Perfect! Our replacement switch-hitting utility guy is already in-house!

 

How's Vargas's glove at short?

Are those minor league stats for Kenny's?

Perfect! Our replacement switch-hitting utility guy is already in-house!

 

How's Vargas's glove at short?

Maybe they can move Sano to short and Kennys at 3rd?? Then polonco can go to his more natural position over at 2nd

 

 

Are those minor league stats for Kenny's?

No, MLB stats, but 2017 for both.

OK, so the point being that EE hits in the majors like a subpar AAA first-baseman, but we still love him?

yeah, position plays a huge role in this. .750+ out of a SS/2B is much better than that out of a 1B. 

Escobar has played primarily 3b the last two years. Where he is a below average fielder. I’m not sure any team would view him as even passable anywhere else. Not that Vargas is a gold glover.

 

Escobar has played primarily 3b the last two years. Where he is a below average fielder. I’m not sure any team would view him as even passable anywhere else. Not that Vargas is a gold glover.

 

He also appears to have not taken well to AZ... .763 OPS there vs .852 OPS here. It's worth noting his numbers posted above are only his AZ numbers.

 

Escobar has played primarily 3b the last two years. Where he is a below average fielder. I’m not sure any team would view him as even passable anywhere else. Not that Vargas is a gold glover.

 

I think you're under-estimating what teams will put up with defensively. Even if you want to give Manny Machado a pass for his elite bat, Escobar's defensive ratings at short the past couple years don't tend to look out of place compared to less-prolific batsmen like Tim Beckham, Asdrubal Cabrera, Chris Taylor, Willy Adams, Jose Peraza or even out own Jorge Polanco.

I think you're under-estimating what teams will put up with defensively. Even if you want to give Manny Machado a pass for his elite bat, Escobar's defensive ratings at short the past couple years don't tend to look out of place compared to less-prolific batsmen like Tim Beckham, Asdrubal Cabrera, Chris Taylor, Willy Adams, Jose Peraza or even out own Jorge Polanco.

Escobar has barely played shortstop the last two years. Any metrics taken from those handful of games should be taken with a tubful of salt.

The point is Escobar turned into a different player in 2018. We would have all taken that level of production from Vargas, and I think it's possible he could do the same.

 

Yet, most people dislike Vargas and never want to see him again.

One is a fairly quick, athletic middle infielder. The other is a terrible slow and unathletic DH. I'm not against Vargas, but you expect more bat out of guys that can't do anything else. 

The point is Escobar turned into a different player in 2018. We would have all taken that level of production from Vargas, and I think it's possible he could do the same.

 

Yet, most people dislike Vargas and never want to see him again.

So your interest is in forecasting. Two guys had similar stats in 2017, then diverged in 2018. Would it be interesting to know that EE's BABIP in 2017 was a tad low at .279, while Kennys's was a tad high at .325? Neither number is outlandish, but taken together, if a divergence in 2018 was destined to occur and you were foretold that one would have some kind of a breakout season, you might guess Eddie to be the one.

 

And again, forecasting aside, with equal batting numbers like in 2017, I am much more interested in the player with middle infield skills than the one who doesn't have them. I don't dislike Kennys, indeed he's a fun guy, but I wanted him to up his game and instead he regressed at AAA.