Platooning these two guys with a pair of lefty mashers gives us the most potent production out of CF and RF in the league. Vs righties for the year. They kill. They should start most ever game vs righties and take most of their starts off vs lefties. Vs lefties they get killed. This year and throughout most of their careers. When they try to hit lefties better they end up hurting their abilities vs righties. Joc specially. CF vs R: .293 .385 .624 1.009 Joc CF vs L: .250 .360 .488 .848 Taylor Taylor is smoking the ball after a horrible start so his stats are still not there. Even then his near .850 OPS vs lefties is more than respectable. And combined with Joc's OPS vs righties you got yourself great overall production from that spot in the field. And both are good leadoff men as well. Not great speed, but good with that ability to get on base. Puig is quietly having a great little season offensively, but its mostly against righties. Against lefties his numbers don't go as low as Joc's but low enough to where he is a liability. RF vs R: .293 .350 .517 .867 Puig RF vs L: .282 .404 .615 1.020 Muncy Platooning them provides plenty of at bats for Kike and Taylor and even Muncy who kill lefties. Kemp can move to RF and Muncy can play LF. Muncy can play RF. Kemp kills lefties too. A combo of Joc and Taylor in CF is a great player. The same as a combo of Puig and Muncy or Kike in RF. Dave is going to have to cut at bats when they sign Machado who will play full time at SS. Muncy either has to survive at 2B or become strictly a platoon player. vs R CF: Joc SS: Machado 3B: Turner LF: Kemp 1B: Bellinger RF: Puig C : Grandal 2B: Muncy vs L LF: Muncy SS: Machado 3B: Turner RF: Kemp 1B: Bellinger CF: Taylor 2B: Kike C: Barnes Next year Bellinger plays a third of his games in RF instead of 1B, basically against left handed SP. That opens a spot for Muncy to get a good amount of at bats at 1B. Every bench guys role is reduced a bit. Kike becomes mostly a pinch hitter for this season. CF: Joc/Taylor SS: Machado 3B: Turner LF: Kemp 1B: Bellinger/Muncy 2B: Seager RF: Puig/Bellinger C : Barnes/Farmer Muncy is great insurance in case Kemp loses his newfound ability or retires or the club decides against resigning him. His home run power trumps Toles or Verdugo's or any other prospect. Muncy is also great insurance in case Turner does not fully come back from his injuries and cannot live out his contract as a dominant hitter in the league. Muncy and Taylor are essentially new models of the underdog Dodgers branding that Turner brought back to the team. Muncy, Taylor, and Stripling too are what it is to be a Dodger. They are classic Dodgers who are not big stars all their life but have had to will their way to being good. While Stanton and Judge are pure Yankee types. Money, Size, Power, Talent out the wazoo. Ultimately lets say that even if Kemp wins the MVP this year and next that the Dodgers part ways with him when his contract is up.They let Puig walk as well. Muncy effectively takes Kemps place in LF, Toles takes Puigs place in right, Ruiz is promoted and has a ROY type impact. Boom the payroll kinda normalizes for a bit since those guys are all cost controlled on rookie deals for a long time. SS: Machado 2B: Seager 3B: Turner 1B: Bellinger LF: Muncy C : Ruiz CF: Joc/Taylor RF: Toles/Kike In the long run that is the sensible plan the front office might be working under. The offense would be done and they would not need to touch it for a few years. All of our OF prospects make great trade fodder. Hold on to the top SP prospects the most. Bring in expensive superstar only if he is the right fit in terms of age and situation. Machado fits perfectly in a lot of ways but mostly that he is not an OF. The rotation of Machado and Seager at SS/2B with Taylor and Kike backing them up in the middle IF should be the best 2-way middle IF in the game. And with the IF corners being manned by a rotation of Turner, Bellinger and Muncy you also have another set of top 2-way players. The combined defense/offense metrics for this IF including starters and reserves would prove them to be the best. Essentially would you trade the futures of Matt Kemp, Yasmani Grandal, and Yasiel Puig for the present and future Manny Machado? Because all the money they are supposed to make going forward will be paying Manny Machados salary. I make the deal in a heartbeat. They can have all the Verdugos they want, anyone in the prospects list but Buehler and Ruiz. The team is perfectly situated with depth to absorb the loss of 3 starting players thanks to the new development of Muncy, the return of Seager, and the development of the best C prospect the team has had in years being ready for the show. Taylor, Kike and Joc going their job well is a nice plus too.
Not nearly enough... Seriously, he can walk around with his johnson bar out as far as I-m concerned, as long as most of his moves have some logic to them. After Dave, before him Donnie, and never liked Torre, it would be nice to have a guy you really believed in...like Tommy...like Walter. Probably being a fan like most of us are, watching almost every game in a season, cultivates hyper criticism from the peanut gallery. When Tommy was wearing blue, I watched as much as I could, but certainly not every game...had lotta shit to do back then.
Interesting point there BZ, that was, I thought, one of the attributes touted about Mr. Roberts. He's played big league ball, he's learned in multiple systems, he's shown that he can grasp technical statistics, he's spent his time in the minors, we should be able to respect his judgement. Of course some people just simply cannot be happy with anothers decisions, obscure physics laws of the universe apply ...my wife for example