Marlins outfielder Lewis Brinson has faced steep expectations after he was acquired as the centerpiece of the trade that sent Christian Yelich to Milwaukee. But after back-to-back disappointing seasons in Miami, the 25-year-old may be running out of chances, writes Wells Dusenbury of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. While manager Don Mattingly has been at times willing to sacrifice winning in exchange for player development, he hopes to turn the corner and begin the transition out of mediocrity in year three of the complete rebuild. For Brinson, that means he will have to capitalize on his opportunities and start to translate his undeniable tools into on-field production. In particular, he’ll need to cut down on the strikeouts and improve his walk rate; it bears mentioning that he’s begun to show some progress in that department in September. However, the overall batting line still leaves much to be desired, including a complete power outage: Brinson hasn’t homered once in 2019 after tallying 11 just a year ago. After more than 650 plate appearances with the Marlins, next season may be his last chance to actualize the potential that made him a highly-touted prospect.
More from around the NL East…
- A pair of Phillies infielders may have played their final game in the City of Brotherly Love, cutting the final tie between today’s Phillies and the powerhouse teams of the late-2000s, writes Meghan Montemurro of The Athletic. With Maikel Franco and Cesar Hernandez eligible for arbitration, both are strong candidates to be non-tendered: It would cost a considerable price to keep Hernandez around when Scott Kingery exists as a cheaper, more productive option; likewise, Franco has been streaky and is likely not viewed as a long-term solution for the club. However, they remain as the only links to the days of Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, and Ryan Howard, bridging the team through the doldrums of 2014-2015 and into a new era of Bryce Harper-led Philly baseball.
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post offers a look towards the Mets’ offseason, advocating for an uptick in payroll as the team seeks to vault itself into contention in the hyper-competitive NL East. With franchise cornerstones like Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil playing under affordable pre-arbitration contracts, now might be the time to hike up the spending elsewhere to capitalize on existing young talent. The Mets will have to navigate the impending free agency of Zack Wheeler, who could be retained in order to preserve the rotation depth, as well as make decisions on Edwin Diaz and Noah Syndergaard. Sherman proposes a two-year payroll allocation, which would allow general manager Brodie Van Wagenen to, say, go all-in on 2020 under the promise that expenditures will drop the following season, when David Wright and Yoenis Cespedes come off the books.
It’s the bottom of the 7th as I type this and my beloved Phillies are losing to the Marlins once again. Tick…..Tick….Tick……Tick….. Gabe, your time is running out as well (I hope).
do u think Harper was all that money???
syndergaardiansofthegalaxy
I was never for the Harper signing.
Year 1 has been solid. Ask in year 6-7. This is silly to speculate on at this point.
Gabe sure is lobbying like hell to keep his job. I hope it doesn’t happen. He is an extremely obnoxious fellow! Go away please.
Cesar being non-tendered would be really disappointing to be honest, though im not too bothered if they would not be able to trade him otherwise. perhaps they can poach an infielder from NYY to replace him. (presumably a utility guy or two, given SRod, Miller, Goselin and Morrison are all gone and Kingery is moving to 2B full time)
I think Phillies would be wise to keep Hernandez. He is great but he is solid across the board. His defense at 2B could be better
They could put him , williams and a prospect in a package to get maybe a bullpen arm or a starter.
if they find anyone that wants him id certainly tender him. i dont think theres no chance a team wants him at that price.
problem with CeHe is that he only plays 2b, so he loses out on a lot of the versatility value that guys like Kingery have. Its tough; I’d love to keep CeHe but if Kingery gets entrenched at 2b, then CeHe has no place. He is a relatively consistent producer with the bat, though. I think not bringing Franco back is a bit of an easier decision–the production he brings to the table is just simply not enough from that position.
Seems they’d be wise to tender him regardless since the contract isn’t guaranteed. I’d hate to say it quite honestly, but from a business standpoint even if they didn’t find a taker for him the contract is not guaranteed. It’s a 1.65 M gamble to get from under a 10M arb which is a drop in the bucket for Philly. It feels dirty, but it’s the way it’s operated. I digress, but he’s definitely a gamble you’d take on.
And the season ends….. not with a bang but with a whimper…..sighs..
I hear ya, Cat. and this division is not going to get any easier. Phils really need to think outside the box to get some high-end, young, controllable pitching talent infused into the system. I say trade Hoskins to Tampa for two young arms. Or maybe absorb one of the Rockies’ bad reliever contracts as long as they include a top AAA arm in the deal? I think the Phils will be active on the FA market, but their issues run too deep to solve solely via FA. Even if they get Cole, you’ve only got 2 dependable arms; Klentak needs to be creative here in finding a way to acquire something via trade, and hopefully he can be the recipient of the bargain=deal-Lance-Lynn-type signing that Texas found last year.
raltongo….
There has been a fair amount of talk that Bohm will not stick at 3rd and is a logical 1B candidate. I am not sure if the Phillies will move on from Hoskins just yet despite his crash and burn this year. In yesterdays chat Mark pointed to Hoskins 113 wRC+ as not that bad. I pointed out in the comments that “His last 81 games (80 starts) from June 26th thru Sat. Sept 28th he slashed .184/.331/.378” was awful. His 1 for 4 today did little to change that.
He is a bit of an enigma. If you look at this years splits and his anemic .215/.335/.430 vs RHP as opposed to his .261/.444/.536 vs LHP one would think platoon split, but just a year ago it was a different story. He slashed .260/.352/.548 vs RHP and an embarrassing .192/.357/.308 vs LHP. Who know which way the Phillies will go with him.
As for pitching, thinking about it makes my head hurt but step one is saying goodbye to Chris Young.
I have one regret re: my original post. I should have said “not with a bang but with a Kapler” 😉
Hernandez just put up 2.5 WAR and is going into a contract year. He will be playing for his next contract and should continue to put up good numbers. At the worst, it’s a one year contract and we all know there are no bad one year contracts.
I don’t know who this writer is but he’s not that smart. Phillies can easily trade Hernandez and get a decent return. Do better George Miller, pull your head out of your behind.
I mean, the fact that he only plays 2b? yea, not going to get a ton back for him. True, there are no bad one-year contracts, and I would love to have CeHe back just to have depth, but it seems like the Phils finally want Kingery to settle into 2b and that would leave CeHe without a position.
Can’t believe the cardinals gave a better prospect package for Ozuna than the brewers did for Yelich
Yeah but I bet Miami wanted Flahery for Yelich. No thanks.
If today is Calloway’s last game managing the Mets, it’s certainly a fitting ending.
Is Cespedes going to play next year?
He’s supposed to if he’s healthy.
It’ll be a contract year for him. If he wants ANY money coming in after this season from ANYWHERE he has to prove he can play. The well dries up if he isn’t on the field next season, though there always is the Mexican League for a few pesos if he sits out another year.
One meeting between Brody and his agent and Ces will have a two year extension for $20 mil per season. Brody will brag about it being for less money that the last contract but the truth is that the guy is a modern day Trader Dave, who has an insatiable appetite for older over the hill players.
No chance. Cespedes will play his last year as a Met, they have to pay younger core players. But given it being a contract year, I can see him playing very well.
Yeah but I bet Miami wanted Flahery for Yelich. No thanks.
Don’t understand why scouts overemphasize contact over plate discipline when there should be a balance between both, not one on top of the other. Brinson was scouted to be a good contact hitter, but his discipline is so poor which in turn affects his contact skills and even when he does make contact by chasing, its usually a routine grounder or pop up. Really good contact, or putting the bat on the ball, entails a decent level of plate discipline, and wont be as effective even with someone like Brinson was thought to have great contact skills. Of course there are exceptions. Guys like Adam Jones and Salavdor Perez, but they actually do put the bat on the ball consistently and have slightly better disipline than Brinson. Just look at the top hitters in mlb, they at the very least have average plate discipline, doesn’t even have to be great. If I were scouting hitters, I’d place more emphasis on plate discipline. Generally speaking, thats also why a strike zone is in place, limiting areas you don’t have to go after.
While having a balance is definitely the way to go, the reason scouts look for contact ability is because every MLB player does need to have good contact ability when you consider all of the guys that have played this game from t-ball on up until they were not good enough to play at the next level (whether high school, college, international ball, MiLB, MLB). That’s why, the guys that are considered to strikeout too much are the guys that strikeout 175-200+ per 500+ ABs instead of the guys who don’t belong at MLB, who would strikeout 300, 350, 400+ in those same 500+ ABs against MLB pitching.
As for the guys like Brinson that have enough contact ability to make it to that level, and perhaps stick? The reason contact is a big issue is, while plate discipline has been given more weight under analytical approaches, contact is still key come postseason or anytime you face the elite pitchers in the game, who are the guys that have good control. When you face the elite, plate discipline is important, but since they will be attacking the strike zone and hitting their spots when they’re on, a hitter has to make solid contact and can’t miss his pitch/es the one or two times they get it during an AB. The same thing in the postseason since it’s the teams with the good pitchers that make it there, and the teams with the best pitching performances tend to advance. That’s why contact is important.
When a pitcher is on and hitting his spots, you’re not walking. You gotta swing and hit the ball with authority. And you can’t miss your pitch when you get it.
As for Brinson, his plate discipline sucks. And his contact ability currently isn’t at MLB caliber because he’s not hitting much with authority. And last year, he hit those HRs before people discovered more of his flaws. This year, not only is he not hitting, but he’s not able to drive anything because he keeps missing those pitches when he gets them. He’s a mess and next year, it’s produce or move on to the other OF prospects. Harold Ramirez already surpassed him. Who’s next coming into Spring next season? Sanchez, Dean, Harrison, Mesa Jr., Sierra, etc?
my friend, i watch Victor Victor play in Cuba everyday and when they made the signing i said he is not mlb hitter, has the rest of the tools but not the most important one, cant hit much less with power, he will be a 4th outfielder for defensive purposes nothing else, i hope im wrong but for 6 years he played in our team in Cuba and never was a great hitter even thought the pitching is awful here.
the lil brother we never got the chance to see play, maybe different story, i hope so.
Managing a baseball team is all about motivating high priced mercenaries. Strategy is more about reading the analytical print outs rather then gut inspired moves.
Moneyball illustrates the inner battles between the old school scouts and the modern Ivy League schooled analytical departments.
The Oakland A’s and Tampa Bay Rays best illustrate this. They are able to compete year after year with the high spending teams.
The manager attempts to build a team culture that keeps everyone working together.
From all reports the Met’s were a very close nit collection of players that genuinely enjoyed each other.They played hard every game, even though they could very easily have quit after their miserable first half.
With that said I believe Callaway has to get a lot of credit. A lot of people didn’t like his Pollyanna style of positive post game interviews.
The sheer excitement and emotional out pouring over Dom Smiths game winning homer is a picture of the culture that Callaway has had a large part in building. The excitement over a team mates success is not close to being the norm on many teams.
This group has improved by 9 wins over 2018, and with their young core of players they are situated to contend, with some help in the pen.
I say bring Mickey back and keep the ball rolling.
I agree about bringing Calloway back. This team never gave up. The bullpen was a disaster.
Phillies should move Kingery to 2B and try to sign Moustakas to a high AAV 2-3 year deal.
Nah…first, I’d go all out for Rendon..after that, I’d go rookie Alec Bohm he has too be better than Franko even if he isn’t projected to be there long term..the main need remains pitching rotation…hard to find
Next year is it for Brinson otherwise, he’ll be looking at being a 4th OF here or somewhere else.
time up in miami
you want to lose more?
To say that Kingery is a more productive option just isn’t true..Cesar out hit him..I do agree that maybe Kingery has a better glove..
Would the team consider moving Lewis Brinson
best news i hard year involving marlins.
still would not be a win win for marlins in yelich trade.
as many time Lewis Brinson was use
NYM should offer Dom Smith to MIA for Lewis Brunson. MIA gets a 1B for the future that fields the ball well at the position and has found his groove. NYM get a young, legit CF with tons of potential, plus they cash in on Smith’s stock rise.