Astros looking for a 3B.

[Invader3K]

From MLB Trade Rumors: Apparently Aaron Boone, the Astros' third baseman, announced he will miss all of 2009 due to a heart condition. Supposedly one team has already contacted Houston about having a 3B available to trade. Any chance this could be the Brewers, or could the Brewers possibly make a deal with Houston?

[kramnoj]

The Astros probably aren't looking to take on payroll, so I can't imagine it will be a big $ player. I would guess they will wait to see how the Brewers 3B situation plays out and see if they can get whichever player the Brewers won't have on the 25 man. Lamb might make the most sense guven his 3 decent-good years there.

[BrewCrewRising]

Too bad that the Yankees have decided to just wait out ARod's downtime and not pursue a 3B through a trade. A small influx of demand for a 3B coupled with the Brewers having a comfortable stock of them might have netted them something interesting. I don't think it would have been anything sexy, but it would have been more opportunity on the trade market than usual.

 

I would guess at this point that Lamb would be available. I was kind of hoping he'd be better than he was in spring training since he has some proven success in the majors (not much, but some) and McGehee is a bigger question mark.

[3Putt]

I agree McGehee is a question mark but so far I like the upside. I assume the biggest concern with a young guy with limited MLB experience is his defense. Last year he played a handful (13) of games in the bigs without an error. His minor league stats look fairly solid but I'd like to get some input from the board stat gurus on that.

 

Is it fair to compare minor league defensive stats straight up with MLB stats or are minor league defensive stats deflated because of poorer field conditions, less saves by the 1B, etc.? Appreciate any insight.

[TooLiveBrew]

Minor league defensive stats are just not nearly as reliable as MLB on the whole. Typically scored by the scorekeeper without any replay aid, and I highly doubt there's any play-by-play review ('stringing', iirc)of defense like exists for MLB. Not sure how the other factors you mentioned play into everything, but honestly the lack of reliable analysis of the p-b-p events is enough for me to almost completely discount any minor league defensive stats (meaning that I'd defer completely to scouting reports).

 

Now, with that said, I'm not aware of any other minor league defense stats other than what's provided from the box scores. Could very well be that someone has developed or started to develop something for this, but since not every minor league game is televised (not even close), not sure how that would work.

[3Putt]

Thanks for the insight TooLiveBrew. I'm grasping at straws hoping we can finally have solid defense at 3B. Seems like we haven't had it since Molly had to move to 2B/DH. Does Don Money have a kid?

[Brawndo the Thirst Mutilat]

Now, with that said, I'm not aware of any other minor league defense stats other than what's provided from the box scores. Could very well be that someone has developed or started to develop something for this, but since not every minor league game is televised (not even close), not sure how that would work.

minorleaguesplits.com has Sean Smith's (creator of CHONE) TotalZone defensive ratings for minor league players from 2003 to 2008. It is true that there is no PBP data to base these on, but they're still significantly better than simple errors and fielding percentage. There's an article at Hardball Times describing the methodology (very briefly) and looking at some of the strong points and weak points of the ratings:

 

http://www.hardballtimes....one-takes-on-the-minors/

 

Unless you've got access to some MLB organization's proprietary info, I think this is the best you can currently do in terms of quantifying defensive performance in the minors.

 

McGehee looks pretty average by this metric. Alcides Escobar was +22 runs last year, best of any infielder at any minor league level.

[TooLiveBrew]

Thanks Brawndo... awesome as usual

[Oldcity]

I'm grasping at straws hoping we can finally have solid defense at 3B.

Bill Hall is a good third baseman.

[3Putt]

I'm grasping at straws hoping we can finally have solid defense at 3B.

Bill Hall is a good third baseman.

I thought we weren't supposed to joke around on Brewerfan.net. I'm cool with it but you owe me one.

[Invader3K]

Bill Hall is fine defensively as long as he sticks to the infield, in my opinion. I have no stats to back that statement up, just my own observations.

[endaround]

Bill Hall's UZR breaks down his fielding. He got 6.6 runs do to his range and lost 2.2 due to errors.