The Reds are willing to listen to offers for center fielder Billy Hamilton, as ESPN’s Buster Olney reported last week, and the Rangers are among the teams eyeing him, Olney tweets.
With both Ian Desmond and Carlos Gomez currently on the open market, Texas has an obvious need in the middle of its outfield. Desmond spent the lion’s share of 2016 in center, and the Rangers are now “far from optimistic” that they’ll be able to re-sign him. The interest in Hamilton makes sense, then, as the 26-year-old has been a valuable member of the Reds since becoming a full-time major leaguer in 2014. As evidenced by his .248/297/.334 batting line in 1,547 plate appearances, Hamilton hasn’t contributed much at the plate, but his defensive and baserunning excellence combine to give him a high floor.
Just seven major leaguers have saved more runs in the field than Hamilton’s 37 since 2014, while only Jason Heyward and Andrelton Simmons have bettered his 47.9 Ultimate Zone Rating over the past three seasons. Hamilton swiped the most bases in the majors (172) during the same period and is fresh off his third straight season with at least 55 steals, despite having missed a combined 91 games the previous two years. Hamilton stole a career-high 58 bags in 2016, and has only been caught a combined 16 times since 2015. That’s a vast improvement over his rookie year, when opposing catchers gunned Hamilton down 23 times on 79 attempts.
Although the Reds are in the midst of a rebuild, they’d need to be “really, really motivated by an offer” to move Hamilton, per Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer (Twitter link). Hamilton is under team control through the 2019 campaign and is set to make his first trip through arbitration this offseason, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting an ultra-affordable $2.3MM salary for 2017.
Go get him, but don’t give up a whole lot
He’ll cost a bit. Hes a controlled gold glover at a premium position whose basically a double every time he gets on base
I’m not even sure Texas has prospects the Reds would be interested in getting, like, Gallo and Profar aren’t a fit there and I’m not sure who else Texas has other than Mendez, Taveras or Ragens who fit the bill for Cincy. The Reds could easily get a couple prospects from any teams top 10 for Hamilton, who is a total outlier of a player in that his slash line doesn’t reflect how truly valuable he is – not to mention how cheap he is.
“whose basically a double every time he gets on base”
Not to mention he’s two batted balls away of any type away from scoring from first. Has he scored from first on a single before? I remember him doing it somewhere but it might not have been in MLB. The guy even has additional value in how plain fun he is to watch – he’s a guy people pay to see.
Yea, WHEN he gets on base
He had a .321 OBP last season
Take his name out of the conversation and simply look at that in a vacuum and anyone says it’s a decent number
Plus he’s improved drastically in the past year alone. His second half split for this past season was even better
.321 is nothing special, esp considering hos OBP was under .300 the 2 years prior
.321 is literally the league average according to ESPN.
Also I said he’s improving, as do many young players
Better fit for the Orioles. Cory Sedlock, DJ Stewart, Tanner Scott, and a PLTBNL for Hamilton and Votto. Votto plugs into right. Hamilton either platoons in left with Kim, plays in right when Votto is DH, or they trade Jones in separate deal and Hamilton takes over center for next six years.
Votto won’t accept a trade except to play first, he has 10/5 rights.
Actually he doesn’t have 10/5 rights, he has just over 9 years of service time. He got veto rights built into his contract extension. Of course, that’s just nitpicking. Same idea.
But you’re right, all indications are he wants to play 1b. I’m not sure he’s ever commented on DH-ing, but a voluntary switch to the outfield isn’t going to happen. He rejected a move to the outfield at the beginning of his career, and isn’t giving in now that he has leverage.
He has excelled in the NL and at GABP, I’m skeptical that he’s excited about a move to the AL. The only team I could ever imagine Votto accepting a trade to, some day, is Toronto, but even that is unlikely.
Move Davis to the outfield so votto plays first then. It would be good value, but the o’s might not give those prospects.
First, it’s Cody not Cory. Second, the Orioles are not giving up those prospects, especially Scott who is a lefty who tops out at 100 mph, which you don’t find often. Votto does not “plug” into right. Never heard of two lefties platooning together and why would you platoon a guy that you give those prospects up for? And trade jones? Cmon man. Lol. Most ridiculous post of the offseason.
Hamilton is a switch hitter tho so he could theoretically platoon with Kim
If he were to stay with the reds. He should just bat right handed only. He’s much better that way
You guys really devalue Votto. He’s an MVP candidate every year, So trading a MVP candidate on a reasonable deal compared to market value, and what should be a gold glover and speed demon in Hamilton with both having multiple years of control isn’t going to cut it for 4 prospects, unless you’re also eating all Votto’s contract and that PTBNL is an absolute stud.
This is a pretty hilarious trade proposal. None of those players are very good, let alone enough to get Votto, who is one of the best players in baseball. And he’s never played right field before and why would he DH? He’s a very good first baseman.
Awful
Pretty sure votto has said many times he’s not going to waive the no trade clause and he doesn’t play RF….
So crappy prospects for Hamilton and votto. Got it
Trades have to make sense for both teams, and such a deal makes no sense for the Reds, and there’s zero reason for Votto to consent to that deal.
Votto in RF. Someone has been playing too many video games.
Gut tells me votto only waives no trade for north of the border! Not sure two pitchers are what the reds are looking for either… they have no hitters other than votto beyond slap hitting speedsters…
Duvall?
Duvall is Adam Dunn with less homers and no walks…
Votto has a full no trade clause and he wants to finish his career in Cincinnati. Also, he does not want to play for Toronto. Hamilton will NOT be traded at all. If any players get traded it will be Cozart or Phillips or both
Thank you for the insight. Weird for the Reds to shop him with no intention of trading him.
Votto is staying put, but I would not be shocked to see Hamilton moved after his best season in the bigs.
Winker can replace him soon.
The Reds said they’re listening to offers on any players, NOT ‘shopping’ Hamilton with the intention of moving him. If they’re blown away by an offer they’ll move him, but they’re not looking to dump him. The Reds’ rebuild is clearly geared towards contending by 2018.
Jesse Winker can replace Billy Hamilton in the sense that both are outfielders, but Winker is a below-average defensive corner outfielder, while Billy Hamilton is a Gold Glove caliber CF. Winker could play a corner while Scott Schebler moves to CF, but that outfield alignment would be a defensive nightmare for a team that tends to place high value on strong defense.
I’d be shocked if Billy Hamilton was traded (most would consider such a deal to be a huge overpay). And even more shocked to see Votto, with his veto rights and contract, moved. But they’re certainly not selling low on either.
To follow up on what Redsfanman said.
If Hamilton is moved then I expect Peraza to be infinitely more likely than Schebler to be the regular centerfielder. This administration isn’t like the Lindner ones which, one game I was at, had freaking Wily Mo Pena in center. This ownership prioritizes defense.
In the end the trade likelyhood of Reds starts with Cozart and Phillips and goes way down from there. They are looking for a place to start Peraza, but Centerfield is the last of the three options they’d like to move. I expect Cozart to move and if Phillips can be moved they’ll move him for next to nothing, but I doubt he can. My best guess is Phillips at 2b and Peraza at ss next year with Billy still in center. They’d prefer to move Phillips than Cozart but I doubt they can with his no trade clause and contract (10 millionish more than Cozart), it would have to be somewhere he can start, if he is going to be a part-timer he would just stay here I think, and I’m sure he’d want a contender.
Votto recently said he wants to be a one-organization player like Duncan or Brady, so he isn’t moving.
It’s hard to quantify the effect Hamilton has on a team. In addition to Gold Glove caliber defense, he’s a huge distraction on the base paths. Sure there are numbers quantifying baserunning value, but the distraction that he provides for opposing pitchers is fascinating. Catchers are more likely to throw the ball into the outfield than catch him stealing 2b. Several times Votto has stolen 2b with Hamilton on third, since teams feared that a throw down would allow Hamilton to score.
Hamilton is often written off for his low average and low OBP. He’s an extremely unusual and unique player, but a very valuable one. But I doubt he has the kinda value that teams want to over-pay for.
Hamilton’s .321 OBP was literally league average this past season according to ESPN
Hamilton getting on at average pace is much more valuable than some of these guys who can’t run getting on at slightly better rates
If he has a fluky season where he actually hits halfway decent he’d suddenly be one of the best guys in the league.
the game where Cueto came back comes to mind, what did Cueto give up five runs that inning after he was so consumed with holding Billy on?
Gardner and Headley to Texas for Gallo? If Texas is so down on Gallo and are looking for an affordable good CF then Gardner brings lots of intangibles. Headley can play third, first, and outfield do he offers flexibility.
I doubt his value is quite that low, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was by the end of this season
If the Yankees ate a portion of those contracts, it wouldn’t be a terrible idea. Although I don’t think Texas would want Headley unless they got a little more coming back. Probably easier, for both sides, to work on a Gardner-Gallo deal.
Gallo – Gardner wouldn’t happen. Gallo’s value is low right now, but not that low. I don’t see Gardner as a CF solution. He would play well in left, as evidenced by his gold glove this year..
Profar and another prospect should be able to get that deal done