Showing posts with label Chris Coghlan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chris Coghlan. Show all posts

Monday, June 07, 2010

Who Will Sit When Mike Stanton Arrives?

The Marlins will call up Mike Stanton on Tuesday making him the second most anticipated young player to start his career on Tuesday night. The other is some pitcher from the Nationals. Stanton, all of 20 years of age, has a 1.167 OPS in AAA and is regarded as a can't miss prospect. But when he gets the call, which outfielder will sit?

Cameron Maybin has been playing a great centerfield despite not hitting much and is a former first round draft pick. Do you give up on him? Cody Ross has been one of the Marlins's best hitters this season (.819 OPS and batting .300) and plays good defense in right field. Chris Coghlan had a slow start this year, but last year's rookie of the year is batting .520 in June and has raised his average to over .260. Last year's great success for him came mostly in the last two thirds of the season. Do you sit him?

The move will already cost super defender, Brett Carroll his roster spot. Too bad the guy can't hit because there may not be a better outfielder in the majors. But be that as it may, none of the others seem to warrant being benched in favor of Stanton. Stanton has played mostly right field in the minors, so that seems to mean that Ross is the guy who will have to move? Will Ross move to centerfield, which would weaken the defense?

It will be interesting. Perhaps the Marlins will have a four-man outfield with Stanton playing every day and the other three playing three out of every four days. It doesn't seem right to give up on Maybin. Coghlan is a potential superstar and Cody Ross is a solid player that gives the team chances to win. We'll just have to see how all this plays out.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

National League Rookie of the Year

With the end in sight for the regular season, it's usually common to start speculating about the award season. The MVPs for each league seem pretty much set with Mauer and Pujols. The AL Cy Young should go to Greinke. The NL Cy Young still seems a bit hazy. For Rookie of the Year, there are no runaway performers and the debate will rage between pitchers and position players. For this post, let's see if we can get a hard statistical eye on the rookies this year.

For position players, the field seems to narrow down to Chris Coghlan, Andrew McCutchen, Dexter Fowler and Casey McGehee. For pitchers, the only three worth boiling down to are J. A. Happ, Randy Wells and Tommy Hanson.

Let's start with the position players. The Fan will list each player followed by some stats. The stats will be OBP, OPS, OPS+, Stolen Bases, UZR (a fielding stat), WAR (worth over replacement) and FanGraph's dollar value:

Chris Coghlan: .389 .835 121 7 (in 11 attempts) -12.8 1.8 $8.2 million
Andrew McCutchen: .358 .831 122 17 (in 21 attempts) -0.4 3.1 $13.8 million
Dexter Fowler: .366 .773 99 27 (in 37 attempts) -12.6 0.8 $3.4 million
Casey McGehee: .364 .867 126 0 (in 2 attempts) -5 2.1 $9.4 million

Comments: The numbers seem to exclude Fowler. Coghlan and McCutchen both lead off for their teams. As such, Coghlan has the superior On Base Percentage, which is what you want from the lead off guy. McCutchen does more once he is on the bases. Coghlan had never played outfield before this season and his terrible UZR is explained that way. McGehee out slugs his competition and as such is a valuable middle of the line up kind of guy.

For the pitchers, the stats will be ERA+, WHIP, FIP, Batting Average Against, K/BB ratio, K9, H9 (homers per nine innings), Wins, WAR and value.

J. A. Happ: 154 1.200 4.22 .236 2.07 6.4 1.0 12 1.8 $8.1
Randy Wells: 138 1.307 4.02 .266 2.09 5.34 0.8 11 2.6 $11.9
Tommy Hanson: 140 1.193 3.57 .229 2.43 8.0 0.7 11 2.3 $10.5

Comments: Happ and Wells have significantly more innings pitched than Hanson which is a factor in Hanson's value.

Final verdict: Of all the players we evaluated in the National League, McCutchen has the highest value according to FanGraphs. The problem for the Fan in selecting him is the OBP for a lead off guy. All three pitchers have been outstanding. Happ's ERA+ is so much higher than the other two. But in the end, Hanson has better overall stats across the board. More strike outs per nine, less homers per nine, lower FIP, lower batting average against, lower homer per nine, higher K/9 and K/BB and the lowest WHIP. Plus, Hanson has been a stud down the stretch for the Braves.

The Fan's choice: Tommy Hanson

We'll look at the American League in the next post.