, and 44 lefties.

If Pujols is the DH for around 40% of the games (60 starts at DH) then the possibility that one of those games is against a lefty starter makes this an issue in roughly 12% of the season, or 19 starts.

If Pujols is the DH for around 50% of the games it increases to 14% of starts or 23 starts.

If Pujols is the DH for 60% of the games, (90 starts at DH), then this increases to 17%, or 27 starts.

 

Valbuena can start against lefties for a few of those, Kinsler, or Fernandez, or Cowart or Calhoun can play 2nd for the others. It's not a huge issue. Nor should they carry Marte when he can't play 2nd.
 

I actually think Marte is fourth on the Depth chart for utility infielder, behind Cowart, Walsh (who can play SS), and Fernandez.

 

Marte is slightly better than Efren Navarro or Ji-Man Choi. That's all he is. Not even as good as Robb Quinlan. Don't know why he is so loved except he hit a few HR when he first debuted for us and apparently chicks and Angelswin.com posters dig the long ball.

 

As I said many have argued that we needed a player who play 1b when facing a lh pitcher.  I was only commenting on that premise.  Nothing else.

[Hubs]

15 minutes ago, stormngt said:

As I said many have argued that we needed a player who play 1b when facing a lh pitcher.  I was only commenting on that premise.  Nothing else.

I know, I was pointing out that it isn't that often that this will happen. It is an overstated risk, just like the need for the 4th OF, or utility Inf who can play SS.

If they intended on playing Pujols solely at DH, then they'd have kept CJ Cron.

[Hubs]

I bet Chris Young gets 15 starts in left, 10 in center and 15 in right.That's 40 games.

At most, the Utility infielder (Cowart) will see 25 starts at 2nd, 15 at 1st, 35 at 3rd. (It's likely that he won't play SS for an extended amount of time with Cozart on the roster) so it's mostly if Simmons plays 147 games, say, the 15 starts at SS that would've gone to Pennington go to Cozart and Cowart or Valbuena play 3rd.

That's 80 starts.

 

[disarcina]

Valbuena - but why do I think Marte has the better glove and Valbuena the better (power) bat ?

If Pujols plays 1B this year on the days that Ohtani is not in the line-up (meaning he pitched the day before or is pitching the next day) -- expect Valbuena to get some late inning playing time at 1B.

It'll go something like this:  Pujols, in the line up at 1B, doubles to start the sixth, perhaps even as soon as the fifth inning......Ohtaini runs for Puljos, Valbuena plays 1b the rest of the way.

Now, we also have Carter in camp and picked up another OF'er with a bat --- either one of those guys could be DHing........for some reason I don't think Carter makes the 25 man roster........and as I type this, someone may let me know that Carter has already been released from camp -- I just don't see Carter making the team and unless he wants to be a 5-A player at SLC this year, it's best he get cut loose soon so he can have chance to catch on with an MLB team that might keep him on the roster to start the season.

[disarcina]

Chris Young is the OF'er I was thinking of that we picked up. I see him making the team ahead of Carter and Young can DH at times.

as for our OF of Upton, Trout and Calhoun -- unless they spell Calhoun on occasion, I just don't see these guys sitting down much.

Same thing with A. Simmons - he could play 162 games this year or pretty close to it.

[disarcina]

Cozart will play closer to 120 games at 3B is he stays healthy.

he will spell an aging Kinsler at 2B about once a week during the second half perhaps.

[disarcina]

Pennington spot on the roster isn't assured. I think he's the starting SS or 2B for SLC

[AngelsLakersFan]

On 3/2/2018 at 3:22 PM, disarcina said:

Pennington spot on the roster isn't assured. I think he's the starting SS or 2B for SLC

Pennington?

[Docwaukee]

Pujols won't DH vs a lefty.  He will play 1b.  Chris Young will DH during those starts or play OF and one of the OFers will get a DH day.   If Albert can't play 1b as much as they hope, then we might see Chris Carter called up.   Or they could put Kole at 1b and Young in the OF.  

[GrittyVeterans]

They both really suck