Quote from Ryan Payne on May 21, 2018, 8:31 am

Home runs need to be taken with a grain of salt in this era of the juiced ball. Ozzie Albies had 16 homers in his entire minors career....and now leads the NL with 13. Villanueva is what he is, a brutally bad defensive third baseman, dead last in the NL, with some power from the right side, SERIOUS platoon splits (.386 vs lefties, .182 vs righties)....He's literally only valuable in one category.

Quote from MrPadre19 on May 21, 2018, 10:12 am

I see no reason to use homeruns in any evaluation of Cory Spangenberg.

Certainly he has not been great and certainly we need more....but a .322 OBP isn't "horrible"..... it's just not great.

We do need him to get on base more and to use his speed....regardless of how many homeruns he does or does not hit.

I do believe if(and I'm not saying he should) he played everyday his numbers would at least be "OK".

Quote from fenn68 on May 21, 2018, 10:46 am

Villanueva is 26 and Spangenberg is 27 ... they are two of the worst defensive 3B in MLB (stat-wise). Villanueva's ML time has been a short very hot (April) and a short very cold (early May) but his MiL stats don't really support the hot side of the season ... need more observations. Spangenberg has had more ML time ... and a "decent" offense last season but half the playing time of Villanueva this year ... need more observations to get him back to 2017 levels.

For 2018 might just as well mix and match both of them to see who emerges the better ... both have shown sufficient flaws to be skeptical of both even settling as decent. Not as though there is a better alternative in house near term.

What I do contend is that neither has the skill set to be a regular 3B on a future contending team (and we have that objective in 2020) ... they are best as placeholders on a losing team (see 2018). IF the Padres are going to contend starting in 2020 .... they may need to seek an upgrade at 3B via a trade / free agent sooner than later ... can't guarantee one will be there when they need on.

Quote from Booster SD on May 21, 2018, 12:20 pm

Quote from David Nevin on May 21, 2018, 10:12 am

I see no reason to use homeruns in any evaluation of Cory Spangenberg.

Certainly he has not been great and certainly we need more....but a .322 OBP isn't "horrible"..... it's just not great.

We do need him to get on base more and to use his speed....regardless of how many homeruns he does or does not hit.

I do believe if(and I'm not saying he should) he played everyday his numbers would at least be "OK".

IMO it boils down to either you are a RBI guy or a Runs Scored guy. Spangy's career BA & OBP numbers IMO put him in a RBI type of guy, which by HRs and RBIs standards he is not. At least CV provides you with HRs and RBI's, which is why I was comparing the two in those categories. If Cory was on base more, higher average, and stole more than CV, I would agree its not fair to compare the two by HRs and RBIs, but Cory doesnt do either type of hitting well. So last year, his BA was .264 and OBP was .322, and only drove in 46 and only scored 57 times, CV is extremely close to Cory with a .250 BA and a .322 OBP, and has vastly outperformed Cory in less than a half season to Cory's lifetime numbers. And that was with plenty of playing time im 2017  for Cory. That's horrific! Each year he is getting worse, and IMO the worse thing he did last year was hit 13 HRs. He is simply not trying to be the type of hitter he should be, and IMO doesnt want to try. I get it, hitting HRs gets you on ESPN, and relates to better contracts. However, he is hitting his way out of baseball. And there is plenty of room for someone that can get on base at more of a .380 clip and steal some bases.

So, IMO I simply have seen enough of Cory's (lack of) bat and am ready to see what we have in CV. And I can appreciate that some have already seen enough in CV as well, I have not. CV is the team leader in HRs and RBIs, exactly what IMO a true 3B does. I get his defense is horrible, however we are an offense starved team, and I for the moment, can live with CV being trotted out there everyday.

Quote from MrPadre19 on May 22, 2018, 3:53 am

I’m not disagreeing that Spangy needs to hit better....obviously.

But,he’s not going to drive in or score as many runs hitting 8th and playing sparingly as a guy hitting 5th and playing regularly.

Second,there is plenty of room on “every” team for a guy who will get on base at a .380 clip and steal some bases.

Who did you have in mind for the Padres?

 

Quote from Booster SD on May 22, 2018, 9:44 am

Quote from David Nevin on May 22, 2018, 3:53 am

I’m not disagreeing that Spangy needs to hit better....obviously.

But,he’s not going to drive in or score as many runs hitting 8th and playing sparingly as a guy hitting 5th and playing regularly.

Second,there is plenty of room on “every” team for a guy who will get on base at a .380 clip and steal some bases.

Who did you have in mind for the Padres?

 

As far as a what I have in mind for SD, I am a 80's STL Cards type of line up guy. IIRC, I think you are too. I think your SS, 2B, & CF should all be high OBP guys with some speed. Your LF, 1B, & 3B are RBI guys that hit about .250 to .280 with 90-110 RBIs. And then RF should be a combo BA, RBI, Defense guy. Catcher is a defense first position, but still needs to be around .250, come on Hedges!!

So looking forward I think/hope that Urias and Tatis become our SS and 2B that provide OBP, (although it appears that Tatis has some HR pop as well), and to me the big question is down to CF. Margot or Jank. For the time being (small sample size) it appears that maybe Jank has figured out being the lead off guy, and Margot has yet to get it down. Not saying Margot cant, just hasnt yet. So maybe Margot needs some additional time in EP. So at this time I think that Jank has the lead over Margot. I think that both Cordero and Myers fit that typical RFer in the STL type game, and with the outfield space in the NL West parks, having them both is good. Hosmer is obviously the 1B. He is not the typical 1B bat IMO, but the last for years he has driven over 90, so its close enough. And if he is truly the clubhouse leader, then he is a good fit with more young guys coming up.

As we have been discussing, 3B and C seem to be our position holes. Hedges has the defense down, but the bat is not progressing. If the rest of the guys are batting where they should be, then you can live with Hedges as the lone light bat in the line up. However in 2018, Pirela is sliding backwards, CV has not proven anything yet, Galvis is up and down, and we have 4 basically rookie OFs that are bouncing up and down with performance and Myers has basically been a non factor due to injury. So this brings Hedges bat into question more. I still dont think even with playing everyday for the balance of the year, Spangy provides anything to this offense, so for now I live with CV, and then address 3B in the off season. Either via trade or signing a Moustakas type for 3 years until Potts arrives, or if Tatis slides to 3B as one of the other SS come up through the system.

What this all boils down to IMO is no place for Spangy since he is neither a RBI bat or an OBP bat. I dont know if he can embrace the role of utility guy and not try to do to much with the bat. It seems that he wants to hit 50 HRs a year so he can start. However, if he could realize that you could exchange in SD situation the 3B and SS type of bats when Tatis arrives, and he could still start if he hit .295/.385 with 30 double/ 10 triples/ and steal 30-40 bags he could start. But he needs a change in hitting philosophy to do that, and he doesnt seem interested in that IMO.

Quote from fenn68 on May 22, 2018, 11:34 am

4 1/2 months left in the 2018 season to sort out the players and not over react to a 1 1/2 month hot or cold spell.

Think they have to keep working both Margot and Jankowski and let them prove the merit. Considering:

a. Margot (23) had a slash line of 263/313/409 (13 HR / 17 SB / plus defense) last season as a 22 year old rookie has earned him a longer look to get his game back.

b. Jankowski (turning 27) is either hot or has rebooted his approach successfully but might pause given his ML history at 244/324/322.

Best outcome is Margot returns (or improves) to his 2017 form and Jankowski's turnaround is legit .... love to have those two as part of a 4 man OF rotation.

==========

Hedges (turning 26) is surviving on a defensive reputation but a career slash line of 196/244/343 in 623 AB is brutal. For a good team to carry that they need the 7 other position players to carry the offense and an elite pitching staff ... can't consider the Padres that. Then although his reputation as an elite defensive catcher seems to be treated as a given .... for catchers this year with at least 150 innings caught he ranks 24th. Sure defense stats are "questionable" and how Hedges handles the pitchers and call the game are subjectively his strong suit, but other catchers have similar attributes and provide more offense. Do think the Padres need to be considering adding a catcher that is good defensively with some offense ... at least that should be on their target list.

Side note: while Hedges was moving up in the minors, I commented that he had the potential to be the next Jeff Mathis ... they both had the same elite defensive profile (e.g. ready for the ML defensively) coming out of HS but will need to prove they can hit. Mathis did not but still is around with a long ML career albeit as a journeyman back-up. Hedges will have to show something offensively soon not to earn the same fate.

Quote from Ryan Payne on May 22, 2018, 12:46 pm

Jankowski has some seriously inflated advanced stats that will not hold up over the course of 400 or 450 AB's. He's going to regress. How substantially will it be is the ultimate question. Margot needs to bat above 8th. He doesn't see hardly any pitches with the pitcher behind him and it's a disservice to his development at this point. Pirela needs to go 5 minutes ago yesterday.

Quote from 3fingersplit on July 1, 2018, 3:48 pm

Geez....I'm watching the game and Villanueva comes in to hit

That was so predictable.......K