inent free agents"WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Brewers Rumors and SpeculationConversation StartersWPA Game RecapsTransactionsLatest NewsMLB Trade RumorsStatistical AnalysisBrewers Rumors and SpeculationRevisiting the players who are left on the infield marketNew
Mike Scott Jersey ,55commentsComparing Derek Dietrich to more prominent free agentsCSTShareTweetShareShareRevisiting the players who are left on the infield marketSteve Mitchell-USA TODAY SportsPitchers and catchers report in just a couple of weeks. Free agency has slowed as the market awaits decisions from Bryce Harper and Manny Machado. The Milwaukee Brewers could very well have their positional player group in place already. Corey Spanganberg might just have that final positional spot locked up as David Stearns suspects there COULD BE untapped power in his bat. There are articles suggesting and reports connecting Milwaukee to Mike Moustakas, Josh Harrison, Jose Iglesias, and Marwin Gonzalez, implying potential signings to come. President of Baseball Operations David Stearns probably has feelers out about some of those players, but there is a quality major league player not being linked to Milwaukee or anyone else for that matter that would fit nicely in a Brewers uniform. Stearns has to be thinking about this guy too.Former Miami Marlins utility player Derek Dietrich cleared waivers and elected free agency early in the offseason. Dietrich is a left-handed hitter with defensive versatility, including ability to play second base and each outfield corner. He is a good hitter, and the Brewers reportedly had interest in him at the trade deadline last year. Might they have interest in him now as a high-value, under-the-radar acquisition? When we compare some of Dietrich’s numbers over the past four years to those of Moustakas, Gonzalez, Harrison, Iglesias, and Spangenberg, he looks pretty good. Let’s start with Dietrich since 2015.Derek Dietrich (age 29)Brewers’ fans are likely most comfortable with the idea of bringing Mike Moustakas back. He was instrumental in Milwaukee’s run to the playoffs, and who can forget his walk-off hit against Colorado in the NLDS. Of all the six players mentioned for this post, Moustakas is probably the most feared of them all. He has the potential for serious power, once hitting 38 home runs with a team that played in a cavernous ballpark. He could do serious damage at Miller Park, although he failed to do so in a small sample last year. Moose would certainly be welcomed back to Milwaukee, but at what cost? Will he require multiple years at $10 million or maybe $12 million? His acquisition would also require Travis Shaw to move to second base. Shaw played the position admirably, but is not the ideal defensively. Imagining Moose hitting seventh in the Brewers’ lineup or pushing one of the other big-bats down in the order would be amazing. But look at Dietrich’s four-year averages versus Moustakas’ (Moustakas had a very limited sample size of stats in 2016, as a result
Alex Bregman Jersey , 2016 is listed as an “injured†year). Moose is the more dangerous player, but Dietrich poses a pretty significant threat as well, especially when you think of him coming to Miller Park. Plus Shaw gets to play a position that he rates pretty well at defensively, while Dietrich plays an adequate second base. Dietrich would also save millions on the payroll versus Moustakas, plus he would be controllable for another additional season via arbitration. His defensive versatility would bring significant value. Moose offers only his bat and average defense at third, and signing him beyond one year blocks Keston Hiura.Mike Moustakas (age 30)Marwin Gonzalez might be the most versatile of all the players mentioned for this piece, and he has shown some offensive fire power as well. The problem is that he only put up those outstanding offensive numbers in one year. Otherwise, he is versatile player that is barely above league average that struggles to get on base. Prove of this comes from his fWAR over the last four years. He did have 4.0 fWAR in 2017, but was anything between 0.3 fWAR to 1.6 fWAR otherwise. Dietrich would likely put up a similar slugging percentage to Gonzalez on average, but get on base at a better clip than the World Series champion. Neither player rates highly defensively, although Gonzalez rates decently as an outfielder, whereas Dietrich does not. The Brewers would likely pay more for Gonzalez than Dietrich. MLB Trade Rumors projected the Astros’ utility man to get four years at $36 million. Dietrich will command much less than that.Marwin Gonzalez (30 in March):Josh Harrison is a popular free agent amongst Brewers’ fans and broadcasters alike. Seeing Harrison seemingly always making something happen 19 times per year for several years has maddened Brewers’ faithful. It is no wonder why perceptions of the Pirates’ utility man are so high.Dietrich is just a better player, at least offensively. Harrison does steal bases and makes a lot of contact, but he struggles to get on base and has little pop. Surprisingly, Harrison does not rate out as anything more than a below average to an average defender depending on the position he plays. The Brewers probably could acquire Harrison on a one-year deal however.Josh Harrison (age 31)Suggestions have been made that Jose Iglesias would be a strong fit for the Brew Crew. He is a magician at shortstop, but has limited ability with the bat. Does that sound familiar. His fit is certainly debatable, and Dietrich is probably the better fit since the Brewers already have a defensive wizard at shortstop that has trouble with the bat. In fact Orlando Arcia has much more upside than Iglesias, it is a bit of a surprise that the suggestion exists. Iglesias may only require a one-year contract though.Jose Iglesias (age 29)The Brewers already have Cory Spangenberg in-house. David Stearns has lauded his athleticism and baseball acumen, obviously hoping for something more than he has shown to this point. Stearns is a master at finding “diamonds in the rough.†Spangenberg is a commodity to be dreamed upon. Dietrich is a known quantity with upside as a “change of scenery†candidate. At this point, Dietrich is the superior player. Plus Spangenberg has an option allowing him to become a depth piece.Cory Spangenberg (age 27)Currently Milwaukee projects to platoon Hernan Perez and Cory Spangenberg at second base. Hernan Perez provides versatility and hits left-handed pitching reasonably well (.277/.304/.479). A platoon option at second base that includes Derek Dietrich becomes more formidable, and while Keston Hiura and Mauricio Dubon develop in San Antonio
http://www.astrosfanproshop.com/authentic-justin-verlander-jersey , Stearns and company can be allowed to take a patient approach. Once Hiura and/or Dubon are ready, the Brewers can figure out how to best handle Perez and Dietrich. With all of this in mind, Dietrich might be the best position player available that fits best with the Brewers needs.Something to consider is the “Yelich Effect†manifesting itself with another ex-Marlins’ player coming to Miller Park. If we are to assume that Christian Yelich’s breakout 2018 campaign is at least partially the result of changing venues, would it also be safe to assume that Derek Dietrich might have better offensive results playing home games in Milwaukee too? We should not have expectations of Dietrich anywhere near those of Yelich, but could this left-handed, above average hitter see improvement with the change in setting? It likely helped Yelich. Derek Dietrich seems like a strong candiate to have his own measure of success in Milwaukee.Baseball statistics courtesy of Fangraphs There are no words"WhiteFanposts Fanshots Red Sox StoriesScheduleRosterStatsYahoo Red Sox NewsYahoo Red Sox Team PageYahoo Red Sox ReportYahoo Red Sox Depth ChartYahoo Red Sox TransactionsYahoo Red Sox PhotosOdds About Masthead Community Guidelines StubHub é‰æ˜ed Sox Game StoriesRed Sox 8, Diamondbacks 15: Rock bottomNew,76commentsThere are no wordsEDTShareTweetShareShareRed Sox 8, Diamondbacks 15: Rock bottomMark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY SportsI really don’t know how to describe what I just watched. It’s hard to imagine things could get any worse for this team, but know that I’m knocking on every wood surface I can find as I type this. The Red Sox were thoroughly embarrassed in Arizona on Friday. The offense had one solid inning in which they failed to maximize their chance. Rick Porcello had a couple strong innings before imploding. The defense made multiple mistakes. Brian Johnson gave up a billion runs. This was the definition of a gut punch in the midst of a road trip that has continued to go from bad to worse.The Red Sox moved on to a new city and off of the Pacific coast for the first time in 2019, but it was more of the same early on for this team. The new norm for the pitching staff seems to be starting off strong before seeing the bottom fall out after a couple of innings. Meanwhile, the offense has been dead for multi-inning stretches before putting on a rally that ends with too few runs. It’s a familiar pattern by now, and we were watching it play out in the first half of this game in Arizona as well. It would get so, so much worse, too.The first inning was relatively quiet on both sides. Rick Porcello did have to fight off a couple of two-out baserunners after a single and a catchers interference call going against Blake Swihart, but they were stranded there. The second would be even quieter with both sides going down in order.Then, in the third, the Red Sox finally got something going against Zach Godley, who had retired the first six batters he faced. The red-hot Swihart started the rally with a leadoff single before he was moved over to third one base at a time on two ground outs. That brought up Andrew Benintendi, who just missed an RBI double down the right field line but then came back with an RBI double to the opposite field. That gave Boston a 1-0 lead, and after Mookie Betts reached on an infield single Mitch Moreland had a chance to give the Sox a big lead with runners on the corners. He couldn’t come through
Brian McCann Jersey , though, and Boston settled for just the single run.That would hurt, because on the other end things started heading downhill for Porcello. The bottom half of the third started with a base hit from Godley, and any inning that starts with a hit from the opposing pitcher is destined to end poorly. Sure enough, after an infield single and a walk, Arizona had the bases loaded with nobody out. All things considered, Porcello did handle it as well as possible allowing just one run to score on a double play and escaping the frame with the score knotted up.After the Sox lineup went down in order in the fourth, the aforementioned bottom had its falling out. Two batters into the bottom half of the inning, Ketel Marte came up and launched a 2-0 slider over the wall in right-center field to give Arizona a one-run lead. It would get worse. Much worse. Nick Ahmed smacked a double, moved to third on a wild pitch and then after a walk Godley got his second hit of the day. This was a cheapie on a pop up that found grass in between Brock Holt, Betts and J.D. Martinez. Just another instance of bad luck and bad baseball living in perfect harmony, and that gave the DBacks a two-run lead. After another single and a ground out, they had plated two more and at the end of the fourth it was suddenly a 5-1 deficit for Boston. Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY SportsRick Porcello was left in the game, though, and hit for himself in the fifth. He would not make it out of the bottom half of the inning. Longtime AL East foe Adam Jones led off for Arizona and he’d extend the lead even more with a smoked home run out to left field, his fourth homer of the year. After getting two consecutive strikeouts, Porcello allowed a single and a double to give up one more run before his day was over. In all, he allowed seven runs in just 4 2鈦? innings on ten hits (two homers), three walks and five strikeouts. To make matters worse, Brian Johnson had to come out in relief. The lefty was likely to get Sunday’s start, but that’s obviously less likely now.As we moved on to the sixth
http://www.astrosfanproshop.com/authentic-justin-verlander-jersey , the Red Sox did start to show some life, but it ended in pain because of course it did. After Betts, Martinez and Bogaerts all drew walks, they had the bases loaded with two outs and a real chance to put a dent into the lead. Arizona turned to lefty specialist Andrew Chafin, though, and Rafael Devers was no match for him. The young third baseman grounded out weakly back to the mound, and the Red Sox left the inning with the same total on the scoreboard as they had at the start of the frame.I’m going to spare you (and I, to be honest) the rest of this story. I’ll just say that Johnson had an unfathomably bad sixth and by the end of that inning the Diamondbacks had a 14-1 lead. If you really want to know the gory details, seek help and also click the “Box†link below and head over to the play-by-play tab. On a positive note, Betts did crush a two-run, garbage time home run. That was neat. They added two more on a Blake Swihart double, too. Then, in the next inning, Mitch Moreland closed the gap with a three-run home run.The game ended pretty much as it should, with Eduardo Nez on the mound for the Red Sox. Yes, you read that correctly. He got a pair of quick outs before allowing a solo shot to Alex Avila. He’d get out of it after that and finished in the top half of the four Red Sox pitchers to appear in the game in terms of quality of performance.The Red Sox will look to put this one behind them and pick up a win in the desert on Saturday night. They’ll turn to David Price who will go up against Luke Weaver. First pitch is scheduled for 8:10 PM ET.BOX
30th May 2019
Comparing Derek Dietrich to more prom
