Pencils down. The answer is Chris Truby, who has hit .371 / .463 / .571 in 18 games and 40 plate appearances. There is a word for this in the dictionary. Look between "flubber" and "flush."
Should he beat out Chris Stynes, who has hit .178 / .260 / .244 in 16 games and 48 plate appearances? Short answer: no f'n way.
Long answer: Stynes is on a one-year, $1M contract to provide veteran leadership (i.e., he's 31 years old) at third base. Truby has a minor-league contract. Since he's 30, his veteran leadership would be 3% less than Stynes' veteran leadership. Also, Truby has been on four teams and has 820 at-bats in his career. Stynes has been on five teams and has 2200 at-bats in his career. Depending on your choice in metrics, that amounts to Truby having 20% or 62% less veteran leadership. If we prefer to measure experience by at-bats alone, then Jack Wilson towers over Chris Truby. Score round 1 this way: Stynes 1, Truby 0.
Since Truby does not have eight years of MLB experience, he will have to report to Nashville if the Bucs send him there. No doubt this is one reason why the Bucs signed him to a minor-league contract and let him compete this spring. You are paying Stynes $1M, which is a bargain - in raw dollars, at least. I think he deserves the benefit of the doubt. For all we know, he hasn't been playing well because he's been assured of the starting job and he's using the spring to try out new hitting techniques. Stynes 2, Truby 0.
Truby's career numbers are .231 / .269 / .388. Translation: OUCH, fetch the whiskey. This is what Baseball Prospectus wrote about Truby in the 2002 book: "Probably the worst player in the AL last season, Truby had a scarcely believable .497 OPS, and the more he played, the worse he got." Truby's career numbers make Pedro Feliz look good at the plate. That says something. Stynes's career numbers are about league average: .280 / .340 / .407. Stynes 3, Truby -12.
Stynes can play second base. Stynes could be an asset as a utility player. If Bobby Hill gets comfortable and established at second base, and if Jack Wilson has his OBP-powered breakout year, then I'd be all for bringing up Freddy Sanchez (when he's healthy) and playing him at third base. In the meantime, Hill might need a day off here and there if his back acts up after a long stretch of consecutive games. Stynes can slide over to second and Rob Hackovihack can substitute teach at third. Stynes 4, Truby -12.
Finally, Stynes is the better fielder. He was second to Florida's Mike Lowell in fielding percentage among NL third basemen last year. No amount of fluke success should give a starting job to Chris Truby. He can prove the improvement is for real at AAA.
No comments:
Post a Comment