Johnny Sleeper
Member
Baez has looked very good at SS, which is why a lot of people thought he would push Castro off SS just a year ago. I don't think Baez hits #2 next year. I think it is just to get him reps this year to get past his normal adjustment stage then he should hit around 5th next year. He will have to adjust just like he has at every other level. I expect Baez to make the adjustments and I expect him to be a good player. Rizzo was the same age when he came up with the Padres and posted a 30% K rate and struggled then the following season he had his beak out for the Cubs. Russell is a much better defensive SS than Jeter ever was and he has more power than Jeter, his average and OBP probably are not going to be as good as Jeter otherwise he would be a great solution as a lead-off hitter. I'd compare Castro to Jeter before Russell as they are similar defensively and both are 15-15 type of guys, but Castro will never put up the OBP that Jeter did. There are not many players that can put up a career .378 OBP.
I'm not worried about the lead-off hitter, long-term, as I think between Alcantara and Russell you can get one of them to be a solid lead-off hitter. The hope is for everyone to provide a solid OBP, .320+, with 2-3 being .350+. The Tigers lead baseball in runs scored and they don't have a true lead-off guy using Ian Kinsler and Rajai Davis as their #1 hitter, but VMart and Miggy are their high OBP guys carrying them to a MLB best .330 OBP. The Angels are 2nd in runs scored and similar with Kole Calhoun as their #1 hitter, but they have a .323 OBP for the team.
I don't think they know if Bryant will end up at 3B or not. A lot of it has to do with how they acquire pitching this off-season and the uncertainty of who they will move to make that happen. Then depending on who gets moved they'll put together a plan A, B and C for positional alignments. Schwarber also will cause some adjustments to that after they work with him on catching in Arizona this off-season and depending on if they feel he can actually stick there, at least short-term. I agree with you that the Met fans would prefer Castro, and I would expect the Mets to feel the same way, but there have been some rumblings that they would prefer Baez. Now, as with all rumors we might find out if that is true with a trade this off-season or we might never know for sure as the Cubs might deal with the Rays or just buy pitching.
I'm not worried about the lead-off hitter, long-term, as I think between Alcantara and Russell you can get one of them to be a solid lead-off hitter. The hope is for everyone to provide a solid OBP, .320+, with 2-3 being .350+. The Tigers lead baseball in runs scored and they don't have a true lead-off guy using Ian Kinsler and Rajai Davis as their #1 hitter, but VMart and Miggy are their high OBP guys carrying them to a MLB best .330 OBP. The Angels are 2nd in runs scored and similar with Kole Calhoun as their #1 hitter, but they have a .323 OBP for the team.
I don't think they know if Bryant will end up at 3B or not. A lot of it has to do with how they acquire pitching this off-season and the uncertainty of who they will move to make that happen. Then depending on who gets moved they'll put together a plan A, B and C for positional alignments. Schwarber also will cause some adjustments to that after they work with him on catching in Arizona this off-season and depending on if they feel he can actually stick there, at least short-term. I agree with you that the Met fans would prefer Castro, and I would expect the Mets to feel the same way, but there have been some rumblings that they would prefer Baez. Now, as with all rumors we might find out if that is true with a trade this off-season or we might never know for sure as the Cubs might deal with the Rays or just buy pitching.