Evan Grant defends Travis Metcalf
by Adam J. Morris on Mar 31, 2009 12:47 PM CDT
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PrintEvan Grant responds to Mike Hindman's analysis of the 40 man roster situation, and says that while Hindman would have Metcalf as the first guy off the 40 right now, he thinks Luis Mendoza, Dustin Nippert, and Greg Golson should all get put on waivers prior to Metcalf.
His argument is two-fold -- first, if Michael Young gets hurt and misses a significant amount of time, the Rangers would need Metcalf, and second, some team -- probably the Yankees -- would claim Metcalf on waivers, because Metcalf has a career 775 major league OPS and would be an upgrade over Cody Ransom.
I have to disagree with both of those items, though. First, if Young (for the first time in his major league career) has to go on the d.l. and miss a significant amount of time, I think you probably either go with German Duran, or shift Chris Davis over from first base on an interim basis and get an extended look at Max Ramirez. The Duran option would be the preferred one, but I don't think if Young is going to miss a couple of weeks, I don't think it would kill you to make the position switch for a short period of time.
On the second part...yes, Metcalf has a 775 OPS in a limited amount of major league ABs, driven largely by a bunch of homers. I don't think anyone thinks his .475 slugging percentage is sustainable. His minor league OPS from 2006-2008 has been 623, 729, and 670, and as a result, the projection systems generally see him as mid-600 OPS guy this season in the majors.
What it boils down to is a question of whether you believe in the bat, and whether what he's done in the majors is more indicative of his talent level that what he's done in the minors the past several years.
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Evan Grant is to Travis Metcalf...
as the LSB community is to Vince “ShamWow!” Shlomi.
by ghostofErikThompson on Mar 31, 2009 12:54 PM CDT reply actions
HEH ... hey GoET .... thanks for the In N' Out "Animal Style" recommendation...
I had one the other day, that was the best fast food burger I’ve ever had.. I had no idea they had all these
items on the secret menu.
XX
http://daviswiki.org/In-N-Out_Secret_Menu
Josh Hamilton puts his pants on one leg at a time just like you but once he gets his pants on he hits baseballs 420 feet.
Yes!
And it’s fun to tell them “Make that Animal Style.” and they roll their eyes a little, just so you know they know that you know their “secret menu.”
Speaking of, I once had a buddy of mine come visit the Bay and I took him to In N’ Out since he had always heard that it is delicious. As were were waiting the drive through line I tell him all about the secret menu stuff which he said he had read something about but didn’t know if it were true. Well, I convince him that it is and tell him to order the “Hawaiian Double Double” and “Black and Tan Milkshake”.
He orders these items. Looks all smug and happy with himself for ordering off the secret menu. And the voice over the box comes back: “What? We don’t have those items, sir. I can get you a double double and a chocolate shake if you’d like?” And I start dying laughing. I yell from the passengers side seat “MAKE IT TWO DOUBLE DOUBLES, ANIMAL STYLE, TWO NEAPOLITAN SHAKES!”
He was pissed but laughing through the whole meal. Man, good times.
by ghostofErikThompson on Mar 31, 2009 3:25 PM CDT up reply actions
hahahahaha that's hysterical!
A true In N’ Out Classic moment not to be forgotten. Hawaiin Double Double hahaha ….
Josh Hamilton puts his pants on one leg at a time just like you but once he gets his pants on he hits baseballs 420 feet.
i could potentially see
mendoza before metcalf, although mendoza’s upside is far superior to that of metcalf’s. i don’t see how you can reasonably defend putting nippert, who has had success in the majors and possesses a mid 90s fastball, or golson, who by all accounts is one of the superior athletes in all of baseball. putting golson in particular on waivers before metcalf could be a move, although not likely, that could haunt a franchise. what if we let golson go for nothing and then he ends up as a late blooming superstar? even in a perfect world the best metcalf will ever be is an average starting al third baseman, and the likelihood of that happening is probably about the same as golson becoming a superstar.
by dustinvandeman on Mar 31, 2009 12:54 PM CDT reply actions
again
don’t discount how the rest of the league is going to evaluate those players.
metcalf is not getting claimed by the yankees
Ceterum censeo Cat esse delendam - Cahill the Elder
the Yankees already have Metcalf at 3b while ARod is out
Why do they need another Metcalf. Well I guess they have an older multipositional Metcalf on the roster in Cody Ransom And they have their own Metcalf in the minors in Eric Duncan.
I agree they really don’t need ours also.
What do voluntary mean?
I'd choose Ransom every time.
He has more power, patience, is faster, and is better defensively. So yeah, why would they need an inferior player?
Metcalf does not help this team win
and can’t
I would cut him. I think it would be smarter to hold on to whatever pitchers you can. Golson? I don’t think the rangers need him when you have Boggs and Borbon waiting in the wings, and a likely 5 OFs on the Rangers opening day roster.
Bring on April 6th!
If Golson legitimately had
5 tools, I doubt they’d consider cutting him. I notice that fast guys get called 5 tool guys a lot. In Golson’s case, the whole hit for average thing (and patience, which I consider part of getting on base) seems to be missing in his game.
"The idea that the Rangers are going to be a solid contender for a number of years is a fantasy." - Adam J. Morris
Golson
His hit tool is definitely his weakest from what I’ve seen, but he still hit over .280 in AA last year. Patience isn’t a tool, it’s a skill (see John Sickels’ Seven Skills).
I kind of agree
He has holes…certainly, that is why he has never done anything
that said, i think he has the 5 traditional tools that are used in that moniker
the problem is that there is obviously a ton more to being a baseball player than those tools
as if metcalf/ransom's ages matter in a 5-8 week fill in for alex rodriguez.
If it becomes more than that the yankees will make a move long before they stick with either of those scrubs for long.
metcalf and mendoza would fly through waivers with ease.
the preceding post was a great success.
If the yanks are going to pick up someone
it would likely be someone like Blalock in trade. I just don’t see them having any interest in someone that they have an older version of and a younger version of. Though I guess I could be rating Metcalf vs Eric Duncan incorrectly.
What do voluntary mean?
Duncan
He’s worse than Metcalf in almost every aspect. He’s younger and has all of his options, so that’s the advantage.
Anyone who would consider playing Blalock at 3B
is just courting disaster (including Wash).
Evan's fondness for a player clouds his judgement...
…can’t remember the last time that happened.
He calls Metcalf an above average fielder, yet there’s no metric that indicates he’s even average.
I’m not even going to touch the Borbon/Golson point.
If the last roster spot comes down to Mendoza vs Metcalf
JD should make the decision based on an Evan vs AJM cage match.
www.mavsmoneyball.com
it can be on PPV
miles vs stevoo
AMJ vs Evan Grant
id pay
Scout: He was a first-round pick right? Got a huge bonus?
KG: Oh yeah.
Scout: Well, he spent a lot of it on milkshakes.
by knockoutking on Mar 31, 2009 1:56 PM CDT up reply actions
This is actually a tough call
Duran has put up some pretty decent OPSs in the minors (777 A+ and 877 AA) and he’s entering his age 24 season. Sliding Davis over for a bit and bringing in Max wouldn’t bother me. Maybe Metcalf’s just a luxury the Rangers don’t need in comparison to keeping pitchers around and a position player with possible higher upside.
Remember Red, hope is a good thing. Maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies.
The Rangers....
need to cut ties with both Metcalf and Mendoza.
I can understand JD and Nolan being hesitant to DFA Mendoza because of what happened with Galarraga last year, but I think that was the exception to the rule. I can’t see Mendoza going out and being a quality ML pitcher.
As for DFAing Nippert or Golson before Metcalf. No Way. Not going to happen. Sorry Evan.
"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."-Socrates
MJH's retort:
"It doesn't look like he's trying. It kinda pisses me off," "He could throw 110 if he tried. The way it explodes out of his hand is really something special." ~ B-Mac on Feliz.
The constant paranoia about the 40th best players in the organization
is amusing and annoying at the same time (not that Metcalf is the 40th best player in the organization, he’s just the 40th best that has to be protected by the 40-man at this time).
Mendoza, Gabbard, Metcalf – those guys aren’t determining whether the Rangers win or lose anything in the next 4 years. They’re roster fodder, the types of guys you worry about if the system is shallow, but in a deep one such as this, whatever. Images of Galarraga and Ludwick stick in people’s minds, but the vast majority of these guys just fade away and never come back.
but....
making the right calls on those things more often than not is a big part of what separates winners from losers in this game … even more than money spent
it’s all about talent evaluation
this is a great game and nothing about it is greater — in my opinion — than the fact that a really smart and astute bunch of guys can kick the shit out of some other club that has it all over them because they have more money to spend
you’ll never get to see that in the NFL (salary cap). it’s unique to baseball and that is what makes it so damned interesting to me
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