A case for Chris Carter

[Angel Oracle]

17 hours ago, Erstad Grit said:

Do you have Heaney injured or in AAA?

DL, if FINALLY healthy, then he can take the spot of whoever else gets injured in the rotation.    Sorry, the health of this rotation since 2016 made me say that.

[HaloNArizona]

21 hours ago, Angel Oracle said:

I'm still not sold on Marte.   Half of a decent 2016, and that's been it.

My 25 man roster to start the season:

Rotation:  GRich, Ramirez, Ohtani, Tropeano, Skaggs, and Bridwell

Pen:  Alvarez, Pena, N. Ramirez, Johnson, Parker, Shoe, and Bedrock Jr.

Starting 9: Kinsler, Trout, Upton, Pujols, Calhoun, Cozart, Carter, Simmons, and Maldonado

Bench:  Rivera, EY Jr., and either Walsh or Cowart     

Deal Valnobuena for whatever they can get, and eat $6-7 million of the 2018 salary.

I'm all for dumping Valbuena...but what to do with Chris Young who signed a MLB contract....Are we dumping him too?

[Angel Oracle]

Chris Young can take EY Jr.'s spot, when healthy.

[Second Base]

Any major league bench has certain roles that need to be covered.

- Platoon bat

- Power off the bench

- Pinch runner

- Defensive replacement

- Simply a backup

The Angels are no different. We need a platoon bat at 1B for Valbuena. They need power and speed coming off the bench. They'll likely need a late inning defensive replacement for Pujols at 1B. But when that happens Valbuena will be on the bench, so that's effectively filled.

Ohtani fills the need of power bat and pinch runner. Chris Young is also a power bat and can even be a platoon batbif necessary.

Quite frankly I am surprised this team hasn't given more thought to Eric Young Jr. picking up 2B again.

[greginpsca]

22 hours ago, Angel Oracle said:

I'm still not sold on Marte.   Half of a decent 2016, and that's been it.

My 25 man roster to start the season:

Rotation:  GRich, Ramirez, Ohtani, Tropeano, Skaggs, and Bridwell

Pen:  Alvarez, Pena, N. Ramirez, Johnson, Parker, Shoe, and Bedrock Jr.

Starting 9: Kinsler, Trout, Upton, Pujols, Calhoun, Cozart, Carter, Simmons, and Maldonado

Bench:  Rivera, EY Jr., and either Walsh or Cowart     

Deal Valnobuena for whatever they can get, and eat $6-7 million of the 2018 salary.

Walsh was sent down to AAA last week. Agree on Marte. He doesn't do anything really good. Poor defensively, average to slow on the bases, doesn't hit that much, [Career .224 ]. 

 

[disarcina]

Valbuena not great with the glove -- but he's a streaky hitter and can mash muitiple homers in subsequent games when he gets hot.

when he's cold -- well, he's still mediocre (but acceptable) with the glove and then he's cold at the plate.

[Second Base]

Interesting turn of events to say the least.  It comes down to Marte and Carter.  Carter has definitely earned it, but I don't know if the club wants to lose Marte like that.  OF course, Carter, even though he signed a minor league contract, could still refuse an outright assignment to AAA, and you definitely don't want to lose him. 

And it looks like the Angels will be able to keep Bard and Ramirez, if we assume Felix Pena is headed for AAA.  Good move. 

[Angel Oracle]

I just don't get the Marte interest.   After that first half of 2016 he's basically done nothing, and although has played multiple positions plays none of them very well.   ???? 

If Carter has indeed fixed something, and still has that power-hitting in him, you CAN'T let keeping Marte cost you Carter!  

[totdprods]

35 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

I just don't get the Marte interest.   After that first half of 2016 he's basically done nothing, and although has played multiple positions plays none of them very well.   ???? 

If Carter has indeed fixed something, and still has that power-hitting in him, you CAN'T let keeping Marte cost you Carter!  

Marte 2016:
May (4 games): 1.800  OPS
June (25 games): .578 OPS
July (18 games: .723 OPS
August (20 games): .914 OPS
Sept./Oct. (21 games): .804 OPS

He started hot, got ice friggin' cold, and then made adjustments and came on very strongly again.
First 27 games, slashed .276/.300/.487/.787  in 80 PAs, he managed 8 XBH, but only 3 walks and 22 k's. A reasonable .333 BABip. 
His next 27 games, slashed .237/.301/.447/.588 in 83 PAs, still clubbing 8 XBH, with 5 walks, 16 k's, and a slightly unlucky .250 BABip. Still, it looked like folks were figuring him out. 
His last 34 games, slashed .245/.322/.500/.822 in 121 PAs, clubbing 13 XBH, but discipline improved, with 10 walks and 21 k's - and a .238 BABip suggests he could have been better.

Yeah, his '17 sucked, but he wound up with a stress fracture at end of the year, and those tend to be an injury that builds slowly, so I'm inclined to think he wasn't quite right physically the last year. He's looked great this spring. 

According to Fletcher, Carter doesn't have an opt-out, so there's zero risk of losing him if he waits it out in SLC for a few weeks. 

Marte fits our bench needs presently, and retaining him doesn't affect our roster or require any corresponding moves. His potential is worth giving him a look for a few weeks. If he flops, easy enough to bring Carter up then, and maybe at that point the pitching staff has stabilized, rotation has stretched out, and some of our out of option relievers have lost lustre allowing an extra bench bat to be carried.

[Angel Oracle]

So the question then is, if Marte and Carter both do have it figured out and Valbuena doesn't, will they trade Valbuena by May to create room for both Carter and Marte?

[totdprods]

1 hour ago, Angel Oracle said:

So the question then is, if Marte and Carter both do have it figured out and Valbuena doesn't, will they trade Valbuena by May to create room for both Carter and Marte?

I doubt it. I think it's likelier that one of Carter or Marte flop before Valbuena does. 

The disdain on this board for Valbuena is freaking unreal.
He's a basically a three-outcome hitter. Walk, strikeout, or home run. He's the only proven lefty power threat we have. 
His ISO last year was .233, 2nd on the team to Trout's ridiculous .323, and well above 3rd place, Cron's .189.
Even when you add Upton (.286), Kinsler (.176), and Cozart (.251 in '17, .139 years before), Valbuena is still one of top 3-4 most powerful hitters.

Walks? Valbuena's BB% was 12% last year, second only to Trout's 18.5% (and Maybin's 12.4%, but he's gone)
His extra-base hit % was 9.2%, again, second to Trout.
HR%? 5.5%, second to Trout.

He's way too streaky and doesn't make enough contact to ever carry the team, but the power and walk threat alone more than make him a valuable piece of the offense, and honestly, I think there's a good chance his option gets picked up next year, so I don't see much point in banking on him being gone. He'll nicely fill Escobar's shoes as the hitter everyone hates even though he isn't the problem.

[Second Base]

11 minutes ago, totdprods said:

I doubt it. I think it's likelier that one of Carter or Marte flop before Valbuena does. 

The disdain on this board for Valbuena is freaking unreal.
He's a basically a three-outcome hitter. Walk, strikeout, or home run. He's the only proven lefty power threat we have. 
His ISO last year was .233, 2nd on the team to Trout's ridiculous .323, and well above 3rd place, Cron's .189.
Even when you add Upton (.286), Kinsler (.176), and Cozart (.251 in '17, .139 years before), Valbuena is still one of top 3-4 most powerful hitters.

Walks? Valbuena's BB% was 12% last year, second only to Trout's 18.5% (and Maybin's 12.4%, but he's gone)
His extra-base hit % was 9.2%, again, second to Trout.
HR%? 5.5%, second to Trout.

He's way too streaky and doesn't make enough contact to ever carry the team, but the power and walk threat alone more than make him a valuable piece of the offense, and honestly, I think there's a good chance his option gets picked up next year, so I don't see much point in banking on him being gone. He'll nicely fill Escobar's shoes as the hitter everyone hates even though he isn't the problem.

He's still a platoon player though.  We need him and another player specifically designated to hit against lefties only....and when combined, then we have a good player. 

I mean I think we need to call Valbuena exactly what he is.  He isn't a good hitter, but he's ok.  He has power, and decent plate discipline.  He can hit against RHP but needs to be platooned because he doesn't hit LHP.  He can play a passable third base for a couple weeks, but isn't a starter over there.  He isn't a good defensive first baseman, but he'd good enough to be a regular starter over there, which he will be.

Basically, he's the sort of guy you want playing 80 or so games a year in the corner infield.  

Very useful part time player.  

The fact that the Angels will likely play him 100-120 games at 1B is logical fit for his skill set and the team's needs.  I think the biggest issue we'll encounter is LHP though.  If we figure 20% of the pitchers he'll face during those 100-120 games are left handed, we're essentially giving away 1B level production for 20-30 games.  First baseman are supposed to be among our best hitters, and for 20-30 games, we may not be able to expect anything in the way of production.  

That's a very bad thing.

It isn't Valbuena's fault, it's the fact that because of the way the team is designed, the Angels may fail to have a worthy RHB to platoon with him at 1B. 

[totdprods]

@Scotty@AW, I've compared him many times to Jack Howell. I can't tell you how many times growing up I saw Jack Howell come in and slug a clutch double or homer to win a game, but he was exposed when used full-time. 

Your post sums him up perfectly. People seem to expect him to be more than he is, when he's been basically the player you've described for the past five years, even after his slow start last year, and that player fits this team nicely.

[CubsFan]

All he does is catch touchdowns.