Offensive Leaders, Rounded Around 500 At Bats. 1. Taylor is on pace for 20 HR, 75 RBI, 40 2B, .300 AVG, .340 OBP, .490 SLG +20 SB 2. Seager is on pace for 25 HR, 75 RBI, 40 2B, .300 AVG, .380 OBP, .510 SLG 3. Turner is on pace for 25 HR, 85 RBI, 35 2B, .340 AVG, .435 OBP, .515 SLG 4. Belly is on pace for 40 HR, 100 RBI, 25 2B, .265 AVG, .340 OBP, .575 SLG 5. Puig is on pace for 30 HR, 80 RBI, 25 2B, .270 AVG, 34O OBP, 480 SLG +20 SB Rogues Gallery 6. If you combine Grandal and Barnes for 500 AB with Grandal getting two thirds to Barnes one third of catching starts you get a marvellous hitting catcher that provides similar value to a Puig. 7. Old man Utley and Forsythe complement each other very well as IF Utility players from each side. Between them they have had a hell of a year when you split Utley stricly vs righties and Forsythe vs lefties. This leaves Gonzales as the enigma who could give the lineup some extra hitting prowess vs righties. Because right now if you start Bellinger at 1B and Taylor in LF that leaves Utley and Barnes as the only good options for 2B vs righties. Which is not a bad thing if Dave would actually play them and not Forsythe in these situations. 8. The Joc and Kike combo also provides a real nice hitter near the end of a lineup specially out of CF. In fact Joc, Kike, Utley, Forsythe, Gonzales are all on pace for about equal amount of at bats this season. And they all kinda have the same value production wise when Dave plays to their absolute strengths. They should get around 250-300 At Bats and provide excellent value. All the guys that bat after Puig when platooned and combined provide about the same level of production that a player of Puig's caliber would provide at that position. Dave has all of the tools he needs to create the perfect lineup every night. So essentially we have 5 number 5 hitters spread after the heart of the order. They just have different names every game. If the Dodgers started to platoon Puig with Kike more often numbers out of RF would be a little bit higher.
As much as I have loved Puig's play this season, this is not true. Both catchers alone have provided more value than Puig has. Combining the two to form a super catcher blows that out the window which at present is a 4 WAR catcher to Puig's current 1.4 RF'er. Positional statistics matter as Puig still puts up only slightly better than average numbers for a right fielder. Now, if he could go back to hitting LHP like he was just a year ago, then we are talking about Puig the superstar as we are looking at 120ish OPS+ RF'er with ++ defense.
The jist is that Puig is still under performing. Nice to see him at .260 rather than .230 like Joc but... He needs to hit .320 again At least from what I've seen this season, when he's not slapping weak ground balls, he's been getting fooled less and hitting more hard line drives mostly at people but that can change not that his cabbage head groks Wee Willie Keeler
he's still a work in progress but he's showed marked improvement as i've stated ad nauseum, when he hits to all fields he's a dangerous hitter he himself mentioned this on mlb network yesterday it takes time/work to change bad habits but at least he understands the concept and appears to have embraced it
and is playing his position as well as anyone I've ever seen in a Dodger uniform. I'm not a big fan of his casual approach fielding the ball at times, but I guess it's OK as long as he doesn't fuck up.
I was praising Grandal in this post. While most people have been bashing him lately for his bad atbats. Not about Puigs greatness at all. I never used star or superstar or other ridiculous and absurd demands errrr... I mean expectations yall make of Puig. There has been nobody better batting from the right side on the best team in baseball better than Puig except one teammate. Meditate on that .900 plus OPS from the most important side in baseball. He doing that with no protection in the lineup hitting last. While y'all keep saying you hate his at bats. Vs lefties. That's why I said Dave should platoon him in the playoffs. There is no blind faith here. Puig hit well vs lefties last year. That helped our offense tremendously. How have guys like Turner and Seager hit lefties in year past? Our stars improved this year vs lefties and we added 2 power bats that crush lefties so that was no longer a need. Puig the could concentrate on his main swing vs righties. Results are in and he is hitting line drives again up the middle and opposite way. And they are going out the yard better than at peak Puig. Maybe next year Puig can handle lefties without sacrificing his swing vs righties. We lose a lot of games last year without Puig stepping up. And more with his field generalship. Plus he steals bases and intimidates the opposition with his base running style. Replace him with a better player that fits our team better and produces like he does vs the majority of pitchers in the league and at a super bargain... If you can. Grandal is real nice. Lots of power from the the C spot. But we can replace him tomorrow with Barnes and not miss a beat. And Barnes is not that proven yet. But he has loads of minors experience and is around same age as grandal. Puig of course is still younger and bout to start priming.
best rf i've ever seen in a dodger uniform people used to rave about mondesi but he had limited range and took bad routes and major kudos to puig for never letting his offensive woes affect his defense
offensively perhaps but yasmani's framing should not be underestimated he gets lots of strike calls on a lot of (otherwise) balls
According to this, Barnes is #8 and Yas is #2. Not much difference there. http://www.baseballprospectus.com/sortable/index.php?cid=1899425 Amazing. Posey was #1 a year ago and is near the bottom this year. http://www.baseballprospectus.com/sortable/index.php?cid=1919156
You don't think Turner could feast on the weaker pitching down the stretch? I dropped his obp and avg a bit and upped his slg as he has been trending in that direction. And I have a ton of faith in Justin Turner. Also I said per 500 at bats and Turner won't get nearly that many. So if he get to 18 or 20 that is a rough equivalent.
'You' a non-believer?? Puig has the tools. quick twitch with Popeye power good eyes and fast as shit but alas a cabeza de repollo still his instincts are solid and he's tagging them fairly hard consistently.. when not fooled entirely Ok no .320? ... .300? He's totally capable of still finishing this year above .280 since he's tagging balls hard all year when he makes contact it's good... and now we're back to the wilting cabbage head .300? someday? c'mon a man can dream
Are you not entertained? Every good player has a role. The tough part is finding that role. Its a bonus if that role is something that fits perfectly with your team needs. Vs Righties: .294 .354 .561 .915 in 262 at bats with 19 HR and 47 RBI from the 8 hole. Platoon him until he starts hitting lefties again. This is peak Puig. Batting 8th: .291 .355 .571 .927 in 175 at bats with 13 HR and 30 RBI. Keep him there, he is the best guy on the team for this spot. This is Peak Puig. With 2 Outs: .302 .378 .509 .888 in 106 at bats with 6 HR and 18 RBI. Players show their clutch in different ways, Puig is clutch defensively for sure, but offensively his best clutch asset is his ability to not feel the pressure when there is 2 outs on the board. This Is Peak Puig. Post All Star: .300 .364 .583 .947 in 60 at bats with 4 HR and 10 RBI. His most recent play is his best play and that is at .300, THIS IS PEAK PUIG. Are you not entertained!
