Ian Kinsler

[totdprods]

51 minutes ago, UndertheHalo said:

I honestly can’t believe I’m reading a re-sign Ian Kinsler thread. 

Get what we can from him this year.  It’s good that he’s been better.   Move on after that. 

It's not so much suggesting we re-sign him, it's more like...what line would he have to put up, and what terms would you offer him, for a '19 reunion to happen? 

If he lands at .250, 30+ doubles, 20 HR, and 20 steals...it'd be hard for me not to offer him another 1/$15m type-deal...and I've been the guy pitching Fletcher as a '19 starting 2B since last year.

[Blarg]

2 hours ago, totdprods said:

but at what point do you start considering if he's worth re-signing for a year this offseason?

Never. He's what he is, a stopgap that is only needed for this season. 

[UndertheHalo]

Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t a sharp increase in fly ball rate correlated with a decrease in bat speed ? Kinslers struggles have been related to increased fly balls.  So doesn’t that bode ill going forward ? That’s not something that’s going to get better.  He’s aging.  He definitely had rough luck, and I think that was a real aspect of his early problems.  But not the entirety of them. I think he’s had some positive regression and probably is right where his norms should be.  But, I wouldn’t expect it to hold here. 

4 minutes ago, totdprods said:

It's not so much suggesting we re-sign him, it's more like...what line would he have to put up, and what terms would you offer him, for a '19 reunion to happen? 

If he lands at .250, 30+ doubles, 20 HR, and 20 steals...it'd be hard for me not to offer him another 1/$15m type-deal...and I've been the guy pitching Fletcher as a '19 starting 2B since last year.

The thing  is even with the 4 weeks of being hot he’s not close to the player your describing. He’d have to maintain his current pace for a while to get there.  It seems unlikely.  What we saw last year wasn’t a fluke.  

Edited June 21, 2018 by UndertheHalo

[2020worldseries]

7 minutes ago, totdprods said:

It's not so much suggesting we re-sign him, it's more like...what line would he have to put up, and what terms would you offer him, for a '19 reunion to happen? 

If he lands at .250, 30+ doubles, 20 HR, and 20 steals...it'd be hard for me not to offer him another 1/$15m type-deal...and I've been the guy pitching Fletcher as a '19 starting 2B since last year.

If you offer him that then might as well make the QO and I don’t see Kinsler turning that down at his age. I can see Kinsler taking 1 year deals for the next 4/5 years and jumping around to teams to look to win a World Series

[Pujols4MVP]

1 hour ago, UndertheHalo said:

I honestly can’t believe I’m reading a re-sign Ian Kinsler thread. 

Get what we can from him this year.  It’s good that he’s been better.   Move on after that. 

I agree, at his age its better to let another team take a chance on him.

[totdprods]

21 minutes ago, UndertheHalo said:

Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t a sharp increase in fly ball rate correlated with a decrease in bat speed ? Kinslers struggles have been related to increased fly balls.  So doesn’t that bode ill going forward ? That’s not something that’s going to get better.  He’s aging.  He definitely had rough luck, and I think that was a real aspect of his early problems.  But not the entirety of them. I think he’s had some positive regression and probably is right where his norms should be.  But, I wouldn’t expect it to hold here. 

The thing  is even with the 4 weeks of being hot he’s not close to the player your describing. He’d have to maintain his current pace for a while to get there.  It seems unlikely.  What we saw last year wasn’t a fluke.  

I readily admit I do not know enough about advanced metrics or Fangraphs to determine more if he's reversed or bettered any of the more advanced red flags he was facing - perhaps someone here can look into it - but with my limited knowledge looking at stats...

His GB/FB rate this year is 0.54 - his career average is 0.55. 
His line drive % is 25% - career average is 23%. 
His XBH% is 9% - up from last year, and right in line with his career average of 8.7%. 
His SO% has dropped to 8.3% this year - way down from last year's 14% and his career mark of 12.3%, and his BB% is at 8.3%, right in line with career average of 8.7%. 

I don't see anything particularly alarming.

For the record, I still would rather roll with Fletcher and Fernandez in place of Kinsler and Valbuena next year, and throw or save that money for pitching, but again, with Eppler's past track record of sticking with stopgap vets over youth, I could see Kinsler playing his way into a one-year deal. And I don't think .250, 20 HR, 30 2B, 20 SB is that far fetched. He's halfway there 74 games into the year.

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

2 hours ago, jordan said:

I'd rather use the resources for 2019 on pitching, and 3B.   Move Cozart to 2B.

I'd liked to spend our money in the off season on pitching. Fletcher, or Ward can play 3B for peanuts. No reason to block them unless we are going to trade them now, let them play next year. We could really use a good bullpen. Trout needs to be re-signed. There are better things to spend our money on than 3B when we have prospects waiting in the wings.

[T.G.]

1 hour ago, UndertheHalo said:

I honestly can’t believe I’m reading a re-sign Ian Kinsler thread.

I honestly can't believe people want to resign Satan himself. 

[HaloNArizona]

Before we move to address 3B...I would like to see JMF get more AB's and playing time at 3B.

 

[DMVol]

11 minutes ago, HaloNArizona said:

Before we move to address 3B...I would like to see JMF get more AB's and playing time at 3B.

 

You might see that soon if Valbuena continues to struggle and Cozart stays on the DL for awhile...

[Blarg]

15 minutes ago, DMVol said:

You might see that soon if Valbuena continues to struggle and Cozart stays on the DL for awhile...

Valbuena is not struggling. He is what he is and is not going to improve. 

[Angel Oracle]

3 hours ago, True Grich said:

I did, but it was just these voices in my head.

Kind of like Randy Orton's voices in his head? 

 

[kevinb]

4 hours ago, totdprods said:

Since the first game of the Detroit series (21 games, 97 PA):
.307/.371/.659/1.030 with 7 doubles, 8 home runs, 8 walks, and only 4 strikeouts.  

Most impressive? Only a .250 BAbip in that time, so he's actually been a little unlucky.

A lot of indicators before this hot streak were hinting that he was close to breaking out, and a lot can go south still over the rest of the year, especially at his age, but at what point do you start considering if he's worth re-signing for a year this offseason?

He's closing in to exceeding last year's total WAR (2.1) as well...currently at 1.4, and almost all of that has come in the last 20 games.

No re signing what so ever. Don’t even think about it Angels. 

[Troll Daddy]

He might be the best second baseman to ever the the game.

[Dick Enberg]

2 hours ago, totdprods said:

For the record, I still would rather roll with Fletcher and Fernandez in place of Kinsler and Valbuena next year, and throw or save that money for pitching, but again, with Eppler's past track record of sticking with stopgap vets over youth, I could see Kinsler playing his way into a one-year deal. And I don't think .250, 20 HR, 30 2B, 20 SB is that far fetched. He's halfway there 74 games into the year.

Agree, plus that would leave another 18 million or so for Bullpen help...

[DMVol]

3 hours ago, Blarg said:

Valbuena is not struggling. He is what he is and is not going to improve. 

I guess I hoped he might hit .260 like he did in 2016.....not looking likely....you don’t necessarily have to play him though (not holding my breath)....you can play Fernandez or Fletcher.....

[Angelsjunky]

6 hours ago, stanick88 said:

As much as I like trout in the two hole...

That's what she every otherwise-straight dude on Angelswin said.

[Angelsjunky]

I'm going to say no to the suggestion to re-up Kinsler. I get it - he's a solid, average plus performer. But the choice is between giving him $10-15MM for a year--and he might insist on two--or rolling the dice on paying Fletcher/Fernandez league minimum to play 2B or 3B, with Cozart sliding over. That's $10-15MM that could be spent elsewhere - say, on a couple really good relievers.

 

[ten ocho recon scout]

7 hours ago, totdprods said:

Moustakas in April:
.302/.336/.578/.914

Moustakas, since May/June:
.236/.309/.412/.721
 
He's cooling down, and certainly hitting better than Cozart, but I'm not sure I'd spend much in a trade for him at this point, especially being as far back as we are. He'd help, but I think I'd rather hold onto prospects, give that playing time to guys like JMF, Fletcher, even Cowart and Marte, possibly Ward and Thaiss, and use that to assess if we make an offer to him in the winter. 

 

I see it the other way.

Reference this post being about kinsler, he looks great the last month or so. He had a down year last year. The consensus in the offseason was maybe kinsler slowed down because his team sucked. Might be the same for moustakas.

@Inside Pitch pointed out some moustakas warning signs over the winter. Made me hesistant to want him. That said, with KC likely in dump money mode, him struggling, and no contending team (right now) needing a 3B (although I can see Seattle going after him...) i think his price should be pretty cheap.

I think if we got him for clean peanuts, it would be a great low risk pickup to see if hes a solution for next year.

For example, it would have been nice to see cozart for a few months last year before signing him...(and im one of the guys whos willing to give cozart some rope).

[Docwaukee]

jinx.  

[Docwaukee]

damn you tot!

[Angel Oracle]

Are we sure Scott didn’t shake his hand after Tuesday’s game?

Either that, or Kinsler high-fived himself?

[totdprods]

What should I do with this incredible new power