Throughout the Pirates organization, the first base position has become the home of players who have struggled at other positions, Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes. Of course, it’s not unusual for players at more demanding defensive positions to have to move to first base, but what’s distinctive about the Pirates’ case is the precise reasons players are moving to first. At the big league level, Pedro Alvarez is moving across the diamond because of inexplicable problems making routine throws to first. And in the minors, Stetson Allie moved to first (with a stop at third base) after flaming out as a pitcher, while catcher Tony Sanchez has experimented with the position after troubles throwing out basestealers. The Pirates’ future at first base, though, might belong to another prospect, Josh Bell, who’s learning the position for a more straightforward reason — with Starling Marte, Andrew McCutchen and Gregory Polanco set to man the Pirates’ outfield for the next several years, there might not be room for Bell there. Here’s more from the National League.
- The August trade deadline is quickly approaching, and the Phillies still don’t appear likely to deal A.J. Burnett or Jonathan Papelbon, CSNPhilly.com’s Jim Salisbury reports. Both players are owed significant money beyond this season. Whatever happens, Salisbury notes that Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez, Cesar Hernandez and top prospect Maikel Franco, at least, are expected to be among the Phillies’ September call-ups.
- The Marlins’ fire sale following the 2012 season is beginning to pay dividends, writes Tyler Kepner of the New York Times. In particular, the massive deal that sent Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle and Josh Johnson to Toronto has returned Henderson Alvarez and Adeiny Hechavarria, plus Jake Marisnick, a key piece in the deal that brought Jarred Cosart last month. “Our owner, Jeffrey Loria, took a lot of heat for [the trade with Toronto],” says Marlins executive Michael Hill. “But we really felt we needed to reset who we were and who we were going to be moving forward.” Their young outfield has rounded into form, with Christian Yelich and Marcell Ozuna complementing superstar Giancarlo Stanton, and the Marlins can add to an already exciting young core with the return of Jose Fernandez sometime early next season.
Michael Hill doesn’t get it. It’s not about the “players that they received or the money the saved from the deal” It’s the precedent. They blatantly lied to the fans and citizens of Miami, saying that they were going to change, that they were finally willing to spend money on the team and made the citizens pay for a new ballpark for them with these false promises. Then they went ahead and renigged. That’s the issue
The citizens on Miami put more blame on the city than Loria for the whole stadium thing. But I agree with everything else, although it was a brilliant move, the timing of it was terrible and it put a bad perception on the team and Loria.
I don’t think the Marlins were going anywhere with Reyes, Buerhle and Johnson. Honestly, the two teams (Miami and Toronto) are pretty much in the same boat two years later. Both teams stunk last year and are just average this year. The difference is, Miami should be good for the next few years, whereas Toronto might be trending downward.
But even if they win a World Series, there will still be that doubt due to terrible decision in the past after success. I mean they’ve had fire sales right after they won a World Series. That’s just impossible to spin.
Well, I wouldn’t get too excited about Hechavarria, he’s only shown himself to be a well below average offensive and defensive player (and a bad base runner) up to this point in his career.
Umm, not sure if you’ve ever watched Hech play, but all three of those statements are patently false. He is still a young, defensive-first shortstop, but he is at least an average hitter for SS. Also, he is a reason for defensive metrics being misleading, this guy makes more spectacular plays at SS than just about anyone outside of Simmons.
Just because he makes spectacular plays doesn’t mean he’s great
defensively or that the defensive metrics are wrong, it just means he’s
inconsistent defensively and makes flashy plays that stick with Marlins
fans because, yes, they were in impressive, but they don’t reflect his overall defensive contribution to the team. That’s how Nate McLouth won his gold glove.
He’s been caught 14 out of 32 attempts stealing in his career, he’s certainly not helping his team by being caught that much.
Also, he’s not at least an average hitter at shortstop… by essentially every measure, he’s at least a little below average.
For the 28 shortstops with 350 Plate Appearances or more, he’s 20th in OBP, 17th in OPS, 17th in wOPA, 18th in wRC+, etc…
His bat definitely lags behind the glove, but he is also a guy that the Marlins are surely ok with hitting .270 from the 8 spot in the order. Also, I guarantee you that not one person on the Marlins coaching staff or front office would claim Hech to be even an average defender, he is definitely above average. And, caught stealing isn’t a reflection of base running ability anymore than E’s is a reflection of fielding.
Like I said, Simmons should win the GG hands down, that guy is magical, but Hech is definitely not “the problem” in Miami, since you claim he is “well below average” in all three areas. I’m not saying All Star, but he definitely isn’t well below average, I mean he does have a slightly positive WAR, which would sorta mean he is at least average.
Hechavarria has the same defensive tools as Simmons he just hasn’t put it together consistently. The defensive metrics hurt him because while he shows incredible range and ability He sometimes doesn’t focus on the easy plays and makes errors on routine plays. And sure he doesn’t rank spectacularly in hitting this year but last year he was at or near the bottom of all those ranks and now he’s middle of the pack meaning he’s showing improvement.