Cody Ransom DFA'd by D-Backs

[Funketown]

Ransom, who plays SS, 2B, and 3B, had a line of .269/.354/.577 in just 58 PA's this season. He has a career .316 wOBA in ~450 PA's. Last season in AAA, he hit .317/.405/.629 (standard PCL grain of salt).

 

He can't possibly be less productive than Izturis, can he? I have no clue if the guy can play worth a lick at short, but he has logged about half of his ML innings there.

 

Mods, not sure if this should be in transaction rumors/proposals or here!

[1992casey]

It's a DFA, so here is fine.

[JohnBriggs12]

Numbers at Reno should be taken with a huge grain of salt, but I think he's an upgrade over Maysonet or Izuturis offensively and it's not that close. He'd be a guy that I'd take a flyer on for sure. If you have to bench Weeks 2-3 times a week if he still isn't hitting, it's a lot better than using Maysonet also. He's at least credible PH too.

[PrinceEatMeat]

I'd take him for sure. I think he'd be an upgrade. We'll see if Melvin agrees I guess.

[TooLiveBrew]

I don't think Ransom would be an upgrade over Maysonet.

[adambr2]

Can he do better than a .471 OPS? That is the standard set by our current starting SS.

[PrinceEatMeat]

Can he do better than a .471 OPS? That is the standard set by our current starting SS.

 

His OPS was .577 in 58 PA's this season, so maybe he can.

[PKBadger]

Can he do better than a .471 OPS? That is the standard set by our current starting SS.

 

His OPS was .577 in 58 PA's this season, so maybe he can.

 

 

That was his SLG. His OPS is .922.

 

That said, a look at his stats shows that this 58 PA's are a HUGE deviation from the norm. A .577 OPS would actually be right in line with expectations.

[PrinceEatMeat]

Can he do better than a .471 OPS? That is the standard set by our current starting SS.

 

His OPS was .577 in 58 PA's this season, so maybe he can.

 

 

That was his SLG. His OPS is .922.

 

That said, a look at his stats shows that this 58 PA's are a HUGE deviation from the norm. A .577 OPS would actually be right in line with expectations.

 

Yeah, my mistake. Looked at it wrong. But yeah, there's obviously a reason he got DFA'd.

[brettac1]

It says a lot that the team has come to this. And it's only May!

[Funketown]

PKBadger, I'm not sure why you think we should expect a .577 from Ransom. His career OPS is in the ~.710 range. I'm guessing there's something about him that has nothing to do with his bat that explains why he hasn't had much of a chance in the majors. His MiLB lines from Reno, as Briggs pointed out, are highly inflated, but he still put up a wRC+ of about 120 in AAA when he played in the IL for Philly and NYA. It could be that he's a terrible defender, a nut, or just that nobody has given him much of a chance. That's something Doug Melvin has a much better knowledge of than anyone on this board!

[monty57]

Maybe there's more to it than this, but it sounds like they wanted to bring up Bell because he's limiting his strikeouts, while Ransom and Roberts are striking out too much:

 

Bell appeared in 79 Major League games with the Orioles from 2010-11, going 44-for-220 with three homers and 18 RBIs.

 

The D-backs liked Bell in part because he was limiting his strikeouts and putting the ball in play. In 97 at-bats in Triple-A, Bell went down on strikes 17 times.

 

Roberts and Ransom combined to strikeout 43 times in 171 at-bats.

 

"We're looking for more contact. Hopefully he'll be able to provide that,"

 

If that is the only case, I'd take him over Izturis/Maysonet in a heartbeat.

[JohnBriggs12]

I don't think it has anything to do with strikeouts. You can live with the strikeouts when a guy is slugging .577. It was a numbers thing. Roberts was struggling and Bell was raking at Reno. It was time for a change. Since Roberts was key member of playoff team last year, and 31, they aren't ready to expose him to waivers. They also had another backup SS, John McDonald, who's been hitting well and who is a better defensive player than Ransom.

[PrinceEatMeat]

PKBadger, I'm not sure why you think we should expect a .577 from Ransom. His career OPS is in the ~.710 range. I'm guessing there's something about him that has nothing to do with his bat that explains why he hasn't had much of a chance in the majors. His MiLB lines from Reno, as Briggs pointed out, are highly inflated, but he still put up a wRC+ of about 120 in AAA when he played in the IL for Philly and NYA. It could be that he's a terrible defender, a nut, or just that nobody has given him much of a chance. That's something Doug Melvin has a much better knowledge of than anyone on this board!

 

Last 3 years .585, .578, .546. That's probably where he's getting that from. That doesn't mean he won't do better than that though. He looked good so far this year.

[3and2Fastball]

I don't think Ransom would be an upgrade over Maysonet.

 

Agreed. But is Maysonet an upgrade over Izturis? Maybe...

 

Anyways, I do not think Ransom is a better option than Izturis either, mainly because of his career Fielding % of .957 at SS when League Average is around .972 (Izturis has a career .981 Fielding % at SS, that is a pretty significant difference), and as was mentioned maybe there is some other negative factor in the Ransom make up that we don't know about. He is 36 years old, and maybe there are some health issues/injury issues going on?

 

Ransom's career OBP of .310 is pretty underwhelming too

[Funketown]

 

Last 3 years .585, .578, .546. That's probably where he's getting that from. That doesn't mean he won't do better than that though. He looked good so far this year.

 

Yeah, but that rises about 100 points when you include this season. A reasonable projection of Ransom has to be at least a .675-.700 given his success in AAA. His pre-season Zips projection was .225/.289/.405, so his updated projection has to be over .700 by now.

 

Of course, we still don't know anything about his defense. If he's a butcher, he might be as bad as Maysonet.

[adambr2]

FWIW, Fangraphs has Ransom as about exactly an average defender at SS for his career in UZR and UZR/150.

 

Probably not worth much considering his limited playing time in his career, but I don't think he's a butcher.

[ninja33]

To me Ransom would basically be Yuni but with the "upside" of a below average to average defender (as opposed to Yuni).

 

I don't really like the idea of signing ransom...but the more and more I think about it, unfortunately it's come to the point where that's probably an upgrade.

[adambr2]

Seriously, could he really be any worse than Izturis at this point?

 

Could some bum off the street really be any worse than Izturis at this point?

[TooLiveBrew]

I don't think Ransom would be an upgrade over Maysonet.

 

Agreed. But is Maysonet an upgrade over Izturis? Maybe...

I believe he is. But yeah, Ransom isn't the answer either... neither is Maysonet, but you might as well play the better player at this point instead of Izturis.

[adambr2]

I'm at the point where I would settle for any living human not named Cesar Izturis starting at shortstop just to avoid seeing him out there. Experience playing SS preferred, but not required.

[Bombers]

Everyday I keep looking to see if this guy is signed, but nope. We keep trucking ahead with Cesar, I like grounding out to the pitcher, Izturis. I think he might be on pace to set the single season record for most non-bunting ground outs to the pitcher.

[PrinceEatMeat]

I really don't understand why Roenicke won't at least start Maysonet for a few games in a row just to see what he does. He won't be any worse than Izturis. That's for sure. He put up more production than him in one at-bat with that Grand Slam, lol. Not that he's all that great himself, but there's nothing to lose.

[fondybrewfan]

Isn't Maysonet like 0-21 after he started 3-3? I don't like Izturiz either; but he is still better long term than Maysonet

[RockCoCougars]

I'll pass on Ransom.