Trade Gamel to a Team that Thinks/Knows he can play third?

[Fatter than Joey]

Keith Hernandez and Don Mattingly are both shorter than Mat Gamel.

 

Steve Garvey is probably 2 or so inches shorter than Fielder and was considered the best fielding 1b in the mid-70s before Hernandez really hit the scene.

 

Seeing as Gamel's biggest weakness to date has been related to his throwing, I am 100% confident he could play a better 1B tomorrow than Prince.

 

I don't disagree with this statement -- however I think Gamel's height advantage has little to do with it.

[DHonks]

Prince is not 5' 11"....unless he's wearing his baseball shoes.

 

Nate, your argument about Gamel not being able to stretch much is totally false. On a scale of 1-10, Prince's stretching ability is a 1. Most beer-league softball teams have 1st basemen more adept at picking balls out of the dirt and stretching for throws.

[tabojc03]

I hope you're not including my softball team

[thebruce44]

I stood next to Prince in Beloit. Im 5'10' amd even with cleats, he was at least an inch shorter than me.

[piccione88]

I think Gamel could make a very good first baseman, at the same time, I belive he has the ability to be a good third baseman. Gamel is not the prototypical slugging first baseman, and would not have as great a value at first, as he would at third, where he could be star. Moving Gamel at this point, after he has made impressive strides last year would be a mistake.

 

Gamel deserves next year to prove that he can play third effectivley. If he cannot than I would not mind moving him to another position, preferably right field, or another orginazation. If you move him to first base, or another team now, you are giving up alot of potential for a quick fix, at a position that does not need to be upgraded.

[logan82]

The arguement for Gamel at 1B has always been that he is a small step down from Fielder offensively and a big step up defensively. There is a good chance he would be an overall improvement over Fielder at 1B.

[TheCrew07]

Because Hall is a top flight defensive 3B

According to various zone rating systems, which also have Hardy below average... There is a disconnect here between what can be seen, and what people try to measure. Hall will make the fantastic play, but he'll also boot the easy play, he's been the same way everywhere he played in the field. I'd rather have someone who's going to make the routine play 99 out of 100 times than a guy who fields the easy grounder but hangs onto the ball to gun a throw to first and allows the runner to be safe. Hall is flashy, but he lacks substance, and I'm not jumping on his bandwagon because defensive metrics like him, and I would go so far as to say that his defensive game is a mirror image of his offensive game, lots of flash but a lack of substance.

 

Hall's throws are all over the place, when you watch the games he's very similar to Weeks in that regard, where as JJ routinely hits Fielder right in the chest with the ball. I'm not aware of a metric that includes the throw location to 1B, but I don't see how Gamel's throwing would be any worse than Hall's. As I've said many times whenever Fielder starts moving around at 1B I tend to get nervous, so this is something I pay particular attention to.

 

Gamel may not stick at 3B, I think he can be a very capable 1B and where ever he ends up I feel very confident that he'll have a solid career.

[logan82]

I could be remembering wrong, but it seems that most of Weeks errant throws could be converted into outs with a 1B that could dig balls out of the dirt.

[endaround]

See I'd rather have a player make the most plays and not get hung up on Eckstein like qualities.

[ILuvDaBush]

What was Escobar's error total from last year? Perhaps Chris Errecart/Brantley were also contributors to the high amount of errors. As for trading Gamel, his bat plays. Given that Braun showed good instincts in the outfield, I wouldn't be averse to moving him to right and putting Gamel in left, if his athleticism would preclude him from playing right himself. Put Corey in center, or move Corey in a deal for Beltre+/Rolen+/An. LaRoche+/"generic 3B"+.

[PrinceEatMeat]

I'd be for that situation, only if we can acquire a superior defensive 3b, who is also preferably a lefty. Although, I would not be too happy with Hart in cf. I would definitely rather trade him and go with Cameron, or acquire a new cf, such as DeJesus.

[hardy7]

Because Hall is a top flight defensive 3B

Committing 17 errors makes you a top flight defensive 3B. Wow!?!?!

[endaround]

Errors are a terrible way to measure how good a defender is.

[DHonks]

Hall was a butcher in the field in May, which really got me frustrated with him. In the past I'd defended his play at 3b. In April and after May, he was better. I tend to prefer Branyan's defense. He sort of reminds me of a hockey goalie over there...like how Surhoff used to get his whole body in front of balls.

[piccione88]

You have to do something right, which is get to the ball, to make an error. Sure Hall is not the most sure handed fielder, but he gets to alot of balls that an average third baseman would not.

[Ennder]

I expect Gamel to replace Hart or Fielder in 2010 and don't think there is much reason to trade him.

 

According to various zone rating systems, which also have Hardy below average

 

Most systems show Hardy as well above average, a couple do show him below average. There obviously needs to be a bit more work on defensive metrics. Hall is a slightly above average defensive 3B most likely, he is horribly below average offensively though and would be at any position but C. I'd gladly just release him and eat the contract rather than see him start somewhere on the team.