What happened to Yuniesky Betancourt?

[Mr Southpaw]

Free Agents to choice from....

 

Reyes NYM around $100 millions (5x$20)

Rollins Phil around $40 million (3x$13)

Gonzalez Atl around $20 million (3x$7)

 

Am I off base? The supply is weak and the demand is quite high. Are there any other MLB ready shortstops that are any good that are available?

[Oldcity]

I'd give Barmes two years in a heartbeat.

[chadomac]

SS is the only realistic spot where we can dramatically improve our offense next year. The problem is I don't know a strong-hitting shortstop that will be available other than Reyes... and I don't want to pay Reyes the money he's going to get. Not sure what we should do there, but it's our best chance to improve the offense next year.

[DougJones43]

And here I thought we were fully aware of all the things Yuni doesn't do well. He surprises us everyday I guess.

 

Seriously though, how can a veteran MLB player have such poor fundamentals that he doesn't know any better than to wrap his entire hand around the bat when bunting?

[istanbultaye]

I actually think that the most likely position to see improvement offensively is 3B. Whether that is from Casey going back to '09-'10 form, or one of the young guys coming up, there are multiple options with potential for a significant increase in production. Offensively, I think SS can't really get any worse, and a boost in OBP would be a boost in production even if all other offensive things stay about the same as SS, but the real win at SS is actually a defensive improvement.

[TooLiveBrew]

Seriously though, how can a veteran MLB player have such poor fundamentals that he doesn't know any better than to wrap his entire hand around the bat when bunting?

 

Greinke does the same thing when he bunts. WITH HIS PITCHING HAND.

 

Drives me crazy.

[wOOgiE22]

Boy do I wish we had JJ Hardy right about now. Or even just a serviceable SS like Clint Barmes. Hopefully JHJR takes some of Yuni's starts when Rickie comes back, but I am not holding my breath.

[reillymcshane]

What's happened to Yuni? Nothing. He's the exact same player we had when we acquired him last year. Here you go:

 

.249 BA (18th lowest out of 23 SS)

.267 OBP (22 out of 23)

.639 OPS (18 out of 23)

Walk rate - 2.9% (23 lowest out of 23 qualifying)

Pitches per plate appearance - 3.17 (23 out of 23)

Sacrifices - 0

Grounded into double plays (14 - 5th most of any SS)

Fielding % - .970 (15 out of 22 players)

Range factor - 4.05 (21 out of 22 - only Derek Jeter is worse)

Zone rating - 6.208 (21 out of 22 - again, only Jeter is worse)

WAR (from Fangraphs) -0.1 (worst of 23 qualifying players - Paul Janish has a -0.6, but he doesn't have enough appearances to qualify)

Stolen bases - 4

 

On the plus side:

Sacrifice flies - 9 (#1 out of 23!!!)

Games player - 128 - 7th most (you can argue his durability is a negative, but that's not the point)

HRs - 10 - tied for 9th most in baseball for SS

K rate - 10.0% (4th lowest out of 23 players)

SLG% - .371 (12th out of 23)

 

Virtually any way you look at this guy, he's terrible. Absolutely terrible. He positives are that he's a durable player who doesn't strike out a lot and has average power for his position. This is pretty much the same player we knew we had when we got him last year. His previous three years WAR were 0.4, -2.2 and 0.8. He's at -0.1 for this season, so it's about what should have been expected.

 

And watching Yuni doesn't give me feel any better about him. He's slow. A sloth can move to his right faster than Yuni while at SS. He makes fundamental errors. The guy can't even bunt properly.

 

The one defense you can have about him playing is that the alternatives may well end up worse. Wilson? Counsel? I don't know if either could better Yuni. There's no one in the minors that appears worthwhile. Other guys cost something to acquire.

 

We can make the playoffs in spite of Yuni. But if you want to upgrade this team, this is the spot. Once Weeks comes back, perhaps Hairston could take over at SS. I'd welcome that, even if he isn't the best. I would think he'd be an upgrade over Yuni.

 

EDIT: Sorry for the virulent Yuni hating. I know some people like this guy. I've never liked Yuni, but I haven't beat him up this bad before. After watching him so many times, I wanted to actually look at the numbers and see if he was as bad as I was seeing. Mission accomplished.

[monty57]

Games player - 128 - 7th most (you can argue his durability is a negative, but that's not the point)

 

You know if one of our good players got drilled in the finger they'd miss a month, but not Yuni, he'll somehow continue to play. Of course the sore finger will probably hurt his ability to throw accurately, which seems to be one of the few things he does well.

[StearnsFTW]

I really think Betancourt could be the starting SS again next season. We don't have anyone in the minors knocking on the door, and the FA market is going to be thin (don't throw out Jose Reyes because it's not going to happen).

No it isn't. Not when your baseline is Betancourt. You have Cedano, Furcal might give it another go, Barmes, Santiago, Scutaro. No one spectacular but everyone better than Betancourt.

Any of them. Heck I'd take Counsell back before Betancourt. At least he can play defense while he's not hitting. Betancourt is as bad as it gets.

[topper09er]

We can still trade for someone, going into this year if you looked at free agent SPs you would have seen Cliff Lee and a bunch of bad players and thought there is no clear realistic upgrade. How many people would have thought we'd land Marcum and Greinke. I could see us trading for Hardy, I know the Os just signed him but they have some serious SS stud prospects they may want to throw in there since they aren't going to compete anyways.

[Ayt]

I can't stand Yuni. I'll be so happy when he's off the team.

 

I know many people here didn't want Furcal for whatever reason, but even if he wasn't hitting well for us his D would have been a massive upgrade.

[MJLiverock]

Hairston has only played 1 game at SS this year and really not all that much in his career, not to mention 2 out of his last 3 years his defense had negative value at SS. I'm not so sure anyone views him as a starting SS at this point, not to mention a year from now when he will be another year older.

[burnzy24]

Hairston has only played 1 game at SS this year and really not all that much in his career, not to mention 2 out of his last 3 years his defense had negative value at SS. I'm not so sure anyone views him as a starting SS at this point, not to mention a year from now when he will be another year older.

Hairston has played more games at SS than at CF in his career and RR has started him in CF several times this year. What is his value at SS compared to Yuni? If they are comparable at all defensively then I would start JHJ over Yuni because JHJ is much better than Yuni offensively.

[monty57]

I'm not so sure anyone views him as a starting SS at this point

 

I'm pretty sure there's no one in our organization who anyone considers a starting SS at this point. I'm sure Hairston would have more range than Yuni, so the big thing would be if he has the arm strength to play SS (and if he can play 3B, then he should have the arm to play SS). I'm with burnzy... if Hairston can at least match Yuni's low standard for SS defense, then I'd at least split starts between Hairston and Yuni at SS once Gomez and Weeks return.

[Invader3K]

I'm not so sure anyone views him as a starting SS at this point

 

I'm pretty sure there's no one in our organization who anyone considers a starting SS at this point.

No one over the age of about 19, at least.