Middle infield help.

by pkjsp83 on Jul 10, 2008 11:05 AM EDT

I think that our greatest need is some pop in the middle infield. Then maybe go out and get fuentes or another lefty reliever. There are two people that might not be realistic but we might should think about them. The first is Jhonny Peralta on the indians. He's fairly young, about 26 and has some pop in his bat for a SS. He's got 14 HR's and was on a bigtime slump, but lately he's been pretty hot. I figure He might could be had for 2-3 pretty good prospects. The second is a little less realistic and would take a lot more, but would be amazing is Ian Kinsler. The 2 bagger for the Rangers. He is batting .335 with 14 HR 53 RBI and 23 SB (STUD). We might have to give up brian anderson, jon jay, maybe another pitching prospect or something but he is a beast. (side note: He also attended MIZZOU so he would be a great fit.)

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We might as well cut it out with the Kinsler talk

He’s signed through 2012 with an option for 2013. He’s young and productive—power and speed. Prying him away from the Rangers would take an offer of epic proportions, probably at least our top two or three prospects, definitely Rasmus for starters. As you said, he’s a stud. It’s not happening, end of story.

Peralta is more realistic, but I’m not sure I love that idea either, mostly due to him being a big lug in the field on a team that stresses ground balls.

by mojowo11 on Jul 10, 2008 11:14 AM EDT 0 recs

Peralta

I don’t remember what thread it was on, but someone pointed out that he’s actually rated better than Izturis in nearly all of the defensive metrics out there (RZR, OOZ rating, defensive win shares, etc.)—thing is, he doesn’t look like much of an upgrade with the bat the way he’s hitting right now. The Indians are definitely sellers, and have a ton of MI prospects in the minors right now and could use a corner outfielder with some pop in his bat. They also need a young third baseman, since Andy Marte appears to be a bust. Maybe a combo of Jay, Freese/Craig could get that deal done.

"I just wish that the late Harry Caray were still around so I could hear him mispronounce 'Kosuke Fukudome' every fukun' night" -- Dennis Miller

by fourstick on Jul 10, 2008 11:49 AM EDT up 0 recs

yeah

that defense discussion can be found here, but i’ll copy the numbers anyway.

at SS, as of yesterday:

izturis: 3 FRAR, -5 FRAA, .848 RZR, 29 OOZ (139 plays), 1.6 WS (fielding only)
peralta: 17 FRAR, 5 FRAA, .838 RZR, 26 OOZ (186 plays), 3.6 WS (fielding only)

izturis makes a lot more plays out of his zone than peralta does (in less opportunities), but still… IMO these numbers suggest peralta isn’t the bumbling fielder most people assume he is.

also, re: the way he’s hitting right now>

Jul 9 Anthony Castrovince, of Indians.MLB.com, reports Cleveland Indians SS Jhonny Peralta is hitting .338 with 10 doubles, three home runs and 14 RBIs in his last 16 games.

by baw on Jul 10, 2008 12:04 PM EDT up 0 recs

also

here’s another good hash-out on peralta:
http://mistakesports.blogspot.com/2007/01/very-special-edition-of-hey-hoynsie.html

and here’s another dia”tribe” (LOL) about his sucking.
http://www.fanhouse.com/2008/05/13/is-jhonny-peralta-about-to-lose-his-job/

by baw on Jul 10, 2008 12:09 PM EDT up 0 recs

That's interesting

I guess I’m surprised about Peralta’s defense, but only to an extent. He’s got a reputation not for having hands of steel, but just for being kind of a fatty who can’t get to much. Sort of Eckstein-like in that he fields most things he gets to, although I’m pretty sure Peralta (and my grandma) have a better arm than Eck did.

How much do plays out of one’s zone matter? I guess I don’t really know. Someone enlighten me.

As for his offense, well, I don’t know. He’s just horrifically inconsistent. I know that “inconsistent” is sort of a Joe Morgan-esque buzzword that often has no real meaning…but Peralta just seems like he should have put it together by now, especially after being so good in 2005 (.292/.366/.520).

Last year he had an OPS+ of exactly 100 with an OBP of .341—now he’s got an OPS+ of 98 with an OBP of .299. In 2006 he was awful, in 2005 he was spectacular. What the hell am I supposed to make of this guy? He just confuses me.

by mojowo11 on Jul 10, 2008 12:17 PM EDT up 0 recs

mojowo11........don't even over think this one......

he is so much better than Brendan Ryan and Cesar Izturis, I could not imagine having a SS with some pop and by all defensive metrics average+ defense.

by ICbirdfan on Jul 10, 2008 1:10 PM EDT up 0 recs

I would be skeptical of the defense

Yes, RZR has him at middle-of-the-pack in the AL this year, but he was dead last in 2007 and 3rd-from-last in 2006.

by mikedallas45 on Jul 10, 2008 2:48 PM EDT up 0 recs

but that's the thing

he’s a really streaky hitter, so we would need to hope he gets hot for the rest of the year.

On with the (good) youth movement!

by aet15 on Jul 10, 2008 10:32 PM EDT up 0 recs

he had a sub-.230 BABIP

despite a career-average-ish LD%, the last time I looked (late June). So it would probably be possible to replace “he’s a really streaky hitter” with “he had amazingly bad luck for a couple of months” and replace “gets hot” with “doesn’t continue to be amazingly unlucky” and then celebrate with a franklin. If you are Mo and pulled it off, a damned fine franklin. Something very expensive and dark.

(Though we probably missed the “bad luck trade” window on peralta, if there ever was one, unfortunately. Can’t picture antonetti letting a guy like that go over something as stupid as line drives being caught).

I’d still move him to second base, though, even if we got him cheap.

"If thats bad luck, lets DFA our luck away." -DriverZN

by SleepyCA on Jul 10, 2008 11:09 PM EDT up 0 recs

Chris Getz

Here is a guy that you might want to take a look at. His name is Chris Getz and he is a 2B for Chicago White Sox’s AAA affilitate. .306/.363/.444 He doesn’t have a lot of pop, but he could be a leadoff hitter, a #2 hitter possibly. He is currently blocked by Juan Uribe and Alexei Ramirez. He’s 24 and ready to play.

by AP5 on Jul 11, 2008 12:03 AM EDT 0 recs