Discussion: Marlon Byrd

Brewers written allover Byrd. Let Cameron walk and sign Byrd to man CF.. a lineup like this is possible:

ESCOBAR -ss
WEEKS - 2b
BRAUN -lf
FIELDER -1b
MCGEHEE -3b
BYRD -cf
MOLINA -c
HART/GAMEL -rf

Hmm...Byrd in Yankee pinstripes...Only if he's cheap, though. We all know what happened the last time a player had a good year in Texas (Gary Matthews, Jr., anybody?)

IF the Yankees picked him up, I wouldn't want it to be more than 3 years/$18MM with a 4th year club option at $8MM.

Anyone ever noticed how marginal players have career offensive seasons in Texas, then sign big free agent deals elsewhere and never come anywhere close to those numbers again?

So, yeah...as a Braves fan, I would LOVE it if the Yankees or Red Sox or, even better, the Mets signed Byrd to a lucrative FA deal.

I agree with Parrotthead, Byrd is a product of the Texas stadium.

He hit 14 homeruns at home compared to 6 on the road.

I would stay away from him at the price that he is asking for.

"Boston should try to get him as their 4'th OFer/Drew insurance."

He'll probably be awfully pricey for that role, and the Sox would be better off trying to add an outfielder that plays a good center field, so they have a legitimate defensive replacement for Ellsbury.

Byrd should make for a solid stopgap for someone. He's shown solid plate discipline and decent power, albeit in different seasons. The power is mostly a creation of playing in Texas, but he's more of a .100-.130 ISO hitter than the .152-.194 ISO hitter he's been the past three seasons in Texas.

My biggest question with Byrd is his plate discipline. In 2009, he swung at less pitches out of the strike zone, more pitches in the strike zone, and more pitches overall, but his contact rates dropped in each of those categories by a substantial amount. Few players go from a 50.3% Swing% and 82.9% contact rate to a 51.5% Swing% and 79.8% contact rate, so there was clearly a change in his approach in 2009, one that yielded more power, but less contact.

While he's no longer a plus defensively in center, he's playable there and he's above-average on the corners as well.

I wouldn't give him much more than what Juan Rivera got, but some team looking for an outfielder could get a solid all-around player, though I wouldn't give him much more than 2/12 or so.

"Ellsbury a defensive liability, thats good. Probably just watch a couple games a year, and Ellsbury had a bad day. I can undersatnd that."

Ellsbury has great speed, but his instincts in center aren't particularly good, and while he can make up for that occasionally with his speed, leading to some pretty brilliant catches as well, overall he doesn't get to as many balls as he should given his tools.

Ellsbury has a career UZR/150 of -7.9 in center, and his 71 OOZ and .894 RZR are both underwhelming for the position.

I never said that he was a liability, but he's clearly below-average, and the Red Sox could use a fourth outfielder like they had in Crisp, one that can come in and play a really good center field, because they don't have that kind of player on their roster right now.