Broken Bat - Help: Help me cut a player or two

Forum >> Help >> Help me cut a player or two

Post ID	Date & Time	Game Date	Function

#52465	08/21/2017 8:27:26 am
lostraven Joined: 07/02/2016 Posts: 1269 Corvallis Ravens II.1	Probably only the second time I've asked for player cut help, but I'm at the max and suffering major indecision. Things to know: 1. Have aggressively been trying to move up to III from IV, though I recognize I may get flailed in III with my weak pitching situation. I'm in a state of indecision about if I should be focusing on winning this season or not. 2. The draft/waivers this season have been about me improving my pitching situation in the minors to address the previously mentioned issue. That said, I'm having trouble deciding who to cut. I'd like to cut two, one at a minimum. Biggest question marks: 1. Elwood Lovelace: serving a bench role, was training for second base to take over for Dimas, but I 1. have a somewhat capable replacement in Moss (who I have been training in the Majors due to receiving "learned all he can" at age 22 in AAA) and 2. having two second base options in AAA in Apodaca and Santiago. Probably an easy cut, right? Well... At some point soon I'm also going to have to decide what to do about Apodaca and Santiago, where their defensive homes will be. Gah! 2. My first base / DH situation is fluid at the moment; I completely failed to address first base with my minor league development plan, leading to question marks. Currently, after much discussion in a previous thread, I'm running: * VS RHP: Cano (100 percent not cutting) at DH, speedster and "hits righties well" Mizuguchi at first * VS LHP: Cano at first, 31 FA signee and "hits lefties well" Chung at DH Line of thinking was see if Mizuguchi is worth keeping or not (waiver claim), but small sample size said he wasn't all that vs. lefties, so I brought in Chung, with the goal of trying to win it this year. Originally had speedster and man w/o a defensive home Navarro at first, but stuck him back in AAA for more reps at first base. So among Chung, Mizuguchi, and Navarro, I'm wondering if I'm just better off tossing Chung and Mizu, moving Cano to 1B full time, and Navarro to DH full time. And leave Lovelace as a bench bat and defensive replacement. I guess the beauty of putting Cano at first is that I can plug best bat with no defensive home into DH. 3. I have a three-headed bullpen demon in Zimmerman, Fitzpatrick, and Mayfield. Trouble is, I may have to live with their mediocrity because I have little in the way to replace them with; the only two options would be Lee and Barrett, who doubtfully would be much of an improvement. Zimmerman is a LOOGY who isn't even getting lefties out right now, seemingly a waste of a roster spot. Fitz' is probably just having a rough patch with five blow saves, but it's not like I'm rich with closing options. Mayfield is a HUGE puzzle I can't solve. Progressively worse with each year in the Majors, despite numbers that shout that he shouldn't BE that bad. 4. Rafael Aquino: Waiver claim in '31 season. Knew the 17 speed was going to be a waste on the stolen base front (doesn't steal) but as a 14 POT who can hit and play outfield or first, wanted to take a chance. Don't know how much stock to put in minor league numbers. GB/FB keeps wavering but last couple of seasons have produced sub-.750 OPS. Don't know if he'll grow out of that. Open to other minor league suggestions, though it will take some serious convincing for me to cut some of those unmentioned-as-of-yet players. Updated Monday, August 21 2017 @ 8:29:22 am PDT Updated Monday, August 21 2017 @ 8:29:56 am PDT Updated Monday, August 21 2017 @ 8:32:56 am PDT

#52469	08/21/2017 9:03:50 am
Rock777 Joined: 09/21/2014 Posts: 9599 Haverhill Halflings III.1	Lovelace looks like an easy cut. I think you could probably toss both Mizuguchi and Chung, but Navarro really would benefit from more time in AAA. So you probably need to keep at least one of them. Mizuguchi is untested. I'd probably dump Chung. Bullpen guys look fine. Just off to a bad start this year. Aquino looks like a good prospect still. Minors numbers haven't been great, but I'd give him a couple more seasons before passing judgement. POT 14 is pretty nice and he will still make use of his speed in running the bases. I'm a bit skeptical of Walter. POT 12 with a ton of SI in stamina. Might be ok, will definitely never be dominant. Even more skeptical of Clawson. POT 12 lefty with "throw all day" and 20 Arm. Updated Monday, August 21 2017 @ 9:05:29 am PDT

#52473	08/21/2017 9:23:52 am
lostraven Joined: 07/02/2016 Posts: 1269 Corvallis Ravens II.1	Rock, Walter ALMOST made it to the list. I've been hemming and hawing on him off and on for the last season. Primary factors of keeping him around have been lack of pitching depth in the minors and a solid HR/9. But since you bring him up, I'll scrutinize him further. Clawson was another "need to stock up on pitchers" waiver claim. I was looking past the arm because of the low Range (I've been trying to maintain a tolerance of 25 to 28 visible points in Range + Arm for 12 POT pitchers, so he's at the extreme end), but now that you mention it, I've completely glossed over the "throw all day." Why did I pick him up? Super high GB/FB in conjunction with low HR/9 (small sample). The 28 innings I've had him are even more extreme in those departments. Those are the main reasons I've kept him, but yes, that "throw all day" really limits growth in other areas. And he's a lefty, which I've just had bad luck all around with lefties. Still clinging to the extreme GB pitcher, though. I'd probably lean towards Walter over Clawson as a cut at this moment. My gut may be wrong on Clawson though. EDIT: Clawson, like many lefties, hasn't fared too well vs. righties though. Hrmmm... Thanks so much, Rock! Updated Monday, August 21 2017 @ 9:30:59 am PDT

#52490	08/21/2017 1:29:58 pm
Rock777 Joined: 09/21/2014 Posts: 9599 Haverhill Halflings III.1	For me lefties fall into one of these camps. #1 - VLHB and VRHB fairly even. These guys don't seem to have a particular handedness weakness and can be evaluated almost identically to righties. #2 - Significantly better against lefties. These guys are prime candidates for your LHS role, but lots of stamina won't be particularly useful. #3 - Better against lefties than righties, but not as sharp a split as other guys on the roster. Probably not super useful, but depends on your strategy for control of the game. The utility of these guys is dependent on whether or not you have a specific role for them in mind. #4 - Better against righties. Very rare. Treat like a right handed pitcher. #5 - Dominant pitcher. Who cares what arm he throws with? Clawson has shown a particularly impressive GB/FB so far, and has performed well in the minors. However his K/BB has not been particularly good, and his H/IP has actually been poor. I suspect Clawson will fall into camp #3... Almost any player can work out (especially if they bust their cap). If Clawson can maintain that HR/IP ratio he might be useful regardless, I just see a lot of flag on that guy. Good luck with the season Updated Monday, August 21 2017 @ 1:34:16 pm PDT

#52491	08/21/2017 2:03:05 pm
Squiddcatt Joined: 02/25/2016 Posts: 375 Inactive	Rock noticed your thing on lefties and not surprising my 3 lefties were top 4 vs Lefties and bottom 4 vs Righties surprisingly a tight Lenz was also in the top 4 vs Lefties and bottom 4 vs Righties. Lenz also career pitches better verse's Lefties I'm guessing that's very uncommon.

#52494	08/21/2017 2:30:18 pm
Rock777 Joined: 09/21/2014 Posts: 9599 Haverhill Halflings III.1	Looks to me like Lenz (R) has a .271 BAA against lefties and .241 BAA against righties for career. So he is doing better against righties career wise. His current success this year against lefties is probably just the small sample size (32 BF). Meza (R) is a bit surprising because he has done better against lefties. Some guys have reverse tendencies, but it isn't super common. Kim (L) has a VERY strong split. Would make a nice LHS if he wasn't a starter. Arocha (L) has a more typical split, but probably falls into the "he's good, so who cares what hand he uses" camp. Mills (L) on the other hand has a fairly weak split, so he can be used more versatily.