I am beginning to wonder a bit that Marte's walk rate may remain well above his MiLB rate because of his ability to foul big league pitches off. Those same pitches, in the same situations, he may have just put into play in A-AA-AAA because the throwers weren't so tough. His AAA rate "jumped" to 47 pts, after he was at 28 in both A and AA. Now he's jumped to 67 pts. (but down from the unsustainable 90 pts he had for a bit). He fouls off good pitches, not necessarily putting them into play, rather than missing them.
At a 30-40 pt walk rate he needs to hit close to .290, but at (even) 55 pts his .280-ish level is quite nice. And at 40 doubles, or so, a year, he becomes an Ozzie Smith type bat (although Smith walked more).....and even James pointed out that Smith was vastly underrated offensively.
He's running a .333 BABIP, which may be "generally" sustainable (or close) with his wheels. He may see it drop significantly
.....Oz ran a career .279 rate and he could slap and run. But even at .310, Marte is nice if he has the glovey chops and the 40 two-baggers.
Doc, time and again you've pointed out that teams sometimes "relax" after a change in the managerial seat, going on hot streaks that last for a long time. Perhaps our relaxation came when Z got axed. Would be interesting to see if you could ascertain the clubhouse vibe as a result.
Given the AB's, Romero can hurt MLB lefties. I've always believed that. And I've argued that O'Malley should have been on this squad coming out of ST. I just returned from a 5 day elk trip, so I haven't seen O'Mally in the field. What is your guy's scouting report on his CF range/glove? He's played CF three times in 4 games. He might be just the platoon partner I've been talking about to marry up with Brad Miller. AND he plays 3 IF positions decently well.
His MiLB pedigree is stout, when it comes to his hitting lefties (he's 3-3 vL since the call up), but his MLB tater came batting lefty vs. a RHP.
BTW, if I had been watching his 3-4 debut and his homer you may have heard my "Yahoo" whereever you guys are! Romero's blast, too.
I am mystified by Montero. He can undoubtedly hit lefties. There may be a character flaw that will never allow that skill set to really blossom. Such things do happen.
Morrison is now at 94 OPS+, which is basically the rate he ran in '12 and '13. At .778 he is basically at his career number vs. RHP. At .490 he's been atrocious vs. LHP. Deathly, in a word.
But with Cano-Marte-Seager-Cruz-Miller/O'Malley-Smith/Romero-Zunino/Hicks you COULD still carry both Trumbo and Morrison. $6-$7M may be a fair estimate (will defer to Matt) for Morrison's arb cost. Trumbo may come in at $9M or so.
Do you sign them both?
Guti would be sexy to re-up, but he's looking like Hank Aaron vs LHP (.349-.387-.674) and it is unsustainable because of his .397 BABIP.
This Guti (although he could be decently good, anyway) won't be back next year.
Do you pay for it and give him a spot?
We need a win tonight, btw.
Glad to be back....Moe