The Mat Gamel watch

[uwisfan]

Thanks battlekow for your post on TotalZone.. just thought I'd share the rankings from last year comparing elite prospects.

http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2009/4/3/819366/totalzone-on-third-base-prospects

 

Basically it has Gamel as an average defensive third baseman (by major league standards):

Mat Gamel made HUGE strides in the field, considering his past two seasons in which he had a -12 and a -23. Scouts still believe his glove is a ways off from being major league ready, but his bat will certainly make room for him somewhere.

[Never Outhustled]

Battlekow posted this on page 5, and he also posted how Totalzone is calculated for the minors. Be sure to read that, as it admits its calculated from very incomplete data, and since their is no other stat to compare it to, there no way to check its accuracy.

 

Its great to have this as a loose guideline for minor leaguers, but it shouldn't be taken as factual as UZR is for major leaguers, or even as Totalzone for major leaguers.

[uwisfan]

thanks, I missed it the first time..

[TheCrew07]

page 5? am I the only one with 50 posts per page?

[Never Outhustled]

Sorry guy, I should have referred to it as post #81. Then I should adjust my setting to 50 a page. That does sound more convenient.

[TheCrew07]

I was just giving you a hard time, but I do like more posts per page, as the baseball makes it so easy to jump to the newest post. Less clicking around that way.

[strawbossisevil]

I suppose that depends on how far Hughes stock has fallen with the Yankees. I would guess that he is no longer considered as valuable as you think End.

[mkm13]

IMO if he keeps hitting like he is he will be up shortly after May 15th. If he plays as poorly defensively as Braun did after being called up than he will be moved to 1st baseman or RF. The thought of having Gamel, Braun and Fielder in the same lineup is pretty ridiculous.

 

It is relatively easy to find a solid 1st baseman or right fielder so lets hope he can stick at 3rd. If not, I would not mind trading Fielder for some good young pitching. This team is in desperate need of it. It is to bad we used a really trading chip last year on 1/2 year of pitching. I know the pitching was great..but right now it is limiting our options.

[endaround]

I suppose that depends on how far Hughes stock has fallen with the Yankees. I would guess that he is no longer considered as valuable as you think End.

 

He's going to be in New York to replace Wang by all indications. Hughes is a 22 year old with great stuff. He's still a top pitching prospect. Kennedy is the one with a lower ceiling, is 24 and really buried on the depth chart. The Yankees really have to move him. All that said ARod is supposed to ready to go in about 2 weeks.

[DHonks]

It's probably a lot easier to get Homer Bailey than it is to get Phil Hughes at this point in time

[TheCrew07]

Why would we want to blow a prospect on Bailey when if he continues to struggle he could be signed as MiLB free agent or a waiver claim.

[WisconsinSportsRule]

Where's the most logical position for Gamel to play besides 3B? I'm think 1st as we could still have some power at that position and we could easily trade Prince to get some pitching.

 

If Hart hits say .290 this year, would they move him to CF even though he's better in right? I guess it all hinges on Cain's injury and if Cameron comes back.

[Tedaldtada]

For some reason, I just have a gut feeling that Mat will lower his error total for the third year in a row. I know he got off to a rocky start, but his stat sheets have looked a little better lately. DM is really going to have a tough decision to make if Gamel is called up to DH and he rakes. I hope they give the bat a shot to see what they are missing.

[battlekow]

You could perhaps read something into Hall starting today in LF combined with Braun's lingering back problems, were you so inclined.

[wibadgers23]

You could perhaps read something into Hall starting today in LF combined with Braun's lingering back problems, were you so inclined.

I was thinking the same thing battlekow. But then again, maybe it's just a spot start for Hall in LF. We'll see if Braun goes to the DL.

[endaround]

I think you can read that the Brewers only RH bench bat plays 3B

[battlekow]

I would have expected them to start McGehee in LF and leave Hall at third, but maybe I'm crazy.

[endaround]

It sounds like Hall might have volunteered to play LF

[JohnBriggs12]

It sounds like Hall might have volunteered to play LF

Hall's no dummy. Cameron's a FA next year. Gamel is not going to spend 2010 in the minors. Barring a deal or Cameron being brought back (if he keeps this up, he might price himself out of range), Hall's best shot at starting is back in CF. Volunteering to play LF plants the seed that he's still willing to play OF.

[brewtown82]

I think the point would be to maximize on what you get for Hall. If trading Hall and bringing up Gamel nets you Hughes, I think it would be foolish to not do so, since we are in desperate need of pitching, now and going forward into the future. Adding Hughes to the rotation would be a nice step up, and would let us move Suppan to the bullpen. The key is to sell on Hall while he is playing well, and not when he is playing like he has the last couple of years.

 

And on top of all of that, we would get the financial flexibility to add another (moderately expensive) player, either during the trade deadline, or during the upcoming offseason (since Hall´s salary will be off the books).

 

I really don't understand this "sell high" theory. Scouts aren't dumb. Especially scouts for the Yankees. They know who Billy really is. One good month is not going to make them believe he's all of a sudden an All-Star. The sell-high theory only works for struggling stars or players who are prospects that are late bloomers, like Rickie Weeks for instance. Even then, who knows if Rickie can keep this pace up. Either way, we're not swindling the Yanks out of a starting pitcher of any worth for Billy Hall. And since we're winning, why trade a starter who plays great "D"?

[strawbossisevil]

Hoping not to jinx the guy here, but with all this talk about how poor Gamel is on defense, he hasn´t had an error since April 23. He´s gone 10 games without one.

 

No doubt he started out the year poorly (7 errors in 14 games, or something like that), but since then he´s shown some major improvement.

[TheCrew07]

That's the way Mat rolls, when the errors come, they come in bunches.

[strawbossisevil]

Oh, I see how it is. Just disregard statistical improvement because it doesn´t fit with your preconceived notions. It couldn´t possibly be that Gamel has settled down and improved defensively after an initial bad start.

 

You couldn´t possibly admit that Gamel has played very well defensively as of late, you have to cut him down. What a ridiculous post.

[jjfanec]

Oh, I see how it is. Just disregard statistical improvement because it doesn´t fit with your preconceived notions. It couldn´t possibly be that Gamel has settled down and improved defensively after an initial bad start.

 

You couldn´t possibly admit that Gamel has played very well defensively as of late, you have to cut him down. What a ridiculous post.

I do not know of Crew has a history of bashing Gamel but his previous post did not seem like that at all. He was just stating the fact that Mat's errors tend to come in bunches like at the beginning of the season. He improved last year so I am hoping he improves this year again, but the truth is still that he makes errors in bunches, which actually is encouraging in some ways to me because it seems more mental than anything else. If he can just get out of his own head he could be a decent (and that is all he would need to be with his bat) 3B.

[battlekow]

Oh, I see how it is. Just disregard statistical improvement because it doesn´t fit with your preconceived notions. It couldn´t possibly be that Gamel has settled down and improved defensively after an initial bad start.

 

You couldn´t possibly admit that Gamel has played very well defensively as of late, you have to cut him down. What a ridiculous post.

With less than a month of games, how would you be able to tell the difference between a fielding "hot streak" and actual improvement? You're not watching the games. As I see it, throwing the former out as an alternative to the latter in no way constitutes irrational bashing.