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Not interested in Parra. I don't buy into his hitting uptick and, with Martin in CF we need to do better than that offensively
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Seems that Gerardo Parra might have learned to hit at age 28. Well, such as a guy like him might learn it. In 2015, he seems to have transmogrified from a 90 OPS+ guy to a 105 OPS+ guy.
Alex Chamberlain did a very linkable read on the ML hitters who have recently begun to take the ball to left field (if they're LH hitting) with authority. Parra, all of a sudden, was #4 in the majors for balls hit hard the other way. That drives a high BABIP, when a lefty is stinging outside pitches through the left side. Alex found a .50 to .55 correlation between doing that and having a higher BABIP.
More to the point, this would make him Jerry DiPoto's type of hitter. JeDi is practically obsessed with Nine Points of Quality ABing and Parra is obviously at least TRYING HIS BEST to do that.
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Parra has always been a solid-to-good right fielder and a passable center fielder. This answers Diderot's question about which way the M's would try to make a 4- or 5-man OF work, given Leonydas King of Spalding and his limitations. It might not address Moe's point about platooning Leonydas. Parra has a career OPS of .597 against lefties, but ... given his new (?) swing, maybe he can do better? His OPS sailed all the way up to .658 against LHP's last year...
Actually Parra could be a role player to sub out a couple of your righty bats ::coughtrumbocough:: against yer Chris Archers and yer Sonny Grays, 'cause Parra hit .303 with a .473 SLG against righties last year. This coming from a defense-first guy. Royals West Coast, here we come.
Fangraphs crowdsourced him at 3 years x $8M - Seth Smith money, give or take. Parra isn't really my kinda player but he's likely DiPoto's. Is he yours? It's a matter of taste to some extent. In a role he's certainly a quality player.
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Oh, and here's a cool piece on how Chris Iannetta went from a lousy pitch framer to a good one.
Enjoy,
Dr D
image: the amazing Keith Allison on Flickr.com
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Nah. Spendy and with more down side than upside. In '12-'14, Parra slugged .392, .403, & .369. In his 100 Milwaukee games in '15, he slugged .517. In Baltimore he fell back to .357. Which one is more likely the anomaly?
In those 100 games he hit 50 pts, OBP'ed 43 pts and slugged 103 pts above his career average. I'm not betting it returns.
Well, I'm not betting my $8Mx3.
He once was a good outfield glove, but the past two years have seen him plunge defensively. Based on dWAR, he's been Seth Smith out there for two years. Well, he's played a bit of CF so he's probably better than Smith in the corners. He only had 5 CF starts in '14,, although he was up to 26 in '15.
But he's not really a CF. As you pointed out, he does hit RHP decently. If you can get the bid on Son, he's way better and cheaper, too.
If we got him I wouldn't whine incessantly, but I would rather we spent that money elsewhere. Heck, it's probably a pick-em bet whether he's any better than a healthy Ramon Flores. B-R projects Parra at .273-.321-.413 and Flores at .259-.316-.396.
Maybe I would whine incessantly.
Let him go.
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I can see the argument, and Fangraphs (Cameron) considers him just the kind of intelligent move a sabe would make, but ... for me, he'd immediately become my least-favorite player on the club.
Good to see that two lead Think Tankers are as smart as I am :- )
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I know most were happy he was sent away but... As a platoon right handed OF only... How about Austin Jackson? He hit well in Safeco this past year and he should be cheaper than most options
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I'll take Gerardo Parra...
...as a benchie or in a platoon.
Our bench is heavily slanted toward lefty-killers. If we needed a pinch hit against a rightly...we don't have one. What would Servais do in that situation with the current roster? Imagine it.
If you imagined how he limits PR damage during the post-game loss Q&A sesh...I think you'd be hitting close to the mark.
It sounds like, though, Parra is angling at an everyday starter's role which...yeah, I'd pass and move on to a De Aza or somesuch to fill that role.
Parra's no.1 with a bullet for me for the role. Beyond that role, though, I start to get leery.