Quote:
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho
Context makes it easier to understand.
He was in an independent league in 2014. 2015, he has a great season at Omaha and hit for a high average, but without a lot of power. He was a 6-6 guy who can only play an adequate 1B and who had not shown the power expected of a 1B.
He started the 2016 season in Kansas City’s system and had a large drop off (.298/.356/.433) before they traded him.
He got to St. Louis, changed his swing to get more loft on the ball, started hitting juices baseballs full time, and maybe found some juice himself. (Classic profile of a guy who dopes to make sure his career doesn’t end).
It still was a mistake - this organization is too biased against players who don’t fit the classic ball player mold - but is not like they traded him off the .384 season he had in 2015. He backed it up with 150 ABs of AAAA-looking “meh” in 2016 before the deal.
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But 150 AB's of AAA (or AAAA) is too small of a sample size to truly evaluate a player after having a .384 season. Even finishing at .298/.356/.433 after having a great 2015 season, (which is probably his normal type of a slash line), is
still an improvement over some players that is currently on the Royals roster.
Duda is .256/.317/.398/.716 and the Royals are paying him
$3.5 million.
Cuthbert is .194/.282/.301/.583
Almonte is .205/.256/.342/.599
Hell, even Orlando is bad as .191/.224/.234/.459
All that, while Martinez is slashing .304/.382.459/.842, and is only making a paltry $560,400.
Sometimes it's just frustrating to see that some players who does well in the minors, doesn't get rewarded (like Martinez) as they should have (like Whit Merrifield, who I been pounding the table on for quite some time). The Royals could have easily able to cut payroll, and still get equal or better performance, instead of signing Lucas Duda.
And they're too biased on trying to get power hitters, whereas they need to start finding players who has a high contact rate and can utilize the whole field.